Basia's Bookshelf Book Reviews — Book reviews for the romantic, slightly snarky nerds in all of us

First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson #1)

February 20, 2011 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf Leave a Comment

By Darynda Jones

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: February 1, 2011
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: Publisher

Charley sees dead people. That’s right, she sees dead people. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e. murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life…and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely.

Goodreads Summary

I’ve had this poor book on my to-read shelf for so long, I felt like I ought to have apologized, stroked its cover and told it how pretty it was before I started reading it. I don’t generally go too crazy about reading and reviewing something before everyone else does, but I did mean to get to this almost as soon as I got it. It was endorsed by a few of my favorite authors and from what they said, it sounded right up my alley: death, snark and smut, three of my favorite things!

Does it make me extra weird that I pulled this off the top of my stack because I finally couldn’t stand that foot staring at me?

Charley Davidson isn’t just a grim reaper, she’s the Grim Reaper – with capital letters, as in the only one. She’s also got three other jobs: she’s a bartender at her dad’s place, a P.I. and a consultant for the Albuquerque Police Department, where she uses her handy little talent for talking to dead people to help solve homicide cases.

The morning after the latest in a series of seriously orgasmic dreams with a faceless stranger, Charley is awakened by a deathly cold touch on her ankle, the phone ringing and a dead guy standing next to the bed. Most annoying is the phone call, which turns out to be her Uncle Bob, a cop who’s on the scene of a double homicide – and one of the victims just happens to be her early morning visitor. When Charley gets there, there’s another dead person wandering around and the double turns into a triple. All three were attorneys representing a man they believe was wrongly convicted of killing a teenaged boy and were pursuing evidence that might clear him. Now the cops – and the three dead attorneys – want Charley to help find the killer. Coming along for the ride is hunky skiptracer Garrett Swopes who gets on her last nerve (although he might be wanting to get on her last something else).

Adding to Charley’s stress is her nighttime visitor who’s begun intruding during the day. Oddly familiar, comforting, scary and arousing beyond belief, Charley is obsessed with finding out who he is – or what he is.

I can’t count how many ways I loved this – when I was flipping through it to remind myself of a couple of plot points, I ended up just re-reading it and smiling a lot.

Charley is full of just enough attitude to toss out snappy one-liners on the spot without being obnoxious enough to really piss people off with them. She’s got a bone-dry sense of humor but she’s also a decent person who cares about the dead people she’s got to usher to the other side. She’s…spunky? Sassy? The secondary cast of characters is just as terrific – Jones didn’t skimp on their development. From Garrett to Uncle Bob, Charley’s best friend and secretary Cookie and a couple of hilarious ghosts permanently inhabiting her apartment, it’s easy to see who are going to be fixtures in the series.

The mystery of the murders gets a little winding, especially as Charley jumps from the case to her search for her mystery visitor, back and forth, but the resolution is satisfying and makes sense. Any cliffhanger is minor and shouldn’t be an issue for anyone who doesn’t want to continue with the series but will still be a good tease for someone who does.

My Summary: I hate to put any pressure on Ms. Jones, but if she can keep up the quality of the series based on this book, I’ll be clearing some keeper shelf space for the series and buying the bound and digital versions. This was a blast to read – it has everything I want in a lighter urban fantasy – a heroine who’s smart and funny, strong, sexy and compassionate and with a hero (or two) in the mix who can start the story simmering.

My Rating: A

Filed Under: *A Rating, Paranormal Romance, Reviews Tagged With: Darynda Jones

On My Wishlist (7)

February 19, 2011 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 15 Comments

Every Saturday, Book Chick City hosts our wonderful meme where we get to post books we’re crossing our fingers and toes will make our way to our bookshelves soon (see, last week I was lusting, this week I’m being more circumspect). They can be older books, new stuff or things that haven’t been released yet – things with super-hot covers are appreciated by me, since I’m a cover-coveter – say that ten times fast. If you want to join up, there’s a Mr. Linky always ready to go at Book Chick City on Saturday and there’s a super list of blogs to jump to, to read every one else’s wishlists too!

Yesterday, thanks to a big recommendation by Pam at Bookalicious, I bought a new-to-me author’s book, Devil’s Kiss by Sarwat Chadda. It came out a little bit ago and is the start of a YA series, so I’m wishing for the next book, which just came out last month.

Dark Goddess (Billi SanGreal #2)

By Sarwat Chadda
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Publication Date: January 25, 2011
Genre: YA fantasy, urban fantasy

new enemies, new romance, new horrors..

Billi’s back, and it seems like the Unholy just can’t take a hint.

