Review: Maple Lane Manor by Cree Walker

Title: Maple Lane Manor, Home for Retired Supernaturals
Author: Cree Walker
Source: Publisher Request
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: July 24, 2013
Reviewer: Jasmyn

Maple Lane returns to the retirement home where she grew up, after ten years away, and must fact the music.  How can she rebuild the dilapidated building, repay a massive mortgage, and restore her residents' faith in her with her arch-nemesis - Stacy Three Names - breathing downn her neck, hungry fo an artifact said to grant immortality?  As Stacy sabotages Maple's efforts, the gorgeous new handyman Derek complicates matters with his demon blood and hot attraction.

How can Maple and her residents fight Stacy, find the artifact, and save their home with the rich and powerful of the town arrayed against them?

...And can she trust a demon to help her?

Cree Walker is quickly becoming a favorite author of mine.  She delivers again in a humorous romance between a part-vampire and a part-demon.  Maple is an odd sort - the sort that has been in college for 10 years and still doesn't know what she wants to be.  When her grandmother dies and she is left to take care of Maple Lane Manor she is shocked to find it needs sooo much work, and there is sooo little money.  She breaks down and hires a live in handyman who is quite the hunk.  Maple is constantly hounded by her nemesis, Stacy, who apparently wants something from the house, but Maple has no idea what it is.  Stacy tries quite a few dirty tricks to try and get her way and comes very close to succeeding several times.

The residents of Maple Lane Manor really steal the show at times.  They were so perfect and spanned the paranormal spectrum, bringing in several side stories that really helped flesh out the main characters.  One of my favorite parts was the geriatric witch smacking the big bad demon around with a broomstick.  It was priceless.  Maple and Derek are a great couple, but they have quite a few problems to work out as they go.  It's too bad this seems like a stand-a-lone.  Even though it ended quite nicely I wish I could keep going!  A true sign of a good book.  I even miss the bad guys.

Review: A Winter's Grave by Cree Walker

Title: A Winter's Grabe
Author: Cree Walker
Source: Publisher Request
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: April 28, 2013
Reviewer: Jasmyn

What would you do if you woke up in the snow with absolutely no memory of who you are or how you got there?  What would you say to your savior whenn she tells you that not only are you now dead but you've been chosen to become a Grim Reaper.  Ceres is working to piece the slivers of her former life together from fractured memories, all while learning how to stay off her demon Mistress' radar.  Ceres may have been qualified to become a Reaper, but that doesn't mean she's very good at it.  From her catastrophes in becoming a Reaper to her inablility to maintain a day job, Ceres and her tiny Hellhound aren't doing much to impress anyone in the house, especially Gavin, the head Reaper of their Wake.  Gavin and Ceres may have gotten off on the wrong foot but there is something about her he can't ignore.  The problem is he's not the only one interested in her.  What Ceres soon finds out is that their Demon Mistress has laid claim to Gavin and she's told Ceres it's hands off.  Does Ceres accept the fact that their Mistress is trying to force Gavin into her own patiently waiting arms or does Ceres risk her afterlife in order to save his?

Ceres is an amazing character!  From the very beginning I could really relate to how she was feeling and reacting to the situations around her.  One of the most well written heroines I've read.  And the fact that she's a bit of a bookworm gave her a place in  my reading heart very easily.  She's a little socially awkward, in a very endearing way and really wants to know what happened to her to make her a Reaper.  But she may be better off not knowing - her history is a huge mystery throughout the book that is revealed in little snippets from the oddest and least expected places.  It was wonderful.

The reason this book didn't get 5 stars, is there was a bit of a nasty love triangle thing going for awhile.  While the "other guy" knew he really wasn't going to go anywhere serious with Ceres, he stayed in the picture as a possible romance a little too long for my taste.  I like knowing what hero to root for.  The ending was a bit rushed as well.  So much happened in about 10 pages I felt like the author ran out of time or space and had to just cram it all in as fast as she could.  Up until that point it was a very well paced book.  Oh, and we can't forget about Ceres' hellhound - he's a bit of a show stealer himself in an amazing cute but deadly sort of way.