Review: Goddess, Spellbound (Goddess Connection #3) by Cate Masters

Title: Goddess, Spellbound (Goddess Connection #3)
Author: Cate Masters
Source: Author Request
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: Novella
Release Date: November 4, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 5
Sexual - 3

Ancient pyramid tomb doors. Mummified warriors. Artifacts appearing from
nowhere. And that’s just Sandy Whitaker’s work as museum curator. When spells become curses, and the dead return for vengeance, her dream job turns into a living nightmare.

The warrior Iker’s triumphed over difficult pharaohs and returned from battles victorious, but dealing with Sandy Whitaker is his hardest task yet. A descendant of Egyptian goddess Bastet, she’s headstrong, naïve and completely alluring. Can he convince her to perform the ritual spells to save the Queen Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s eternal soul? More importantly, can he help her realize she doesn’t need to be descended from a goddess to be one herself?

Sandy reluctantly embraces her heritage as Sanura, demi-goddess of cats. But even with her new powers, can she fulfill her destiny? If she can survive being kidnapped by a cobra shifter, she’ll do her best to perform the Pyramid Texts ritual spells so Hatshepsut can sail into the Afterlife at long last. But once the queen pharaoh is gone forever, will Iker leave her too?

First off, I have to admit to being very excited to see an Egyptian mythology story.  Good ones are very hard to find and this one was definitely a good one.  I love how Cate Masters takes the stories, both well-known and more obscure, and weaves them into her reality.  The gods, goddesses, and legends really come to life in the book and they will take over your world while you are reading.

Sandy is a fantastic character.  I loved her passion for history, her love of cats (I wish I could have seven), and her quirky personality were spot on for me.  Her journey from slightly insecure (but not overly so) museum curator to powerful goddess totally sure of herself was very subtle.  At one point I remember wondering when it happened.  But it was one of those things that changed just a little bit - but constantly - and then suddenly you realize you have something new and exciting.

Iker was all stiff formality - which is exactly what I picture an old mummy would act like.  I enjoyed watching him interact with the modern world, trying to adapt to its "craziness".  He was quite a mystery at times, keeping a lot of his emotions and thoughts hidden from the world.  But I still couldn't help but love him.

As Sandy embraces her destiny and heritage, she performs a ritual that was just beyond incredibly written that it totally blew my mind.  You will feel like you are there fighting and discovering right along with her the whole way.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

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P.S. While these are all part of a series - each can be read as a stand alone.  So pick your favorite myth and get started!!

More About Cate Masters

Jasmyn's Review of Goddess, Awakened

A Day in the Life of Joss - From Goddess, Awakened

Jasmyn's Review of Goddess, Inflamed

Jasmyn's Review of Death is a Bitch

Jasmyn's Review of Cursed

Jasmyn's Review of Charmed

Jasmyn's Review of Claimed

Can you tell I love her writing?

Review: Goddess, Inflamed (Goddess Connection #2) by Cate Masters

Title: Goddess, Inflamed (Goddess Connections #2)
Author: Cate Masters
Source: Author Request
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: Novella
Release Date: November 4, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 5
Sexual - 3

Some promises were made to be broken...

When your life is hell, visiting the Underworld doesn’t seem much of a leap. On her twenty-first birthday, Lily MacInnis learns the hard way—by meeting relatives who not only live there, they own the place. And expect her to move there to marry Zeveriah, Archduke of Section Six and Hades’ up and coming CFO. Suddenly, Lily’s life doesn’t look so bad, but how can she make sure she doesn’t get trapped there in a marriage to a demon?

Bodie can’t let Lily fulfill that destiny. As Ruling Prince of the Sixth Heaven, he’s waited an eternity for the chance to bring down his nemesis, Zeveriah. Seems like he’s wanted Lily for an eternity too. But once he saves her, will she be his downfall?

Before her birthday, Lily didn’t know a damned thing. She’s about to learn all about The Damned, and find out everything she thought she knew was a lie…

I am so in love with this series.  I love the characters and the way the various other entities interact with them.  They are all brought into the modern world and to life with such amazing personalities and motivations.  Lily is a dancer - yes the exotic type that uses a pole.  But she doesn't do it just because it's a good way to make money.  The music calls to her and if she doesn't dance she will probably go crazy.  Her life changes on her 21st birthday when some very interesting men enter her life.

