Tag Archives: Indie

Review of Leigh Parker’s 10 Ways To Piss Off A Reaper

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Leigh Parker sent me an e-copy of 10 Ways to Piss of a Reaper, the sequel to 10 Ways to Kill a Cupid (which I reviewed here).

Description from Goodreads:
Two years after Leigh’s absurd story, another event occurs involving the volcanic Natalie McIntyre, her life file and the Reaper that’s just pulled it from the Heaven filing system.

To save Natalie from her impending doom, Leigh goes back to Heaven to save her only to be given an ultimatum – pair ten people up in seven days or risk staying in Heaven indefinitely

 Review:

Ok, before I even get into the meat and potatoes of this review let me just say that the author, yes, you Leigh Parker, are cruel, cruel, CRUEL! The third book (10 Ways to Freak Out an Angel) better be done soon or I might go a little Natalie McIntyre crazy myself. This book ends on a serious, nail-biting cliffhanger. There was much teeth gnashing and hair pulling on my part when the kindle wouldn’t go any further and I realised I was at the end of the book. Meany!

Like the previous book, 10 Ways to Kill a Cupid, this book is side splittingly funny. I started the book while sitting in a parking lot waiting on someone and got more than one strange look. For all intents and purposes I probably appeared to be sitting in a car alone, laughing to myself. It has a very ‘English humour’ sort of feel to it that I just love, and not just because of the references to hob-nobs and kievs.

Leigh is just about the most lovable looser you could imagine. I don’t really think Leigh is a looser, but Leigh likes to tell the reader that, so I’ll allow Leigh the title. The self-deprecation is kind of cute. Leigh also must be just a smudge masochistic, ’cause the love for Natalie-the-beast seems real. Natalie is just about as unpleasant as can be, but somehow I really, really want her for my best friend. Granted, she might strangle me or die of disgust at the thought, but still. Once you have her number, like Leigh does, I bet she’d be a lot of fun. 

Parker has pulled off another stunner with 10 Ways to P*** Off a Reaper and I can’t wait to read the third book in the series. Highly recommended!

 

Review of Roxanne Rhoads’ Hex and the Single Witch

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I grabbed Roxanne Rhoads‘ novel Hex and the Single Witch off of the Amazon free list.

Description from Goodreads:

Anwyn Rose is descended from a long line of powerful witches yet she can barely cast spells young witchlings have mastered. She has one functioning witch gift, the power of knowing, which she puts to good use as a Detective on Flint’s Preternatural Investigation Team (aka the P.I.T. Crew).

It’s a new era in Vehicle City, supernaturals are running the town. The P.I.T has their hands full with paranormal crimes. Top priority is a serial killer, who appears to be a vampire, draining young women in the city.

Anwyn is on the case with her sexy partner Detective Mike Malone. 
Complicating things is her relationship Galen, a vampire who looks more guilty than innocent, although Anwyn trusts her instincts even if her power is on the fritz.

Mysterious spells, compromising situations, and a possible demon on the loose make it hard to focus on the case, but Anwyn has to make things right before the human police execute the wrong vampire.

Review:

Anwyn Rose is a witch and a member of the Preternatural Investigation Team of Flint, Michigan. She is partnered with a steamy hunk of a man whose smarmy harassment seems to hide a delicious, Carmel-soft core and is tentatively sticking her toes into the supernatural dating realm with an emotionally damaged, possible dangerous, sex-on-a-stick vampire. Things regularly heat up. This is PNR, bordering on erotica. Yum

What I like about Anwyn and her situation is that she is an adult. While she worries about the course of her relationships and how it might affect her work, she never has to bother with the juvenile, ‘What is this strange feeling I have,’ does he like me back,’ ‘How could he love someone like me?’ She understands her own lust, knows what she wants, and is willing and able to recognise the same in her partner. It is refreshing to not have to wade through all that angst. She is also really funny.

Though not HE, I appreciate that the author is willing to acknowledge that immortal beings or morally corrupt demons aren’t really going to care much about traditional mores against same-gender encounters. There aren’t a lot of them in the book and they are brief sighting really, but they occur as easily and unobtrusively as any other…and are damn hot. By the same token, demons are involved, so reasonably so is a little bit of sexual deviance that can be a little on the uncomfortable side.

Poor Flint, Michigan is in trouble. Some sort of ‘big bad’ is coming and Anwyn and her team are trying to figure it out. She manages to solve a few hiccup-type problems in this book and make a little headway into the hex issue, but definitely doesn’t solve THE problem. I guess I’ll have to wait for the sequel for that. It also felt like the immediate Devlin/Galen/Roarke issue resolved itself far too easily. All-in-all it was an enjoyable evening’s read.

Book Review of Zoe Forward’s Dawn of a Dark Knight

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I grabbed Forward‘s PNR Dawn of a Dark Knight off of the Amazon free list. 

Description from Goodreads:

In the shadows of our world, a secret band of warriors fights to protect us. They are the last line of defense against an evil no human can stop.

An ancient nemesis has resurfaced. Duty demands that Ashor Vlahos, Scimitar Magi commander, recruit a magical healer to fortify the remaining eight magi. The gods’ choice is the woman who helped him escape torture a decade ago. Ashor couldn’t have imagined a better punishment for his vow-breaker homicidal incidents than for the gods to bind him irrevocably to the only woman in the universe he cannot have. The soul-searing desire she ignites in him is strictly forbidden.

Kira Hardy, M.D. is a brilliant, hardworking internal med resident with big secrets. But when Ashor asks for aid after a brutal daemon attack, she is sucked into his dangerous, secret world. Enslavement to the magi, no matter how hot they are, may be an unattractive life plan, but being targeted for death by their enemies is less tolerable.

She must trust the sexy, tormented Ashor to keep her safe while he must deny his ultimate desire and keep Kira at arm’s length lest he bring destruction down on them both. As a centuries-old evil catches up to them, they face a crucial decision–follow the gods’ rules or follow their hearts.

Review:

My first thought on reading Dawn of a Dark Knight is that the cover doesn’t match it. IMO it needs one a little more like those of J.R. Ward‘s or Elisabeth Naughton‘s, something that screams PNR because that is what this is. Like the Black Dagger Brotherhood or the Eternal Guardians the men of Dawn of a Dark Knight, the Magi, are a bonded group of hard as nails, hot as fire, destined for one woman defenders of the innocent. And like other such books in the genre the sexual tensions run high and the sex smolders, but my favourite part is the males’ interactions with one another. They fight to the death for one another, but also rag each other constantly. They laugh at each other’s pain and wheedle anyone with a perceptible weakness, all in good fun of course. This made for plenty of funny moments.

Though side characters I also loved Kane and Markus, especially Kane. Next to the two main characters I think he was my favourite in the book. I expect he will play prominent role in future books in the series, but of courses that is only my speculation…or hope. 

It did feel a little bit like after fighting her destiny the whole book, Kira suddenly and for no apparent reason (other than that she should have already) finally gave in to it. I couldn’t identify a single causal event or moment. Maybe there didn’t need to be, but I found myself thinking, ‘Hey, when did she change her mind?’ There were also a few noticeable editing mistakes, but nothing that irritated me enough to put me off reading further. 

Since Wild Rose Press  only just released this one I don’t know when a second is expected, but I’d be happy to read it when it is out.