Today, Ilona Andrews posted the cover of the follow-up to On the Edge on her site. I thought this would be a good occasion to do a post featuring the covers of books I’m looking forward to reading. Most are ‘next in the series’. A couple of the books are for series I haven’t started but have the first book and the second is on order (Aguirre’s Corine Solomon series, Devoti’s Amazon series, Carriger’s Alexia Tarabotti series, Singh’s Guardian series — the books intrigued me enough to chance buying/ordering the second):

Hell Fire by Ann Aguirre

Demonkeepers by Jessica Andersen

Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews

Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

Untameable Rogue by Kelly Hunter

Changeless by Gail Carriger

Mind Games by Carolyn Crane

Amazon Queen by Lori Devoti

The Hellhound King by Lori Devoti

The Bliss Factor by Penny McCall

Doppelgangster by Laura Resnick

Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh

Being behind on reviews has had an unexpected plus side.

By having that gap between finishing the book and when I actually sit down to put my thoughts on paper, I have a better take on which books stay with me.  Since I have to refresh my memory on some points, I usually have to do a little re-reading.  If I really love the book, I tend to keep reading after I found whatever it was that prompted me to refer to the book.  That’s a bit annoying, since I should be writing, not reading.  The harder it is for me to put aside the book, the more likely the book is going to be a 5-star book, flaws and all.

With that in mind, I’m going to go ahead and give ratings to the books I’ve already posted.  I’ll eventually update the individual review posts.  Reminder: anything I give a 3-Star or above is a guarantee that I will try other books from the author.

Five Stars:  LOVED!

• Dawnkeepers (Jessica Andersen)
• Bedded for Diamonds (a.k.a. Priceless) (Kelly Hunter)
• Ravenous (Sharon Ashwood)
• Dark Crusade (Lori Devoti)

Four Stars: Liked a lot!

• Driven (Eve Kenin)
• An Unladylike Offer (Christine Merrill)
• Ace is Wild (Penny McCall)

Three Stars: Enjoyable Read

• Slave to Sensation (Nalini Singh)
• Cousin Kate (Georgette Heyer)
• Shadow Game (Christine Feehan)

Ace is Wild

Author: Penny McCall
Copyright: 2008 (Berkley); pgs. 308
ISBN: 978-0-425-22298-0
Series: N/A
Sensuality: Warm

Who: Vivienne Foster and Daniel “Ace” Pierce
Where: Boston

This is the second book I’ve read by this author. Though some of the characters and plot elements from her previous books make an appearance, it’s not necessary to read either All Jacked Up or Tag, You’re it! first.

Vivienne Foster is a psychic. No, really, she is. And that’s the problem. Law enforcement types generally don’t believe in her abilities, so going to them with her knowledge pertaining to a hit on an Assistant DA is pointless. No one will believe her that Daniel Pierce is in mortal danger without solid proof — like the identity of the person ordering the hit or the name of the hired gun. Vivi’s visions don’t work that way, so she left with only one course of action — try to get his attention at a bachelor charity auction and hope he listens to her.

Daniel is a former FBI field agent, benched after a near-fatal shooting damaged his leg. Unable to return to field work in any law enforcement agency, he became a lawyer. But even that isn’t enough for guy who’s goal in life was to make the world a safer place. His track record is hardly impressive, mainly because he doesn’t compromise when it comes to his ethics or his integrity. Even though he doesn’t want to believe in Vivi’s talent, he’s willing to accept the possibility there really is a hit out on him. He wants to be actively involved in the investigation, not sitting in some safe house or guarded by federal agents. Daniel is sure that Vivi knows more than she’s letting on — there is something important she’s not telling him. Daniel doesn’t have many “wins” — cases where he sent someone to prison for life or, at least, a very long time. Narrowing down the list of possibilities and investigating them — Vivi doing a reading on them — shouldn’t be so hard, but their progress is hindered by more attempts on Daniel’s life by slightly incompetent and elusive hit men.

