Hard Day's Knight by Katie MacAlister

ISBN: 0451213866

Synopsis:

After Pepper Marsh is laid off from her software development job, she joins
her cousin CJ in Canada for a proper Rennisance Faire. There, she meets
Walker McPhail, the leader of a jousting team. After stepping in front of
a hourse and being rescued by Walker, she continues to try to gain his attention
and admiration, which leads to many humorous and intimate events.

All in all, Ms. MacAlister does an excellent job of a light-hearted and fun romance. It's a quick read, and a perfect beach book. I would recommend this book for all women (especially) that love romance books, especially ones with knights and wenches!

St. John, Kelley: Good Girls Don't

ISBN: 0446617202

From Publishers Weekly

As frothy as a milkshake but not nearly as satisfying, St. John's debut romance, set in contemporary Atlanta, pairs three beautiful women with three gorgeous, sensitive and well-endowed men. The book gets off to a promising start, depicting an amusing conversation between Colette Campbell and her sister, sex-toy designer Amy, about (what else?) sex toys. But with so many relationships, there's room for little more than character sketches: the good guy who still loves his high school squeeze and vows to be a little bad to win her heart; the wild girl turned businesswoman who rediscovers her naughty side with said good guy; the woman who just needs the right man to make her rethink her sex-toys-are-a-girl's-only-friend motto. Everyone is earnest and looking for love, and none has too much emotional baggage to impede their perfect unions. It's no wonder that St. John's attempts at penning racy, gossipy exchanges à la Sex and the City so often fall flat. While her book contains steamy sex scenes aplenty, it lacks the multidimensional characters and conflicts that made the HBO series so popular.

From Booklist

Colette Campbell is a professional liar. Her company, My Alibi, is used by everyone from cheating spouses to AWOL employees. Now Colette has reached a low point: Jeff, her perfectly physiqued--albeit lousy lover--boyfriend, has gotten engaged to another woman. Then Amy, Colette's sex-toy-creator sister, offers Colette's alibi services to Erika, who is going away for the weekend with a biker. Unfortunately, Erika's uncle and guardian is Bill Brannon, Colette's best and virtually only friend in high school. Colette feels terrible about lying to Bill, especially since they've begun to explore a more romantic relationship. If she tells him about Erika's deception, Colette will damage her relationship with her sister. If Bill finds out that Colette has been hiding this secret from him, their chance at finding true love is gone. St. John does a good job of getting inside Colette's head and sharing her dilemma, and the novel's fast-paced, sexy, and witty conversations will please fans of Sex and the City.

I have to say, I really enjoy Kelley St. John's writing, even in this cookie-cutter book. She may have a formula (girl meets guy, they fall in love, they are separated by some misunderstanding, they end up together in the end), but it is readable - great and fantastic mind-fluff that one just needs every now and then.

There isn't much that I can say about the book other than what I've said, or what the others above have said. I did like it, and it's an excellent borrow-from-the-library-and-read-on-the-beach type book. Definitely worth the time investment, although probably not worth the monetary value.

Weiner, Jennifer: Good in Bed

ISBN: 0743418174

From the Publisher:

For twenty-eight years, things have been tripping along nicely for Cannie Shapiro. Sure, her mother has come charging out of the closet, and her father has long since dropped out of her world. But she loves her friends, her rat terrier, Nifkin, and her job as pop culture reporter for The Philadelphia Examiner. She''s even made a tenuous peace with her plus-size body.

But the day she opens up a national women's magazine and sees the words "Loving a Larger Woman" above her ex-boyfriend's byline, Cannie is plunged into misery...and the most amazing year of her life. From Philadelphia to Hollywood and back home again, she charts a new course for herself: mourning her losses, facing her past, and figuring out who she is and who she can become.

I have to say that while I love Ms. Weiner's writing, this book impressed me a lot. It is well written, well formulated, well plotted, and well rounded book. There was nothing that this book lacked.

