GET LUCKY by Laurie O'Claire

Get Lucky is not a paranormal romance. It is anything, but. It is set in modern day America and is part of Lorie O'Claire's Bounty Hunters series. It is the second book in the series, the first being Play Dirty.

I normally don't read this type of romance, but I was in the mood for something a little different. So, I took a chance.

I loved it!

O'Claire delivers the typical romance novel formula in a very sexy way. I fell in love with Marc King immediately. Who doesn't love a hot guy who knows what he wants? A guy with a bad boy edge, but is a nice guy at the same time? C'mon, we all want Mr. Dangerous, but we don't want him to be an asshole. And Mr. King is the bad boy du jour.

Then we have the lady. London is nice, sweet, hot and running from her childhood. She loses herself in her work, isolates her self from connections to others while maintaining a heart of gold. She isn't the bitter bitch you want to slap down. She's the girl you identify with who happens to be hot, better than LA hot because she's a brunette not a bottle blonde.

As this is book two, it's a continuation from Play Dirty which focuses on papa King, Greg. He's a retired cop turned bounty hunter who gets caught up in a “game”. The “game” involves the super rich kidnapping the best of the best for an all out secret war. Greg and wife get dragged in in book one. They think they are out of it, but now they are dragged back in with sons in tow. They are a side note in the story, but needed for the whole concept of the story line.

What I like best about this book is the use of cock, pussy, wet, thrust, balls, and ….well, the modern concept that sex is fucking fun and can be edgy and doesn't have to drip with saccharin terminology. It also keeps you interested beyond the hot sex scenes; you really care about the characters and wonder what's going to happen next. Are they going to make it? Is Marc going to die? Will they ever see each other again? Okay you know the answers, but O'Claire writes well enough to give you a hint of doubt.

So, I bought book one and I'm ready for book two. Read it. It's fun.

Wilderness-Barbara J. Hankcock

I had two firsts with Hancock's Wilderness. One, I read it as an e-book on Borders e-reader and it's my first Nocturne Bites book from Silhouettes. I have to say though I like the e-reader, didn't love it, that was the best part of this experience. Wilderness was insulting.

I love, love, love paranormal romances a lot. I read all kinds of it and I know what I like and I know when the author is giving me their all. If this is Hancock's all, she needs literary Viagra to keep me satisfied. She brings to us....a interesting alternative world where the paranormal and those like them come to the foreground after a universal illness. Those who became ill were not entirely human. This leads us to the insecure Tess who is on a crusade to help the oppressed. In comes Colin, alpha wolf. She helps save him and in doing so she is now a target of the authorities; they both have to run.

Sounds good, right? It could be accept that the book doesn't give enough detail, reads like an outline for a bigger and better book. This is a book for teenage girls. They wouldn't mind the over the top language, the lack of needed detail and the bits of unbelievable devices.

Yes, it's a paranormal romance. There is a certain amount of suspension of disbelief. However, there has to be enough connection to the human condition to make the choices the protagonists make. I don't ever root for anyone, care for anyone and I ended up putting down the book.

This could be a great story if there was more to it. As is it, it's training wheels left for 8^th grade readers.

Drink of Me:Jacquelyn Frank

Hello, it’s been a while since I posted a review. This one is a stand alone titled, Drink of Me. Frank has a few series, Three Worlds, The Nightwalkers, The Shadowdwellers and the Gatherers. I really do wish that Drink of Me was a apart of a series.

In Drink of Me, Frank manages to mesh fantasy and the paranormal in a wonderful tapestry. It’s an easy, fun read where we meet Reule, the Prime of the Sange, a tribe that has been chased out of its homelands, but has managed to create a society in a harsh part of the world. They are feared and misunderstood, but this doesn’t stop it’s ruler from finding love outside of the Keeps walls or outside of his tribe.

Then comes a woman of no name, no origin, found beaten and near death calling to the Leader of the Sange. Who is she? Could she bring harm to Reule and his people? Will her past be too much for the Sange to bear?

You have to read it to find out. But I will say, it’s a seductive, tantalizing ride and one that I wish would go on. The other men in this book, Rye, Darcio, Chayne and more are all very tantalizing and their stories begged to be heard. Unfortunately, not at this time.

However, I enjoyed this book so much that I find myself looking into Frank’s other books to see if I can find more gems like the one that I just finished reading. Find it, enjoy it!!!

