June in Review

Looking at my June reads you may be tempted to ask 'Dana, what's up with you and those damn Chase brothers books?'. Well let me tell you guys - I just DON'T KNOW. They're on rotation now as my go-to 'I don't know what to read I'll just read them again'- picks.  It's probably boring for you guys to see them on my monthly review summary yet again, but please be patient with me and enjoy instead all the wonderful other rereads I went through this month and the rare new book that also got a review. 

Don't worry - I have finally followed through on my determination to do better by my challenges and will have new (well different) books to pick up at the library tomorrow. Yay!

It's the little things in life guys ;)

Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews

Alien in the Family by Gini Koch

Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh (x2)

The Mane Squeeze by Shelly Laurenston

Big Bad Beast by Shelly Laurenston

Trace of Fever by Lori Foster

Hit List by Laurell K Hamilton

Hexed by Ilona Andrews, Yasmine Galenorn, etc

Midnight Crystal by Jayne Castle

Curse the Dawn by Karen Chance

Hunt the Moon by Karen Chance

Making Chase by Lauren Dane

Chased by Lauren Dane

Taking Chase by Lauren Dane

Ladybugs and Fireflies by Cheryl Alldredge

Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson: Moon Called Graphic Novel 

Books Read/ Reviewed:

17/14

Happy Friday and Happy 4th of July!

To be brutally honest I don't have enough concentration to do my July wrap up today. Miracles of miracles I'm getting out of work EARLY and I want to enjoy that feeling for the oh... hour that I have left.

Such simple joys that make me ecstatically happy.

I will also be out and about this weekend and cannot guarantee that I'll be online to post so instead I'm just going to say so long until Tuesday with a ...

Happy Friday!

and to all my fellow Americans...

Later!

A Milestone Moment :)

Know what yesterday was? Yesterday marked my 500th post! Woohoo! Happy dance!! (there's some booty shaking there that you can't see - you should probably be grateful.)

And while I know it's a bit self congratulatory, I'm going to take a moment here and enjoy that. Reading Amidst the Chaos - or anything like it really - has been a idea of mine since highschool. Begun in the back rows of Women's Chorus when I realized my friends actually liked when I recommended books to them. And that I liked even more when they recommended things back to me. It was a whole recommendy-fest if you will.

But that recommendy-fest was destined to be something more than a table on an Angelfire or Geocities site, more than an Excel spreadsheet I could email out to friends. Apparently I was already on the road to blogdom, which I am more than happy to find myself amidst now. Even on the bad days where I don't feel like reading anything new or my brain feels like mush and completely lacking in anything funny, I'm thankful. I've read some amazing books, connected with people who love what I love in ways strikingly similar to my own, and continue to have the chance to put my often insane ideas out there. Ideas that people actually read.

So THANK YOU to everyone who's stuck with me and continues to read and recommend RAtChaos. When my low moments hit and I wonder why the heck I still do something that so many other people seem to do better, you keep me going. I hope I won't let you down.

Ladybugs and Fireflies by Cheryl Alldredge

A Southern Romance

Feisty fraud investigator, Callie Roberts, isn’t looking for a knight in shining armor to rescue her. She’s perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She’s had to be. Now, her business is thriving and her goal of owning her own home is finally in reach…if she can land her dream client.

The last thing she needs is to be distracted by a man, especially when he’s the powerful New York attorney who’s in town to represent the man her dream client has hired her to investigate.

Taylor Powers’ big city law career has brought him success, but a trip back to his home state of Florida has him wondering if it might be time to think of coming home for good. The sweet, sexy woman he’s drawn to only confuses matters. Callie’s career has made her a pro at keeping secrets and that plays havoc with his zero tolerance for deceptive women. Yet she attracts trouble like a magnet, kicking his protective instincts into overdrive.

Can Taylor unravel the mystery that is Callie? And with a past full of heartache, will Callie ever allow herself to believe happily ever after really can come true?

~~

This is a cute entertaining little read :)

I've said before how much I enjoy contemporary romance, especially ones set in small town, but they're not easy to write (for me anyway). Getting the dynamics just right and bringing in enough supporting characters to place the hero and heroine in the community doesn't just happen. For the most part Alldredge is right on track on with this title.

Callie and Taylor both have their hot buttons - places where emotional scars have made them a bit tougher around the edges than usual. What that creates though is some great sparks because both are willing to talk back and stand up for what they believe in. I don't want surface wall flowers, but a man and woman who make mistakes and are willing to grow and change when they've found love. Yes it's corny, yes it's the prelude to the HEA, but that's what I like about contemporary romances. A wonderful HEA. 

There are a couple places where things could be improved - I feel like we got a whirlwind look at the cast of characters around Callie and Taylor, but not really enough information to make me feel connected to the community. I want to know more about Dara and Johnnie, about the homeless people that Callie talks to - these men and women are what make me believe in that 'Southern down home town' and I feel like we didn't get enough of that her. A similar sense of 'surfacey'-ness could be felt at some points of Callie and Taylor's relationship. It could have been necessitated by the length, but sometimes things just jumped really fast between the two of them and it was hard for me to follow as well understand how their feelings could have blossomed in such a sort time. It wasn't terrible or anything, I just could have wished for a few more pages here and there to get inside their heads a bit more.

