Quick Thought reviews

Sometimes I read a book where I just don't have a lot to say about it. Hence the name quick thought reviews. These will be short and sweet.

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Dangerous by Jax 

Review Copy Source: Netgalley

A body that won't quit
Clothes that are barely there
Eyes that openly invite him to take what he wants

Devon Candler is nothing like the helpless, vulnerable woman Liam expected when he agreed to provide security for her secluded Catskill Mountain estate. Yet her life is at risk. Her enemies monsters. Her secrets devastating.

Liam Nash is a trained killer who takes no prisoners, fears no man. But to him this woman is seductively, devastatingly. . .

Dangerous

I did not have the easiest time getting into the story. Everything built up really slowly and was quick to let it down if that makes sense. The world was interesting but nothing that really made me go wow. Both characters on their own were ok but there was something off about them together. I can't put my finger on exactly what their relationship was missing but there was something that didn't sell me on them. The ending was meh. Definitely something you should grab at the library if you feel you must read it.

I gave it 2/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Dragon Rising by Jaimie Rush

Review Copy Source: netgalley

Clues left by her missing father lead Lyra to a gorgeous, mysterious Caido, a descendent of fallen angels. When she discovers that his brother is also missing, she's determined not to let the exasperating man shut her out.

The last thing Archer needs is an emotional Dragon at his side, especially one whose heat reaches beyond the icy walls he, and all Caidos, must erect for good reason. Working together? Smart. Falling in love? Foolish…and inescapable.

I actually enjoyed DRAGON RISING. It was fast paced, I was not bored and I enjoyed the characters and the story. My only complaint was that it was too short and I would have liked to follow the characters a little longer. 

I gave it 3/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
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 Four Weddings and a Werewolf by Kristin Miller

Review Copy Source: Netgalley

To have and to howl…

Logan Black, former Marine and bodyguard for the Seattle Wolf Pack, hates weddings and has no plan to walk the path to matrimonial misery. But when he’s hired to protect a hot-to-trot wedding planner with a werewolf stalker, he’s forced to put his feelings aside. Not such an easy task when the damsel can turn him on with a single smoldering glance.

Wedding planner Veronica Vale knows werewolves exist, but hates them. One bit her sister, changing their lives forever. When a sexy Marine shows his gorgeous face at one of her wedding appointments, Veronica finds it hard to focus on the task at hand.

The chemistry drawing Logan and Veronica together seems fated, but with Logan’s playboy attitude, Veronica’s hatred for werewolves, and a stalker lurking in the shadows, these two need more than passion to keep them together.

FOUR WEDDINGS AND A WEREWOLF was just as good as the first book in this series. The couple was hot, the story was believable and the characters kept you interested. Veronica's sister was attacked and turned by a werewolf and although her sister is happy with her life now Veronica has a hate towards werewolves. Unfortunately she is being stalked and the person that is protecting her is a werewolf. Logan likes to be alone but Veronica tempts him in every way. They romance between the two was rocky but it was believable and I like a book where I can picture the story happening right next door. This one did that.

I gave it 4/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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 Tempt the Stars by Karen Chance

Review Copy Source: Netgalley

Being a goddess is a lot less fun than you might think. Especially when you’re only a half goddess, and you only found out about it recently, and you still don’t know what you’re doing half the time. And when you’ve just used your not-so-reliable powers to burglarize the booby-trapped office of a vampire mob boss.

Yeah, that part sucks.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg for Cassandra Palmer, aka the Pythia, the freshly minted chief seer of the supernatural world. After all, Cassie still has to save a friend from a fate worse than death, deal with an increasingly possessive master vampire, and prevent a party of her own acolytes from unleashing a storm of fury upon the world. Totally just your average day at the office, right?

This series never fails to keep me coming back. It has been a while since the last book in the series but I had no problem jumping right back in with TEMPT THE STARS. I love the person that Cassandra has grown into, I love the position she now holds and I love the allies she has at her back. Emotions are pretty high in TEMPT THE STARS and I don't see the emotions dying down in the next book. Cassandra continues to learn what she can do and the All in all, a great addition to the series. REAP THE WIND comes out in 2014 and I am excited to see where it will bring some of my favorite characters.

I gave it 4/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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MetaWars Megawinner Week

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Urban Fantasy Investigations is thrilled to celebrate the publication of Book 4 in the Metawars superhero series, 

CHIMERA (Pocket Star EBooks; November 11, 2013; $5.99) by Kelly Meding!

