Saturday, January 24, 2009

Glitter Baby by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Fleur Savagar is the most beautiful woman in the world . . . to everyone but herself. With her oversized hands and paddle-boat feet, her streaky blond hair and funny green eyes, she lives a life filled with secrets that began before she was born. That was when her bewitching mother left home to find James Dean and met Errol Flynn instead. Now Fleur has to grow up quickly, and life won't make that easy.

Jake Koranda is both New York's most brilliant playwright and Hollywood's hottest actor. Difficult, talented, and tormented, he has no patience for international glamour girls, not even ones with beautiful bodies and smart-aleck mouths. But there's more to the Glitter Baby than shine, and Fleur's tougher than Jake expects. Even with the odds stacked against her, she's fiercely determined to discover the woman she's destined to be.


I think that this book is officially one of the weirdest romances I've ever read. The beginning was full of all this random depressing intro about her mother/fathers/stepfather, and even when I thought things were going to be looking up, it all went crashing to the ground! Fleur's mother Belinda is a depressing, mostly non-sympathetic character, that even after life has officially ground her into the dirt, her selfishness makes the reader unsure about whether they care or not. Fleur and Jake are another unique couple. I've read Phillips before, and most of my problems with her books stem from overly alpha men (meaning they're so alpha they're complete jerks) but this time he wasn't so obviously mean to the 'heroine', but still he ended up almost destroying her. And if you're about to point out that this is obviously part of the story meant to help instill suspense about when they happy ending will finally arrive, I KNOW. I still say that the way Phillips separated the sections, with page holders giving hints to Fleur's state of mind, were strange breaks and the way she handled the time line seemed to make me more confused rather than less. In the end the story wasn't a complete loss, the bad guy is defeated, the winners go off into the sunset, and mostly everyone gets what they deserve. But it was still really hard to get into and the lack of Phillips' ability to create sympathy in me for her characters make this a less satisfying romance read than most.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole

HIS OBSESSION...

Sabine, Sorceress of Illusions: the evil beauty who surrenders her body, but not her heart.

HER DOWNFALL...

Rydstrom Woede: the ruthless warrior who vows to keep her at all costs.

THEY WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO WANT EACH OTHER THIS MUCH...

With each smoldering encounter, their shared hunger only increases. If they can defeat the sinister enemy that stands between them, will Sabine make the ultimate sacrifice for her demon? Or will the proud king lay down his crown and arms to save his sorceress?


First thing to say - yay for Kresley Cole! I love her Immortals After Dark series, they're all so filled with dark and brooding paranormal alpha men of all shapes and sizes. In this particular story we get to actually learn about what happend while Rydstrom was the captive of Sabine, Queen of Illusions. We knew it was something bad - I mean in the last book by Cole we heard Sabine's calls for help when she was chained to his bed. So even when I was impatient to get to the end and have them both get past some misunderstandings on both side, it was so much fun to watch them get there! And kick lots of butt on the journey! Sabine is a great heroine, reminiscient of the Valkyries in her love of mayheim and slaughter (all with the choiciest pieces of gold waiting for her at the end of course) and Rydstrom is brooding, conflicted, and very, very hot. With just enough peril to make their journey one to worry about, Cole's latest book is great addition to her series. So for you, GO! READ THE REST!

Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand by Carrie Vaughn

Already the alpha pair of Denver's werewolf pack, Kitty and Ben now plan to tie the knot human-style by eloping to Vegas. Kitty is looking forward to sipping fru-fru drinks by the pool and doing her popular radio show on live TV, but her hotel is stocked with werewolf-hating bounty hunters. Elsewhere on the Strip an old-school magician might be wielding the real thing; the vampire community is harboring a dark secret; and the irresistible star of a suspicious animal act is determined to seduce Kitty. Sin City has never been so wild, and this werewolf has never had to fight harder to save not only her wedding, but her very life.

Let me start out by saying that it took SO LONG for this book to come out that I actually had to revisit the last two books to reconnect with what had been going on! That just seems a little extreme to me, because while I read a lot, rarely do I have to spend so much time boning up before even starting the newest book. I haven't decided if that means that Ms. Vaughn has just taken waaay too long before releasing this latest book in Kitty's saga, or if her books are just not memorable enough. It's probably a bit of both, because while I enjoy reading about Kitty and Ben there is just something about them that is kind of forgettable. In Dead Man's Hand, Kitty and Ben finally make things legal and head to Vegas to escape the trial and tribulations of planning a big wedding. But of course nothing can be that easy, and their plans are interrupted by her stations' decision to set Kitty up for a TV special while she's there and Rick sending her off to meet the master vampire of Las Vegas- and this all intertwined with a Vegas act filled with possibly mistreated lycanthropes. It's a fast paced book of ups and downs, and even a kidnapping! Kitty continues her adventures of never keeping her nose out of anything, and the insertion of a Babylonian cult created an interesting set up for the next book (coming out in March). I don't like to give anything away, just be assured that it's a good book in a decent series and you'll definitely end up feeling the love between these two alpha werewolves!