by: Mario Acevedo

Number of pages: 368

This was another new author challenge book.

Usually modern vampire stories are written by women, but Acevedo brings a unique twist to the standard. Ex-Operation Freedom vet, now vampire, Felix Gomez has turned to “normal” life as a detective.

His vamp powers add a twist and provide an edge to the standard detective. He’s called to Rocky Flats, Colorado, by an old friend to investigate the cause of an outbreak of nymphomania.

Really, nymphomania… that’s a problem, right?

Before you think this is an erotic romance, think again…it is a detective story with an edge and a lovely one at that.

Gomez bumbles almost as badly as Columbo, but, like Columbo, has a method and it works.

What works better is Acevedo’s writing. It is brutally honest, direct, and poetic. Where else can you get a line like this:

No mistress of the dark, she looked more like a matron of the refrigerator.

I LOVED it! Thanks to Jackie from LE for turning me on to this author.

Overall book rating: 9.75

by: Cherry Adair

Number of pages: 310

I liked the flawed characters of this book. Despite unbelievable scenarios, the pair of T-FLAC operators discover almost as much about themselves as they do each other. This makes for a wonderful pairing.

Fireworks and bombs, and ancient Egyptian digs combine with a fiery red-headed heroine, and her stoic, but sooo manly hero.

I’m not poking fun, the pair is wonderful despite the potential cliché.

Great book for action romance lovers.

Overall book rating: 7.75

by Suzanne Brockmann

Go out and buy this book. Trust me. If you have followed the writer’s Troubleshooters, loved the prior books’ levels of tension, the multiple romantic story lines, and fell in love again and again with real (REAL) men with issues, these books are the Shit!

We follow the story of recently resurfaced Vinh Murphy as he seduces his long-time friend/buddy/introducer of his wife/friend/crush…whatever, it’s complicated when people don’t follow up on their feelings, Hannah. He’s still recovering from the death of his wife, she’s still recovering from the loss of her best friend and her second best friend’s breakdown (read as Angelina, Vinh’s dead wife, and Vinh.) It’s complicated.

BUT!!! that really isn’t the best part of the book.

No? you say… No.

Period. The best parts are the on-again-off-again trials of Decker/Sophia/David, Will-he-finally-marry-her Nash and fiance’, Tess who really deserves much better than Nash delivers…and BEST romance of the book….

Wait for it.

Crazy/Zany Izzy Zanella meets his match. Or meets his nemesis. Take your pick. Danny Gilman’s little sister, barely 18 and so full of “it” she makes Izzy jump through flaming hoops.

I couldn’t get over the perfection and the heartbreak this little side romance delivered. Read the book simply for this love story alone.

Writing: 10; characters: 9.5; plot: 10; conclusion: 10+ Total score: 9.9

by Shannon K. Butcher

Another installment of her thriller series, Shannon delivers a tightly woven and romantic, yet plausible story of intertwined pasts and a frightening present. Isabelle’s childhood is shadowing her present when her former foster siblings begin to commit suicide. But Isabelle knows that these are not suicides. She contacts her teenage crush and foster brother Grant Kent to help.

Grant is preparing for a life beyond the military as he leaves his career as a Delta Force Ranger for a private sector job. But first he must find out what has Isabelle so spooked.

Serial killers, violence, love…they are all intertwined in this excellent tale.

Writing: 8.3

by Cherry Adair

Michael, former Navy seal, is on a personal quest. It is not sanctioned by anything other than this wounded man’s desire for revenge against the criminal who engineered the failure of his last mission.

In the midst of his plans falls the innocent daughter of his enemy, or is she that innocent? Can you see what’s coming? Of course. It’s a romance novel, for Pete’s sake. Revenge…Romance…they both begin with R.

There is plenty of action, mayhem and searingly heated scenes to warrant a read. 7.1

Full Moon Rising (re-read), Kissing Sin (re-read), Tempting Evil, Dangerous Games, and The Darkest Kiss by Keri Arthur. The Riley Jenson series. (at least until the latest)

You see what I see?

I missed one. Yep, I couldn’t get my hands on Embraced by Darkness. I liked this series a lot (for a bunch of paranormal/urban fantasy novels) but really need to find that one. It leaves a big hole in the series, IMO. That proves that although the stories do sort of stand alone, there is back story in each book that builds toward future books.

I’ve a bone to pick with this series. There have been complaints that Laurell K. Hamilton’s heroine Anita Blake acquires men and superpowers like flowers and candy…well… one could say that of Riley Jenson too. While not as “Mary Jane” as Anita (as in, she kicks butt and has a lot of sex with different men…oh wait…huh.)

I’ll stop there.

by Lora Leigh

Former Seal Nathan Malone has left his old life behind. He is now Noah Blake, a hard edged killer working for a secret, secret agency.

BUT…the wife he left behind is in trouble. Homegrown terrorists threaten more than just international security, they want to take over the life Bella Malone has rebuilt from the ashes of her husband’s sudden death.

