Review: Stalking the Others by Jess Haines

 

Stalking the Others

(H&W Investigations #4)

by Jess Haines

I’m sorry to say but this series as officially lost its appeal for me. I very much enjoyed the first two books in this series, but the third book was a DNF. I felt that Shiarra’s head was lost in the clouds while dire things were happening. She ignored several warnings that only resulted in more trouble. I don’t like it when an author creates drama or conflict at the expense of their character.

Fortunately, I was able to get through STALKING THE OTHERS but just didn’t care very much with what happened to Shiarra. She has officially lost her appeal. I found myself liking some parts, but then dozing off in others. There’s a ton of unnecessary internal dialogue that I think can be filtered out. I skimmed a lot.

While I show indifference to Shiarra’s character, there are other characters whom I simply don’t like. I think I will save myself the trouble next time and just end the series here. It’s time to say goodbye to Shiarra and the gang.

*Review copy provided by publisher

 

 Purchase Links:Amazon

Review: Poughkeepsie by Debra Anastasia

Poughkeepsie 

by Debra Anastasia

Livia McHugh always makes a point of smiling at everyone when she gets in to the station, giving people that small gentle curtesy in the bustle of the train station. That includes the homeless man who no one else seems to see, other then to nickname him Crazy, but to Livia he is Green Eyes. When she comes to his defense when she sees a group of boys threatening him they have an instant connection and starts an unusual friendship.

I wanted to like this book! There are so many good reviews and I thought I wan on to a winner, sadly for me that wasn't the case and there were a few things about Poughkeepsie that just stopped me from enjoying it.

1. The Dialogue. Please tell me no one really speaks like this in real life, most the guys here were in their mid twenties, but spoke like teenagers, or at least how an adult might think a teenager speaks. On the opposite end of the spectrum, how Blake spoke, it was supposed to be all English gentleman style, but for some reason just made me cringe. Alot.

2. The Romance. Romance is my main genre, nearly everything I read has a heavy romantic element in it somewhere, but the romance in this was so sweet I was getting a sugar rush. I hate that. I hate the over romantic, our-souls-are-one, please-revirginize-me BS, I had to skip certain parts because I just couldn't take it anymore. I was romanced out.

3. All dem Murders. What the frick!? This novel changed from a slow blooming romance to people dying left, right and centre. What the hell? It was just so weird and out of place, suddenly there were bad guys waving guns around, I don't see how it enchanced the story.

4. Is this YA? This book seemed a lot like YA, the characters all acted like teenagers and if I wan't told otherwise I would have assumed they were 16-18. Of course all the swearing would make it an adult book but then lack of any real sex would make it a YA, it was a little confusing. It isn't that I like to pigeon hole books in to genres, but I would like to know what audience this book is aimed for.

All this is really negative and I am sorry about that, but this was a long book full of the things about romance I dislike the most and I know a lot of people have enjoyed this book, unfortunately I am not one of them.



Review: Undeniably Yours by Shannon Stacey

 

Undeniably Yours

(Kowalski #2)

by Shannon Stacey

Beth Hansen’s life turns around when Kevin Kowalski walks into her life. As a man who is used to having women throw themselves at him, Beth knows that Kevin is a good time. But despite her initial uncertainty about him, she just can’t resist his charm. So she follows him back to his room for a night of hot sex and nothing more. When she slips out the next morning, Beth finds the threads of her life intertwined with the man she was wrapped around last night.

It seems that Kevin has the special recipe for baby batter because Beth becomes pregnant with his child. While Kevin isn’t allergic to the idea of being a father, it seems that Beth is prone to hives just thinking about being in a relationship.

It took me about a month to read this book and this is not a good sign. Initially, I thought it was because I just wasn’t in the mood for a contemporary romance so I set it down for awhile, thinking to come back to it when I wanted something light and uplifting. Nope. Even weeks later I found myself dragging through these pages.

First off, I did not like Beth. At all. Shortly after starting this book, Beth was giving off warning vibes and I had a feeling she would be one of those heroines I wanted to strangle. I gave her time, I really did. A month in fact, and yet she was still the same. I didn’t like her attitude about the “no relationship” thing. That didn’t fly with me. Her constant rejection made me angry. I just don’t like the girl.

Which leads me to Kevin Kowalski whom I did like, but felt he was wasting his efforts on a woman like Beth. He was sexy, fun and sweet but I thought he could have done better. Her rejections burned and I felt sorry for him more than I actually liked him. I hope that makes sense. I think it was because of Beth that I found myself not liking this book. I have read romances where baby drama is a big factor but this one just didn’t work for me.

It dragged and I found it very hard to like or care about the characters. And when I don’t particularly care about the characters in a book, it’s hard for me to want to know what happens with their story. Maybe this book will be different for you.

 

 

 

Purchase Links:  Amazon

Review: Undead and Undermined by MaryJanice Davidson

Undead and Undermined

(Undead # 10)

by MaryJanice Davidson

Paranormal Romance

I remember the days when I used to find Betsy Taylor (yes! her name is Elizabeth Taylor) extremely entertaining! She was cute in her dumb ways, always thinking about shoes, and sales, and somehow stumbling through being the Vampire Queen because, lets face it, she's never had the skills. But after 8 books and so many events and battles, how can she possibly still be the same Betsy Taylor, if not worst, than during book 1!

Betsy made some good decisions in this book along with some plain terrible ones (how could you put SHOES before the life of your friend, seriously???). The different realities and time travels confused me a bit at the beginning, or maybe it was just Betsy's head?

And then there's Sinclair. What happened to the sexy, alpha Vampire King?!?!?!!? It was as if someone cut off his balls in this book.  He kept waiting for Betsy to make decisions and lead them, instead of taking charge of some situations.

The side characters are still funny, Laura, the devil, Jessica, Mark... they all still kept some of the humor in the book.

All I can say is I've enjoyed the series a lot, it has provided many laughs, but the time has come for me to just give up.

Purchase from Amazon.com

Review: Collision Course by Zoe Archer

Collision Couse (8th Wing #1)

by Zoe Archer

Sci fi Romance

Find it on Goodreads!

Mara Skiren is a Scavenger, a smuggler and criminal, but the doesn't stop the 8th Wing from blackmailing her into helping them save one of their pilots and a high tech fighter ship that has been taken from them. Used to flying solo Mara doesn't like having the arrogan Commander Kell Frayne, on her ship, the Arcadia is her home and she rarely allows anyone inside. But Kell quickly gets under her skin and she finds her self reluctantly falling for him.

I don't know if I have just overloaded on sci-fi romance or if this just wasn't my cup of tea, but I didn't like it that much. The universe was just text book sci-fi with nothing to really distinguish it from countless others and I found it irritating the way random new words, obviously relating to something sci-fiey, were just thorwn in without any kind of explanation. In the end I found that bit boring but bearable.

But, what really bugged me was the romance. It was so over wrought! Having read some Zoe Archer before I was a little prepared for this, but after reading it I need to shower to get all the damn sap off! Every look was soul-wrending, every sigh was deep and meaningful, you couldn't damn well blink with out it having some kind of deep meaning and having, yet another, wall collapse around someones either heart or soul, how many walls/barriers can one possible have?! In the end I just got exasparated with it all and speed read it to get to the end.

I am trying not to be too negative, but when you are reading a book but wishing that the world destroying bad guys win you know that something isn't quite right!