Review: An Impish Christmas

An Impish Christmas by Angel Leya
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Woops! I joined this series already REALLY in progress. We're talking a lot of stories, world building, and character development! It says this can be read standalone, but I'm sure you would appreciate a lot of what happens more if you knew these characters better.

Kenzie is a selkie shifter who is a bit of an outcast at school. She has a core group of friends and a boyfriend, but appears to feel very alone, especially when nobody wants to join in with her christmas celebration and decorating. One random person who appears suspiciously interested in helping her is a mer-shifter, who also happens to hang around her biggest bullies. Trevor, said mer-person, obviously shows interest in Kenzie, and I was a little torn about rooting for him when she was apparently mated to Wes (previously mentioned boyfriend).

Things go from bad to worse when Kenzie accidentally casts a "helper" spell that causes someone to be compelled to make all sorts of mischief. There's a lot of boyfriend drama, friend drama, misunderstandings, and christmas related destructions. All in all, we find our way to a happy ending, but jeez it takes a lot to get there.

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Review: Diamond Fire

Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

OK, I get why people were reviewing book#4 the way they did. Having started at book 4, with Catalina as the narrator, I didn't realize the jarring difference between the two voices of Nevada and her sister. Now that I've gone back to the start, I can understand some of the angst. That being said, if you're looking for the pivot point -this is it.

This short story somehow manages to help me accept Catalina as a grown up, even though she is portrayed as a very young girl in the first trilogy set in this world. Here, we get to start with the familiar Nevada, beginning her new journey into marriage and being the head of the house. Seeing her from the outside is definitely weird, but you easily fall into step with Catalina as she takes on the lead investigator role here.

The big story is around Nevada's wedding. Catalina becomes the head wedding planner somehow and also gets dragged into a mystery. A stolen wedding tiara is missing and obviously one of the jerks in Rogan's family is a suspect (which leaves lots of suspects). There's the usual misdirection, drama, attempted murder, and everything we've come to expect in this world. There is also some surprise reveals at the end. Oh, and we even get to see what happens to a familiar face, and start to maybe hate certain people slightly less. Overall, this is a necessary read before you begin book 4 (oops for me!).

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Review: Wildfire

Wildfire by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

God, I love these books. They come in three's, so I knew that this would be the end of the Nevada/Rogan storyline, but it was still bittersweet. I will miss being with these two!

This book picks up immediately after the previous one. There has been a slow build towards Nevada forming a house and accepting her feelings for Rogan. At the end of the previous book (did I mention you should start from the beginning at this point?), we saw what could be their happily ever after, if her evil grandmother (not the awesome one) didn't spoil her fun. She's tasked with coming back to inform her family that they need to move forward with house formation to protect themselves, only to discover Rogan's ex-fiance in her kitchen. Obviously, a case forms (as one always does for Nevada) and she is tasked with helping Rhynda get her supposedly kidnapped husband back.

As usual, things are not straightforward. There's a lot that comes out during the investigation, lots of relationship-related misunderstandings, but ultimately we resolve almost everything. If you're worried about the transition between this trilogy and the next - have no fear! The resolution of one of the "big bads" happens in the short story immediately following, and we get a transition between narrator voices, too.

So, to sum up this trilogy, I would definitely recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in paranormal romance. It was well written and totally addictive! While there were your typical misunderstandings and false starts, it always delivered. The mysteries were also really interesting and never easily solved. This series was so good - and I'm glad I went back to start it from the beginning.

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Review: Immortal Born

Immortal Born by Lynsay Sands
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

OK, let me start off by saying that at book #30, you know what you're getting. I'm sure these could each be read as standalone novels, but I applaud the author for trying to loop in longer running storylines for the people who have traveled through all the stories.

This book starts with Allie, a bit of a recluse with a muddled history. She befriends a recovering rogue vampire with a baby and promises to take care of little Liam if anything happens to his mom. Of course, something happens and she begins her life on the run from the rogues who want to take him. Enter Magnus, who, due to magical matchmaking, has been pushed to meet Allie, who is hospitalized for a failed act of theft from the blood bank (long story).

There's a lot of running and trust issues, but these two do end up making it work. I'm not usually one for stories with kids, but this was pretty heartwarming. It was also nice to catch up with some familiar characters as they have grown older. I hope they all get their own stories one day in the near future. As I said, at this point you know what to expect, but this had the added benefit of giving some conclusion to a familiar big bad story.

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Review: Blood, Smoke and Mirrors

Blood, Smoke and Mirrors by Robyn Bachar
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book ranks somewhere around 3.5 stars for me. As a first book, I'm curious enough to read on, and am especially happy that the next book is not in Cat's head.

We join Cat, magical outcast, waitress, and generally bad witch. She's carved out her own unique spot in the world and surrounded herself with people who will tolerate a "bad witch." One of her closest friends (apparently, we join the show already in progress) is the current liaison between the midwest and the fae. This is, I guess, some sort of high ranking spot, but when we find out that this person has been murdered, Cat is one of very few people who can for some reason take her place. OK.

There's more drama rolled into this, though, because her ex, who happens to be the magic police (there's a better name), is the one to inform her of her friend's death and her need to fill this spot. Oh, and I forgot to mention that he's the reason she's got the "bad witch" designation. Well, stress, the trials, hearing she's lost her other best friend, and all sorts of fae drama ends up pushing her back into his arms (have you no self respect, Cat?!?). Just when I was starting to sway on to team Lex (the ex) and Cat, there's more twists.

One of these twists puts Cat agreeing to stay with a big bad vampire, attending fancy dinner with him, and ultimately falling under his spell. There's soul mates, vampire magic, fae trials, and weddings thrown all in to what was a seemingly quick ending. I have zero understanding of where we could go from here, but apparently there are more books! Sign me up!

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Review: Fever

Fever by Donna Grant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Admittedly, I've jumped in and out of this world and its related series a bit, so I might not have as much riding on this big showdown as the rest of the readers. But it was still so satisfying! I don't think you should necessarily start here (is that hypocritical?), but boy is it good to get here!

This story is not entirely centered on Rhi's big showdown, but that's what this is all leading up to. The previous few books have been building to a big battle, but have centered around a mated pair (or unmated, or whatever). This book is about Bernadette and Kelton. Kelton, as all good Dragon Kings, does not want a mate. Sigh. Bernadette has had some unfortunate magical nudges to try "outing" the Dragon Kings. Throw them both into the same room and the sparks fly!

Bernadette was a nice surprise in the form of a tough heroine who ends up not needing rescuing as much as most, even though she's stomping around in a world she doesn't quite understand. Kelton was frustratingly blind to his situation until too late. Their love story might still be early on, but it was still good and sizzling.

Now, on to the larger investment - Rhi! Sure, we get some progress from other stories and characters, but we all want to see the battle that will be between Rhi and her previous queen. The Others have lurked in the shadows for a while but this book gives us more information than before, and should, hopefully, send us into a endgame scenario (right?). We get the battle, don't worry, but I feel a little... unsettled after that. You'll see what I mean. All in all, though, it was satisfying.

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Review: Listening skills and Emotional Intelligence Box set

Listening skills and Emotional Intelligence Box set by Michele Gilbert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I grabbed this audiobook box set as a quick addition to my leadership training for work. Overall, if you're looking for a refresher or introductory set to both topics, this would work for you. As someone who is familiar with both, it worked as a refresher but not much else. Also, a little off-putting was a hard sell on signing up for the mailing list for free books at the end of each section. Prepare to skip a bunch, so the total amount of time to listen is significantly less than it looks like.

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