Review: Sweet Dreams

Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley
(Colorado Mountain #2)

Amazon Digital Services, 562 pages

GOODREADS

Quote
"His forehead dropped to touch mine. “I’m gonna piss you off ‘cause I can be a dick. That’s who I am. And you’re gonna piss me off ‘cause, babe, you got attitude. That’s who you are. And that’s who we’re comin’ out to be together. And I’m all right with that because, with what I had before, even when you’re a bitch, I like it. But when you’re not, it’s a sweetness the like I’ve never tasted."

Content
Lauren Grahame has spent her whole life thinking something special was going to happen. She didn’t know what it was, she just knew it would one day be hers. But she learned the hard way that special wasn’t on offer.

So, after divorcing her cheating husband, Lauren searched for nothing special and she thought she found it when she landed a job as a waitress in a biker bar in Carnal. It was perfect: a nothing job in a nowhere bar in Nowheresville.

Then Tatum Jackson walked in. Part-owner of the bar, he took one look at high-class Lauren and wanted nothing to do with her. And he made this known, loudly.

Tate’s angry insults seared in her brain, Lauren decides the feeling is mutual and she doesn’t want anything to do with the gloriously handsome Tate Jackson. The clash of the bartender and barmaid begins but, even though Tate makes his change of mind clear (in biker-speak, a language Lauren is not fluent in), Lauren is intent on going her own way.

Until a serial killer hits Carnal and Lauren finds out Tate isn’t a bartender, he’s a bounty hunter. He stakes his claim for Lauren before he goes on the hunt for a killer but Laurie doesn’t speak biker nor does she understand bounty hunters and Tate comes back from the hunt to find his old lady has moved on.

Life throws curveball after curveball at Laurie and Tate. As secrets are revealed, women are brutally murdered, and Lauren tries to find her inner biker babe

Thoughts
Sweet Dream felt like it was full of so many things, it was going to burst on the seams!
It certainly was a thriller, but also a romantic chick-lit contemporary.
Which was fine, it just seemed a bit too much for me.

The characters are wonderfully fleshed out, with their own quirks and where what made the writing bearable. I LOVED the hippies! And I loved the way Lauren was presented at the beginning. She seemed, you know, normal. And you can certainly see the way she changes, kinda blooms into being herself again instead of just being her ex-husbands wife (who's an ass).


For some reason the author thought 3 page long monologues where the way to go. Nope, total disaster that! She explained things like wardrobes in it's tiniest detail and some sentences filled half a page, which threw me out of the story instead of sucking me in more.
And this didn't just happen once or twice, but it's her actual style.


Way too much information and dialogue! I never thought I'd cry over too much information or dialogue because most of the time either one seems lacking. On the other hand it WAS a gripping read, certainly steamy and with a lot of interesting side-stories. Which was especially nice, because most books focus on one couple, but this one went in depth with about every character!


Rating ★★★☆☆

Review: Dark Descendant

Dark Descendant by Jenna Black

(Nikki Glass #1)

Pocket Books, 355 Pages
GOODREADS

Quote
“There is no lock strong enough nor wall thick enough to keep Death out," he murmured, his lips close to my ear so that I could feel the puff of his breath against my skin. The ends of a couple of his braids had found their way under the collar of my flannel night-shirt and tickled the base of my neck. "Are you speaking literally or metaphorically?”


Content
Nikki Glass can track down any man. But when her latest client turns out to be a true descendant of Hades, Nikki now discovers she can’t die. . . . Crazy as it sounds, Nikki’s manhunting skills are literally god-given. She’s a living, breathing descendant of Artemis who has stepped right into a trap set by the children of the gods. Nikki’s new “friends” include a descendant of Eros, who uses sex as a weapon; a descendant of Loki, whose tricks are no laughing matter; and a half-mad descendant of Kali who thinks she’s a spy. But most powerful of all are the Olympians, a rival clan of immortals seeking to destroy all Descendants who refuse to bow down to them. In the eternal battle of good god/bad god, Nikki would make a divine weapon. But if they think she’ll surrender without a fight, the gods must be crazy

Thoughts
Our main character Nikki, a descendant of Artemis, becomes an immortal by accident, literally. The writing style was very easy to follow, the characters a bit shallow, but as this is a series I hope they will get better developed over the next installments. The idea was really promising and actually well executed, but I felt that people where just a tad bit annoying at times. Nikki is always very compassionate and even emphasizes this herself, telling us about being a 'bleeding heart' over and over again. I get it, no need to repeat yourself. Jamaal was beginning to get on my nerves when he cornered Nikki all the time, because he thought she is playing them, but getting killed a few times as punishment made me re-asses my feelings for him. As an immortal they apparently can die - they just come back every time. And getting beheaded cannot be a nice feeling, either way. There wasn't much romance going on in this book, which was a surprise. We do have something that seems like the beginning of a romance between Blake and Nikki's sister, whose name i forgot, which has it's own big obstacles.
(Sorry I do not want to spoil anything, so I leave it at that.)
All in all a nice book to kill some time.