Both have trust issues. Vivi, obviously, has a hard time trusting cops and lawyers because they don’t believe her, and she knows that Daniel is only humoring her. Trusting the wrong person got Daniel shot, so it will take a lot of convincing before he’ll trust Vivi. They both also believe in speaking the truth. Vivi doesn’t lie to her customers. She won’t tell them only what they want to hear, unless it’s the truth. Some things — like death — she can’t bear predicting, so she tries to steer her clients away from those types of questions. Daniel is a “the world is black and white” type guy — no gray areas. He sees Vivi being sued by clients as proof she’s a con artist — and therefore a criminal. Of course, Vivi was sued by clients that didn’t like what she told them — the truth.

From the beginning, Daniel and Vivi are physically attracted to each other. Both try to ignore it. At some point, during their running around Boston eluding hit men, — and the cops and Feds who don’t want them involved in the investigation — Vivi starts to fall in love with Daniel. This is bad news because those feelings prevent her from getting a read on Daniel. With his life in danger, this could prove fatal. Naturally, it takes Daniel a little longer to realize what he’s feeling is more than lust.

I really enjoyed this book. There’s a lot of action, so the story moves pretty quickly. Vivi’s a fun character. She’s strong and she doesn’t back down, even when Daniel is biting her head off for one reason or other. She can give as good as she gets. I really liked Daniel. When you first meet him, he comes across as a slick, sophisticated lawyer, but really he’s a jeans-and-t-shirt kind of guy; happier out in the field than behind a desk.

Favorite Quotes:
“If I didn’t trust you and believe in your ability I wouldn’t be asking you to save the day, but you can’t even drum up a halfway credible premonition.”
“Because I love you, you jackass.”
“Uh. . .”
“That’s right, you moron, I love you.”
– Daniel and Vivi, in a tight spot, yelling at each other

“The place was crawling with cops and feds.”
“That’s what happens when you call and tell them you were almost murdered by a high-ranking mob figure.”
– Daniel, Vivi

Started: 19 February 2009
Finished: 27 February 2009

Rating:

Liked A Lot

Tag, You’re It!

Who: Dr. Alexandra Scott (zoologist) and Tag Donovan (FBI agent)

From the back: Alex Scott has been doing just fine on her own, studying mountain lions and living alone in a log cabin seventy-five miles from anywhere. The last thing she needs is some cocky guy, even one with looks to die for, falling from the sky. . .

Comments: The reviewer at All About Romance called it a “popcorn movie of a book.” Generally, I like popcorn movies (National Treasure, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.), so the idea appealed to me: a bit of adventure, some witty dialog, bad guys and locals straight out of central casting, a quirky horse, and a romance.

The premise is pretty simple. Undercover FBI agent Tag Donovan is dumped, literally, at Alex’s feet by his “employer”. He doesn’t know much about her, and he doesn’t know how she fits into the con he’s trying to shut down. Is she part of the con, or a pawn? He figures out pretty quickly that she’s an innocent pawn, but he still can’t tell her the truth. Tag’s sticking to the rules of undercover, partly because he doesn’t know who she might confide in — who does she trust that might not be trustworthy — and partly because he doesn’t trust his gut instincts since he failed to reach his partner in time to prevent him from being murdered. It’s so much easier to follow the “don’t break cover” mandate, even when he realize his feeling for Alex are deeper than just lust.

Alex doesn’t trust Tag’s cover story — treasure hunting — and therefore doesn’t trust anything about him. In fact, the only way she’d have believed Tag was an agent — especially after her cabin was destroyed — would have been if the FBI director came personally to verify his identity. The pair verbally spar with each other nearly non-stop. At times, they reminded me of Han Solo and Princess Leia. And though she’s had a bad experience in regards to men — thanks to her ex-fiancé — she’s hasn’t sworn off all men since him, and she definitely isn’t immune to Tag.

I enjoyed the book very much. I do have minor quibbles, however. I ranted about this last year. I don’t understand strong heroines that can’t handle the fact that their heroes have dangerous jobs. Yes, I understand the heroine is afraid that something horrible will happen, and justly so . But if all the heroes — cops, secret agents, Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, FBI, ATF, Secret Service, etc — quit their jobs to make the heroines happy, the forces of evil would run amok. If the ladies can’t handle the pressure, maybe they should hook up with accountants.

Started: 27 January 2008
Finished: 1 February 2008

Liked A Lot

Rating: