Tag: book review

This Chick Read: Transcend (Origins #2) by Scarlett Dawn

Mina Kramer witnessed the battle between the paranormals at the end of Trigger, the first novel in the Origins series. Her world turned upside down by the existence of beings that can shift into animals.  She’s trying to adjust, but is terrified of them. Unfortunately, in a world where there a a lot fewer women than men, Mina can’t hide at home. She has to go out and socialize with the hopes of meeting her future husband. You see, in this world a woman is only given until she is twenty- five before she has to either join the military or get married and procreate. Mina is a socialite, so her path is pretty clear. Marriage.

While at a party she recognizes the people she saw shift in battle. Unfortunately, she comes to their attention and one becomes very interested in her. Before she can do more than exchange breaths with the very handsome Finn Baker, she is kidnapped and this story turns into another action adventure thriller. Mina is in jeopardy and Finn does a great job in her rescue. Their chemistry is off the charts and Mina’s resolve to have nothing to do with shifters vanishes. Maybe a little too quickly, but I’ve come to expect quick changes from a Scarlett Dawn novel. She moves things along pretty fast and her books are never boring.

Transcend was a good second novel in this series. I really enjoy this new world that is part militaristic, fantasy and paranormal. The dialog is fast and the action well paced making Transcend an easy book to get into and a very fast read. If you like serial novels, than this series is one to read. ❤️❤️❤️❣️

I have to give a shout out to the cover artist. It’s pretty, descriptive and really gives you a feeling for what you will be reading.

If you’d like to read my review of Trigger click HERE!

Click link to purchase! Transcend (Origin Book 2)

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

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This Chick Read: A Darkness Absolute (Casey Duncan #2) by Kelley Armstrong

This second novel in the Casey Duncan series is even more addictive than the first. A Darkness Absolute melds mystery with the paranormal. Even though there aren’t any vampires or werewolves, Rockton is filled with boogeymen. Casey, settled into her role of Detective and happy in her new relationship with Eric Dalton is blindsided when she and another officer on the force find a woman  who had been held captive in a cave for over a year. To top it off, she was a resident of Rockton that they had believed perished in the woods. It’s Casey’s job to find out whether the kidnapper was a resident of Rockton or one of the settlers in the surrounding land.

Kelley Armstrong has a deft hand at pretty much any genre, but I am discovering that I love her rather creepy mystery novels. The fact that Rockton is a town filled with people who are running away from something, either as victims or as the perpetrators of a crime, is the perfect premise for the macabre. Even the people who are friendly need to be looked at, since everyone’s past casts a dim light on their character.

Casey and Eric’s relationship takes a step to the next level with Eric showing signs of possessiveness and insecurity. It’s nice to see the male in a relationship really caring about the outcome of his actions. I’m digging these two as a couple!

For those of you who love mysteries, you need to read this series! A Darkness Absolute was gripping, the mystery totally surprising, and the characterizations of the inhabitants of Rockton like looking at a petry dish through a a smudged magnifying glass. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️


Click link to purchase! A Darkness Absolute: A Rockton Novel (Casey Duncan Novels)

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

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This Chick Read: The Hunt (Devil’s Isle #3) by Chloe Neill

The Final battle in The Sight ended with Liam having declared his love for Claire gets attacked by a stream of magic, effectively “ supercharging” him with power. Horrified and afraid of what he had become, he abandons Claire and hides away in the swamps of Louisiana. At the beginning of The Hunt, the timeline starts two months later. Claire is also living off the grid, but in New Orleans. She is helping the paras and sensitives by delivering black market goods to them in Devil’s Isle. She discovers that there is a bounty on Liam’s head for killing Brassard. The jerk who had terrorized Claire in book one and who Liam had once worked for in Containment. This bounty gives Claire the perfect excuse to face her fears and go after Liam to warn him. She travels with his brother into the swamp, finding him living with his grandmother Eleanor. And he is a changed man. 

Finally! Claire and Liam are together again. Liam is overly protective of Claire yet makes no claim on her, almost alpha like in his intensity. The tension between the two was very well played by the author. Having to work together to solve the mystery yet protecting their own feelings, tiptoeing arounf each other really gave this book an edge that the series had needed in the first two books. I’ll admit those books were a little slow for me, but the story gained legs in The Hunt, and Claire and Liam as a couple added passion to their story arc.

