ROMANCE: Wait till Your Vampire Gets Home

Title: Wait till Your Vampire Gets Home
Subtitle: Undead fathers really know best.
Author: Michele Bardsley
Genre: Paranormal Romance
# of Pages: 283

Summary: Libby Monroe works as a paranormal investigator for Paranormal Research and Investigation Services (PRIS), which her parents founded. She winds up in Broken Heart, Oklahoma because rumor has it that Broken Heart is a breeding ground for the paranormal, so she's there to investigate. While there, she meets and falls in lust with a sexy vampire named Ralph Genessa, who also happens to be the father of two adorable boys. Unfortunately, she also runs into trouble, as the queen of the vamps won't let her leave Broken Heart. But soon, that's the least of her problems, as a dragon and an Ancient are out to get her, and they don't care who or what they destroy along the way...

Review: This is the fourth book in the series, but the first of the series that I've read. It can pretty much stand alone, though you won't know much background for the other characters if you don't read the other books first, I guess. Didn't really matter for me, though I do want to eventually get around to reading the others. The idea for the storyline was interesting, but it could be worked out better. Also, the romance was pretty lacking. I know I shouldn't expect romance novels to be realistic...but I can't help it. This was more than just unrealistic. There's an attraction between Libby and Ralph, sure. But there's no proof that the attraction is something real between them, and not just from the fact that they share a dragon's soul. Plus, they both fight the attraction until near the end. They don't really get to know each other at all. I mean, the characters are likable enough, except for "Uncle Archie." But the relationship between the two main ones leaves something to be desired. Oh yeah, Ash is pretty cool; probably my favorite character. Haha. I hope she has an upcoming story...

I've been putting off writing this review, because I just didn't know how I felt about this book. I probably could read it again, because it has a happy ending (and I love those), but I'm still unsure about if I'd consider it a good read. If I'm willing to read it again, that should mean it is...right? lol

Rating: ★★★

HAUL: Library's Used Bookstore FTW!

I went to the library this past weekend, just to sit and read and relax, as well as to cool down since it was so hot. While there, I decided to stop at the Friends Bookstore, which sells used books to help raise funds for the library. I made a major haul there, though it's mostly Silhouette Desire books (I have an addiction to these. xD). I got 8 Silhouette Desire books (4 from The Hudsons of Beverly Hills series, 3 from the Park Avenue Scandals series, 1 from Royal Seductions series), the whole Heiress Brides series by Celeste Bradley (all 3 books!), hardback version of Girl with a Pearl Earring, as well as some others that I'm forgetting for only THREE DOLLARS! What a deal!

I'm hoping to go back soon, to try to see if I can find the rest of The Hudsons of Beverly Hills series, as well as the Park Avenue Scandals one. I love reading series books, as well as owning the whole series.

I also borrowed books from the library, and just finished reading one of the books I borrowed. Review for that to be posted, after this post. I was just so excited about my haul, I had to post about it. x]

Ooh...and I stopped by Borders yesterday to use my 30% off coupon. Ended up buying Tongue in Chic by Christina Dodd, since I liked Trouble in High Heels and it's the next in the series. (There I go with the series thing again! haha)

ROMANCE: The Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Title: The Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Author: Annette Blair
Genre: Paranormal Romance
# of Pages: 269

Summary: After her Nana passes away, Victoria Cartwright inherits a key that will lead to her destiny. Or so it claims. But Victoria is just not ready to accept that she may just be a witch, even when all the signs are telling her so. Such as the key actually opening the mysterious wardrobe that no one else could open, or the fact that she makes rhyming wishes that come true. One such wish bringing her Rory MacKenzie, though he does have ulterior motives other than being her "knight on a white charger." He's looking to reclaim the unicorn, which he believes is rightfully his as one of his ancestors carved it. He believes it's the key to ending his family's curse and bring honor back to his family name, and he'll do anything he can to get it back. Now she's got a unicorn (thanks to that mysterious wardrobe) and a new employee/boarder whose bones she wants to jump. And oh yeah, her and Rory have been dreaming about each other, even before they met. Plus she has 3 psychic half-sisters who she's never met, but suddenly show up. All these, and she's still trying to convince herself she doesn't have magic...see how far that gets her... ;)

