Greenhouse is now available in paperback on Amazon!! So, if you’ve been wanting to get this book in your hot little hands, now you can!
Since my other stories are so short, I probably won’t be offering them individually in print. I’ll wait until I have enough for a decent short story collection. In the meantime, grab Greenhouse today!
*This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.
*This review is cross posted to Otakus and Geeks.
The crew of the Jinxed Thirteenth is sent on a rescue mission to retrieve the only survivor of an abandoned space station. What they find is Jessie Madison in cryo-sleep; and she has been there for several millennia. Awakening to a world that’s completely unknown to her, Jessie struggles to learn new languages and face the loss of her husband. Meanwhile, a crew criminals lead by Domiant, sets out to capture the ship and Jessie as valuable cargo. Captain Morwyn and his crew must beat back Domiant and his dangerous underlings in order to protect Jessie and her unborn child from being sold or worse.
This book is like a combination of Event Horizon and Firefly in that the story takes place mostly on one ship and the crews on both sides are made up of very different species with all sorts of different abilities and specialties that struggle to get along and work together. They work well together and the world building and action sequences are written very well, there are so many characters with not enough development to properly tell them apart. I found myself getting confused as to who was who very easily. Except for Jessie; who stood out really well but mostly because she is truly a fish out of water. While this book is the second in a series, it stands well enough on it’s own. For muddled characterization but an exciting story, I give this a 3.5 out of 5.
Emily Ford is shocked awake in the middle of the night by strangers carrying her away. She wakes up in bed with Sethian, an elven king, to be his queen and bear his children.
This 39 page intro to whatever the rest of this plot line will be is pure smutty fluff. Emily is whisked away, transformed into a gorgeous creature to make smexy times with a perfect man and has nothing of note to leave behind in the human world so she has no more troubles. She is totally ok that she’s been kidnapped, bones a stranger, and her new job is to pump out babies for this stranger who is now her husband. Emily is the perfect empty waif for the reader to project themselves onto but I found her so dull and stupid, I just wanted it to be over.
There’s something about some of these short, free, intro reads that can be really intriguing or fail so hard you not only don’t want to bother reading part two and beyond, you’re sorry you invested the precious minutes in the first one. This falls into the latter category. Flat and stereotypical, I give this a 2 out of 5.
Yeah, I have a book problem…
Between some awesome free book offerings and some very interesting titles coming down the pipe, Booga is back to being too full.
But on the plus side, that means there are some kickass reviews on the way! I will have to read these pretty fast but expect them within the month, for sure.
*This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+
With her kingdom, Bara, captured by the Destrye, Oria gambles on a marriage with the conquering leader; Lonen. Since Bara is ruled by magic, the highly powerful and sensitive Oria takes a huge risk in marrying Lonen since he cannot use magic and Bara has never had a non-magic using ruler. The main reason for this gamble is Oria’s cruel and despotic brother, Yar; who may likely begin another war despite the peace her kingdom has just attained.
Having not read the first part, there is enough here to make you understand there was a brutal war and that our main pair would like to spare their respective kingdoms any further bloodshed. Oria and Lonen are well developed enough and the writing is competent enough for you to get emotionally invested enough to want them to succeed. But the book does spend a great deal of time meandering around Lonen and Oria’s obvious attraction to one another and their hope to overcome Oria’s inability to even touch Lonen without her magic causing her pain. The pacing lost it’s sense of urgency when the book spends so much time on the romance. The love story didn’t distract from the major fantasy elements but once Yar came back into the picture, I felt the characters should have spent less time making gooily eyes and more time getting ready.
Don’t get me wrong; Lonen and Oria have good chemistry and the overall story kept me interested enough to not only finish it but to want to know what happens in the next installment. If you like fantasy in your romance, this isn’t a bad offering despite being pretty short and ending on a cliffhanger. 3.7 out of 5.
*This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.
*This review is cross-posted to Otakus and Geeks.