Still reeling from the death of her best friend, Kay, Billi’s thrust back into action when the Templar’s are called to investigate werewolf activity. And werewolves are like nothing Billi’s seen before.

They call themselves the Polenitsy – Man Killers. The ancient warrior women of ancient Europe, supposedly wiped out centuries ago. But now they’re out of hiding and on the hunt for a Spring Child – an Oracle powerful enough to blow the volcano at Yellowstone, precipitating a Fimbulwinter that will wipe out humankind for good.

The Templars follow the Spring Child to Russia, and the only people there who can help are the Bogatyrs, a group of knights who may have gone to the dark side. To reclaim the Spring Child and save the world, Billi needs to earn the trust of Ivan Romanov, an arrogant young Bogatyr who’s suspicious of people in general, and of Billi in particular.

Goodreads Summary

So what’s on your wishlist this week?

Filed Under: On My Wishlist

Seduce Me in Dreams (A Three Worlds #1)

February 16, 2011 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 2 Comments

By Jacquelyn Frank

Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: March 22, 2011
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: Publisher

Dark. Mysterious. Sensual. When Bronse Chapel, the commander of a specialized unit of the Interplanetary Militia, begins to dream about a beautiful and exotic brunette, he wants to dismiss it as being induced by lack of sleep . . . or perhaps lack of sex. But his instincts tell him it’s something different, something far more dangerous.

Ravenna is the leader of the Chosen Ones, a small group of people from her village born with extraordinary powers. She doesn’t know that draws her to Bronse’s dreams night after night, but she senses that he and his team are in jeopardy. Ravenna can help him, but first Bronse must save the Chosen Ones from those who plan to use their powers for evil. Together, Bronse and Ravenna will be unstoppable. But Ravenna is hiding something that could endanger them all.

Goodreads Summary

I don’t usually read a lot of futuristics – blame it on too many years spent watching bad Star Trek episodes, but when I start reading mediocre futuristic romance with statuesque blue-haired heroines getting it on with handsome Imperial Commanders I get heartburn. When they fire their laser pistols, I can’t help but make that, “peeeyoo, peeeyoo,” sound in my head either. I’ve read some good ones – Lauren Dane’s Federation Chronicles is a good series and I’ve long forgotten that the In Death series from J.D. Robb is even set in the future I like it so much. I like Frank’s Nightwalkers series and since this the start of a new one and a blend of paranormal and futuristic, I thought I’d give this a try. It ended up somewhere around 70/30 paranormal/futuristic, which was a good ratio for me and I think a promising start for the series.

Bronse is the head of a unit that’s the best of the best of the Interplanetary Militia’s first response teams – they get sent into situations where no one else can get results. He’s been having fleeting dreams warning him that he’s in danger, dreams that seem to have proven correct since he’s carting his new communications officer who’s been critically injured, across miles of black sand to their waiting ship, from a mission the two were on that went completely, inexplicably wrong. When they rejoin his team, his odd behavior draws their attention and he confesses to his second-in-command, Lasher, that he’s had a gut feeling that he’s going to die on a mission and asks him to warn the team to be on alert. Later, he has his first real dream where he sees the beautiful woman who’s been warning him.

Ravenna is the leader of the Chosen Ones, a group of young people with special gifts who live in a temple and were protected and worked for the people of their village as healers, telepaths and more. Ravenna and her brother Kith were sold by the villagers to a vicious warlord as an offering to their god - Ravenna is a precognitive, among other things, and she’s foreseen danger to Bronse, as well as his role in her rescue. She’s been trying to warn him, but didn’t know she’d be able to appear to him and was as shocked as he was to find herself standing in front of him in his dream.

It isn’t long afterwards that Bronse and his crew find out that they’ve been betrayed from within the IM and Ravenna’s warning becomes clearer – Bronse must not be separated from his team. She’s also desperate for him to fulfill the second part of her vision and rescue her because now she’s being tortured for her captor’s amusement.

Ravenna’s precog abilities aren’t in doubt. Bronse rescues her and there’s a skirmish where her warning serves him well. His attraction to her from his dreams and her fascination with him explode when they finally meet in the flesh. It was bothersome to me that this cool under pressure, military-to-the-bone man would lose control of himself the way Bronse kept doing when he was with Ravenna. On the other side, Ravenna’s a generally clear-thinking woman, forced to be the leader of the Chosen Ones and to do what’s best for them. Even when she was working out a way to be with Bronse – and he was being a horse’s ass about it – she was thinking of them too.