Now a man steps in and starts to take over the hole that Nathan left. He looks nothing like her dead husband, but there are things about him that call to her soul.

Erotic fare for such an “innocent” plot. Of course, it is Lora Leigh so…

(When I get an author I like, I devour their stuff…) Here are some of the novels I picked up and read this month by Mario Puzo:

The Last Don (Part of the Godfather “trilogy” The story of a mafia Don’s attempt to legitimatize his family.) Great plotting, twisted sub-plots, and a humdinger of an ending. As good (in my opinion) as the Godfather.

The Family (Historical, about the Borgia Pope and his family. A bit “squicky” and a whole lot of eye-opening story telling about turn of the century “Italy” - 1480-1520, I believe)

The Dark Arena (ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT literature…on the level of Hemingway.) Story of a WWII American soldier’s post-war struggles as he returns to Germany to recover the love he lost. That veiled one-line synopsis doesn’t truly reveal the depth of character study Puzo goes into developing an unlikeable protagonist. It reminds me of “A Farewell to Arms” in some ways because the lead character has so much “deadness” to his emotion, yet in some ways, that is an emotion. Puzo captures it brilliantly. There is something about that syndrome that I have seen in Hemingway’s, O’Brien’s, and now Puzo’s writing; that resonates with me. Maybe because I’m feeling that way a bit myself. I’m not in love with anyone right now, love my life, but not to the point of distraction, love my children, but not in a sense where I really “feel” it. Does that make sense?

The Sicillian - Read this one.
Part two of the “Godfather trilogy” centered around Michael Coreleone’s mission in Sicily to bring bandit, Salvatore “Turi” Guiliano from his hideout in the mountains near Montelepre to America. Mostly, the book centers around Turi and his antagonist, Don Croce Malo, who originally wanted Turi to be his heir to the leadership of the Friends of the friends (aka Mafia of Sicily)

Turi, the Sicilian version of Robin Hood wants nothing to do with the corruption of the Friends and makes enemies of practically everyone in power, but befriends the poor peasants. The main “greatness” of this book is the machinations of the leading characters of the book, the foreshadowing worthy of a legendary tale, and the mingling of good and evil. The language is a bit stilted, and the format “antiquated” compared to modern (post Steven King) stories. But if you can read Tolkien, you should be able to read this book.

Omertá - This final “mafia” book by Puzo centers around the aftermath of the death of Don Aprile. Despite the Don’s retirement from the Mafia, someone targets him for assassination. Was it the FBI agent who brought down the mob, and singled out Don Aprile because he couldn’t catch him? Was it the rival boss who wanted control of Aprile’s legitimate banks so he could launder drug money? Or was it someone else? The Don’s children are all legitimate members of society and don’t have the desire to seek out the truth, but the adopted nephew of the Don, Astorre Viola, a macaroni importer, picks up the pieces of the Don’s organization and seeks revenge for the Don’s family.

While this book had its moments, it lacks the brilliant maneuvering that the Sicilian, The Godfather, and The Last Don had. It was fairly straightforward detective work, a bit of string pulling and too many side characters to make the story more than just a clever piece of work. That said, it still is about twenty-five steps up the literature ladder from most of my reads.

I picked up three Kresley Cole novels. Two of them were her MacCarrick Brothers “If You Desire” and “If You Deceive” both of which were page turners. Despite some formulated plotting they were better examples of romance done right. Set in Victorian England (and other places) the dastardly (and cursed) MacCarricks fall victim to the lures of some
wild females.

While not historically sound, they were fun reads. 6.4 and 6.8 respectively.

Also under the Cole banner was “Dark Needs at Night’s Edge.” I’d read the short by her in “Playing Easy to Get” which was a solid entry but a bit too heavily influenced by back story I didn’t have. Needs was much better because it gave the world building a chance to unfold naturally in the book. The leading duo (a Fallen Vampire and a Ghost) played well off each other. While the hero(Conrad Wroth) was basically unredeemable at first, he’s got nothing on sultry New Orleans ballerina with Creole soul, Neomi Laress.

Weaving its spell in a complicated web, Conrad must fight his blood lust, somehow “cure” Neomi of her afterlife, fight off both Vampire hunters and demons, and stop the voices in his head. Neomi’s job? Save Conrad from himself, find out how to be more than a ghost, guard herself from truly disappearing off the face of the earth and befriend a pair of really crazy women, a witch and a valkerie.

Confused? Again,the world building is complex but not overwhelming. 7.7

by Suzanne Brockmann

Amazingly I missed this one and Hot Target (on my TBR list now) by romantic action/suspense guru Brockmann. Her navy seals are hot, FBI agents hot as well, and the subject of this book is enigma (CIA) Diego (Jimmy) Nash and Tess Bailey.

Tess is All-American Apple Pie and Jimmy is Bad Boy from Boots up. Their give and take is like a yo-yo with a really short string. Excellent reading. 8.4