Cry Sanctuary by Moira Rogers

Recently, I read Crux by Moira Rogers, and really liked it. When the opportunity to read Cry Sanctuary, the first book in the Red Rock Pass series rose, I jumped on it! Before I read Cry Sanctuary, I read the free prequel, Becoming, which tells how the pack alphas, Gavin and Sam, met 40 years ago. Sam escaped from a viscious Alpha, Alan Matthews, and came to Gavin's pack for Sanctuary. (We also get a tiny peek of Keith as a child.)

Cry Sanctuary is Abby and Keith's story. Abigail Adler's life has been turned upside down in the last month. She had a normal life and friends, until the night she met Alan Matthews. She knew something was not right when her friend Dylan seemed uncomfortable with her meeting Alan. A few nights later, she's a werewolf in Alan's pack. Alan is a ruthless, abusive pack leader with no conscience. Dylan is one of his wolves, but not a dominant one, and he feels like Abby's turn to wolf is his fault. He suprises everyone by helping her escape to Gavin's pack for sanctuary. They're attacked on the way to Sanctuary by thugs from Alan's pack but are saved by two of Gavin's enforcers - Keith Winston and Joe Mitchell. After arriving at their temporary lodgings, Abby finds herself drawn to Keith but she doesn't know why. He calms her.

Alan hadn't given Abby any guidance about being a werewolf. She doesn't know any of the rules, and has only changed once but doesn't remember much of it. Gavin's pack assigns all new werewolves a Guide, to teach and help with the transition from human to werewolf. The Guide must be stronger than the initiate, and Abby is pretty Alpha; Devyn can't handle her so they know she must pick someone else. Abby wants Kevin to be her Guide, but he wants to make sure she understands what is involved and that he is the one she really wants; there are usually intense emotions and sex involved. We learn throughout the story that Keith had a mate who was killed and for that reason he is taking it extra slowly with Abby.

Right before their guide bonding ceremony, Abby gets an anonymous letter with a picture ofher sister - Alan has kidnapped her sister, Brynn, and is holding her hostage to make Abby return! Keith knows Abby is going to go and decides he has to help her. He enlists the help of his friend Joe, and they head out to rescue Brynn without telling Gavin, because to do so would incite pack wars. Will Alan let Brynn go? Is he going to kill her? Turn her into a werewolf? What's going to happen when they get back to Sanctuary and Gavin finds out what they've done?

I really liked this book. If this was a real town I'd like to live there and hang out with Gavin and Sam and the gang. I liked Abby and Keith, and I also liked Joe and Dylan. Joe and Dylan each had tender moments in the story that made me go "awww" and I wanted more of them! I think Joe's story is next and I can't wait to read it. I'm curious to see if we find out in Book 2 what happened to Alan. This book had a few different storylines going on and Moira Rogers (Bree and Donna) did a great job showing the possible outcomes of each situation as it happened and making you wonder what comes next.

There's another free short story after this book, The Little Things, about Gavin and Sam, and we get another glimpse of Keith as a child. It was very sweet. I've already got book 2, Sanctuary Lost, on my laptop and ready to read! Sanctuary's Price, the third book in the series (Dylan's story) was released this week.

I've said it before, I don't know why but if an author writes multiple series I stick with the one I like and don't read any of the others. Moira Rogers is an exception to that rule; I like both their Southern Aracana and Red Rock Pass series.


Disclaimer: This book was provided by the Publisher, Samhain Publishing Ltd., for review.

According to Jane by Marilyn Brant

This is one of those reviews that is hard to write. I loved this book. I am an Austen fangirl, and I don't mind all the take-offs, in fact I enjoy them. This was not a funny story, but I felt like I was there with Ellie, the heroine, through all her romantic trials and tribulations.

The story begins with Ellie taking us back to where it all began, in her high school English class where her classmate Sam is sitting behind her trying to get her attention and the teacher passes out Pride and Prejudice for the class to read. Ellie hears a tsk-ing noise and can't figure out where it's coming from until she realizes it's inside her head, and it's Jane Austen.

