Book Reviews

A Potion to Die For (A Magic Potion Mystery #1) By: Heather Blake

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A Potion to Die For (A Magic Potion Mystery #1) By: Heather Blake

Plot:

TROUBLE IS BREWING…

As the owner of Little Shop of Potions, a magic potion shop specializing in love potions, Carly Bell Hartwell finds her product more in demand than ever. A local soothsayer has predicted that a couple in town will soon divorce—and now it seems every married person in Hitching Post, Alabama, wants a little extra matrimonial magic to make sure they stay hitched. But when Carly finds a dead man in her shop, clutching one of her potion bottles, she goes from most popular potion person to public enemy number one. In no time the murder investigation becomes a witch hunt—literally! Now Carly is going to need to brew up some serious sleuthing skills to clear her name and find the real killer—before the whole town becomes convinced her potions really are to die for!

Review:

I missed the fact that this was written by the same author that did the Wishcraft Mysteries. I ended up liking this magic system more, but I wish there was more hocus pocus and paranormal elements.

Carly was an alright character and the supporting cast was pretty good. It was kind of sad, though, that the one person murdered wasn’t a bad guy in any way. Normally in a cozy only eh people die.

I do really wish there was more magic in the world and kept hoping more would show up, but it never happened. It was pretty non-magical to be honest. She made potions that were really just herbal remedies with a “special” ingredient. She also had some empathic abilities that she kept under wraps and a little witchy sense to danger.

I thought her relationship with Delia, her “evil” cousin was well developed and I hope there’s more done there in future books. I actually really liked Delia and Dylan, Carly’s love interest.

All in all, it was a really good mystery, but the magic was a bit lacking for my tastes.

3.5/5

Smiley (New Species #13) By: Laurann Dohner

Smiley

Smiley (New Species #13) By: Laurann Dohner

Plot:

Vanni is furious when her fiancé tricks her into attending a conference where his father’s church is protesting the New Species Organization. She hates everything those vile bigots stand for. Vanni goes to the bar to cool off and ends up seated next to a handsome New Species. Things heat up fast when they are both drugged.

Smiley doesn’t want to believe the sweet human would dose them with the breeding drug. He’s willing to trust her and determined to save her life. He’ll hold her. Protect her. Offer up his body to distract them both from the pain. She is his female, even if she doesn’t realize it yet.

Review:

I really loved Smiley as a character but I did not like this book. First off it started off with the couple getting drugged and if they didn’t have sex they’d be in a lot of pain. There was pretty much no foreplay before the reader was thrown into a lot of explicit sex scenes. Did not like. I ended up skipping a lot of this book.

I liked Smiley but hated Vanni. She was super weak and shy and submissive and just not my type of female lead.

The story was also a lot shorter than a normal new species and I felt like not much happened. They got her to Homeland quickly and she never left. The bad guys were captured behind the scenes and that was pretty much it.

I thought some of the ideas in the book were really good, but they didn’t reach their full potential. They kind of unraveled and became nonsense. I’m also getting tired of all the human males being depicted as horrible. Out of all of the human men in this series I think there might be one nice one. One. Maybe.

I really like the idea behind the New Species series and in the beginning I liked what she was doing with it, but lately there just hasn’t been enough development. The series has kind of stagnated.

3/5

Darkness (New Species #12) By: Laurann Dohner

Darkness

Darkness (New Species #12) By: Laurann Dohner

Plot:

Kat’s boss wants dirt on the NSO. She is sent to Homeland undercover but everything goes wrong as soon as she enters the front gates. She is arrested by a big, powerful, sexy New Species but she is not frightened. He turns her on and things heat up fast between them. Now, she just hopes he does not break her heart.

Darkness admires Kat’s courage but he cannot trust anything she says. He hasn’t been with a female for years because he knows he is too damaged. He is not mate material, despite his desire to possess her in every way. Darkness fears losing control—the one thing that defines his life. He doesn’t think he can tear down the protective walls he’s built, even for her.

Inside Scoop: Kat never realized how much fun handcuffs and dominant males could be until she discovered her kinky side through Darkness’ need for control.

