The Blushing Bounder (Iron Seas #.4) The Hook (Iron Seas #.6) Tethered (Iron Seas #2.5) By: Meljean Brook

Tethered

The Blushing Bounder (Iron Seas #.4) The Hook (Iron Seas #.6) Tethered (Iron Seas #2.5) By: Meljean Brook

Plots:

The Blushing Bounder

In The Iron Duke, Constable Newberry helped save all of England. But before the events of that novel, Constable Newberry’s faced a danger of another kind: to his heart, by the woman forced to marry him. What will it take for this prudish bounder to convince his wife to stay?

The Hook

The Hook – An Iron Seas Urban Legend

Meljean’s Note: This is a very short story that I wrote for a blog post at All Things Urban Fantasy during their Spooky Legends week. The challenge was to write about a famous urban legend in our characters’ voices, and my urban legend was The Hook.

Tethered

Surviving on the treacherous Iron Seas requires a heart of steel…but how can Yasmeen hope to survive when her heart has already been stolen by Archimedes Fox…?

Tethered along the south dock of Port Fallow, Captain Yasmeen Corsair’s magnificent new airship, Lady Nergüi, awaits its departure with adventurer and treasure-hunter Archimedes Fox. But this time, Yasmeen, a fearless mercenary who has always prided herself on a heart of steel, has reasons to worry when Miles Bilson, an acquaintance from Archimedes’ earlier smuggling days, sends an urgent message requesting help.

With a past marked by betrayal, Archimedes wonders what his former partner could want—other than revenge. Yasmeen fears that Bilson could threaten everything Archimedes holds dear. Though both Archimedes and Yasmeen love the exhilaration of veering wildly off course, neither is prepared for where their newest risk will take them…or what it might cost them.

Review:

These were all either short stories or novellas so I decided to just combine my review. They were all good, but even the ones written before the first book I wouldn’t recommend reading until you’ve read the first book.

They were nice glimpses into the world and characters. With the Blushing Bounder it was a look into a side character which was fun. Tethered showed you after happily ever after so if you loved the characters from Heart of Steel definitely check it out.

They were all fun and I enjoyed them, the prices were all acceptable too.

4/5

Reader Abduction (Alien Abduction #7) By: Eve Langlais

Reader Abduction

Reader Abduction (Alien Abduction #7) By: Eve Langlais

Plot:

An alien fantasy brought to life…

It should have been a simple volunteer job. Keep the events for the Romancing the Capital convention running smooth. But from the moment Brigitte lays eyes on the male model dipped in purple, hired for the galactic party, she is thrown into a tizzy—mostly because of his stolen kiss.

Imagine her shock once she realizes he’s not an actor. This purple alien is for real!

And Phyr didn’t come to RTC alone. He brought a bunch of his mercenary friends to help him abduct all the single ladies. These readers are about to go on a galactic adventure wilder than anything they’ve ever read in a book—and hotter than anything they could have imagined.
Review:

This was one of those ideas that sounded better than it actually was. I pre-ordered this book as soon as I saw it because I love this series but also because I thought the premise was hilarious. Sadly, much like the first pilot of Fuller House I feel like there were just too many nods to fans.

Once you got past the initial abduction things progressed just like the other alien abduction books by Eve, the only problem was that so many words were spent on the beginning that I felt like the actual story was very rushed. The two main characters barely spent any time with each other but of course they were in love and of course Phyr resisted all the way up until the end.

I don’t know, maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood for this? I was really looking forward to it and was so excited when it arrived but once I started reading I just didn’t feel it. If you’ve read the rest of the series I’m sure you’ll enjoy, but this is definitely not a good starting point for any newbies.