Brodie and Zev are about as different as they could possible be.  It's to be expected when one is an angel and the other a demon.  But they both want Lily.  She is a very special person with some tough decisions to make.  As her life is turned upside down, she is thrown into a spiral of confusion that was incredibly well written.  She knows what she wants to decide, she just needs to find the courage to do so - and stay out of all the traps set to keep her where she doesn't want to be.

There were lots of surprises in this book as her lineage is slowly revealed.  I loved exploring all the skeletons in the closet of Hades' and Persephone's family.  There are quite a few of them, and we all love a good bit of juicy gossip.  The end was a fantastic adventure with just enough action to get my heart racing paired with some wonderful moments of true love.

The characters in the series are so real, I almost expect to run into them on the street some day.  It just seems natural that they are a part of the "real world" and we just don't know it yet.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

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More About Cate Masters

Jasmyn's Review of Death is a Bitch
A Day in the Life of ... Joss
Jasmyn's Review of Goddess Awakened (Goddess Connection #1)
Jasmyn's Review of Cursed (The Vitruvian Man #1)
Jasmyn's Review of Charmed (The Vitruvian Man #2)
Jasmyn's Review of Claimed (The Vitruvian Man #3)

ARC Review: Love Me to Death (Underveil #1) by Marissa Clarke

Title: Love Me to Death (Underveil #1)
Author: Marissa Clarke
Source: Entangled Select
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: Novel
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 5
Sexual - 3

Medical research scientist Elena Arcos has always lived her life under the radar.
When she is shot in a convenience store robbery, Elena finds herself rocketed into supernatural insanity courtesy of a sexy immortal law enforcer. He’s convinced she’s some kind of freaky half-vampire thing and that her deceased dad was the real deal: a blood sucking monster. Yeah, right.

Nikolai Itzov never anticipated battling the urge to kiss the offspring of his father’s murderer. As a Slayer, an elite law enforcer descended from Azrael himself, his orders from the Underveil General are clear: Kill her or die.

Nikolai and Elena find themselves in a life and death battle to stop a plot designed to lift the Underveil and enslave humans. With her analytical mind and his centuries of training, they might be able to foil the plot with their lives and maybe their hearts intact. But in order to succeed, he must help her become the very thing he hates the most: an Undead.

Holy cow!  I think this book managed to put just about everything I love about paranormal romance into one pretty package that I couldn't put down.  Elena was perfectly written.  I loved how she freaked out about everything at first - so believable.  I hate when a human is introduced to the paranormal world and they are just like "ya, ok, that's cool."  Come on - if you found out vampires and other crazy things existed you would freak out just like she did!  It was perfect.  It also takes her awhile to wrap her head around all the new things she's learning, and it sure doesn't help that Nikolai is supposed to rescuing her so that he can kill her.  I'd be confused, too.

Nikolai is just as confused, but more because he has been misled.  He knows in his gut that Elena isn't his enemy, but has heard for so long how horrible she is (yeah right) that he's very conflicted on what to do next.  Thank goodness fate seems to get in the way and solve some of these problems while creating about a hundred more.  There's a good reason this book is just over 400 pages long - because the author needed every word of it to create such a great romance story.

But that isn't where it ends!  Yes, it gets better.  All those hard core urban fantasy lovers out there get a kick butt world that is stuck in a war that the humans just don't realize is going on yet.  In fact, the humans not knowing about the Underveil is the very point of the whole war.  There are some really fun characters that I want to see more of.  Aunt Uza was a riot - a hysterical crazy cat lady with a very fun twist.  I wish my cats did what her's did.

There is lots of action, both sexy style and good old fashioned battle style.  This is where Marissa Clarke's world building really shines.  The way all the factions work together and against each other is quite beautifully written.  With everything wrapping up into a great blow out of an ending.  I am hooked.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

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Review: Her Hot Number by Talia Hunter

Title: Her Hot Number
Author: Talia Hunter
Source: Entangled Publishing
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novella
Release Date: October 20, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 5
Sexual - 3

One bad boy billionaire plus one sexy geek equals one hot fling.

It's a travel nightmare for mathematician Caylee Reynolds. It's bad enough that her luggage was lost en route to her conference, but when she arrives at the Australian resort and learns that she's also lost her reservation, Caylee’s ready to break down. Then things get even worse. The resort is owned by Blake Sampson―the bad boy who once took everything from her...

Blake thought he’d left his troubled past far behind him. Then the sexy-but-proper math guru he’s never been able to forget walks into his lobby. Hoping to show Caylee he’s changed, he offers to share his suite. Except the attraction between them only grows in such close quarters―exponentially.

Even though Blake’s incredibly successful—and hot—Caylee’s not sure she can risk her heart again. Not after the way he destroyed her trust when he disappeared years ago. But if she's wrong in her calculations, she could lose everything...

This book just about had it all.  The hot bad boy with a heart of gold, a smart woman that knows what she wants, and a tropical paradise.  With a history that goes back years for our main characters - one that's filled with untruths and assumptions that have haunted them both for years.  So much goodness I couldn't believe it.

So Caylee is pretty damn smart.  She's a mathematician working on some pretty heavy concepts, but may be losing her funding if she doesn't impress the new director.  So off she goes to a conference at an island resort run by - or course - her crush from long ago - the one that loved her and left and she's still pissed at how she thinks he did it.

Blake is an amazing bad boy turned billionaire.  He comes from a rough past and it never truly leaves him, but he's made the best of all the lessons he's learned and come out on top - and then some.  He now owns the resort and jumps at the chance to help Caylee when her travel plays go awry.  He also jumps at the chance to show her what he's made of himself.  He feels the need to prove to this beautiful and smart woman that he's not the loser he seems to think she thinks he is.

Now, I mentioned they have a history - but it isn't didn't fall out the way either of them though it did.  I'm not normally a huge fan of misunderstandings driving emotions in romances, but this one was written in a way that I could actually see it happening.  Their assumptions were logical based on the way events played out and they never had reasons to doubt them - until now.  Now the both need to be honest and own up to what they did and didn't do if they want to find out if they'll ever work.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

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Review: The Girl With the Cat Tattoo (Cool Cats #1) by Theresa Weir

Title: The Girl With the Cat Tattoo (Cool Cats #1)
Author: Theresa Weir
Source: Self-Purchased
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Pets
Length: Novella
Release Date: May 29, 2012
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 5
Sexual - 1

For cat lovers everywhere, this sweet, quirky, and delightful romance is about a
young woman and her matchmaking cat. A little bit of mystery, a whole lot of whimsy.

When a matchmaking cat takes it upon himself to find his young mistress a new mate, he accidentally stirs up memories better left forgotten.

Melody’s husband was murdered by what seemed a random act of violence. Two years later, the killer hasn’t been caught, and Melody is coping in unhealthy ways. During the day she’s a mild-mannered children’s librarian, but at night she’s a party girl, hanging out in bars, drinking with new friends, and often bringing home strange men. Although acquaintances have tried to keep in touch, Melody has cut herself off from most of the people in her old life. Max, her eccentric cat, doesn’t approve of her new friends, he’s tired of the parade of losers, and he finally takes it upon himself to find Melody a new man.

I feel in love with Max after the first line:

"Max had been a cat as long as he could remember, but he was pretty sure he'd been a rock star in one of his previous lives."

That just about sums up Max's personality.  He is an amazing character, and half the book is told from his perspective.  The only thing he loved more than himself was Melody, and he figured she needed a man and he was the perfect person (errr cat) to help her find one.  So off he goes and has quite an adventure, bringing it home to share with Melody.

Melody is a very quirky and unusual person.  She's a children's librarian and is often caught out whilst dressed in costume for that day's story time.  Max is the current love of her life and when he goes off for his wander she gets very upset and worried.  It was awesome to watch the two of them related to each other and at times lovingly completely misunderstand each other as well.

There is more than just a fun cat and a quirky girl in this or it wouldn't be much of a romance.  The romance brings with it just a touch of drama and secrecy that comes very close to ruining the whole thing, but somehow Max jumps in a saves the day again.

As a novella you could fly through this book in one sitting, and I recommend doing it that way because you won't want to put it down.  While Max is definitely the life of the party here, the romance is also beautiful.

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Review: Doe Eyes (Good Gods #3) by Staci Hart

Title: Doe Eyes (Good Gods #3)
Author: Staci Hart
Source: Author Request
Genre: Contemporary Romance some minor paranormal elements
Length: Novel
Release Date: July 24, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 5
Sexual - 2

Aphrodite knows better than anyone how the heart works. Just don’t ask her to figure out
her own.

She’s been away from Olympus for weeks, which wasn’t near long enough for her to move on from everything that happened, to get past the betrayal and loss. She has no idea what she’s walking into when she gets back other than a new competition, this time against Artemis. The goddesses have never been friends, but now they have more in common than ever, though they’d rather face eat ambrosia straight than admit it.

Artemis can’t help but be smug. Her player, Josie, is a private investigator who’s lost more than she’s won. Every waking moment is consumed by her fire to catch the man who killed her partner, and when Jon comes back into town after leaving her without a word, it’s more than she can handle. She’ll never let him in. Not again.

But Jon only did what he thought was right, and he’ll do anything he can, give her everything he has to give to prove that he can be trusted with her heart again.

With Adonis gone and the threat of Ares around every corner, Aphrodite’s past presses on her, leaving her more alone than she’s ever been. She can’t help wondering if she’ll ever escape, and how much pain she’ll endure before the whole ordeal is behind her.

Deer in Headlights (Good Gods #1): Review 
Snake in the Grass (Good Gods #2): Review
What the Heart Wants (Good Gods #2.5): Review

Book three in the Good Gods series picks up the story of Aphrodite and her contests right where it left off in book two. Her competitor this time as Artemis - one of my favorites from mythology so I was excited to see her. Artemis was an amazing character. I loved watching her interact with her oceanids and seeing her struggle with her feelings for Orion. Her contestant, Josie, was like her in so many ways. They developed together throughout the story and it was great to see them tied together so nicely.

After the events in book two, Aphrodite is emotionally destroyed. Her solution is to bond with her best friend Perry and come up with some incredibly clever nick names for Ares to avoid dealing with her feelings. Aphrodite really grew and developed a lot - watching her with her husband Heff made me want to cry - he's such an amazing guy! Aphrodite's contestant, Jon, is just perfect. He's not literally pefect, but that is what made him so great - he was a real guy.

There is quite a bit of excitement in this story with Josie and Jon on the trail of a murderer. If Artemis and Aphrodite don't pay close attention something horrible could happen. There is a ton of build up around this part of the story and it was spread out very nicely to keep me NEEDING to know what happened without taking off and leaving me in the dust.

The other gods we have met play small parts and it's great to see the remain part of the ongoing storyline.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

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Review: Her Royal Protector (Johari Crown #1) by Alexandra Sellers

Title: Her Royal Protector (Johari Crown #1)
Author: Alexandra Sellers
Source: Xpresso Book Tours
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: Novella
Release Date: May 26, 2014
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

Rating - 5
Sexual - 3

Aly Percy is her family's ugly duckling, and she's never been allowed to forget it. So she knows better than to imagine that Cup Companion Arif al Najimi's blue gaze holds anything but contempt for her as a woman, or ever will. But if he's offering to show her just how wild one night with him can be, wouldn't she be a fool to turn down his charity? She may never get another offer like this one.

Arif al Najimi isn't sure why he's dreaming about the little scientist who's so determined to take crazy risks for the sake of her research into the endangered turtles of his country. But as luck would have it, he's going to get the chance to do a little research of his own…into the question of why Aly believes her own negative publicity about how desirable she is—and how hard it will be to convince her of the truth.

Wow!  I'm so excited that this is the first book in a series because it was amazing.  We just got these nifty new "Hot Pick" buttons, and I'm definitely giving it to this one.  Arif al Najimi was absolutely everything a hero should be.  He was also exotic, an animal lover and ecologist, and saved Aly's life a couple times.  While his views of women sometimes seems a little off, it really helped make him just a little too overprotective, but in the best possible way.

Aly was the traditional pretty and intelligent girl that didn't trust in her own beauty.  But this time there was a very good reason why.  And her reason why tied into so many other things in the story so beautifully that the whole back story was about as seamless as you could get.  I loved how she kept running off and driving Arif al Najimi crazy trying to keep an eye on her.

 Watching Aly and Arif al Najimi hunt for turtle nests and try to find out why they were dying off was a great story.  There was a lot more action than what seems possible in a turtle nest hunt.  There were even several times I found myself getting excited right along with them at a new next found.  The side characters served to boost the story and enhance the personalities of the characters in just the right way.  I don't think I could really find something I didn't like about this one.

*This book was received in exchange for an honest review*

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