Hell, Yeah
by Carolyn Brown
Mass Market Paperback
List Price: $7.99
Published in 2010
ISBN-10: 1-4022-3927-0

This title is the second installment of the Honky Tonk series. It started out with I Love This Bar. You don’t need to read the first book to enjoy this one. Cathy O’Dell is an accountant who bought the Honky Tonk bar from her cousin, Daisy, who was the star of the first book.

On New Years eve, Travis Henry kissed her. He’s geologist in town for a new oil well. He just also happen to have his new trailer located right next to Cathy’s bar. Sparks fly, and this story is off to a rollicking start.

While I enjoy reading this story, it didn’t hold my attention like Carolyn Brown’s other book. She’s an awesome writer guaranteed to make you enjoy her story, but I just can’t seem to care about Cathy or Henry for some reason. I think maybe it’s because Cathy and Henry are simply happy and well-adjusted. One of the reason I grow from reading stories is when a character has a personal struggle. I can learn from the choices that they make. I can learn from when they do it wrong, or when they do it right. I can decide for myself if there’s no clear answer. In this story, it’s a beautiful sunset. Period.

Other books in the series
I Love This Bar (June, 2010)
Hell, Yeah (Aug., 2010)
My Give-A-Damn’s Busted (Oct., 2010)
Honky Tonk Christmas (Nov., 2010)

Tags: Carolyn Brown

The Magician’s Accomplice: A Commander Jana Matinova Investigation
by Michael Genelin
Hardcover
List Price: $25.00
Published in 2010
ISBN-10: 1-56947-626-8

I was very lucky to get a free Kindle copy of this book. I actually turned on the speech function of Kindle so I can listen and drive. This story enthralled me from the start. An impoverish student, masquerading as a guest, sneaked into Savoy hotel in Slovakia to get a free breakfast. He was gunned down as a result. Slovakian police commander Jana Matinova received the call late at night and plunged into this unusual murder case.

I love the setting. When I started reading this book, I had no idea of it’s foreign setting. It’s always fun to know about other countries. Just like when I read Blood of the Wicked by Leighton Gage. I like the journey and the information that I wouldn’t otherwise know. I highly recommend this book. It was free when I downloaded it, but right now, it’s $9.99 as an e-book in Kindle.

About the author:

Michael Genelin, a graduate of UCLA and the UCLA Law School, has served in the LA District Attorney’s Office and the US Department of Justice in Central Europe. He has written for film and has been an adviser to television series. He now lives with his wife and daughter in Paris. (from Fantastic Fiction) More info at the author’s website.

Tags: Michael Genelin

The Art of Devotion
by Samantha Bruce-Benjamin
Paperback, 378 Pages
List Price: $15.00
Published in 2010
ISBN-10: 1-4391-5394-9

The Art of Devotion is a marvelous and  stunning tale of how one can get so lost in love, it becomes a single obsession. How that one precious human emotion can turn dark and sinister. This book is told in the voices of 4 women. Everything works perfectly on this book so that it’s comes out like a perfect dish ready for enjoyment. Despite it being a dark tale, there’s that underlying tone of redemption and love.

There’s Adora who loves and protect her brother. She loves deeply and exclusively – loves seems like a liability in her world. There’s her mother, Sophie. She seem just happy to let her kids spend time with each other so she’s free to do her own pursuit. Their lives are entertwined with that of Miranda and her daughter Genevieve.

Told from these women’s recollections and memories, this book is brilliant. I devoured this book. It took me a single night and half a day to read it. I just cannot leave it alone, I had to find out where it all ends.

I highly recommend this book for an enjoyable, thoughtful reading.

If you have a question for this author, leave it in the comment below. She’ll probably be able to stop by and answer most of them.

Tags: Samantha Bruce-Benjamin, Sarah Reidy

Welcome to Harmony
by Jodi Thomas
Paperback, 384 Pages
List Price: $7.99
ISBN-10: 0-425-23510-6
Publication Date: 2010-06-01

Have you ever read a book where you just wear this silly grin on your face the entire time you’re reading it? Then when you’re not grinning with the awesomeness of this wonderful feeling, you’re sighing because, well, it’s just soooo sweet? Welcome to Harmony is such a book for me. Everything about it just works for me.

The book starts with Reagan moving into Harmony to claim Jeremiah (an old cantankerous man) as her uncle. The town of Harmony has a great background story, I just want to move there, too, even though I have an aversion to small town because my business will be everybody else’s.

There’s also Noah who took to Reagan right away and they form a wonderful friendship. I cannot wait to hear how their story will grow. I have patience, though. After all, I fell in love with Susan Elizabeth Phillips character name Ted 13 years ago and I’m still waiting for him to grow up enough to have his own love story. So, I’m looking forward to Reagan and Noah’s story.

The main couple in this book is the sherrif Alex and the fire chief Hank Matheson. They have issues with each other, yet their chemistry leaps out of the pages, you can’t ignore it. There’s also a fine mystery worthy of Sue Grafton and J.A. Jance.

This is the beginning of a series, but it stands on its own. You don’t get that ‘serial set-up’ feeling while reading this book at all. I’m just really lucky at I read excellent book after another this year so far.

Giveaway:
Thanks to Jodi Thomas, I’m giving away one brand new copy of this book. Contest open worldwide.
Make sure to answer this question in comment section below (required)

Would you like to live in a small town? Why or why not?

and then fill up this form, too. I will pick the winner from the comments, and get the address from the form.
Winners will be chosen on June 25.

Tags: Jodi Thomas

The Wolf Next Door
by Lydia Dare
Mass Market Paperback, 416 Pages
List Price: $6.99
Published in 2010
ISBN-10: 1-4022-3696-4

Prisca Hawthorne and William Westfield is now one of my most favorite romantic couple right along with Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. William is a wolf who live right next door to Prisca who didn’t know.

They hooked up when they were younger, but something went horribly wrong. Now, they can only bark at each other all the time. He’s hang up on her, and she is too. But they have pride.

I love the way Lydia Dare play up this old flame story. It is an excellent tale. It’s not like those contrived tale of old flame I’ve had the misfortune to read before. I cannot put this book down because I just wanted Will to find his happily ever after.

My favorite scene in the book is about Prisca taking a walk outside to wait for a wolf who visit her in the garden. They’d just sit together and enjoy each other’s company. Will is quite charming, and you can’t help but love him. He practically jump out of the pages of the book and prance before you in all his beauty and sex appeal.

My verdict? Not to be missed! It doesn’t matter if you’re a romance reader or not. This story is just fun, fun, fun!

If you also reviewed this book, feel free to leave your link. The link must land to that specific post. All others will be deleted.

Tags: Danielle Jackson, Lydia Dare, Sourcebooks