I seem to recall that Good In Bed was recommended to me by a good friend, and after I had time to look at the book and digest it, I found there were some interestingly striking personality similarities between Cannie and my friend. It was interesting to read it and think that the words coming out of Cannie's mouth could totally be coming out of my friend's mouth instead.

I won't go into the premise of the book - you can get that by looking at the first section of this review. I will say that it was fantastic. That it is a great read, and that you won't be disappointed.

Davidson, MaryJanice: Sleeping with the Fishes

ISBN: 0515142220

From the Publisher:

Fred is not your ordinary mermaid. She's not blonde. She's not buxom. And she's definitely not perky. In fact, Fred can be downright cranky. And it doesn't help matters that her hair is blue. While volunteering at the New England Aquarium, Fred learns that there are weird levels of toxins in the local seawater. A gorgeous marine biologist wants her help investigating. So does her merperson ruler, the High Prince of the Black Sea. You'd think it would be easy for a mermaid to get to the bottom of things. Think again.

As far as MJD goes, this is probably one of my favorite books by her to date. It's witty, fast paced, and not quite as annoying as Betsy. I found the characters to be generally amusing and interesting (Jonas being my favorite character).

The ending seemed to indicate a second book (at least), so I'll definitely pick that one up when it comes out.

I'd recommend this book to most women who want a romance with a little bit of humour and a little bit of "different". It was a pretty good read!

Rowe, Stephanie: If the Shoe Fits

ISBN: 0505527006

From the Publisher:

When a car accident cuts short a runner's dreams, she turns to her new business and goes from running sneakers to designer heels in this finalist for the National Readers' Choice Award.

This is a book that I picked up from the library, just because I thought it would be cute. I mean, who doesn't like shoes and books about shoes? I am glad that I did - it turned out to be really good.

Basically, Paris (I know, right?) got into a car accident that ruined her running career, and her shot at the Olympics. She then got married, and divorced within a couple of months within her accident. This really messed her up and made her a total commitment-phobe, so when her kind-of boyfriend starts to change the intensity of the relationship after her ex shows up in town... well, it freaks her the heck out. Meanwhile, Paris and her 3 friends are trying to use a new technology to design the ultimate running shoe. After it flops, they face all sorts of trials and tribulations.

I think that If the Shoe Fits was actually a pretty fun book. I enjoyed it a lot, and will definitely pick up other books by Stephanie Rowe. She did an excellent job keeping me guessing as to which guy she ends up with, and in the end, I think she picked the right one (always helps you enjoy a book more!).

There's cut scenes in this book - no graphic sex, but definitely deals with adult themes (including sex and death), so I would still recommend that it's an "adults only" book - but one that most women would enjoy.

Evanovich, Janet: Back to the Bedroom

ISBN: 0060887885

From the Publisher:

She was the mysterious woman in the long black cloak. He was the sexy guy next door. They shared a common wall between their Capitol Hill townhouses and not much else -- until disaster scored a direct hit on the mystery woman’s bedroom and the sexy guy’s heart. He baked her a cake, she learned to throw a football, there were some misunderstandings in the living room, some mishaps in the yard, and some romantic moments everywhere....

The above description makes the book sound much lamer that it actually is. I picked the book up because I recognized Evanovich's name, after reading the first book in the Stephanie Plum series, which I quite like. I thought that the book would be amusing, and at only 241 pages long, it would be worth taking a look at.

I was very pleasantly surprised. It's just a straight up romance, with lots of cut scenes (for those of you who aren't into played out sex). The couple meet when poor Kate has part of helicopter crash through her roof. At that point, it's David to the rescue, and he keeps rescuing her as things continue to go wrong.

Evanovich throws in a variety of characters - from uptight oboe players to burger-flipping-gun-carrying seniors, and even some special agent types. I found this book quite funny, and very easy to read. I understand that it was written long before Evanovich had brought Plum into the book world, and so it might not be as polished as her recent stuff... but I found it charming and delightful. I can't wait to read more from Janet Evanovich.

Raye, Kimberly: Dead End Dating

ISBN: 0345492161

From the Publisher

BITING IS SO LAST SEASON.