There was less time devoted to world-building here than I’d expected. Some space was given to explaining the three-planet system, the basics of the IM and a little bit of those peeyoo, peeyoo weapons. Each team member got a little bit of background, the most being Masin “Lasher” Morse, Bronse’s second-in-command. The Chosen Ones also were profiled a bit, although the powers of a few were left unsaid. Ravenna’s sixteen year-old sister Ophelia, the healer, has already formed an attachment to Lasher and unless her book is way, way off in the distance, his won’t be anytime soon either I think.

My Summary: This started as a lot of new series do – not necessarily with a bang and not with a whimper – but still on the loud end of things. I liked the setup of Frank’s world here and I like the characters she’s put in it. Bronse and Ravenna’s story may not have completely captivated me, but it interested me enough that I’ll be likely to pick up the second book in spite of my aversion to futuristic romances. This ended on a little cliffhanger, small enough that it won’t be irritating to anyone not interested in reading more but will be a nice teaser to someone who is.

My Rating: B-

Filed Under: *B Rating, Paranormal Romance, Reviews Tagged With: Jacquelyn Frank

Dangerous Lover (Dangerous #1)

February 15, 2011 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 2 Comments

By Lisa Marie Rice

Publisher: HarperCollins Canada/Harper Trade
Publication Date: August 1, 2007
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Source: Personal Collection

“I don’t want to be alone tonight.”

Caroline Lake can hardly believe she would ever say these words to someone she’d never met before. When a tall, dark stranger arrives wanting to rent a room in her beautiful empty shell of a mansion, she hesitates. Though she is in dire financial straits, the man looks dangerous–dangerously sexy. She’s overwhelmed by the desire he sparks in her–hotter than anything she’s ever felt before, making her ache to experience his sensuous touch. But who is this armed and mysterious man with danger following in his wake? He’s not who she thinks he is . . .

Jack Prescott has wanted Caroline forever. He has spent the past twelve years dreaming of her, desiring her, while fighting in some of the worst hellholes on earth. Now he’s back, with twenty million dollars in blood diamonds and a relentless enemy stalking him. But this time Jack’s determined that nothing will stop him from finally making Caroline his.

Goodreads Summary

I was in a reading funk a week ago and digging through my bookcase. I’ve got a shelf dedicated to all of the books that have been gathering dust for more than a year – mostly my poor non-fiction Tudor collections – and I noticed a couple of Lisa Marie Rice books. How on earth those escaped me, I couldn’t fathom. I gobbled those up as soon as I bought them usually – after her Midnight series, she was my, er, chocolate, let’s call it. When I needed a dose of down and dirty, unapologetic testosterone-injected body-fluid fest, she was it. And I’d missed a couple of books! The horror. So I pulled one of these goodies down and settled in for a nice smooth and decadent feast. And ended up with the worst indigestion I’ve had in ages.

Jack Prescott – at the time the story opened, he was a young homeless boy named Ben – admired the young and beautiful girl named Caroline from afar. She was a benevolent angel, helping to serve meals to the poor and Ben would follow her to her big mansion and watch her inside. Sometimes he’d break in and wander around, smelling her things and imagining himself there. On Christmas Eve, starved and soaking wet, he stood outside her window watching her sing and saw her turn to kiss a handsome blonde boy – and knew it was time to leave.

Twelve years later, he’s returned to find Caroline again, to either see if she’s married and he can put the past to rest or if she’s available and he can finally try to win her. His name’s changed – everything about him’s different. After he’d left, he’d been taken in by a hardened military man who took him under his wing and made him into the soldier that he is now – a very, very rich one. In addition to the twenty million in blood diamonds he’s carrying, he’s got nearly ten million of his own in the bank. When he arrives in town, he’s told Caroline’s story – she owns a small bookstore, her family was killed in an accident, their money gone – and she’s single. She’s also just lost a necessary source of income, a boarder at her house and conveniently enough, he’s more than happy to take residence there at any price.

Aaaand the trouble begins. I mentioned that I’m a fan of Lisa Marie Rice (hereby LMR). I know the LMR formula: big scary he-man military/cop/security guy and delicate flower/sensitive/innocent maiden. Insta-spark. Quick sex, lots of it, Danger, Will Robinson, delicate flower in trouble, he-man does something insane to protect her, happily ever after. I missed a lot of sexing in there and there were a lot more Danger, Will Robinson moments, but that’s the gist of it. Don’t get me wrong, it works for me 99% of the time. I buy the books. I probably have the t-shirt. But Caroline, bless her heart, is really a bit..simpler than most LMR heroines. Is it because she’s in desperate need of money? Maybe so. But a complete stranger – a dangerous-looking one at that – shows up out of the blue, no references, and without even taking a penny from him or telling anyone about it, she takes him to her big empty house in the middle of a blizzard. Because she’s pretty sure she can trust him. Oy. I suspend a lot of belief in LMRs, but c’mon.