From there, we learn about Ellie's life (at the time of the story she's 34) through her memories of previous boyfriends, all interspersed with Jane's wit and insight. Some of the boyfriends are spectacularly bad, and some are just bad timing. I was captivated watching Ellie grow up and to see her relationships change as she matured, as well as watch the secondary characters change throughout the years as well. We see Sam several times and it's interesting to see the path his life takes while Ellie is off living her life.

I married my high-school sweetheart, so you would think I would not be able to connect with a 34-year-old unmarried heroine who goes back and forth between being afraid of being alone forever and content with her life as it is, but I did. It was about her relationships with men, but it was also her relationships with her family and friends as well. Her conversations with Jane were wonderfully written. Over and over I found myself smiling.

I really enjoyed this book and definitely recommend it.

Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill

I loved Some Girls Bite and anxiously awaited Ms. Neill's follow-up, Friday Night Bites. Did I enjoy this book? Yes...BUT, I felt like I spent a lot of the book waiting for something to happen.

Friday Night Bites takes place about a month after the events in SGB. Merit is House Sentinel, and moving into Cadogan House to be closer to her job and give Mallory and Catcher space. She's still sort of dating Morgan, and still denying any attraction to Ethan. A problem comes up involving Merit's childhood friend, Nathaniel, a reporter researching a story that could be damaging to the vampires, and she must investigate. There is misdirection, deception, and lots of tension. An old enemy returns, and Merit goes through some changes. Mallory is having her own issues adjusting to her magic, and she and Merit disagree about Merit's love life. I don't understand why Merit and Mallory left things where they did.

I had hoped to see more of Morgan in this book, I really like his character, but Merit was very busy. I found Ethan frustrating, which was probably Ms. Neill's intention. One minute you thing he's "got" Merit, then he's back to the same old Ethan. Catcher is really a good frient to Merit and I love Jeff! He provided many smiles for me during this book; I hope we see more of him in the next one. There are some new characters introduced, and we meet Gabriel, the leader of the North American Pack near the end of the book. The end sort of leaves us with a cliffhanger, more of a "what's up with that?" than an "oh my God!"

As I said, I did like this book and it is a nice follow-up to SGB. I'm ready for book 3, Twice Bitten, which comes out in July.

Laid Bare by Lauren Dane

I saw this book on the shelf, decided I was looking for a contemporary, loved the tats on the cover, and grabbed it.

This book should be required by law to come with a fan, a pitcher of ice water, and an extra pair of panties for when the ones you're wearing burst into flames!

Erin Brown is in a rock band. Todd Keenan is the clean-cut cop who lives next door. She's a little kinky and adventureous in the bedroom; he's not. But they're attracted to each other and start dating. Turns out he is a bit kinky but not comfortable with that part of himself and they break up. 10 years later, he's back in town, newly divorced, and she's running a coffee shop after a traumatic fan experience left her devastated and changed forever. Her band made it big, but for personal reasons she only does studio work now, no touring. Todd walks into her coffee shop and it's instant attraction all over again, except that this time he's ready to embrace that side of himself he hadn't been able to accept before.

This book had hot, hot sex, D/s, and threesome action. Ms. Dane did a great job with Erin and Todd's relationship - I enjoyed watching it grow both inside and outside of the bedroom. When Todd's childhood friend/coworker Ben got involved it just got steamier. I don't really understand the emotional dynamics of a 3 person relationship, but in this book it worked. They were good for each other. The secondary characters were very believable - I really liked Erin's brothers and hated Ben's ex.

If you're looking for something steamy and sexy, this is the book for you! Make sure you have a fire-extinguisher handy (just in case)!

Hooray and Thanks!

I had a crazy busy day at work today (in a good way, I like to be busy) and didn't have time to check blogs (not that I check them at work, heh heh). Then on the way home I got in a minor fender-bender (not my fault) and accosted by a crazy person (seriously - he told us he wished our cars would have burst into flames so we'd be dead. Total nutjob!). So it's 6:30 pm by the time I get home (I leave my house at 6:50 am) and after I tell my husband about my day I sit down to check blogs. Guess what I found:

Richelle Mead is coming to New Orleans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many, many thanks to those of you who voted after I begged (I really did type that post on my knees...okay, maybe not really!) She doesn't know when yet, but you know I'll find a way to be there!