A vivacious vampire with a flair for accessorizing, Lil Marchette is unlike most of her kind. She prefers lively shades of pink to dismal black (soo not her color), plus she’s a hopeless romantic. In need of a steady paycheck to support a compulsive cosmetics habit, Lil starts Dead End Dating (DED), a Manhattan-based matchmaking service that helps smart, sophisticated singles like herself find eternity mates–and may even help her stake a claim to her very own Count Right!

When Lil meets geeky vampire Francis Deville, she knows he’s the perfect first client. If she can hook up Francis–after a little revamping, of course–she will prove her skills to the vampire community and turn DED into the hottest dating service in the Big Apple. But just as her business takes off, Lil meets the (literally) drop-dead gorgeous bounty hunter Ty Bonner, who is hot on the chase of a serial killer. Instantly drawn to the luscious vamp stud, Lil really wants a taste. But as a made vampire, Ty can’t procreate–and Lil will settle for nothing less. Luckily, between “vampifying” Francis and helping Ty solve his murder mystery, Lil has no time for silly romantic entanglements . . . even if Ty is all that and a Bloody Mary chaser!

About the Author

Kimberly Raye is the bestselling author of more than thirty novels. She’s been nominated for several Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice awards, as well as a RITA award. Her books have been featured in several major magazines, including Better Homes & Gardens and Glamour, and her novel Sometimes Naughty, Sometimes Nice was a Cosmopolitan magazine book club pick. She lives deep in the heart of Texas Hill Country with her husband and their young children. Please visit her website
at www.kimberlyraye.com.

This is the very first library book that I have read in... Oh... since I was in high school. So a long time. I picked it up because it looked cute - the cover is pink and features a girl in a black cape kissing a black-haired dude. I thought "this must be a funny and non-serious vampire book about dating. They never put serious books in a pink cover, right?" I also thought that because it's a library book, if I hated it, I could just stop reading, return it, and try another one.

Well, I completely devoured the book. Within 24 hours (not reading, but you know, within a day). It was fantastic. Ok, the writing isn't the most poetic and best writing that I've ever read. It's certainly better than the last book I read, but still within the same funny and light vein (ha ha, vampire book... vein... ha ha ha!).

In this book, we meet Lil, a born vampire who's on the look out for a man. A long term, eternity type man. He must be born vampire and have a decent fertility rating (somehow, they measure these things). So, instead of getting a job with the family business (your local printing and copying center), Lil becomes the black sheep of her family and starts up a dating service, for both born and made vampires, and humans. While she's trying to start up her business and balance her checkbook (and credit card bills - the girl has expensive designer taste), she meets a bounty hunter named Ty Bonner (for some reason, my head keeps saying "BONER" instead of "Bonner". Apparently, I am dirty), who she has a very hard time keeping her hands off of, and her fangs out of. He's looking for a serial killer that's been targeting women in Chicago, and he had a lead that the guy just took up resident in NYC.

Ty and Lil end up spending a decent amount of time together, and their friendship progresses. He's off limits, but her body just can't figure that out, and she lusts after him terribly. It's actually quite amusing, even though you keep thinking "oh, just jump him and get it over with!"

I thought that Ms. Raye (whom I've never read before, and will certainly be reading again!) did quite a lot with her plot and her characters for this book. I think that she successfully took her story and weaved it into something funny, readable, and something that went somewhere. I hate to compare books and authors, but considering the last book I read ALSO had a serial killer in it... well... if you want a book where the heroine has a little more to do with the plot, pick this one up instead.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this book to everyone who likes a good paranormal romance. The characters are funny, the writing is decent, and the plot is well developed. Definitely over 18 for this one, but certainly worth the read. I can't wait to pick up the next book in the series!

Davidson, MaryJanice: Undead and Unreturnable

ISBN: 0425210812

From the Publisher:

Queen of the Vampires Betsy Taylor is planning the perfect wedding to drop-dead gorgeous vamp Eric Sinclair. But in this fourth novel of Davidson's series, Betsy is plagued by ghosts, who demand her help in rectifying their past mistakes, and a serial killer on the loose.