 A mysterious and dangerous conspiracy deepens, threatening the superpowered Rangers and pushing Flex to join forces with one of her team's mortal enemies: a Bane called Chimera.


Growing up with blue skin never made Rene "Flex" Duvall feel like at outcast. She learned early on to put people at ease with her wit and exuberant personality. So she's certainly not going to let her façade crack when she and her teammates suddenly face a new breed of genetically manipulated and brainwashed Metas: the well-trained teenage criminals known as the Recombinants.

When a desperate battle leaves one of their friends wounded, Renee and Ethan follow a clue to Manhattan Island, where the Banes have been imprisoned. There they find a Bane named Chimera, who refuses to cooperate despite possessing information that could help them stop the Recombinants. Chimera's emotional scars are as devastating as Renee's physical scars, and soon the two find common ground in shared pain. Against her better judgment, Renee forms an alliance with this Bane. They both can gain much from working together, so the only question is who has more to lose by cooperating . . .

Enter to win the entire EBook MetaWars superhero series this week!  (PLEASE NOTE, DUE TO TECHNICAL CIRCUMSTANCE, THE PROMO CODES FOR DOWNLOAD ARE NOT COMPATIBLE WITH KINDLE.)  One winner for Urban Fantasy Investigations will be announced November 15th!

METAWARS: THE COMPLETE SERIES (Pocket Star EBooks; Books 1-4; November 11, 2013; $9.99)

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Guest Blog: Demon Jack by Patrick Donovan

UFI welcomes Patrick Donovan Author of Demon Jack. Thanks for Joining us!!

For some reason, everyone (or most everyone) loves a good antihero. There's just something about the almost good guy, that dude that's willing to crack a few heads and break a few rules to get the job done, that captures folk's imaginations. We're talking about the Han Solos, the Constantines, and the Roland Deschains here folks.

But, alas, the question doth remain: What makes these guys (and gals) so damned awesome? Is it their swagger? Is it that sly little smile and the well placed snarky comment?

When I first got the idea for Demon Jack, I knew I didn't want the typical hero. The world that I had envisioned, which even I admit is pretty dark and gritty, needed something more than just your average do-gooder. The story itself just didn't have room, at least at the moment, for a Boy Scout kind of hero. It needed someone a little more raw, a little more willing to say to hell with the rules, and thus Jack Draughn was born. The world was flawed, it needed a flawed hero.

This brings me to the first thing that, in my opinion, makes the antihero what he is. He's a flawed case. There is some fundamental flaw, somewhere in their character, that takes away from their value as a full-fledged hero. For Jack, it was addiction and all the fear, selfishness, and other things that came with it. When he died, before the novel started, he sold his soul to a demon because he was scared of what came after. When he has a choice to save himself or the two people with him, he very seriously questions leaving them behind to save his own skin. It's because of these flaws, that the antihero doesn't ever really get to be the shining beacon of hope or get the girl. Unless your Han Solo, Han always gets the girl. 

The second thing that makes these lovable bastards so wonderful, is exactly the opposite of what defines your stereotype good guy. Law and order, adherence to the social norms, the antihero scoffs at such notions. This disregard for the law of the land, is more often than not, what puts the hero into the title of antihero. See, sometimes, to be the hero, you have to go outside of the rules to make things happen. Why else would Han shoot first, right?

With Jack, it goes a little past a firm defiance to the law. Now, don't get me wrong, he's no fan of the local constabulary, but more than that he doesn't have the same set of morals that most folks tend to have. He doesn't have a problem with say, killing someone instead of saving them. The thing is though, and I think this is important, is it's not killing for killing's sake. It's not just wanton violence for the sake of spattering the pages with a little bit of character guts. I won't say it's entirely justified, but it's not entirely outside of the scope of what the character would do. It's a survival matter, a them or me mentality. It plays back onto something that I think is at the heart of all good antihero types, which brings me to my next, final, and probably most important point.

Antiheroes, in their own way, are inherently selfish. Now, bare with me for a second. That selfishness plays its way out into the greater good in some way, shape, or form. Han came back and saved the day sure, but the question is why? For Leia? Because the Empire had just pissed him off? Does it matter? It served Han's purposes and thus, Han became heroic in his own right. With Jack, well, he got forced into it. So to get out from underneath it, he's going to lay down as much hell and havoc as he can until he go back to living his boring life without monsters trying to eat his face.

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Patrick Donovan writes urban fantasy for no other reason than to entertain. His first novel, Demon Jack, makes its home at Fable Press.