Monday Miscellany

Hmmm...lots of miscellaneous stuff going on here:

I won a couple of contests lately, so my mailbox looks like this:

1. From Yankee Romance Reviews: A Tracy O'Hara gift pack, Night's Cold Kiss book/hat/shirt/bag. Very nice!

2. From Pop Culture Nerd: The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy

3. Over at Odd Shots I won: The Scions Series by Patrice Michelle

4. From Lovin' Me Some Romance: Demon Bound by Meljean Brook (I only need to find 2 more books then I can start reading this series!)

5. Michelle from Michelle's Book Blog sent me Private Places

6. At the Tote Bags N Blogs, Jasmine Hayes sent me a copy of her book, Open Invitation.

So yes, last week was like Christmas every day!!

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I've commented a few times about series that I've lent my husband that he's liked and people always seem surprised that he reads them, so I decided to make a list of my faves that my hubby has read. It started when I recommended the Harry Dresden books. He also read the Hunger Games books. I have not read either series but thought they sounded pretty good. He liked them a lot, then asked me what else I had.

First I gave him the Sookie Stackhouse series. His first comment upon finishing the series was "Sookie's a ho." then "When's the next book coming out?" (Actually, my father and my son have also read this series and I thought about doing a 3-generation male point-of-view review of the series. )

Then I gave him the Shifter series by Rachel Vincent. He said he enjoyed the series and asked what else I had.

Next up was the Mercy Thomson series by Patricia Briggs. He liked these and asked again "When's the next book?". He didn't like the Alpha and Omega books as much.

I also lent him the Magic Series by Ilona Andrews, thinking he would LOVE these - not so much. He said he didn't understand the world very well and had a lot of questions about Kate's heritage. The third book cleared up some of that for him but this was not his favorite.

I should also say he did read the Twilight series last year, he thought it was okay.

I'm trying to think of what to give him next: I thought about Karen Marie Moning's Fever series but he said he doesn't want to read about faeries. There's no way I'm lending him her Highlander series! Maybe I'll give him Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld books, although I only kept for my keeper shelf the Elena and Clay stories. Or I could give him Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy books, I haven't decided if that's his thing or not.

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Lastly, I want to talk about Lora Leigh's Breed series:

This is not a review, more like observations. Recently I've read the first 6 (out of 18, I think!) and I'm noticing a theme:

Take one Breed (so far all male except one female), I'll call him Oil.

Take one human (female except for the female Breed story), I'll call her Water.

Obviously Oil and Water don't mix. He's posessive and brusque. She's feisty and "won't be tamed". Their attraction is instantaneous but they fight it tooth and nail. These stories have copious amounts of body fluid. In one of the stories the Hero told the Heroine to drink plenty of fluids; as much fluid as they lose I'm thinking the women should be lugging around gallon-sized bottles of gatorade to prevent dehydration! I'm guessing these chicks go through a dozen pair of panties in a day. The men all have penises (peni? for clarification, each hero only has one) that sound like they'd make a regular person go running for the hills - PLUS the extra animal trait (barbs for cat Breeds, knots for Wolf/Coyote Breeds). And then there's the buttsecks. I think all but two stories so far have crazy buttsecks; how that's possible with these crazy huge penises is beyond me.

Of course, I'm loving the series and it's fun to watch the couples compromise and in most stories you do get to revisit some of the previous characters and see how they're doing. It's a fun series.

Banned Books

I know, I know, Banned Book Week was September 26 - October 3 and I'm a bit late to the game, but at least I got here. I was checking blogs this morning, and I saw that one of my favorite authors, Richelle Mead (I know, I should change the name of this blog to the I (heart) Richelle Mead Blog), has been banned at a school in Texas. Which got me to thinking about banned books all over again.

I don't just read banned books during Banned Book Week, I read them all year. Feel free to take one (or more) for yourself!