Claire, a heroine I’ve liked because of her strength and strong sense of self, has a few moments of uncertainty and that uncertainty gives her character an emotional layer that really helped me relate to her even more. This series has finally taken off, and it will be fun to continue on these characters journey. Will they stop the Veil from collapsing? Tune in next time!

❤️❤️❤️❤️


Click this link to purchase!  The Hunt (A Devil’s Isle Novel)

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads1 Comment

This Chick’s Sunday Commentary: The one where she saves Julie’s life

I would LOVE to have three days to just read and read and read. Unfortunately some thing just keeps getting in the way. This week I read one book. It took me forever to read it and that just, well, never happens. I can always find the time! I write on other bloggers posts, giving them tips and hints about how to carve out more reading time. Listen to audio books while you excercise, read during your commute to work, take a book and read on your lunch break. All of these things I normally do, but this week I just did not.

What’s wrong with me? Nothing really. I am still getting up in the mornings and taking a nice long walk for excercise. I am listening to a series I absolutely loved, Ilona Andrews Kate Daniels series. Well, I guess that is actually the problem. I have become obsessed with these books again! They have gotten in the way of me picking up a new book. I have ARC commitments! Who cares? Says my inner demon. Listen to Kate kick ass and fall in love with Curran. I have projects to focus on at work! Who cares? My inner demon speaks yet again. I am enthralled with the narrator who gives voice to all of these fantastic characters in these books! I laugh out loud at Kate’s inner monologue. She’s got such a sarcastic inner voice and it reminds me of my own! I forgot how much I love these characters that made a lonely Kate no longer alone. I have fallen in love again with Derrick, Julie, Andrea, Aunt Bea, and yes most especially that gravelly voiced Curren. Yum.

So, I have been in a bit of a reading slump. At least of new books. It’s a good thing I pre-schedule my blog and have written a bunch of reviews… ok, I have to get back. I am at the end of book 5 , Magic Slays, you know, the one where she saves Julie’s life? Yeah, intense!

If you haven’t read this series, here’s the first one. If you have a long commute? I suggest listening to it. You will NOT be disappointed.


Click this link to purchase!   Magic Bites

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: The Sight (Devil’s Isle #2) by Chloe Neill

After the Paranormal War, Claire Connolly became infected with magic and has become a “Sensitive”. Illegal in New Orleans, she has to hide what she has become.  In The Veil, Liam, a bounty hunter, had discovered Claire and instead of turning her in he has helped her find training so that she can contain her magic, lessening her chances of becoming a wraithe. Now colleagues, Claire and Liam have stumbled upon a cult that is trying to start up another war that will finish off all sensitives and the humans that support them.

The Sight, the second novel in the Devil’s Isle series, shows a natural evolution between those with magic and those without. Fighting a common enemy has opened their eyes so that hopefully the rules in place will change. However, in the fight against this common enemy, casualties happen that may affect their relationships longterm.

The first novel in this series spent a lot of time setting up the world building and main characters. Because of that it took a little while for the characters to grow on me. In The Sight, I know where everyone stands, their feelings about magic and Sensitives, and so the story seemed to move a lot quicker. Also the fight against a common enemy was a nice way to force characters into holding their bias at bay and growing a bit. If I found fault with anything in this novel it was that the characters feelings seemed a little juvenile for the seriousness of their situations. At times I wanted to give them a kick in the shins to hurry them along the path I wanted them to take. Unfortunately the shins I wanted to kick the hardest were Claire and Liam’s and because of that my feelings weren’t enmeshed as much as they should’ve been in the storyline. However, this book does have a great twist at the end, so I may have to pick up the next book and see how their story continues. ❤️❤️❤️


Click link to purchase! The Sight (A Devil’s Isle Novel)

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chick Read: The Veil (Devil’s Isle #1) by Chloe Neill

Claire Connolly is the last survivng member of her human family, but recently she has started exhibiting signs of having magic, which is illegal after the supernatural war. She has gotten good at hiding  her magic, but when she see’s a woman being attacked by wraiths she comes to her defense and the only way to come out of it alive is to use her gifts. Unfortunately she is spotted by Liam, a bounty hunter whose job is to catch the wraiths and take them to confinement in Devil’s Isle. Liam does not turn Claire in, instead he works with her and finds her a tutor to teach her how to control her magic to keep her from turning into a wraith. He also agrees to teach her how to become a bounty hunter, like him, and as they hunt they discover that there are forces at work that are trying to open the veil between worlds, and they can’t allow that to happen.

Claire is torn between the human world and the magical. Her friends are completely human but she can’t ignore the help Liam is giving her, and she can’t ignore the connection she feels to him. Liam, who is human is also drawn to Clair, and is torn between wanting to get closer and wanting to hold her at a distance because if she loses control, he will have to turn her in.

The setting for this novel is New Orleans and added to the characters torn feelings about magic. After all, New Orleans pre-war capitalized upon its magical elements to draw tourists and make money. Now post war, all of those elements are illegal, making the city feel dead and decayed giving it a post apocalyptic mood.

I enjoyed this book as it was different and interesting. It’s the first in the series and made me curious to see how Claire’s character was going to evolve and also see if she and Liam could resolve their differences. ❤️❤️❤️❣️


Click link to purchase! The Veil: A Devil’s Isle Novel

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved.

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

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This Chick Read: Blood Cross (Jane Yellowrock #2) by Faith Hunter

Jane is still in New Orleans hired to hunt down rogue vampires, kill them and collect their bounty. As she is doing this rather grisly job, she discovers that someone is trying to raise vamps using ritual sacrifice so that these vampires are immediately cognizant and not ravenous beasts. Unfortunately during this investigation, two of her young houseguests are kidnapped and the clock is ticking for her to rescue them before they are the next sacrifice.

Jane and her inner Beast have quite a few internal dialogs that reveal some personality traits of Jane’s that we may not have seen from her surface persona as a straight up bad ass bitch. Or whatever the cat version of a bad ass bitch may be. I loved seeing this more emotional version of Jane, she is a little easier to like. As the story unfolds she is torn between two men, Bruiser and Rick, and to me it was a little surprising which one she ended up with, as the sexual tension with the loser was A-Maz-Ing. Oh well, I’m sure that story is not over as this is only book two in like a twelve book series or something.

If you are a fan of Urban Fantasy, as I am, you will really dig this series. There is a ton of paranormal dark fantasy, and a lot of the characters are really likeable. I’m still warming up to Jane, but she reveals more with each book, and I know there is a ton of Jane still to discover.

❤️❤️❤️❤️


Click link to purchase! Blood Cross (Jane Yellowrock, Book 2)

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads

This Chicks Sunday Commentary: Has Anyone Read…?

Don’t you just hate when you have read a great book and the ending was so controversial or confusingand you just want to talk about it with someone and NO ONE HAS READ IT? I know, it’s happened to all of us. In fact, this is one of the reasons I became a blogger! However, in my reviews I rarely give away the ending or talk about a twist. So, how do we talk about anything and everything in a book?

 In the comments section of a book discussion post. 

I will occassionally write a post that is intended to be a discussion about a book that I hope someone else has read and had the same questions, or has had different questions and has been dying to discuss with someone! These will fall on Sundays and I’ll title them Has Anyone Read… because I just need to discuss this book! 

Has anyone read A Gentleman from Moscow? I loved this book and will also be posting a review but wanted to talk about it with people. There were so many things that made me think! FYI- I will be talking about the ending of this book so if you haven’t read this wonderful novel please don’t spoil it for yourself. STOP HERE!

