If you were looking for a Friday pick-me-up, I found it

That's right. Some wonderful human out there cared enough about this baby elephant's quality of life to make him a prosthetic limb.

<3 the world :)

Happy Friday!!!

New Book Battle

(if you wanna do me a favor and read this while pretending to hear the training music from Rocky I'd appreciate it) 

Friends I am in the midst of a rare occurance - stuck between two new books! Recently the latest Kitty Norville novel came out:

Kitty's Big Trouble

and while I was distracted working through older Nora Roberts the latest book in the Harry Dresden series released on Tuesday! 

Ghost Story

I don't know what I'm going to do! I wish I'd just read the damn Kitty book instead of the Nora Roberts but now it's too late and here I am. You can picture me sitting at my desk turning my head back and forth between the two books in front of me. It's not pretty let me tell you. I'm agonizing over the decision but I think due to the fact that the last book was a HUUUGGGE cliffhanger I'm going to have to start the Butcher first. Plus he's going to be in the DC area on Monday! Technically in VA, but whatever it's in the area, and I'm going to go!!! Hopefully the lines will be more manageable than they were at Dragon*Con.

Hot Night by Shannon McKenna

THE PREDATOR

Gold. The most precious of metals. And someone would kill to get at the dazzling exhibit of priceless Spanish treasure Abby Maitland just landed for the museum. Too bad Zan Duncan had to show up to protect her, but someone’s waiting—and watching. She’s in the crosshairs and she doesn’t have a clue.

THE PREY

Abby is mesmerized by Zan’s untamed strength and his very sexual vibe. From the long dark hair, the thick, hard muscles, and the black leather jacket right on down to the honed fighting skills and the tattoos, Zan is everything a bad boy oughta be . . . and everything Abby has sworn to avoid. Yet he’s a master of subtle seduction, pushing her buttons with tantalizing promises of night after hot night of secret, endless pleasure. Promises that he keeps, to the letter . . .

But danger stalks them both, for a lethal game of deception, greed and murder is underway—a game more sinister than Abby and Zan ever imagined. And when no one can be trusted and no place is safe, passion may be the only thing that can save them . . .
~~

I'm not sure if my feelings are caused by reading both this and Out of Control back to back, but I can't see McKenna being much of a consistent read for me. They're kind of giving me that Diana Palmer feel, where the same thing happens over and over again with only the names of the characters changing. But see Palmer imbedded herself in my reader psyche pretty early so while I'm still able to reread her stuff, or buy new books when I'm really intrigued, I have too many things going on now to give precious reading time to McKenna.

The good about this book is that the action isn't bad and Abby and Zan, when looked at just for themselves, aren't the worst characters. Abby's desperately trying to overcome bad boy choices in the past and Zan can't seem to help being drawn to her and wanting to be in her life - even when it's not exactly the most convenient  thing for him. BUT - and we're about to get really bad here - this isn't enough of a saving grace when put up against the not so great of this book. 

First of all Zan annoyed the heck out me at many points in this book. Not only did he seem completely inconsiderate of Abby's choices and why she was trying to stick to them, he could be such a bonehead! He followed along right behind the person you knew the entire time was trying to set him up. Why? I couldn't tell you because it made absolutely no sense! 90% of the book could have been avoided (which I know doesn't really serve the author's purpose) if he would have realized that people who've already proven themselves to be horribly horribly untrustworthy probably shouldn't, you know, be TRUSTED again!

Dumb people. He might as well be the blonde in the horror movie that runs away from the killer into the empty woods. SMH.

It's an ok book with characters that could have been great. But the exact same He-Man falls irrevocably for woman and proceeds to make a bit of an ass of himself isn't my favorite punchline. Still, I have one more McKenna book from my library haul to go through so we'll see if she can pull it out.

Overall Feeling - Eh/Thumbs down

Series - None? I think?

The Adventures of Dana: Book II (in NY!)

It's time for another edition of The Adventures of Dana! I had a freaking fantastic time in NY with my close friend (and former roomie) Makiko. I unfortunately don't have a lot of  'book' geekiness to share with you, but at least you're getting a pretty good clue about what kind of movies I love and what food I crave! I can't wait to go back!

(In case you have any issues, these pictures are also now up on the RAtChaos Facebook page)

Click to Embiggen

 If you don't know what this quote is from then I just have no use for you ;)

 The Make Up Forever studio at the Soho Sephora was FANTASIC! I've never seen anything like and would love to take a class. Plus that employee who helped me out with one of my fav pictures of the trip by pointing at the sign was FABulous. I need Georgetown to hire one just like him.

Home Alone 2 anyone?

 In case you were wondering: Tribeca Taco Truck, Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, Zucchini Fries with Wasabi Dip

Out of Control by Shannon McKenna

Disillusioned P.I Davy McCloud has learned the hard way not to follow blind impulse when it comes to women. He'd rather play it safe, and keep his life simple, calm and uncomplicated. But he's prepared to make an exception when Margot Vetter shows up to teach at the gym next door. The luscious, mysterious woman stirs a hunger he hasn't felt in a long time, as well as a fierce protectiveness he can't quite explain, expecially when her background check reveals she's hiding secrets--secrets of the ugly, deadly kind.

