Review: Heart of Stone (Gargoyles #1)

Heart of Stone by Christine Warren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Gargoyles are usually not my favorite type of paranormal romance, but this book was really well done. I was rooting for the main characters to end up overcoming all the insane obstacles placed in their way. Ella is a great tough chick main character to balance the overbearing nature of Kees (the gargoyle).

So how does one end up falling in love with a gargoyle? Well, to be fair, Kees is mostly in "human form" during the initial falling in love parts of this book. Ella is a woman who has been battling to control a magic inside of her that she has been dealing with her entire life. One horrible night at her job in the museum, she seeks solace at the base of her favorite sculpture -- the gargoyle. After another attack, she is faced with a real living gargoyle who is in charge of protecting her.

This is something like a bodyguard story with a paranormal twist. Kees is your typical dude, fighting his feelings every step of the way. Ella is your not-so-typical chick, willing to have some sexy times to "prove Kees wrong". Sure. Whatever gets us some sizzling scenes!

This was a really excellent start to what could be an awesome series. We've got a pretty good HEA for Ella and Kees, so I'm eager to see where the story will go.

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Review: Accidentally...Cimil? (Accidentally Yours #4.5)

Accidentally...Cimil? by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this one really filled in a lot of blanks we had from previous books. Not only did it explain Cimil's motivation, but it also sort of explained away her crazy. I mean, she's still crazy, don't get me wrong, but we got to see why she's crazy and just how crazy she really is. That's a lot of crazy, I know, but totally worth it.

Why is she working on everyone's mates? Is she in love? Who is she always talking to? What's the deal with her unicorn? Pretty much anything you can come up with gets answered in this novella. This wasn't nearly as short as the other novella of the series, but it was still shorter than a true book, so if you're hoping for some monster book -- this is not it.

Reading this story makes me want to go back to read the first few again just so I can piece the entire puzzle together. And it really is a puzzle -- we are getting pieces in each book, which I hope will magically fall into place in the last book. Right? Right??

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Review: Accidentally...Evil? (Accidentally Yours #3.5)

Accidentally...Evil? by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Warning: This is really a novella. Really really short with no satisfying ending, but lots of good tidbits I assume we will need in order to put together the giant puzzle that Mimi is working on assembling.

That being said, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a story centered on the "evil" god. I knew there'd be some motivation and reasoning behind his evil-ness, but wasn't sure I'd like it. Well, see, this series is so good, it's always worth the chance. There is everything I've come to love about these books -- zany antics, wacky dialogue, off the charts hotness, and a plot that is addictive.

With Chaam, things are always sizzling hot (you know, was the god of male virility), so this story had *a lot* of hotness going on. He meets up with Maggie who just so happens to be wearing the very first of these magic sex necklaces. Much sexy time abounds. So, where did this love story take a turn for the worse? Well, Cimil is involved, of course. We are left wanting way more information, but this was a really great start.

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Review: Sun God Seeks…Surrogate? (Accidentally Yours #3)

Sun God Seeks…Surrogate? by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These books are really excellent quick reads! The writing style is zany and hilarious, the action has your pulse pounding, and the sizzle is off the charts!

This installment gives us a look into the life of a sun god. He's broody and obsessed with his work, but that isn't really the total package. Inside, he's a softie that is just wishing for life as a human, where he can fall in love and no longer have the burdens of saving humanity. So what changes everything? Cimil, of course. The wacky and unpredictable god has a hand in all things in these books, so it's no surprise that she orchestrates Kinich (the sun god) meeting his match in the form of Penelope. Penelope is just trying to save her mom from an unidentified illness. Along come Cimil, with a check in hand, sending Penelope off to meet her brother, in the guise of becoming a surrogate to bear his children.

Do things ever work as planned with Cimil? Not so much. There are midgets, sexy times, attacks, and running (lots of running). There's also the whole "impending apocalypse" thing that is looming over everyone's head. Through all this drama, though, we get to spend some quality time with the bunch of weirdos that make up the gods and their significant others (and the vampires, and demigods, who don't really fit in any other category). Oh, and we get some new species introductions, along with a killer cliffhanger. Will we ever get answers? Will we ever have a resolution to all these stories? Even without a firm HEA here, it was still a wicked ride. These books are awesome reads.

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Review: To Catch a Wolf (The Jamesburg Shifters #1)

To Catch a Wolf by Lynn Red
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a sizzling hot erotic read that was based around a really unique paranormal town. We dive right into the action and join a story in progress, which is usually one of my favorite ways to get information.

Izzy applied to an online job posting for a secretary position only to discover she will be assistant to the werewolf alpha of a town full of shifters and other paranormals. Always a bit of a weirdo herself, she blends in quite nicely and even gets sucked into a secret and steamy relationship with the aforementioned alpha. When a witchdoctor resurrects the last alpha and starts plotting against the town, some old prejudice rears its ugly head. Turn out; the last alpha was rumored to have gone crazy because he had a human mate. Izzy is forced to make a choice between the town and alpha that she loves and standing up for her feelings.

This story moved along almost too fast to follow. One minute we’re in a hot scene, the next we’re following a zombie around and learning about his past. We meet *a lot* of characters in a short amount of time, but I still felt somewhat connected to Izzy. The book also delivers a pretty naughty HEA.


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Review: What to Get Your Vampire Girfriend for Christmas (Unholy Alliance Short)

What to Get Your Vampire Girlfriend For Christmas by Haley Yager
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This little short story is offered for free on the author's website. It gives a little insight into the Maggie/Shane relationship and how they spend their first Christmas together. Really cute and reminds me how adorable they are as a couple.

Shane obviously has some trouble figuring out what to get a rich, really old vampire, who just so happens to be his girlfriend. It's your typical boyfriend drama with a twist. Shane really shows how thoughtful he can be.

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Review: Kiss the Dead (Anita Blake Vampire Hunter #21)

Kiss the Dead by Laurell K. Hamilton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

You know, I almost forgot to review this book -- that's how forgettable it was. I finished it today, after months and months of stalling, and even though it wasn't anything fancy or new, I know I'll still read the next one.

The books are what they are. This one has *a lot* of police procedural and preachy lawmaker/law enforcement rhetoric. I had to take a break for a little bit after it got to be too much for me. I would much rather just have her go back to really long bedroom scenes and lots of men. Speaking of the men, when the police talk finally ended and she went home, we didn't really get a reprieve. Yes, there was lots of sexy time, but it was overshadowed by some serious man drama. Everyone is having their feelings hurt. Everyone wants more of Anita, or more love, or more attention. It got really old pretty quickly, especially when it felt almost like filler.

The main story revolves around a group of vampires that are against Jean Claude's rule as master. See? That was straight forward, right? I actually had to think about what the story was, though, because there is so much extraneous junk going on that there wasn't a lot of time actually spent on that. Of course, Anita is the center of everything, so she keeps getting pulled into crazy situations.

I wish this series would decide if it was erotica or police procedural, because the balance was *way* off in this one.

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