All in all this is a good ebook and I would recommend it to anyone who likes their romances short and sweet.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up

Series - None (? - I think)

**Ebook sent by author for review consideration**

Hunt the Moon by Karen Chance

Cassandra Palmer recently defeated a god, which you'd think would buy a girl a little time off. But it doesn't work that way when your new job description is Pythia — the world's chief clairvoyant. Cassie is busier than ever, trying to learn about her power, preparing for her upcoming coronation, and figuring out her relationship with the enigmatic sexy master vampire, Mircea.

But someone doesn't want Cassie to become Pythia, and is willing to go to any lengths to make sure the coronation ceremony never happens—including attacking her mother before Cassie is even born.

~~

First let me get my happy dancing out of the way because this book was so good! It's been a while since Curse the Dawn came out and rereading that and getting through Hunt the Moon just reminded me why I like Karen Chance so much. Her books are a lot of fun and I think a wonderful example of the paranormal romance genre.

Everyone, Cassie, Mircea, and Pritkin, are still wrapped up in the politics of establishing the Pythia outside of Apollo's influence and where Cassie is going to fit in relation to the Senate (sorry book references that only sort of make sense to those who haven't read these). It's not going to be easy because Cassie, as a strong kick-ass character, is not going to be just a figure head. She'll either do it and succeed or mess up on her own merits or not do it all - no puppet Pythia-ing here. Combining that with Cassie's determination to 'date' Mircea and keep things platonic with Pritkin in the midst of all this, and it's a complicated novel that you've got here.

I love Chance for the strength of her characters and the intricacies of the world she's built. I know she's only 5 books in but I feel like she's really taking the time to create a series that makes sense and doesn't just have bad guys and other randomness thrown in to extend it. I'm not sure who I'm voting for relationship wise, she's definitely got me on the fence. Being deliberately vague, what I liked and was rooting for in the beginning isn't quite how things might end up, and so for a lot of this book I found myself cringing at what was happening while being completely unable to look away. Highly recommended :)

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up.

Series - 1) Touch the Dark 2) Claimed by Shadow 3) Embrace the Night 4) Curse the Dawn 5) Hunt the Moon

Why oh why wild turkey?

You read me right there - wild turkey. I went tubing in West Virginia yesterday and it was incredible and so much fun! So much fun in fact that today I look like this:

Ok maybe without the 'I'm so sore how am I going to go on?' face, but you get the general idea. And the day included a little bit of this:

And maybe more than a little bit of this:

So with that said I hope you all understand if I don't have a spiffy new book review ready for today. Look for some later this week though, because I do have some great sounding titles on my TBR shelf.  Happy Monday!

Side Jobs by Jim Butcher

Meet Harry Dresden, Chicago’s first (and only) Wizard P.I. Turns out the “everyday” world is full of strange and magical things – and most of them don’t play well with humans. That’s where Harry comes in.

Harry Dresden is the best at what he does, despite tending to stumble from crisis to drama in his dealings with the supernatural world. Somehow he unfailingly manages to get on the wrong side of werewolf, fae and vampire alike. But that’s where his own rather special powers come into play.

Magic – it can get a guy killed.

~~

I have to admit that I was a complete wuss about this book. I bought it for Murphy's story at the end, one that takes place immediately after Changes. I rushed out to buy the book but when I got it home I just couldn't read it! I was too freaked out. Freaked about the ending of the last book, about Harry, about Murphy - about what Jim Butcher could do next that would potentially rip my heart out (because yes, he can totally do that). 

Finally though I had to man up. In the midst of a bunch of other books I sat down and read through Side Jobs and I'm very happy I did because Jim Butcher didn't disappoint. Each of these short stories are great glimpses into what makes the Dresden Files so wonderful and fun to read. It shows off Harry's particular blend of morality and practicality along with the supernatural in the 'normal' that characterizes the series. Plus Murphy's story? Pretty fan-f*cking-tastic if I do say so myself. She's been a favorite character of mine from the beginning and with the chance to finally read the thoughts in her head it's hard not to love her more. She and the rest of the things that go bump in the night in Chicago have a rough road ahead, no doubt about it, but I can't wait to get my hands on Ghost Stories. 

Oh and you've be warned - I don't think this collection will be as enjoyable if you haven't read the whole series. Yes Harry is a great character and he shines in whatever story you put him in, but a lot of these take place between particular books and thus have a lot of history. Full enjoyment will only truly come if you know all the emotional ups and downs that come before and after them.

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up.

Series - ...11) Turn Coat 12) Changes 12b) Side Jobs (short stories) 13) Ghost Story (July 26, 2011)