Blood Magic-Jennifer Lyon-(Book One)

Hi there!! Long time no see. I’ve been around diving into my other hobbies, but I’ve managed to finish two books since my last review.

One is a by Robert Zelazny, but that one’s not the focus of this entry. It’s not paranormal so, I am gonna start with a book that just came out this year, February specifically. And the best part? It’s a book one in the series to you can totally use this review. So what’s what? Okay, here goes:

Jennifer Lyon has brought us…….hunters. Ummm, that’s been done. Yeah it has been done in one way, but let me tell you this, Queen Kenyon doesn’t own the rights to the idea of “hunters” any more than she does to the Gods she uses in her story. But, that doesn’t really matter because in truth, if you like Kenyon you’ll probably like Lyon.

So it involved hunters. Wing Slayers to be exact. These are dudes created to protect witches. And they did this for a while until some of the witches began serving demons thus becoming demon witches. These witches decided to bind the Wing Slayer hunters to them as familiar, but all hell broke loose and what occurred was a curse.

Witches could no longer obtain familiars and hunters craved the blood of witches. In the mess, earth witches basically lost half their powers and half their souls. The hunters lost have their soles too, but they could lose it entirely if they gave into their blood lust and killed a witch.

Phew!!!! That’s a lot to digest and hell there is more. I just told you the basic premise of Lyon’s world, not the plot of the book. Want to hear about that?

Sure you do.

There’s this chick Darcy, an adopted daughter who always felt like an outcast. Her adoptive father thought she was evil, her adoptive mother tried to protect her but was often sick. Darcy has lived most of her life trying to prove her self to her father, but to no avail….

That sounds kind of boring huh? You know, it some ways it is, but we all want our heroes and heroines to overcome something, right? Everybody has shit poured on them. We like it best when those very people come out shining.

Oh ew,

Anyway, you see what I’m getting at. So Darcy’s adoptive mother dies and that’s when all hell starts breaking loose. Darcy is kidnapped and learns she is a which that has rouge witch hunters out to kill her. But that’s not even the terrifying part.

The very man who kidnapped her, Axel, is a hunter, who craves her blood. But that’s only part of the problem….

I have to toss in another “phew” here. This plot has a lot of layers and much is tossed out at the reader. I will tell you this though, there’s tons of action, drama, love, hate, sorrow and joy. The book is definitely a bangin’ start to a whole new series involving witches, demons, and gods. It’s a very, very tasty adventure all wrapped up in one current goal, saving the life of a special little girl, Axels’ little sister.

So nab it, read it, get hooked on a very well written, well rounded, story. I’m glad the cover caught my eye.

© 2008

On Writing and Kathy with a K.

I was out roaming used bookstores yesterday. I met a woman named Kathy. I’m going Kathy with a K, because I likes it. To tell you the truth, I see that far more than with a “C”.

I could be wrong about that. I have been about such things before.

So I met Kathy with a K in the paranormal section of said used book store. She was looking for the latest Laurel K., I think. I could be wrong on that one, too. I have to admit my minds been on a lot of things lately and simple facts like those mentioned above get a little skewed.

Anyway, I’m on the floor looking for more Stover books. I have this sudden minor obsession with him. I don’t know why…Oh, I’m looking for him in the mini-paranormal section because the sci-fi/fantasy bleeds into it.

Always has really. I got my first paranormal out of my Science Fiction Book Club catalog when I was a teen.

You don’t care. And I see why.

So, I’m sitting there in her way. She’s actually pretty cool about it and before I know it, we’re talking shop, shop for me I guess, books for her. Though again, I don’t really know. I’m making a lot of assumptions based on a five minute interaction with someone I’ve just met.

So we’re talking about paranormals. She’s thinking on Kenyon. I mention this site. As I do, I realize that there’s not much to this site other than my reviews and most of the reviews are on things that have been out for a while. No hardcore reader needs my reviews, except maybe those new to any series I’ve reviewed.

Blehg…..stick to the point. I have a pattern of running from points, especially blunt ones aimed at my chest…

So we’re talking books. I like talking books. I love talking about them, that’s why I started this blog in the first place. I wanted to talk about what I’d been reading while I did my never ending research for my genre. In that realization I asked my self:

Am I a reader or a writer?

After some thought, I have to say both. I think the two go hand in hand and if they don’t it’s a lot harder to be a writer. The more I read the easier it gets for me to write the full length novel. I don’t need a book to tell me how to write a short piece. That’s easy for me. What’s hard is the long term mental organization of anything over 15,000 words.