3/5

Panther’s Claim (Bitten Point #2) By: Eve Langlais

Panther's Claim

Panther’s Claim (Bitten Point #2) By: Eve Langlais

Plot:

Cynthia: So I met a man. Mom: Is he single? Hitting on the wrong woman finds Daryl regaining consciousness in a motel taped to a chair. Things were looking up–and not just below the belt. A sexy, cocoa-complexioned veterinarian–with killer curves–wants answers, and he’s only too happy to give them to her, for a price, say a kiss, or something more, from those luscious lips. The problem is Cynthia isn’t the type to fall for flirty words and panty-dropping smiles. She tempts Daryl into helping her. Teases him into acting. Claims his heart without even trying. But that was okay because…She’s mine…and someone was trying to hurt her. Hell no. This kitty isn’t afraid to unleash his claws and rescue the woman he wants. An intriguing, hot woman, a mystery, and danger? Sounds like fun, and Daryl is ready to play. He’ll do anything to claim Cynthia as his mate.

Review:

Kind of let down by this book. I liked the romance, but I wish the rest of the story had been developed more. Cyn comes to Bitten Point to find her friend Aria but sorta doesn’t care by the end since she’s found her man. It mentions off hand that she got a call from her that sounded odd but Aria said she was fine. That was it. This was after they found a body and already had one mysterious call from her friend.

I liked the romance, the characters, but wish that there was more story development.

3/5

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine By: Michael Lewis

The Big Short Book

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine By: Michael Lewis

Synopsis:

From the author of The Blind Side and Moneyball, The Big Short tells the story of four outsiders in the world of high-finance who predict the credit and housing bubble collapse before anyone else. The film adaptation by Adam McKay (Anchorman I and II, The Other Guys) features Academy Award® winners Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Melissa Leo and Marisa Tomei; Academy Award® nominees Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling. When the crash of the U.S. stock market became public knowledge in the fall of 2008, it was already old news. The real crash, the silent crash, had taken place over the previous year, in bizarre feeder markets where the sun doesn’t shine and the SEC doesn’t dare, or bother, to tread. Who understood the risk inherent in the assumption of ever-rising real estate prices, a risk compounded daily by the creation of those arcane, artificial securities loosely based on piles of doubtful mortgages? In this fitting sequel to Liar’s Poker, Michael Lewis answers that question in a narrative brimming with indignation and dark humor.

Review:

I think it actually helped that I’d watched the movie first. This is an incredibly complicated topic and I have very little experience in trading and bonds and all that stuff, but it helped being able to picture actors whenever someone’s name was mentioned and I was able to keep everyone straight because of it.

The book is as infuriating as the movie, maybe more so because it does go into a lot more detail and I couldn’t help wanting to scream at people for being so stupid. It’s frustrating, especially when it feels like nothing was learned from the crisis, but you can’t fault the book for that.

Lewis didn’t quiet make a complicated topic easy to understand but he did make the story very interesting and about as easy as it was ever going to be to read. I’m not sure how much I learned, though I definitely know more now then going in, but I doubt I retained more than 60%. I liked his writing style and I’m looking forward to reading more of his work.

5/5

The Assassin’s Salvation (The Mandrake Company #3) By: Ruby Lionsdrake

The Assassin's Salvation

The Assassin’s Salvation (The Mandrake Company #3) By: Ruby Lionsdrake

Plot:

When Jamie Flipkens signed on as a pilot and engineer for a small medical research company, she never expected to end up on a mercenary ship full of hulking soldiers who want to make her their latest conquest. The captain has been good to her–it doesn’t hurt that he’s her boss’s new beau–but she’s on the verge of quitting when a strange man shows up at her shuttle door.

Sergei Zharkov claims to be an old friend of the captain’s. He neglects to mention that he’s also an assassin, a dangerous man who even the hardened mercenaries avoid. Jamie should avoid him, too, but she’s drawn to the charm that sometimes escapes from beneath his grim facade. She finds herself wanting to give him a reason to smile–and maybe a little more than that.

The problem? There’s a fresh bounty on the captain’s head, and it’s possible Sergei is there to collect it.

Review:

I had a really hard time getting into this book. I liked Sergei, but I kind of wanted Jamie to end up with Striker. I wanted her to wake up and realize he was quirky or something. Instead she never liked him and he could be a bit over enthusiastic with his lewdness. Oh well, I like him.

Anyway, I never warmed up to Jamie. She was very timid, which is fine, but she ended up attending an orgy and being a voyeur, it was kind of weird. I never warmed up to her.

Overall, I still like the series, but I wasn’t a fan of this book.

3/5