For his part, as soon as Jack gets to Caroline’s, he needs to jump into the shower while she makes dinner. While there, he muses about how aroused he is to finally be with her. As he does so, he also is amazed at his enormous, painful boner. Yes, he calls it his boner. And no, he’s not still sixteen.

I’m not going to bother going too far into the rest of Jack and Caroline’s story – like I said, it’s pretty standard LMR formula and while it’s borderline too stalker-y even for those standards, it is what it is. Caroline’s a little dim, helpless doll who needs a flow-chart to figure things out, Jack’s a macho stud who’s got an arsenal in his gym bag and a bad guy gunning for him. They have hours and hours of unprotected sex.

This thing went completely and permanently off the rails with the introduction of the bad guy. Vincent Deaver had planned on raiding a village in Sierra Leone where he’d heard there was a stash of blood diamonds, but just as his team was moving in, sniper Jack Prescott was there to pick them off and scoop the diamonds up. Now that Deaver’s escaped from the African prison, he’s tracking Jack, determined to make him turn the diamonds over, then make him pay. Way, way, way – did I mention way – too much of the story is Deaver’s. It cuts away to him constantly. And he’s boring. I realize there’s only so much sex Jack and Caroline can have and there are only so many repairs he can make to her house, but listening to Deaver scheme about what he’s going to do to them is like watching a cartoon villian twirl his moustache. Make them aware of your presence and do something or go away. Seriously.

The ending was a colossal..nothing. I don’t know what happened, but it was like somebody turned a light switch off and the rest of the room didn’t know what happened. Unsatisfying, abrupt, illogical – I read later that there was an epilogue of sorts posted online, but call me a purist – that’s a cheap trick to readers who only read the hard copy and wouldn’t know to look online.

My Summary: I can’t recommend this to LMR fans, in spite of the hot sex and usual formula - skip this and go on to another one of hers. This just isn’t like anything else of hers that I’ve ever read. I started the other book I have (Dangerous Secrets - Dangerous #2) and it’s nothing like this), so maybe this is an aberration.

My Rating: D

Filed Under: *D Rating, Contemporary/Romance, Reviews Tagged With: Lisa Marie Rice

Captive Bride

February 15, 2011 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf Leave a Comment

By Bonnie Dee

Publisher: Carina Press
Publication Date: February 14, 2011
Genre: Historical Romance
Source: Netgalley

San Francisco, 1870

Huiann arrives in America expecting to be wed to a wealthy businessman. She no sooner disembarks from the ship than she realizes Xie is not looking for a bride: Huiann is worth more to him as a high-end prostitute. Though her fate is better than that of other Chinese women forced into the sex trade, she has no intention of waiting for Xie to sell her virginity to the highest bidder. At the first opportunity, she escapes and disappears into the city.

When a beautiful woman takes refuge in his store, Alan’s life changes forever. He’s spent the last five years trying to forget the horrors of war, and had almost given up hope of finding love. He hires Huiann as his housekeeper, and though they can only communicate through signs and sketches, they quickly form a bond that transcends the need for words.

But Xie is determined to recover his property, and love may not be enough to protect Huiann from his vengeance.

Goodreads Summary

Having had her virginity confirmed, her body examined by Xie, the man she thought she’d been sent to America to marry, and now sold for deflowering, Huiann was being delivered to the highest bidder when she saw her chance at escape and jumped into the crowd in a busy San Francisco marketplace. She runs into a general store and finding the friendly – and stunned - face of the owner, ducks behind the counter to hide from Lui Dai, Xie’s henchman. When he comes in demanding to know if she’s there, the store owner lies and said he never saw her.

Alan had first seen Huiann when she disembarked from her ship from China days earlier and was shocked to see her barrel into his store. He could see she was terrified and his first instinct was to lie for her and offer shelter. Although she doesn’t speak English and he doesn’t speak Chinese, they decide she’ll act as his housekeeper for his apartment above the shop in exchange for room and board. The language barrier leaves Huiann a little uneasy about the specifics of their agreement - she’s wondering if Alan will expect her to perform sexual favors for him. She doesn’t find his American face particularly handsome, his western food very appetizing and his manners are confusing.