So I think I need to be a reader to be a writer. There’s an issue with that though.

How much reading is too much?

I’ve read a ton of books this last year. I’ve started a novel. I have finished about 20 books or so, but I’m still working on said novel and the latter is really pissing me off.

I have my reasons. We all do. I think every writer on the planet has a reason for dropping the ball and screwing the pooch on time-lines. I do it all the time. In fact, it’s my greatest talent. I start writing novels and don’t finish them.

And that’s what I’ve been trying to overcome. That’s what I’ve been placing as my god-damned goal this year. Finish writing a fucking book!!! It doesn’t even have to be good; it just has to be done!!!

Is that so much to ask?

Sometimes I think it is. Sometime I think I should stop all of this crap and just be a reader, keep writing my blogs and my little blinks of writing. Fuck the novel, fuck the book, fuck the idea of ever getting published.

At times like these I have to wonder how close I am to my time of the month?

Not gonna look, not gonna check. Hormones can’t get in the way of what I want.

I can though. I can get in my way so damned easily that I trip over myself without even knowing, not until my face hits the floor.

So in my bump and grind mental bitching I’ve gotta ask myself:

What do I need to do to finish a book?

Read? I bought some books on writing. I bought one from Ray Bradbury and one from Stephen King. I’ve never done that before because I believe I don’t need to learn how they write. I need to learn how I write. But this isn’t really about style or stories or the actual writing anymore. It’s about organization, pushing myself, overcoming fears and creating space, really creating mental and physical space so I can get off my mental ass and fucking write a damn book. No, finish writing it.

You know, all I’m asking for is a finished first draft.

So, I’m talking to Kathy with a K. I wanted to be able to tell her I wrote a book. I wanted to be able to point to it on a shelf. I wanted to say , “Hey, that’s me. I wrote that.” That would have been nice. It could still be nice if I push myself to keep on towards that goal.

I though about going to a writer’s groups again. I like my old one, kind of. Truth is, there were some really, really good writers in that group. There were also some really, really crappy ones. (Note to one bad writer: DON”T write fantasy if you’ve never picked up a single fantasy book in your life. It’s obvious and you’re not so profoundly brilliant as to pull jack shit off.)

Sometimes I think I have a few bitter bones in my body. Nah, cynical. That’s not the same thing.

I don’t really know what I’m going to do to focus. I can read more this and that. I can spend one night a week at a table talking to other writers. I can continue to bitch on these pages, but I know that none of that is going to be the key to getting my fingers tapping. They may help, but in the end I am the only thing stopping me from anything.

Maybe I need a few more blunt points aimed at my heart? Maybe then I’ll write screaming to the finish line. Ah, maybe all my book needs is a blood sacrifice.

Or does that only work for mechanical things?


© 2009

Heroes Die: Matthew Woodring Stover

Hello everyone. This review is from a different genre. I warned you in my last post and here it is. Heroes Die… Oh but first, please get past the cheesy cover, please. Trust me.

I found the recently released Caine: Black Knife at one of my beloved bookstores and was enthralled. Stover’s writing has a gritty edge to it that I like. It’s kind of like mine, but his is very male in perspective. For me, that’s actually a nice change. I’ve been reading tons from the female perspective.

Oh yeah, review.

Anyway, I picked up dude, liked it and of course it was the third book of our hero, Caine. That pissed me off. Nah, not really, it was an excuse to buy more books, but you know the first two in this story arc are out of print. They shouldn’t be and I’m willing to bet they will see a reprint.

So, I bought the first two books, Heroes Die and Blade of Thyshalle just so I could read Caine: Black Knife. I’ve never read anything else by Stover and purchasing Heroes Die wasn’t a feat. You can still get it for $7.99. Book two though….is a flippin $35.00 used and that’s a minimum price.

S’okay though. I have my needs and I met them. Admittedly, I was taking a chance because for all I knew, Stover just got good; he could have sucked ass years ago. To my delight, he doesn’t, err uh, didn’t. How’s that grammar go?

Heroes Die is set in an alternate universe. It’s a little sci-fi. It’s a little fantasy. It’s not paranormal in any other way than there’s magic involved. You and I know though, that magic in and of itself isn’t paranormal. Hmmm, I guess I’m trying to defend the genre here. I forgot I don’t need to. My blog. My rules. My god-damned Universe. So screw that and let’s get on with it.