Margot is at the end of her rope. It's bad enough that she's broke and on the run, framed for a murder she didn't commit. Now, she's being terrorized by a malevolent stalker. The only person she dares to turn to is buff, scarily gorgeous Davy McCloud, a man who seems like nothing on earth could intimidate him. But Davy has questions of his own, and the closer she gets to him, the more Margot discovers that she can't hold herself back from this enigmatic, sensual man in any way.

Neither of them expected passion to flare this quickly--or to drag them into a danger as real as their love. Margot's past has finally caught up with her. And for Davy McCloud, life is about to get more than complicated . . .

It's turning deadly . . . 

~~

I've realized that I have to get this review up right now or I'm going to be colored by my feelings for the next McKenna book I'm reading. I'm going to try and think about this one separately, but just ignore any random references to other stuff - hopefully it'll all make sense later.

Out of Control I'm almost positive is the first full length Shannon McKenna book I've ever read (because I may have read some short stories in anthologies). Initially I requested it from the library because of the romantic suspense challenge I'm taking part in, but I've got to say I'm very happy to be introduced to a new author. I'm still on the fence on whether she'll be an automatic purchase or not, but she's definitely a great library choice.

As a romantic suspense Out of Control works very well for me. The point of view flip flops a bit between the murderer and Davy and Margot, which due to just how CRAZY that character is is an interesting dichotomy. It kept me on edge as I tried to figure out just when there was going to be a show down amongst everyone.

The relationship between Davy and Margot wasn't too bad either. I feel like as a reader I was thrown into everyone's emotional baggage so quickly that sometimes I didn't understand why one person would react a certain way to the other. For example, Davy  would get angry at Margot about things she did/reactions she had, and all I could think of was 'do you remember what she told you about her past?! Get a grip here pal!' Still the sparks were pretty explosive between the two and the slower build-up reminded me a quite a bit of some old school Linda Howard books.

All in all I'd recommend this book, but there's something about it I don't completely love. I think I'm putting my finger on it a bit more with Hot Night, but I'll let guys know!

Overall Feeling - Thumbs up.

Series - 1) Behind Closed Doors 2) Standing in the Shadows 3) Out of Control 4) Edge of Midnight 5) Extreme Danger 6) Ultimate Weapon 7) Fade to Midnight

Savor the Danger by Lori Foster

She may be aloof, and more pretty than gorgeous, but Alani Rivers is the kind of woman a hot-blooded mercenary can't forget, no matter how hard he tries. So when Jackson Savor wakes up next to the naked, sleeping beauty—with no memory of what happened— he knows he's been drugged…even if Alani doesn't.

After she was kidnapped, Alani vowed never to trust another man again. Still, something about this strong, sexy hero with the tender touch makes her want to believe him. As Jackson hunts down a mysterious intruder, he swears he'll move heaven and earth to keep Alani safe. But what really happened that night? And will the truth bring them closer than they ever thought possible—or put Alani squarely in harm's way again?

~~

I know I've said good things about every book in this series, so you're probably not going to trust my opinion quite as much on this one, but I want to say that I loved this book. By far my favorite of the series, it's fantastic by itself and makes me excited for what's coming next. 

I think it's in this book that Foster really writes the perfect combination of softness and strength in Alani. She's supposed to be a haven for Jackson but she isn't only that. She's smart and engaging on her own, wants to be an equal partner - and she's not annoying while she does any of it, which I have to say is both a relief and a joy.

I'm happy to say that Jackson is just as great, with enough wit and hidden depths to make him a great Alpha male hero. He's still kicking butt and taking names, but reading about things from his point of view while he works out his own feelings for Alani while also trying to get her to admit hers just makes the romance even more perfect. Plus he is just HOTT and while the actual number of sex scenes is small, each one is done so that is enhances the story and makes their romance even more believable.

I wish I could say skip straight to this one and enjoy the heck out of it, lol, but I think to really love it the way I do you'd need the back story from the first two. Highly recommended! 

Overall Feeling -Thumbs up.

Series - 1) When you Dare 2) Trace of Fever 3) Savor the Danger

TWR: Traveling While Reading

I don't know how other readers handle it, but traveling can be really stressful. It's not the transportation, the money, or the funky people that somehow manage to find that perfect spot upwind from me that I hate, but the act of choosing. Choosing which books I will and won't bring with me.

I agonize over it. No joke- what books I bring can be even more important than what clothes I pack and what makeup I bring, which is amazing considering how OCD I can be about that. For my most recent NY trip though I tried to take into account what I was doing and how long it would take me to do it, and I came up with the following 'perfect storm' of book goodness:

(bottom to top)

1. Nook 2. Savor the Danger by Lori Foster 3. Out of Control by Shannon McKenna 4. Hot Night by Shannon McKenna

Want to know how many of those I read? 

None.

I flipped through a few tried and true Chase stories on the Nook, but the most of both bus trips was spent napping, watching the Southpark movie on my iPod, and playing around on FB with my new smart phone.

I'm not sure what this says about my time management skills.