Louisiana Longshot (Miss Fortune Mystery, Book 1)
by Jana Deleon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
There was a movie out in the past called Miss Congeniality starring Sandra Bullock, and even though I never watched the movie, the trailers make me think of this book. CIA agent Fortune Redding has a price on her head, and a leak in the agency has her hiding out in Sinful, Louisiana. She is suppose to be a beauty queen, librarian, and old-fashioned non feminist kinda gal. The exact opposite of what Fortune is, and what it turns out Aunt Marge was.
As Fortune is there, she gets caught up with some older ladies in town, Gertie and Ida Belle, that pretty much run the town, are life-long singles and have some skills that are quite uncommon for women of their age. It turned out to be quite a cute story and I enjoyed the book.
This is the first in a series, and it looks to be interesting to see what comes next and how long Fortune stays in Sinful and what all kinds of trouble she can get into with the ladies during that time.
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Princess Dracula
by John Patrick Kennedy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite
Princess Dracula takes the classic tale of the origins of the first vampire Dracula and turns it upside down. Vlad Dracula is the father in this story, and a ruthless man, bent on winning a decades long war against the Turks, no matter what the cost, even if it means sacrificing his eighteen year old daughter Ruxandra. Too bad for Vlad he has no idea what he is doing or who he is dealing with, he is way too confident in himself and thinks he is invincible, which leads to his downfall. Poor Ruxandra has to deal with what her father has done, and what it does to her, which is ultimately to turn her into a vampire of the night. For a young girl raised for the past ten years in a convent, this is unthinkable, how can she live like this. Author John Patrick Kennedy gives the reads a first hand look into the innocence of Ruxandra's mind and her moral and ethical conflicts at having been turned into what she feels is truly a beast.
From the very beginning, Princess Dracula twists in ways I never expected and kept me guessing from the first page! I was hooked, wanting to find out how Ruxandra dealt with this change, and what she finally did. There were some parts I liked less than others, but it all seemed to work together to tell a very convincing story set in 1476. Author John Patrick Kennedy reimagined the birth of the vampire and gave it a new life and a new beginning that is completely different and unexpected. This was a great read, but it is definitely and adult book. There are some mature themes throughout the book, which kinda comes with the territory when you are talking vampires, but at the same time I would just mention it here to avoid upsetting a sensitive reader.
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Violca's Dragon (The Dragon's Ruby, book 1)
by Leilani Love
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I accidentally started reading The Dragon Ruby series with book three, Kassandra's Wolf, and having enjoyed the book so much and wanting to know more about the characters in the book, I found the rest of the series that had been published so far.
Violca's Dragon is the first book in the series, and the beginning of the story. Violca is the Hungarian for Violet, which I found a neat connection to as my children are part Hungarian, their grandparents on both sides are first generation american born from full-blooded Hungarian immigrants. We always are looking at different Hungarian things because of this.
This story begins with Violca, still learning the nature of herself and her sisters, and Chase, a dragon shifter that was sent to protect her. Although once Chase sees her he is sure that she is the one in this world meant for him, his fated mate.
This was a great start to the series, introducing the witch sisters, who will show up in future books, as I found them in Kassandra's Wolf, as well as found mention of Kassandra in this book. I love when the books intertwine together, it just makes them so much more fun to read. I am so ready to start the next book!
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Author: Leilani Love
Leilani Love is a proud mother of two very active boys. She loves
traveling to new places and meeting new people wherever she goes.
Thus far, Leilani has visited Paris, DenBosch and Amsterdam and
hopes to one day return. On her next trip she hopes to be able to
make stops in Scotland and Italy. Currently residing in California,
she has also lived in Hawaii, Florida, Alaska, Virginia, Texas,
Washington and Oregon. She loves to read books and has a passion
for various genres. Her love affair with dragons began when she
was young and she still dreams of having her own dragon and Black
Panther. For now, she is content to write about them in her books.
Website
Series:
The Dragon Ruby
2. The King's Fire
2.5 Violca's Vow
4. Warrick's Hope
Kassandra's Wolf (Dragon Ruby Series, book 3)
by Leilani Love
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reviewed for Readers Favorite
Welcome to a world of humans, wolf shifters, dragon shifters, vampires and witches. Author Leilani Love creates a world that appeals to every paranormal fantasy that a reader might have and draws you into the world she has created, making you want to belong and find out so much more. Kassandra's Wolf is the story of Kassandra or Kat as her friends call her, and her mission to find out more at the connection between rogue dragon Dimitri and wolf-shifter Damien. Of course to accomplish her mission, Kat feels it best to hide her own dragon shifter nature from Damien, who takes her for a human, and is worried about telling her of his own wolf nature.
Kassandra's Wolf is a well written story of fated mates, finding each other in the most of unlikely places, and then dealing with family histories and betrayals that leave both parties scared of the idea of mates. Friends and close family play major roles in the story as well, making them prominent secondary characters that has the reader wanting to know even more about them. Author Leilani Love has done a fabulous job at creating a family structure and bond of friendship that feels real and genuine, one that the reader can easily identify with and relate too. As a reader I found this novel an enjoyment and the promise of a follow up novel appealing. Although there are some mature scenes between the main characters, it is within the confines of a mated pair, I would still advise it for adult reading only.
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Roar!
by Vanessa Kittle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was an amazingly short novelle, and I call it that because it took les than a couple hours to read, but I was engaged in the story the whole time and wanting to read more, in fact I was disappointed when the story ended, I wanted more, it actually felt like the first third of a book.
The story starts with Iris, a young woman who has moved back home to take care of her ailing and aging parents. She doesn't seem to resent this but takes it as just part of life and something that is expected and she should do. She works as a librarian at a high school and is asked to chaperon prom with a teacher, which turns out to be a disaster. On her way home she runs into something.
Alternating chapters tell the story of space travelers that have a problem, leaving only one of a crew of three alive and 5 light years off course, but in earth's system and finding an inhabited planet. Although not sure how to proceed, he knows that he has to travel to earth to find supplies to fix his ship to travel home at all.
The book was cute and fun to read, but I really wanted to get so much more from this story. I just felt it ended too soon, which is why I only gave it three stars.
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Librarian
by Brian Fence
In a more old world environment, where steam power has only recently been introduced into the area and changed the way of life slightly, comes a story of magic, power and betrayal.
Lenna is a Librarian, and he childhood friend Gilbert has left their home of Port Homish to join the Blue Brotherhood to learn to hone his magical abilities. Of course in their society only boys are trained in magic, and girls tend to lose their magic as they reach puberty, or at least that is the way Lenna has always thought it worked, but she is about to learn that a number of things she thought about life are not what she thought.
Gilbert arrives with a fellow mage, Luc, and asks Lenna for a favor of getting him out of town, which she readily agrees to because he was her best friend. On the way to her home, there is a confrontation with another of the Brotherhood, making their escape mean that Lenna is going to need to leave town with them.
As Gilbert, Luc and Lenna venture out to avoid capture, Lenna slowly learns more about what is going on, and find out that her own magic is still viable.
This is the first book in a new series, and it is well written, draws you in and creates a wonderful new world and environment that makes you want to explore and read more. I am looking forward to finishing this series and reading more of this series.
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