Unfortunately, this book was very sadly disappointing. It was quippy. It was amusing. It was really kind of boring.

I think that Ms. Davidson actually had a lot going on for her. She set up this scenario where she could have done so much – a serial killer with a penchant for tall blonds, much like Betsy. But what do we read about? Her and Eric fighting and making up and fighting the whole time. Then, in the last scene, it’s like Ms. Davidson suddenly remembered that she had to close up this serial killer thread. Ugh.

I like fluffy books without a lot of substance. I’m totally ok with that. Sadly, I’m even ok with gratuitous sex (which? Were all cut scenes. How boring!)… but I’m not ok with these books that are more about the characters than the plot. Maybe I’m being a little hard on her here, but I really felt like the author could have done so much more with this plot. I mean, if she had taken out the serial killer, I don’t think much in the book would have changed.

I wouldn’t tell you not to read this book, unless you had three weeks to live. Then I’d tell you that you’re better off doing something else. If you do read it, make sure to pick it up either heavily discounted, at the library, or second hand. In my opinion, it’s certainly not worth the $10 you’ll pay at the bookstore. Of course – it’s a paranormal romance, so those under 18 need not bother.

MacAlister, Katie: Fire Me Up

ISBN: 0451214943

From the Publisher:

Aisling Grey is back-and in more trouble than ever. She thought being a courier would be easy. It's not. She thought being a Guardian would come naturally. It doesn't. She thought she could get out of being a wyvern's mate. She can't. And she never thought she'd be irresistible to men. But she is.

Have I ever told you how much I love Katie MacAlister? Well, then let me tell you. A lot, I love her a lot. There's just something beautifully simple about her books, but at the same time there is a ton of thought and detail that goes into each chapter and each book.

Fire Me Up is a second book in one of her many, many series. It follows You Slay Me, where Aisling (pronounced Ash-ling) meets Drake, her future wyrven mate. Sparks fly, but she leaves him back in Europe while she returns home to the US. The second book picks up shortly after the first, starting with Aisling heading back to Europe (Budapest, this time) to attend an Otherworld conference and deliver an important amulet to a hermit.

As before, she finds herself tangled in a web of murders, and... well... Drake's bed sheets. This time, though - it's official, they're an item. There's lots of perks with the position of mate, but unfortunately being able to solve crimes that are framed on you are not.

MacAlister brings us a delightful cast of characters - oracles, mages, more guardians, incubi, and even a professional virgin (who spreads sunshine! To everyone! With her smiles!). I didn't necessarily laugh out loud with this book, but perhaps if I were a more expressive person, I would have. I found it very entertaining, and the plot was sound without being dense or heavy.

This book is definitely a for-adults book, and will probably appeal more to the female readership than male (read: Paranormal Romance at its best!).

Various: Dates From Hell

ISBN: 006085409X

From Publishers Weekly

Failing to capitalize on what should be a sure-fire concept, this quartet of paranormal romance novellas falls prey to the usual suspects: lack of cohesion, formulaic characters and flimsy plots. Harrison kicks off the book with a prelude to her Hollows series, an exposition-heavy tale of confusing office/vampire politics, in which a vampiric homicide detective looks for a way to get ahead at the office apart from letting the boss into her jugular. Harrison's over-the-top atmospherics make for a jarring transition to the light touch of the second novella, Sands's farcical story of young researcher-cum-shapeshifter Claire, who attends her high school reunion as two different people: herself, accompanying schoolyard dreamboat Kyle, and hunky Hollywood actor Brad Cruise, a favor to her dateless best friend Jill. Nestled in between Sands's slapstick and Handeland's passable closer—about a tough-as-nails demon hunter out to save a virginal literary agent—is the collection's one gem: Armstrong's tale of a bold and sassy half-demon peacekeeper who finds herself falling for a werewolf thief. Unlike her compatriots, Armstrong works well with the space constraint, giving her story an open-ended, promising conclusion.