  1. Alexander Rostov- a Count by birth and up to the start of this book had a privileged upbringing, wrote a poem that was political in nature, and was put under house arrest in a hotel in Moscow for the rest of his life. Harsh!  Here’s my first question. Alexander seemed to accept this punishment as his due. He never fought it or tried to just wander out the door for an adventure. If you were imprisoned in a hotel would you react as he did? 
  2. He befriends a female child while she and her father were living in the hotel. Nina appears briefly as a teenager then a young adult. Suddenly, she appears and drops off her daughter Sophia at the hotel to live with Alexander. Then she drops off the face of the earth. We never hear what happened to her? Did I miss something? Did she die? Did she just abandon her daughter? 
  3. I loved how Anna came into Alexander’s life again and again. Why did he never reveal his relationship with her? He was a gentleman so did he think he was protecting her? After all, in that age (1920-late1940’s) society probably wouldn’t look very favorably on her for involving herself with an unmarried man confined to a hotel. 
  4. I loved the ending of this book. I loved the comparisons to Casablanca and how the Count outmaneuvered everyone so that Sophia could ask for asylum from the US embassy while in Paris. But then what happened to her? Are we to assume that she never saw the Count again? That she would give up her papa? I didn’t see that one coming! What do you think happened to her?
  5. Who was the woman at the end of the book? I’m assuming it was Anna who stood up from the chair, but it also could’ve been Sophia? It could have been the very absent Nina too. But I think it was Anna. Oh, what a great ending, I just wish it had been more definitive!

Has anyone else read this book? Do you have any thoughts about what I wrote above? Do you have any topics that you’d like to discuss about A Gentleman From Moscow? Speak up! Let’s discuss this fabulous book! 

Until next Sunday,

Deb


 Click this link to purchase!  A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel

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This Chick Read: City of the Lost (Casey Duncan #1) by Kelley Armstrong

Kelley Armstrong’s novels center around a mystery but usually take place in an Urban Fantasy setting. City of the Lost also has a mystery as the center of its story, but seems to be pretty straightforward without any hints of a fantasy world. However, the city Casey Duncan and her friend move to to escape their pasts sounds too good to be true. A city filled with other people who are trying to leave their pasts behind. A city thats off the grid and where no one can find you. A city with hints of the old west, where men outnumber the women and is policed by a sheriff, the favorite hangout is a saloon/brothel, and hints of danger in the forest that surrounds them. City of the Lost is a mystery with hints of horror, typically not my thing, but I loved it.

Casey Duncan, our heroine, was allowed to live in Rockton because of her skills as a detective. Someone has started murdering the citizens of Rockton. When Casey arrives, she butts heads with the sheriff who has absolute rule, but soon learns how to work with him. Is there eventually an attraction between them? Yes, and it’s filled with emotional upheaval, passion, and grit, however, this is not a love story, though that bit was really enjoyable. This is a mystery and it’s intricately planned and the characters involved were fascinating. Imagine living in a city where every person there is escaping something. They could be victims, but they also may be the perpetrators of horrible crimes, yet no one knows each others past. Its a fresh slate, but sometimes a persons nature just can’t be changed.

If you love mysteries, I highly recommend this excellent book. It’s the first in the series and I am not going to take too much time before starting the second! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❣️


Click link to purchase! City of the Lost: A Rockton Novel (Casey Duncan Novels)

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads2 Comments

This Chick Read: By Your Side by Kasie West

By Your Side surprised me by the depth hidden behind what I thought would be cotton candy fluff. A last minute potty break as the library is closing and Autumn Collins finds herself on the wrong side of the locked doors. Having put her bag in a friends car she is without a phone and has no way of letting anyone know where she is. She thought she was alone but is surprised to discover that Dax Miller, mysterious boy from the wrong side of the tracks is locked in the library with her. Autumn, not used to indifference tries really hard to break down Dax’s walls and succeeds. Up to a point.

Autumn, who seemed to be your average teenage girl, was hiding a secret from her friends. She has a severe anxiety disorder and takes medication to control her panic attacks. I thought these panic attacks were an interesting way to spotlight what would be pretty normal high school drama. Semi popular girl has a crush on a popular guy that is just starting to like her back. The panic attacks put more emphasis on if he was the right guy for her. Her working through those thoughts while holding panic at bay added tension to what would have been a banal plotline.

Dax was your typical misunderstood teen. His being locked in the library wasn’t an accident, he was actually “taking a break” from his foster family. His character didn’t seem to be so unusual. What was unusual was his self sacrifice for Autumn. That sacrifice and his willingly becoming her safe harbor placed me firmly on his side.

This type of novel is not my usual choice but I really enjoyed the surprise of liking these characters and enjoying their love story. For those of you much younger than myself, I think you’ll identify with these characters even more than I. ❤️❤️❤️❣️

Click link to purchase! By Your Side

Copyright 2017 Deborah Kehoe The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

On By deborahkehoeIn A Hot Chick Who Reads5 Comments