In this parody of Goodnight Moon, Batman is lounging in his cave when some bad guys show up. He beats them up, then goes to bed. The whole rogue’s gallery is there and the character design calls back to the Batman: The Animated Series character designs.
This book is clever and funny. The joke works better if you’re familiar with Goodnight moon and I read this to my kid (who loves comics) and she laughed and did want a copy of her own.
For a book put out by MAD Magazine, it’s pretty kid friendly. The art is in their typical style but there’s nothing in it I would feel hesitant to show a kid who is already familiar with comics. There’s a justifiable amount of violence (superheroes don’t tend to cuddle the villains to jail) and I think this will give both kids and adults a few good chuckles. I read this on my Kindle but I think this is worth a hardcover purchase if you love Batman and love MAD. 4.5 out of 5.
*This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated 18+.
*This review is cross-posted to Otakus and Geeks.
Stefan Joss has been invited to be in his best friend’s wedding. Not only does his boss take this as a chance to take on a sales deal to the trip to Texas, Stefan has to deal with his friend’s brother, Rand Holloway; who has made no effort to restrain his hatred of Stefan. With the chaos of the wedding and meeting with his client, Stefan learns there is more to Rand’s feelings than hatred and his business deal ends up risking his life.
While meant as a romantic mystery kind of story like Mystery of Nevermore, the mystery in this book took far back seat to the romance. Not a criticism, just something I noticed. I can see either adding more of the mystery or taking it out entirely and just having the wedding be the backdrop that brings Stephan and Rand together.
Anyways, Rand as a hard-ass cowboy coming to terms with how he fucked up and will do his part to fix it and Stefan putting in effort too worked for me. I liked them both and I wanted to see them together. The smexy times are prevalent and positively indulgent so if you want a healthy dose of manluvin, this book is more than happy to dole it out along with some romantic sappiness.
When it came to the action/mystery parts, I kinda got whiplash. You’re crusin along in this lovey dovey romance and WHAM! Rape! Murder! Guns!
Even so, I enjoyed this book. You can feel the love all over; even aside for our main pair. The details in describing ranch life (Rand owns a ranch) were written well enough to get a real feel for the setting and I ended this book with a cheesy grin because it was so damn sweet. 4 out of 5.
*This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review and is rated for 18+.
Griffin shifter Ronan O’Griofa has been trapped in limbo for centuries. He’s given the chance to become human again when the soul of his wife is reborn and returns to Tullamore Castle to break the curse. He will have one day to convince this woman he is her true love. Maeve de’Burgo shows up at the castle fresh from a divorce and looking to do some genealogy research and have an adventure to shake her out of her sadness. Of course, she begins to see a griffin roaming the halls at night and having flashbacks to what appears to be another life as Lord O’Giofa’s wife.
I understand that Ronan has  just one day to convince Maeve she’s the reincarnation of his wife but even knowing that setup, it seems unrealistically fast how Maeve decides what she’s seeing is all real and the couple gets together for good. I wasn’t able to get to know either of them so I found it hard to care. Maeve is nice enough and Ronan is your classic enigmatic gentleman but I didn’t connect with either of them. I went into this because griffin shifters aren’t usually the subject of these types of romances and since I expected more to come of that, I felt disappointed at the end. But, that expectation was my fault so I gotta rate this as slightly above average for the writing. The descriptions of Tullamore were awesome. 3 out of 5.
*This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review and is intended for 18+
*This review is cross-posted to Otakus and Geeks.
Ever walk into work and find a pig heart under a dislodged floorboard? Me neither but Sebastian Snow has. Now he’s caught up in a mystery involving the works of Edgar Allen Poe and falling for the lead detective on the case – Calvin Winter – despite being in a rocky relationship with another cop, Neil Millett. More important than his now complicated relationships, Sebastian can’t resist being nosy and may very well end up the next victim.
First off, it was interesting having the main character; Sebastian, have achromatopsia. I didn’t know that was a thing and learning about it through our main character didn’t slow down the pacing of the book.
As for the rest, the mystery itself was compelling and I’m not a fan of mysteries. To be fair, it’s likely because I’m a literature geek and it was based around Poe’s work. Sadly, I have to take a point off for (er, spoilers, kinda?) damaging a rare book. I’m a bibliophile and a librarian. You just don’t hurt books.
But seriously, this book was a fast, fun, and naughty read. Sebastian and Calvin are characters you can empathize with and have a decent amount of chemistry. The mystery itself I can’t really comment on as I don’t have much experience in this genre but I found it interesting. I would consider reading more in this series in the future. 4 out of 5.
*This book was sent to me in exchange for an honest review and is recommended for 18+.
In this book, we have Serena Loomis, poor and facing high school graduation with little options. An ex-boyfriend comes to her with an offer to not only help him pay for his education, but put some money in her pockets as well: sleep with his classmates for money.
Strap in, folks. This is gonna be long and angry.
Serena as a character is hard for me to identify with. I just can’t get behind the “I NEED to be a relationship but I hate myself” attitude. At about 3% into the book, I blatantly ripped off IHE and had a Fuck This Book moment.
Let me explain.
Her ex; Sam, out of nowhere decides to dump her then doesn’t speak to her for years. Suddenly, he asks to drive her home because he needs to talk to her about something. During the ride, he talks all about how he is super smart and has this amazing sports scholarship but she’s poor, stupid, but pretty and good at one thing. Sex.
So, as sex with her was so fucking amazing; she should come with him when he goes to college…
And fuck his classmates for money so he can take 20% off the top to help him pay for what the scholarship won’t cover.
Instead of cursing him out, as she rightfully should, she asks him what’s so great about her in bed that he thinks she could sell herself and make money…
He goes into lovely detail how her technique was and such then drops the lovely gem of it was so good because she looked like she was enjoying it.
Unfortunately, she didn’t beat the tar out of him, she just cries and leaves. Then when she’s going to bed, she starts to think about what he said and how he may have a point.
And that since she’s an only child of a divorced alcoholic who gets shitty grades; he is absolutely right about how shitty her life would be otherwise, goes to Sam the next day, and proceeds to hammer out the details of how this would work… WHICH HE HAD ALREADY FIGURED OUT EVEN DOWN TO THE CENT.
Then he handpicks the guys, sets up her schedule, and even plans investment options for her so after he graduates, she won’t have to do it anymore.
She listens to his entire plan and actually agrees with it. She packs her shit to follow him… After being told “You’re a fucking loser with no money and no future. The best you can ever hope for is a minimum wage job in this tiny town; eventually ending up like your mother. Since I actually have a future, you should sell your body FOR ME since that’s all you’ve got that’s worth something.”
That was 3% in… I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to quit a book that fast. Somehow, I trudged through all 266 pages of this thing through meeting all her clients (who she calls “dates”) and the book became slightly more bearable. I don’t need to hear every time she pees and the sex scenes became repetitive but hey, that’s the nature of what was set up here. I was actually starting to sympathize with Serena, as she genuinely seemed to want to help the guys she was sleeping with. She talks to them, encourages them, and even teaches them on some occasions while learning some things from them as well… Only to hit another line that just made me want to throw right the hell up:
79% in: “but it was a seductive kind of rape instead of a violent one.”
Look, I don’t begrudge any person having those kind of fantasies. Not my cup of tea but as long as you don’t hurt someone, what people do in their smexy times is none of my damn business. BUT THAT IS THE MOST DISGUSTING FUCKING LINE IN THIS BOOK. Do I even need to explain why this is wrong, dangerous, and twisted? Do you understand why I actually needed to sketch out my reactions so some of the crap in this book?
I concluded this book absolutely speechless at what I had read and the unmitigated GALL to end it on a cliffhanger as if anyone would want to continue this bullshit. Other than the “hooker with a heart of gold” trope being done to death, this book overall was like getting your first “date” over with; you disconnect your brain and hold on until it’s over. The book may be competently written enough to be called a novel but it’s twisted morals left me more disturbed than entertained. 2 out of 5 for the parts that didn’t make me physically ill.