Review:

It’s been a while since I read a New Species novel and once again I can’t really explain why I like these books.

Kat is a strong willed kick-ass woman that handles a very violent scene in the first few pages. It was a pretty awesome introduction and I started to wonder if we were finally going to get a woman that goes toe to toe with a New Species. Well, we kind of did. Kind of.

She didn’t back down as quickly as others and really held out, but in the end she succumbed. It’s a romance, I knew it was going to happen, but one time I’d like to see the New Species do more of the submitting. The woman has to completely give up her entire life and live on a compound. I get that a lot of the world hates the New Species, but I wish there was more development in that area.

Darkness was a good male lead. He was tortured, like them all, too jealous for my liking (which is normal in this series), and he can’t resist Kat.

One of my favorite parts was Missy, Kat’s best friend, and I really hope she gets her own New Species hunk, but we’ll see.

4/5

Austenland (Austenland #1) By: Shannon Hale

Austenland

Austenland (Austenland #1) By: Shannon Hale

Plot:

Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined. Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen—or maybe even, she suspects, with the actors who are playing them. It’s all a game, Jane knows. And yet the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

Review:

I really liked this movie and I enjoy reading books movies are based on, so reading this was a no brainer.

Anyway, there were parts of the book I enjoyed more than the movie and there were parts of the movie that I enjoyed more. The book added more character information and you got to see what Jane was thinking better than the book. She also didn’t come off as a Pride and Prejudice obsessed loser like in the movie. I thought the ending was much better in the book as well.

Movie wise I thought the pacing was better. Parts of the book kind of dragged and I could easily see the boredom Jane was experiencing.

I can completely understand her infatuation with Pride and Prejudice and all things Austen. I haven’t read all of Austen’s work, but easily one of my favorite books is P&P. The Colin Firth movie has also imprinted on my mind, but I just can’t see myself going native like Jane does. Of course I haven’t had the horrible relationships that she has.

If you liked the movie or Jane Austen I would definitely recommend this book.

4/5

Neanderthal Seeks Human (Knitting in the City #1) By: Penny Reid

Neanderthal Seeks Human

Neanderthal Seeks Human (Knitting in the City #1) By: Penny Reid

Plot:

This is a full-length, 110k word novel and is the first book in the Knitting in the City series. There are three things you need to know about Janie Morris: 1) She is incapable of engaging in a conversation without volunteering TMTI (Too Much Trivial Information), especially when she is unnerved, 2) No one unnerves her more than Quinn Sullivan, and 3) She doesn’t know how to knit. After losing her boyfriend, apartment, and job in the same day, Janie Morris can’t help wondering what new torment fate has in store. To her utter mortification, Quinn Sullivan- aka Sir McHotpants- witnesses it all then keeps turning up like a pair of shoes you lust after but can’t afford. The last thing she expects is for Quinn- the focus of her slightly, albeit harmless, stalkerish tendencies- to make her an offer she can’t refuse.

Review:

Janie is a bit weird, but Quinn is a bit secretive, so a match made in heaven. In the book Janie thinks she’s the Neanderthal, she seems to think that she’s not attractive, even though she’s gorgeous, and he’s evidently physically perfect. She has a hard time believing someone like him would be into her.

I’m not overly fond of characters that are supposed to be beautiful, but don’t know it. I’ve yet to meet anyone that is beautiful and doesn’t know it. Most people know their level of attractiveness.

Quinn is clearly the Neanderthal by most people’s definition. He’s a bit overbearing, always ordering for Janie at restaurants, putting security on her without her permission, and making her use a cell phone. Janie just takes it and fights the most against a cell phone. Normally her submissiveness would bother me, but it didn’t in this book because it didn’t come off as submissive. It was more she was lost in her thoughts and let him do that because she didn’t care.

There were so many hints that Quinn was more than what Janie thought he was, but she just never connected the dots. I didn’t have any problem forgiving him for not forcing the issue because it was so clear. I’m not a fan of that in most books, but again there were just so many hints it was crazy she didn’t figure it out on her own.

I liked the book, even though it had things I don’t normally enjoy. The way it was written avoided what I dislike most out of those situations. Definitely going to read more.

4/5