I picked this up because I was intrigued by the multi-cultural aspect of the story and wondered how the author would handle it. I think there’s a tendency to Anglicize the heroine/s not long after they fall in love with their American hero – at the very least, they immediately think he’s the most handsome thing they ever laid eyes on. Huiann didn’t fall in love, lust or understanding with Alan for a while. She appreciated him for what he did for her because she understood the risk he was taking, but she still had an air of cultural superiority about her at first. She thought he was coarse and his belongings were inferior to hers. Conversely, Alan thought she was exquisite – he’d been captivated by her on the docks and when she’d run into his store, dumbfounded. Now that she’s in his home, he’s trying to put her at ease any way he can even though he doesn’t really understand any of her customs. They spend a lot of time talking to each other, even though neither has a clue what the other is saying, pouring out their pain over their pasts.

Because of their language barrier and cultural divide, Huiann and Alan spent some time avoiding their attraction for each other. It adds so much when they do make love because they do it with almost no words – can I also say how refreshing it is when the uh, fireworks go off one at a time because someone makes an effort to light the second fuse after the first one goes off? Again with the not having to speak to communicate thing. Their love story was sweet and romantic – rather flowery from Huiann’s point of view – it’s everything you’d imagine a story with a princess and handsome hero would be.

I did have a couple of issues. Alan was a Union soldier who was injured at the beginning of the war and sent to the horrific Andersonville prison camp. It’s mentioned in the beginning of the story to explain why Alan settled so far west – his family’s in New Hampshire – and why he’s plagued by nightmares. There are a few other mentions, and that’s it. It’s too weighty of an issue to belong in a book alongside the issue of the Chinese sex trade. It should be one or the other in my opinion. I also think it was unlikely that Lui would have given up looking for Huiann so quickly the day she disappeared into the marketplace, given her worth to Xie. It was a little thing, but it bothered me for a while.

My Summary: Huiann remains uniquely Chinese for the entire story – something I was so relieved to read. Aside from a few western mannerisms she needed to adapt, she didn’t get the Anglo-treatment. She still didn’t speak a lot of English and Alan didn’t speak more than a word or two of Chinese. Your mileage my vary about whether you think their relationship would be as publicly acceptable as it seemed, given the time (late 1880′s), but for some romantic escapism, this works on a nice scale.

My Rating: B -

Filed Under: *B Rating, Historical Romance, Reviews Tagged With: Bonnie Dee

On My Wishlist (6)

February 12, 2011 by Barbara at Basia's Bookshelf 10 Comments

Hosted every Saturday by Book Chick City, On My Wishlist is a blog-tastic meme that lets me list the books I’m lusting after each week and want to add to my collection. There’s also the fun of checking out lots of other bloggers and their wishlists from their Mr. Linky at my hostess’ site so I can add to mine with awesome books I’d never have found otherwise. Having extra money is overrated, right?

I was playing around in my Amazon recommendations area and seeing what’s new and a little unexpected for me, so my Wishlist picks are pre-releases this week.

What I Did For a Duke (Pennyroyal Green #5)

By Julie Anne Long
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: February 22, 2011
Genre: Historical Romance

For years, he’s been an object of fear, fascination and..fantasy. But of all the wicked rumors that shadow the formidable Alexander Moncrieffe, Duke of Falconbridge, the ton knows one thing for certain: only fools dare cross him. And when Ian Eversea does just that, Moncrieffe knows the perfect revenge: he’ll seduce Ian’s innocent sister Genevieve – the only Eversea as yet untouched by scandal. First he’ll capture her heart…and then he’ll break it.

But everything about Genevieve is unexpected: the passion simmering beneath her cool control, the sharp wit tempered by gentleness…And though Genevieve has heard the whispers about the duke’s dark past, and knows she trifles with him at her peril, one incendiary kiss tempts her deeper into a world of extraordinary sensuality. Until Genevieve is faced with a fateful choice…is there anything she won’t do for a duke?

How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf

By Molly Harper
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: February 22, 2011
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Even in Grundy, Alaska, it’s unusual to find a naked guy with a bear trap clamped to his ankle on your porch. But when said guy turns into a wolf, recent southern transplant Mo Weinstein has no difficulty identifying the problem. Her surly neighbor Cooper Graham – who has been openly critical of Mo’s ability to adapt to life in Alaska – has trouble of his own. Werewolf trouble.

For Cooper, an alpha in self-imposed exile from his dysfunctional pack, it’s love at first sniff when it comes to Mo. But Cooper has an even more pressing concern on his mind. Several people around Grundy have been the victims of wolf attacks, and since Cooper has no memory of what he gets up to while in werewolf form, he’s worried that he might be the violent canine in question.

If a wolf cries wolf, it makes sense to listen, yet Mo is convinced that Cooper is not the culprit. Except if he’s not responsible, then who is? And when a werewolf falls head over haunches in love with you, what are you supposed to do anyway? The rules of dating just got a whole lot more complicated…

Goodreads Summaries