Rating ★★★☆☆

Review: Easy

Easy By Tammara Webber

CreateSpace, 316 Pages
GOODREADS

Quote
Unfortunately, the coughing drew her attention. "Are you dying or something?" she asked, affecting a perfect sneer as I shook my head. "Well, hacking up a lung out in public isn't all that attractive - just sayin'." My face flamed, but then Benji leaned up and spoke around me. "Um, giving half the class an exhaustive summary every Monday morning--in lurid detail--of how much of an alcoholic skank you are? Isn't all that attractive either. Just sayin'.”


Content
When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she’s single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, stalked by her ex’s frat brother, and failing a class for the first time in her life. Her econ professor gives her an email address for Landon, the class tutor, who shows her that she’s still the same intelligent girl she’s always been. As Jacqueline becomes interested in more from her tutor than a better grade, his teasing responses make the feeling seem mutual. There’s just one problem—their only interactions are through email.


Thoughts
Jacqueline, our main character, is being cornered by Buck, her ex-boyfriends friend, and nearly gets raped. Wow. You really didn't expect that after reading the blurb! It is an important part of the story, though. This book is about romance, but also sexual assault and how to overcome the fear after an attack. It was very sensitive with the topic, not too detailed, but still showing the fears and thoughts of the victims. What I didn't like was that suddenly everywhere rape victims seemed to sprout out of nowhere. But maybe that's exactly what the book wanted to show - you think you are alone, but if you fight you will see there are others.

I was frustrated by the little regard other women showed the rape victims in this book, it was just really one scene but I hope to god women wouldn't really act like this when confronted with an obvious rape in their midst. "Maybe you want to frame him" my ass. Women who say that are no better than women who actually do shit like that.

Anyway, the romance between Lucas and Jacqueline is very first-crush like. They are both jittery it seems and unsure about themselves, but very passionate, ha. The big mystery about Landon isn't really a big mystery and if anybody feels that was a spoiler i say "Bitch, please." Some things are just way to obvious. However, the mystery around Lucas' tattoos and background was a bit more startling and, I felt, a bit over the top, too.

Rating ★★★☆☆

Review: Blood Rights

Blood Rights by Kristen Painter
(House of Comarre #1)

Orbit, 392 pages
GOODREADS

Quote
Something glistened on her cheek. He leaned in and brushed her hair out of the way, the strands like cool water. The makeup covering her marks had worn off. The moonlight caught her signum and brought them to life in a subtle dance of gold across her cheekbone that turned into vines and flowers scrolling up her temple and arching over her brow. Beautiful. Wrenching. Like he’d been privileged to see something both intimate and sacred. He should go. He couldn’t.



Content
Chrysabelle is a special kind of human, bred to feed the vampire nobility. The golden tattoos on her pale skin mark her just as such – a comarre. When her master is murdered she becomes the prime suspect, sending her running and searching for help to prove her innocence. She might have found an (unwilling) ally in Mal – a cursed vampire that kills everyone he drinks from and hears the voices of his past victims.


Thoughts
I think about vampires, blood servants and a quest to save the world and I kinda know the way a book will go. Blood Rights is no exception, but the execution was good enough. You root for the characters, you understand why they sometimes act silly when they just acted as kick-ass as the terminator a moment earlier, because who wouldn’t feel thrown off balance when faced with a world they know but not know. Romance is definitely a big factor in this book. Between Mel and Chrystabelle, Doc and Fi, Maris and Dominic. One however I didn’t see coming, right near the end. A welcoming surprise that explained A LOT about why many things happened. Without that last puzzle piece, the whole book would be a bit more random, but now it feels like fate decided. I’ll likely read book 2, but it’s not a priority.


Rating ★★★☆☆

Review: Fire Baptized

Fire Baptized by Kenya Wright
(Habitat #1)

Dragonfair Press, 276 pages
GOODREADS

Quotes
Dante and this Palero were definitely playing some sort of game, and I didn’t know the rules, which was fine with me. Whenever a game became too complicated, I just set the board on fire.


Content
Since the 1970s humans have forced supernaturals to live in caged cities. Silver brands embedded in their foreheads identify them by species: a full moon for Vampires, a crescent moon for Shifters, a pair of wings for Fairies, and the list goes on, for each supernatural species has been tagged and categorized by humans. Lanore Vesta is marked with a silver X, the brand of Mixbreeds, second-class citizens shunned by society. She stays to herself, revealing her ability to create fire only during emergencies. All she wants to do is graduate college and stop having to steal to survive. But when she stumbles upon a murder in progress, she catches the attention of a supernatural killer. Now all she wants is to stop finding dead bodies in her apartment.


Thoughts
This book was simply a-l-r-i-g-h-t. The writing is clear and enjoyable, no rambling and not too much theatrics going on. A love triangle that didn’t made me wanna scratch my eyes out (what a surprise!) and a strong and likable heroine. She seemed like the kinda person that would rather throw herself into insanity then depression – in a good way. Don’t give up until it’s too late and than try to kick ass anyway. The story was dark and at times gruesome, but never without reason. The mystery of the murderers identity had me stumped. There was nothing really given away at any time! Which was good, sure, but I like when I feel like the name of the culprit is just at the tip of my tongue. As a first book in a series it’s interesting enough and I hope the second book will be a bit better, with more details.


Rating ★★★☆☆