Book Review: Winter Wishes

Tangled Tinsel
By Vivian Arend

She's the cat's meow, and he's ready to pounce!
Five miles of leather-clad leg is all it takes to lure Kyle Branegan out from his carefully hidden lifestyle as part of the Cougar Corp, a secret branch of the Shifter Enforcer League. He's hoping for a night of fun and frolic, cat-style, no strings attached. With a sultry swing of her hips, Eloise Scott tangles him up in her ball of tricks, and just when he thinks he's about to get lucky, she cuffs him-naked-to her bed.
An undercover cop in the human police force, El's been given a top-secret mission to keep the big cat under her paw until he's needed to testify in court in the New Year. Her decision to take him home for a quiet Christmas in her sleepy hometown turns out to be far more interesting than she expected. Her parents are suddenly rich, her old boyfriend is sniffing around and all six-feet-plus of sexy cougar male is sleeping in her bed.
And that's before they announce their fake engagement...

 
No Angel
By Vivi Andrews

When Sasha's boyfriend, Jay, is sucked through a fiery vortex to Hell, an angel reveals that Sasha's been chosen as the Champion of Virtue in the battle for his immortal soul. As a perennial offender on Santa's naughty list, Sasha can't believe she's anyone's idea of a girl fighting on the side of the angels. But if she doesn't save Jay, he'll be stuck in Hell forever!
Jay-aka Jevroth-isn't surprised to find himself back in Hell. His visa to visit the mortal plane expired three months ago, but to steal more time with Sasha he's been ignoring his mother's demands that he come home to spend time with his new stepfather: Lucifer.
Sasha has until dawn on the twenty-fifth of December to fight the Legions of Hell and rescue Jay, or be trapped there for eternity herself. But now she must decide if the lying son-of-a-demon is even worth saving...
 

Freeze Line
By Moira Rogers

She can't survive in his world; he can't stay sane in hers
A twenty-first century ice age dulls the magic that emanates from the earth. Shane Sullivan is a lone wolf above the freeze line. He has no desire to join the packs that range closer to the border, where feral instincts can turn a man into a monster. Not until the winter solstice, when he stumbles across a dying witch who needs his help to get back to her people-and her magic-in the south.
Nadia is a powerful woman in her own world, but she's been drained by her escape from captivity in a northern lab. She knows it's foolhardy to trust a werewolf, but he's her only chance to survive the vast white wilderness. The farther south they travel, the harder it is for Shane to keep the beast within under control, and as their mutual attraction intensifies, Nadia's no longer sure she wants him to. 

Tangled Tinsel is the spiciest of the three but what do you when you have feline shifters playing.  I really enjoyed this novella and I would love to meet Kyle.  He is arrogant just as you would expect a cat to be but he also very gentle with El once he discovers that she wasn't raised in the typical shifter household.  Some of the sex scenes made me want to purr.

In No Angel, I started off really disliking Sasha but she does grow on a person.  Now Jay, at least once he gets rid of the goodie two shoes act, is just plain hot.  The all around bad boy who truly loves Sasha.  As the story develops, it has suspense, action, a yummy male lead and some sex at the end.  What more could a girl want?

In Freeze Line, I loved the fact that there was some definite role reversal happening there. Shane is a very gentle man who feels that he has been cursed by becoming a werewolf and has resigned himself to always being alone because he doesn't trust himself.  Nadia is increasingly drawn to this gentle man.  Both the characters are so easy to emphasize with.  Another enjoyable novella.

Usually when I read an anthology there is at least one story that I don't really care for.  Not this time around.  I will admit though that I didn't really care for No Angel in the beginning but it actually ended up being my favorite of the three.

I rate this book a 3.8 overall.

I received this book from NetGallery at no charge in exchange for this review.  No money exchanged hands and all opinions are my own.

What's new...

I was duplicating my book review posts over here.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to pick up any new followers that way.  So instead I am going to turn this into a world of erotica.  It can be anything from reviews of an erotic nature to sex news..well heck anything for the over 18 crowd.  Should be a wild ride.

Gambit by Kim Knox

 
Captain Chae Beyon is a hustler, a mercenary pilot, a wounded woman who prefers her men to be easily thrown aside. 

Daned Traern is a first-caste Ladaian bound by tradition and DNA to protect his race. He's willing to align himself with the hot space captain if she'll transport him home in time to ensure the right candidate is crowned-and thus prevent a bloody war. 

Disguised as Chae's sex toy, Daned is erotically bound to her through living gold, alien tech designed to increase pleasure. When he frees himself, their passion only increases...but succumbing to temptation will bind them together-permanently. 

But there's more at stake than their needs. As Chae is dragged into a world of insane princes and sentient stones, hired killers hound them across the quadrant. 

And then, as only her lousy luck would have it, Chae must choose between the good of the galaxy and her own heart..

I am really starting to look forward to reading book by Carina Press.  They all tend to be top quality with very few problems with the editing.  GAMBIT is no exception. 

I will admit that I didn't particularly care for Chae in the beginning of the book, or Daned either for that matter, but they very quickly grew on me.  I found myself cheering Chae along when things with right or holding my breath when her lousy luck made itself known.  Daned can be a real charmer when he lets himself be.  I also appreciated the fact that in GAMBIT, the choice to be tied to another person permanently is not made by an outside force or directive but instead is one that the parties involved have to weigh for themselves.

Of course choosing to be permanent does make for some really hot sex.  Ah a girl can only dream that it would work that way outside of fiction.  I really enjoyed the book and would love to see a sequel so that I can go back and visit with them both.  

I rate this book a 3.5 out of a 5.

Spy Glass by Maria V. Snyder

An undercover mission leads to danger, adventure and an impossible choice.

After siphoning her own blood magic in the showdown at Hubal, Opal Cowan has lost her powers. She can no longer create glass magic. More, she's immune to the effects of magic. Opal is now an outsider looking in, spying through the glass on those with the powers she once had, powers that make a difference in the world. Until spying through the glass becomes her new power. Suddenly, the beautiful pieces she makes flash in the presence of magic. And then she discovers that someone has stolen some of her blood - and that finding it might let her regain her powers. Or know it could be they are lost forever. 

To me a mark of a great book is one where I totally lose time while I read it.  One where I am able to completely suspend disbelief and just enjoy.  Ms. Snyder's SPY GLASS is just such a book.  It is actually the third book in her Glass series but it stands very well on its own.  There are mentions of things that happen in the prior books but they are so well explained that I didn't feel as though I was missing out on anything.  That being said, I have already put her back list in my TBR file because I just plain enjoyed the book that much.  


I think that Ms. Snyder's true strength lies with her characters.  Opal was very easy to like even though there were times when I want to slap her across the back of her head.  All of her characters, even the secondary ones, are written very strongly.

If I had any issue with the book itself, it was the fact that there were several editing issues throughout the book.  Hopefully this issue is resolved in the print copy.

I rate this book a 4.3.