Hari Michaelson is an Actor, not an "actor" as you and I know it, though. In this world, Actors are transported to another world and “act” out missions and so forth. The people at home get hooked up to these thingys and can feel and experience those Adventures first hand, if they’re lucky. Second-handers are more common since they cost less. Anywho, it’s way cool. Can you imagine feeling what Harrison Ford feels as he’s hopping through the jungle? His adrenaline’s spiking. He’s full of fear, full of confidence, full of…fuck, full of life.

Imagine that. Imagine you knowing what it feels like to snap the whip, take the hit, over come an opponent. Ever wonder what it’s like to kill a man? Hell, I’d like to ride in a man’s pants once, from the other side. What does that feel like?

The people in this world know. First-hand.

So there’s your little sci-fi. The fantasy is where they go. They go to Overworld or Ankhana as the inhabitants know it. That’s were all the action is. There’s thrones to be overthrown, emperors to be killed, thieves to be tricked, rivals to be thwarted.

Really it’s a great Sunday afternoon read.

Oh there’s a bit of love story here. You romancey types are gonna love that piece of the pie. You get the super alpha hero on top off all the other yummy stuff because while Hari/Caine is contracted to kill an Emperor and may be god, he really wants to save his wife from death. (Estranged wife.) She’s stuck there and if she can’t get back to their rightful world she goes splodey, in an utmost icky way.

The story is quite more complicated than all that, but I gave you enough to take a look-see right? You gotta read it. It’s gritty. It’s intelligent. It takes a little from ancient governing concepts, tosses it into an alternate future and wraps it all in a heated, action filled, fast pace, adventure that leaves you wanting more.

You’ll pay $35 for book two. Screw dinner for the kids. You’ll want the high.

© 2009

Stover’s blog: http://mattstover.blogspot.com/

P.S. Stover's site says Blade of Thyshalle is available in e-book format.

On Other Things and Request a Review?

I’m taking a break from the paranormal. I’m reading Heroes Die by Michael Woodring Stover. I suppose he has to add the Woodring on so that he’s not lost in the enormous crotch spew of other Michael Hoovers.

Heroes Die was published before the new millennia….I guess that means it’s fucking old. Book three was released this year. I guess that means Stover is a lazy bastard.

Whatever meaning you take, I’m nineteen pages in and loving it.

I used to read tons of sci-fi and fantasy when I was a kid. I think my first huge novel was The Hobbit. My first truly intellectual sci-fi was Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

I guess you could say I started with the classics. I got into Narnia…sort of. I can’t say I read past book two. I loved the Cheysuli Chronicles by Jennifer Roberson. I dug me some Elric, tried to down some Jordan, but didn’t really get into it. I probably could now though, now I can stomach things I couldn’t back then.

Then I wanted super fun, super cool like Han Solo’s Revenge and Johnny Mnemonic. Too bad Johnny was such a short story. I did the Conan thing, the Gor thing, though I didn’t see the slavey stuff for what it was. I thought it was cool though and read through the crap to get to my slave girls.

Anyway, my vamp thing started big time and I lost touch with the sci-fi world and certainly the fantasy world. I traveled back for a bit though. Roberson tossed out her Deep Wood Trilogy, though I’m still pissed at her for making me wait for book three. I ate the shit up though and will patiently whinny for more.

I’m glad Stover is giving me something to chomp on. Something fast paced, gritty and intelligent. I hope he continues on. (Since I paid an arm and a leg for out of print book two.) When I’m done I will of course review it. I’m no longer reading things without reviewing them. (Makes me feel important.)

Speaking of reviews. If you have anything you want me to review, your book or someone else’s let me know. You can e-mail me at liliadiorfeo@yahoo.com. I can’t guarantee review times, but if you give me enough notice on something newly out I can do my best. Hell, if you fucking paid me, I’d read it on the spot.

Wow, I’m a potty mouth. *grins*

Hey, here’s the site of a friend of mine. http://kennethmarkhoover.com/ I’ve read some of his stuff and I really like it. I’m going to be reviewing his book, Fevreblau as soon as I get it. It’s Sci-Fi, but don’t worry I won’t be setting up camp on that side of the literary world. My heart belongs to the vampires, werewolves and gods of the universe.

All right, I’m outty. See you on the other side.

© 2009



.