He started telling stories at a young age, drawing his stories on paper bags with crayons. He believes characters are what breathe life into a story as the reader watches them fight for survival, make choices (for better or worse) or just fall in love. It's the characters that tell the tale, he just takes dictation.


Like many authors, he lives off of coffee and would consume it via IV if that was a viable option. When he's not writing, he can be found reading, gaming and playing dad.

A graduate of High Point University in High Point, North Carolina, he is currently pursuing a Masters of Arts in English with a focus on Creative Writing.

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Find Patrick and his books

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

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Demon Jack

 Simple choice:

Stay dead and go to Hell,
Or sell your soul to a demon and keep breathing.

Fifteen years ago, Jack died and chose the latter. Now, a few years out of prison and living on the streets of Boston, Jack is perfectly content to keep a low profile and avoid his turbulent past.

Being a faceless “nobody” suits Jack just fine.

It’s working out until the only person he considers a friend turns on him, possessed by something far worse than the demon holding the contract to Jack's soul. Now, he's been recruited (some might say blackmailed) by an ancient order with roots in the Inquisition to hunt down whatever malevolent force is responsible for turning Boston's homeless into ravenous killers. At the same time, someone from his past with a massive vendetta and nothing in the way of conscience, is looking for Jack, hoping to issue a little payback of his own.

Paired with a centuries old witch and the only person to survive the rampage thus far, Jack is in a race to track down whatever’s responsible for killing his people, all while staying one step ahead of the skeletons in his closet.

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Cover Reveal: Entangled Select Titles

Call of the Siren 

Demons of Infernum #4
 March 25th 2014 by Entangled Select
 Amazon  /  Barnes and Noble

When darkness threatens...only love will bring them light.

The half-siren half-demon bounty hunter Dagan Meyers swore he'd never settle down. His older brothers might’ve adjusted well to family life but tying himself to one woman is so not Dagan’s bag. Until he meets the gorgeous angel Lina, his brother Ronin’s long-lost adopted sister, and he can’t think of being with anybody but her. Too bad Ronin’s well aware of Dagan’s party-boy lifestyle and won’t let him anywhere near his angelic baby sister.

Lina is still getting over the abandonment issues that began when she was orphaned as a child and has devoted her life to taking down evil Otherworlders. The last thing she wants is to develop feelings for man she knows will eventually leave her, too. But as the battle against a growing darkness continues—a powerful fae who’s harnessed untold power—Dagan and Lina find that love may be their greatest weapon against the very thing that threatens to destroy them all.

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Rosalie Lario is the award-winning, paranormal romance author of the Demons of Infernum and the Fallen Warriors series. Rosalie double majored in Anthropology and Classics as an undergraduate student, and briefly considered becoming an archaeologist before realizing they don't actually live the life of Indiana Jones. So what was a classical geek armed with a lot of useless knowledge to do? Become a lawyer, of course!

After attending law school in Florida, she practiced real estate law for several years before finally admitting to herself that negotiating contracts wasn't nearly as fun as dreaming up stories. She never imagined all the mythology she'd learned throughout her undergraduate education might actually come in handy, but it makes perfect fodder for the paranormal romance stories she now dreams up.

When not writing, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children in their home state of Florida.

Find Rosalie and her books

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

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Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Speak of the Devil #3
March 25th, 2014 by Entangled Select
Amazon  /  Barnes and Noble

Not Even Death Keeps a Good Demoness Down

There’s never an end to the crazy when you’re demon spawn. Not that Faith Bettincourt’s complaining. She’s been patching things up with her angelic on-again off-again boyfriend, Matt, and her best-friend-turned-sister-in-law is soon giving birth to the Anti-Christ Part Deux. Oh, and Faith is saving kids from Death in her pediatric unit one soul at a time. Life is good.

Until Faith accidentally runs over the Angel of Death and is forced to take his place. Now she’s taking lives instead of saving them. Which is kind of a problem when you’re a nurse. As if that weren’t bad enough, she is suddenly thrust into the worst scenario of them all--Matt’s ex Brenda is back, and she’s brought the Apocalypse with her.

Faith’s not about to give up the world...or her man. But when the chips are down, what’s a demoness supposed to do? Besides take matters into her own hands, of course.

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Patricia Eimer is a small-town girl who was blessed with a large tree in the backyard made for reading in on summer days. Mixed with too much imagination, it made her a bratty child but fated her to become a storyteller. She currently lives in Pittsburgh with her two wonderful kids and a husband that learned the gourmet art of frozen pizzas to give her more time to write. When she’s not writing she can be found fencing and arguing about with her dogs about who’s in charge.