Review: The story dives right in, with Victoria opening to wardrobe to find the unicorn. Rory sees the unicorn on the "telly," when Victoria gets it appraised. He believes the unicorn is the key to ending his family's curse and bringing back respectability to his family's name. He travels across the Atlantic, and voila, they meet. Backstory is told along the way, to help fill in the blanks. There's misunderstanding and laughs along the way. Plenty of sexual innuendo. This is the first book I've read by Annette Blair. I would've loved to start with the first book of the trilogy, but oh well. I liked the plotline, but the main characters...not so much. Especially Victoria. I can't really stand her. She just seems so hostile towards Rory. Well, at least half of the time she is, and the other half she wants to jump him. Plus, she seems really insecure and way too wishy-washy with her belief in magic. One minute she'll be like "I don't have magic! Horrible thing to say!" and the next she'll be like, "Oh cool!" or "Retro," as she likes to say, and then back to the first. All in all, she seems like quite the flaky character. It's really tiring, and just made me want to scream, "MAKE UP YOUR MIND ALREADY!" The sex scenes were all right, though maybe a little too graphic as this seemed more like a cute read than one of those steamy ones. Also, I feel the author made it a bit unrealistic, emphasizing that Victoria could have many multiple orgasms way too many times. I think she even wrote that Victoria was the queen of mulitple orgasms. She also mentioned that Rory was the king of staying power. Yeah, it was quite unrealistic in my opinion. One thing I did like were her half-sisters, and hope to read their stories. It was a cute read, but probably not something I'd reread.

Rating: ★★

Wishlist

Since I love to read, I have a really long wishlist when it comes to books...lol.

Classics
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson
- Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
- Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
- Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- any Jane Austen (besides Emma)

Mysteries
- any Knitting Mysteries books
- any Needlecraft Mystery books by Monica Ferris
- any Coffeehouse Mystery books
- any Bewitching Mysteries books
- any Ophelia and Abby Mysteries books
- A Veiled Deception by Annette Blair
- What’s a Ghoul to Do? by Victoria Laurie
- any other book from the Ghost Hunter Mysteries series
- any mysteries by Laura Childs
- anything by Agatha Christie (except Death on the Nile, And Then There Were None, and Murder on the Orient Express)
- Nancy Drew books
- any other good mysteries

Romance
- The Courtship Dance by Candace Camp
- Seducing Mr. Darcy by Gwyn Cready
- Night’s Rose by Annaliese Evans
- Tongue in Chic by Christina Dodd
- Thigh High by Christina Dodd
- Danger in a Red Dress by Christina Dodd

Supernatural/Paranormal/Fantasy
- any Blue Bloods books by Melissa de La Cruz
- any Sookie Stackhouse books
- any other vampire/romance books
- Accidental Witch Trilogy books by Annette Blair
- The Triplet Witch Trilogy books by Annette Blair
- The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
- any paranormal romance books or general paranormal fiction
- any The Sisters Grimm books
- Addicted by Charlotte Featherstone
- The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
- The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
- Coraline by Neil Gaiman
- The Time Traveler's Wife

999 Challenge List

Classics
1. Anna Karenina
2. Wuthering Heights
3. Jane Eyre
4. Clarissa
5. Tess of the D'Urbervilles
6. A Tale of Two Cities
7. Animal Farm
8. The Portrait of a Lady
9. Little Women

Jane Austen Related
1. Emma
2. Sense and Sensibility
3. Northanger Abbey
4. Persuasion
5. Mansfield Park
6. Becoming Jane Austen
7. Jane and His Lordship's Legacy
8. Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict
9. The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen

Biography
1. Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire
2. Madame Chiang
3. Anastasia: The Lost Princess
4. A Beautiful Mind
5. John Adams
6. Portrait Of A Killer: Jack The Ripper - Case Closed
7.
8.
9.

^ recommend me some biographies?