I have to disagree with the above generalization of this book. It's an anthology of four short stories. It's not meant to all work together into one large story, or anything like that. Also, the stories approximately only 100 pages each - not too much space or time to develop a super-fantastic plot line.

Anyway, I'll address each story individually, as that's how I think they should be dealt with.

Kim Harrison - Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil

This is a story for anyone who's read Ms. Harrison's Hollow's series. If you haven't read the series, it will be an amusing short, but won't really mean anything to you. It's meant to give backstory on Ivy and Kisten from that series. I thought it was pretty well done and very intense. I really liked it.

Lynsay Sands - The Claire Switch Project

This is an excellent stand alone short story. Basically, Claire gets zapped by this laser that's supposed to cause animals to develop chameleon type tendencies, to be able to change colour, or what have you. Unfortunately, the laser doesn't do what it's supposed to, and enables her to change shape... into whomever (or whatever, I presume) she likes. Hilarity ensues as her best friend convinces her to go as her date to their high school reunion as a hot celebrity, while her high school crush asks her out for the same night! She ends up pulling double duty as both dates, and well... it just gets even more funny from there.

Kelley Armstrong - Chaotic

This is a story that introduces a new half-demon character, and brings us back to Karl Marsten, Jewel Thief and werewolf. I think that you could read this without knowing the other characters, but it makes a lot more sense if you're familiar with the rest of Ms. Armstrong's Otherworld series. Basically, Hope is a half-demon who feeds off of chaos, which enables her to get a job working with the Interracial Council tracking down rogue supernaturals, and handing them over for justice. On an otherwise boring date to a museum gala, her spidey senses start to tingle and she's led to where Karl is stealing some jewellery. They end up get a bit plot-twisted, and she ends up spending her evening with Karl, which turns out to be much, much better than her evening with her boring date. I definitely liked this story, but it wasn't my favourite... maybe I just wanted to laugh a little more and this story wasn't bringing on the chuckles.

Lori Handeland - Dead Man Dating

This was a solid story about demons possessing a human body and killing a woman... through sex, of course! While on her date with the demon, Kit and her partner are disturbed mid-makeout session in a back alley by a rough looking demon hunter. Chavez, the demon hunter, in the end is able to save Kit (of course!), and they ultimately fall in love. I thought this was the best story out of all of them, as the characters seemed pretty real (Kit has really low self-esteem), and I liked the story. I thought that something of this sort could possibly have held it's own novel, but this novella version seemed to work just fine too. I think I'll be checking out some of Ms. Handeland's other work.

Sands, Lynsay: Tall, Dark & Hungry

ISBN: 0505525836

From the back cover:

The third installment in the series whose first book Publishers Weekly praised as "a cheeky, madcap tale" for "readers weary of the tortured, brooding, all-too-serious vampire," Booklist called "uproariously hilarious," and Everything Romantic said "may break new ground."

If you liked Single White Vampire and Love Bites, you'll devour: Tall, Dark & Hungry.

It bit: New York hotels cost an arm and a leg, and Terri had flown from England to help plan her cousin's wedding. The new in-laws offered lodging. But they were a weird bunch. There was the sometimes-chipper-sometimes-brooding Lucern, and the wacky stage-actor, Vincent (She couldn't imagine Broadway casting a hungrier singing-and-dancing Dracula). And then there was Bastien. Just looking into his eyes, Terri had to admit she was falling for him - someone even taller, darker, and hungrier than the other two. She was feeling a mite peckish herself. And if she stayed with him, those blood-sucking hotel owners wouldn't get her!

Like the back cover said, this is the third book in the Argeneau series, but I read it without reading the second book, so I'm sure you can too. However, you have to read it after the first one for it to make any sense. Just FYI.

I really like this series, it's very light-hearted and fun. It's definitely a paranormal romance, so don't expect anything gritty or life-like from it. That said, it's an extremely entertaining read, and I love what Ms. Sands has done with her vampires.

Due to it being a romance novel, and thus the sex, I wouldn't recommend it for anyone younger than 18+.