Find Patricia and her books

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

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Cover Reveal: Mended by Kim Karr

Mended

Connections #3

June 3rd 2014 by NAL
Amazon  /  iTunes

MUSIC HAS THE POWER TO HEAL ALL…BUT NOT ALL BROKEN HEARTS CAN BE MENDED.

Always in control, Xander Wilde considered life on the road to be a perfect fit for him. But when disaster strikes on the Wilde Ones’ latest tour, fate intervenes…and a newly single Ivy Taylor, the only girl he has ever loved, steps back into his life.

After moving past her painful breakup with Xander years ago, Ivy was poised to become the next big name in pop music…when suddenly she withdrew from the limelight—the same day she announced her engagement to her controlling agent, Damon Wolf.

Xander knows he should keep his distance. But once they’re on the road, he can’t resist pursuing her for a second chance. Yet a jealous Damon can’t let her go—and he’s keeping dangerous secrets that could destroy them all.

When the three of them come together, everything falls apart. But if Xander and Ivy can hold tight to the bond that connects them, they just might have a chance at reclaiming the powerful love they thought they had lost forever...

MENDED EXCERPT

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I live in Florida with my husband and four kids. I've always had a love for reading books and writing. Being an English major in college, I wanted to teach at the college level but that was not to be. I went on to receive an MBA and became a project manager until quitting to raise my family. I currently work part-time with my husband and full-time embracing one of my biggest passions—writing.

I wear a lot of hats! Writer, book-lover, wife, soccer-mom, taxi driver, and the all around go-to person of the family. However, I always find time to read. One of my favorite family outings use to be taking my kids to the bookstore or the library. Today, my oldest child is in college and my twins are juniors so they no longer go with me on these outings. And although I don't need to go to the actual store anymore because I have the greatest device ever invented—a Kindle, I still do. There's nothing like a paperback. So now my four year old and I make dates out of going to the bookstore--it's time I love and cherish.

I like to believe in soulmates, kindred spirits, true friends, and Happily-Ever-Afters. I love to drink champagne, listen to music, and hopes to always stay young at heart.
 
Find Kim and her books

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

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Review: Hell Bent by Devon Monk

Hell Bent

Author: Devon Monk

Release Date: November 5, 2013

Publisher: Roc

Broken Magic Book #1

ISBN:  0451417925

ISBN13: 9780451417923

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Review Copy Source: Publisher

Instead of the deadly force it once was, magic is now a useless novelty. But not for Shame Flynn and Terric Conley, “breakers” who have the gift for reverting magic back to its full-throttle power. In the magic-dense city of Portland, Oregon, keeping a low profile means keeping their gifts quiet. After three years of dealing with disgruntled magic users, Shame and Terric have had enough of politics, petty magic, and, frankly, each other. It’s time to call it quits.

When the government discovers the breakers’ secret—and its potential as a weapon—Shame and Terric suddenly become wanted men, the only ones who can stop the deadly gift from landing in the wrong hands. If only a pair of those wrong hands didn’t belong to a drop-dead-gorgeous assassin Shame is falling for as if it were the end of the world. And if he gets too close to her, it very well could be...

I have seen mention that you don't have to read the Allie Beckstrom novels to jump into the Broken Magic Series but I have to tell you that you will most likely be seriously lost. Without the background on the characters, their relationships, the reason for the broken magic I don't see how you could possibly enjoy all that the Broken Magic Series has to offer. Don't let that stop you from reading HELL BENT, just read the Allie Beckstrom Series first. You wont be disappointing.

Alright, I admit it, Shame can be pretty depressing at times but he has a way of getting under your skin and you can't help but root for him even when he is being a brooding jerk. He is having a really hard time controlling his death magic and fears he is going to hurt someone he loved. He also refuses to let Terric (his soul complement) help him. You know their struggles by reading the Allie Beckstrom Series but it is even worse as HELL BENT starts. I enjoyed watching their progress with each other and the way they band together to get through their current situation. I really loved jumping back into the Allie Beckstrom universe and catching up with all the characters.

The first book in the Broken Magic Series lived up to its predecessor. I believe I read that the series will only be two books long but if the second book is as good as HELL BENT I will be happy. On another note, I think Shame deserves a 'happily ever after' type of ending and he definitely doesn't get it in HELL BENT so I hope STONE COLD goes better for him.

I gave it 4/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.