From the Pages to the Big Screen
1. The Other Boleyn Girl
2. The Secret Life of Bees
3. Coraline
4. The Black Dahlia
5. Atonement
6. Vanity Fair
7. I Married a Dead Man
8. Girl with a Pearl Earring
9. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Asian Authors
1. The Bonesetter's Daughter
2. A Person of Interest
3. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
4. The Harmony Silk Factory
5. Peony in Love
6. The Blood of Flowers
7. Ties That Bind, Ties That Break
8. When My Name Was Keoko
9. Kira-Kira

YA
1. Wake
2. The Graveyard Book
3. Wintergirls
4. A Wrinkle in Time
5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
6. Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast
7. The Book Thief
8. An Abundance of Katherines
9. Inkheart

Fantasy
1. Switch
2. Avalon High
3. The Looking Glass Wars
4. Interview with the Vampire
5. The Princess Bride
6. Dead Until Dark
7. Dead Witch Walking
8. Storm Front
9. Pawn of Prophecy

Mystery
1. Her Royal Spyness 04/01/2009 (review)
2. Hanging By a Thread 04/10/2009
3. Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder
4. Crime Brulee
5. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
6. Murder on the Orient Express
7. The Eyre Affair
8. Killer Hair
9. Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye

Shakespeare's Plays
1. Macbeth
2. Antony and Cleopatra
3. Othello
4. The Taming of the Shrew
5. The Tempest
6. Much Ado About Nothing
7. The Merry Wives of Windsor
8. All's Well That Ends Well
9. King Lear

A Little Update

Wow, I haven't written in over a month. I hope to remedy that soon. Today is the last day of the school year for me, as my last final of the quarter is later at 4 PM. Hopefully I'll have lots more time to read over the summer, though I am going to be taking 2 summer classes as well as working. So we'll see...

But I've got to still read those two books I got as ER books from LT and write that review for Hanging by a Thread. I haven't read anything recreational since then, though I've tried...school and stuff just seemed to eat up all my time. Though last last weekend, I did take a break and stop by Borders to pick up a book, because I had a 40% of coupon. It was tough deciding what to get, but I finally decided to get Trouble in High Heels by Christina Dodd, which is the first book in The Fortune Hunter series. (Don't be surprised if I end up with the whole series! That's one of my quirks, I guess...once I start a series, I try to add all the books to my collection. :)) It's suspense and romance in one. lol. I actually finished reading it within the week, so a review for that is upcoming too. Probably after a reread, since I kind of skipped around in my first read through (but I did read every page! Just not in order...haha.) I have this bad habit of reading the ending first...which spoils the ending, of course. But I have this mindset that I want to see if the ending is worth reading the rest of the book for. It's bad, I know! And I'm trying to stop...but bad habits are hard to break. :P

Anyway, so that's what's to come...

I'm also posting my 999 challenge list, so it's easier for me to keep track for myself.

First Early Reviewer Books

In March, I won an Early Reviewer copy of the book Deadly Charm by Claudia Mair Burney, from LibraryThing. I finally received the copy this past week, and will try to get started reading it soon. It's a mystery, which is what I've been into reading lately. However, it also seems to be quite religious, which I am not so into. But we shall see.

I also won an ER copy from the April batch. It's an ebook called Dirty Little Angels by Chris Tusa. It looks like an interesting read, and it's a type of story that I don't usually read. So I can't wait to get started on this one too.

Along with those, I was also chosen to receive a book from Member Giveaways. I am very grateful. It is a recipe book, and I can't wait to browse through them and maybe try a few out!

I've also got a review that I need to write, for Hanging by a Thread, which I read right after Her Royal Spyness. So yeah, it's been a while in coming. But I'll get to it soon.

MYSTERY: Her Royal Spyness

Title: Her Royal Spyness
Subtitle: solves her first case
Author: Rhys Bowen
Genre: "Cozy" Mystery
# of Pages: 324

Summary: It's the 1930's, and Lady Georgiana is 34th in line for the British throne. Although just a minor a royal, she's still expected to act like royalty and be proper, even if she doesn't exactly have the financial means to do so. Her brother has cut her off financially, and so she's run away to London. Though when she gets there, she realizes that maybe she hasn't thoroughly thought out this running away thing. And then a dead body shows up in her bathtub...

Review: The story begins with a lot of back story, introducing characters and creating the setting. This is the first cozy mystery I've read, so I don't really have anything to judge it against. I thought it was well written and an entertaining read. I didn't fully figure out "whodunnit" until near the end, though I did figure it out before Lady Georgiana. But the story line was interesting, and I love that British monarchy is involved. I'm very interested in history, especially of monarchies. And the fact that a little bit was worked in is awesome. It was a nice, easy read to relieve my brain after studying for finals. :)

Rating: ★★★★