Kiss and Tell ~ January 2016

Lots of books hit the blog this month ~ here's a quick look just in case you missed anything!

Features/Guest Post/Interviews

Good at Games by Jill Mansell ~ Excerpt

Water Wishes by Elizabeth York ~ Spotlight

Viscountess of Vice by Jenny Holiday ~ Excerpt

5 Rating

Growl Anthology

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

Menagerie by Rachel Vincent

4 Rating

Omens by Kelley Armstrong

My Warrior Wolves by Krystal Shannan

The Forgotten Room by Multiple Authors

3 Rating

Better Than Catnip by Ruth J. Hartman

Suicide Squad: Kicked in the Teeth by Adam Glass

Her Secret Agent by Paige Tyler

2 Rating

Wonder Lust by Lavender Daye

Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs

Island of Lost Girls by Jennifer McMahon

Cover/Trailer Reveals

Heartland by Sara Walter Ellwood

Emerald Fire by Monica McCabe

Right Kind of Mistake Book 2 by Rebecca Thomas

Livin' Large in Fat Chance, TX by Celia Bonaduce

Hearts Afire Anthology

Secret Holy Places by Jackie Flaum

New Releases in Romance ~ Week of January 31, 2016

Paranormal

Historical

Contemporary

Suspense

New Adult

Erotic

Her Secret Agent by Paige Tyler ~ Review

Title: Her Secret Agent (X-Ops #0.5)

Author: Paige Tyler
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Length: 95 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release Date: December 2, 2014
Source: Self-Purchased
Rating: 3
Heat Rating: 3
Reviewed by: Jasmyn

John Loughlin, the Director of the Department of Covert Ops, is in New York City on a recruiting mission. He’s been tracking and evaluating one shifter in particular for some time. Cree Forest is a clever fox shifter—and very foxy. Cree is a translator for the UN and John is keen to recruit her brilliant mind and persuasive skills to join the DCO.

But Cree isn’t what she seems. Just as John has been watching her, Cree has been spying on him. She is working with a rogue shifter and John is getting too close—professionally and personally! On opposite sides professionally, can they trust each other with their hearts?

I seriously love the concept behind these shifters. But I can't tell you exactly why they are different - it's fun figuring it out on your own. Cree is a shifter that has some very special skills, skills that John from the DCO (Department of Covert Operations) thinks will be nice to have. At least that's what they both say going into their first meeting.

They quickly find out that there are a whole lot of somethings running beneath the surface - including an incredible sexual attraction. But, Cree's shifter status and John's reasons for recruiting her may prevent them from figuring out if they could be anything more.

This is a very quick wham bam thank ya ma'am type of story. We have a couple really good fight scenes, a little bit of suspense (the story just wasn't long enough to really draw it out), and a really hot couple. I do wish that it had been longer - but I understand that it was a prequel to set the stage for the future books. Great start - I know I want more now!! And the last time I looked - this was a freebie on Amazon and B&N - so go give it a try!!!!

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Sterling Brothers Ltd. Case #42647: Secret Holy Places by Jackie Flaum ~ Cover Reveal

Title: Secret Holy Places (Sterling Brothers Ltd. Case #42647)
Author: Jackie Flaum
Publisher: Nazzaro & Price
Release Date: February 10, 2016

Little Bonnie McGee is kidnapped from her bed near the historic All Saints Catholic Church in Memphis.

To Morgan Ashton, private investigator from the prestigious Sterling Brothers Ltd., Bonnie’s case seems cursed from the start.

First, there are no clues.

Next she crosses swords with local police.

Then there’s an unfortunate incident where her Tennessee Bureau of Investigation liaison, Special Agent Taylor Lloyd, lands in the mud. Neither she nor Bonnie has a prayer of surviving until Taylor joins Morgan’s search.

Now with time running out, corpses falling around them, and their own lives in danger, Morgan and Taylor explore All Saints.

But the All-Saints complex with its legendary spirits and ghosts refuses to yield hidden holy places to those with secrets of their own.

Website

Menagerie ( Menagerie #1) by Rachel Vincent ~ Review

Title: Menagerie (Menagerie #1)
Author: Rachel Vincent
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Mythology
Length: 429 pages
Publisher: MIRA
Release Date: September 29, 2015
Rating: 5
Heat Rating: 2
Reviewed by: Cerridwen

When Delilah Marlow visits a famous traveling carnival, Metzger's Menagerie, she is an ordinary woman in a not-quite-ordinary world. But under the macabre circus black-top, she discovers a fierce, sharp-clawed creature lurking just beneath her human veneer. Captured and put on exhibition, Delilah in her black swan burlesque costume is stripped of her worldly possessions, including her own name, as she's forced to "perform" in town after town.

But there is breathtaking beauty behind the seamy and grotesque reality of the carnival. Gallagher, her handler, is as kind as he is cryptic and strong. The other "attractions"—mermaids, minotaurs, gryphons and kelpies—are strange, yes, but they share a bond forged by the brutal realities of captivity. And as Delilah struggles for her freedom, and for her fellow menagerie, she'll discover a strength and a purpose she never knew existed.

Renowned author Rachel Vincent weaves an intoxicating blend of carnival magic and startling humanity in this intricately woven and powerful tale.

At first I really didn't think I would like this book. I'm not into the whole carnival thing. I LOVED IT! It really made you think about what if we really had mythological creatures among us? How would society handle it? You are transported beautifully by Vincent's words to this time and you can feel the empathy and rage almost pouring off the page.

It's a different kind of read which was refreshing and I am happy that there seems to be a series in the works.

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Viscountess of Vice by Jenny Holiday ~ Blog Tour, Excerpt and Giveaway

Title: Viscountess of Vice (Regency Reformers #3)
Author: Jenny Holiday
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Entangled Publising
Release Date: January 25, 2016

Secrets and lies, scandals and spies.

All Lady Catharine, Viscountess Cranbrook, wants is a little excitement. Bored of playing the role of the ton’s favorite slightly scandalous widow, she jumps at the chance to go undercover as a courtesan to help with an espionage mission. After all, beneath her outrageously low bodice beats the heart of a patriot.

Social reformer James Burnham is conducting a study of vice in England’s capital. Driven by his own secrets, he is methodical, intelligent—and wickedly handsome. Catharine is the last sort of woman the upstanding James should want. But want her he does, though she stands for everything he opposes.

When Catharine and James are forced to band together to advance their causes, they’ll be drawn into a web of secrets and lies that endangers their lives—and their hearts.

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Excerpt

Being a prostitute was hard work. Catharine poked a finger under the feathered mask she wore, trying to target an especially itchy spot near her hairline.

Correction: posing as a prostitute was hard work. An honest-to-goodness lady of the evening wouldn’t have to wear this blasted mask. The itching was driving her to distraction, never mind the sweating. It was a good thing she never took off the feathered confection, even when entertaining. The sight of her red, shiny face would have been enough to drive off even the most, ahem, enthusiastic of gentlemen.

Of course, an honest-to-goodness lightskirt would also have to have honest-to-goodness relations with any number of men, so on balance, what was a little itching?

The wig was no better. She glanced around the overheated drawing room, taking a deep breath and fighting the urge to tear the flame-orange, elaborately -coiffed contrivance off her head and hurl it into the fire.

At least the discomfort provided a welcome distraction from her nerves. Here she was, nearly a month in, and she still felt that same fluttering in her stomach before the first gathering. And she wasn’t the nervous type—far from it. She was Catharine Chambers, the Viscountess Cranbrook, for God’s sake. Slightly scandalous widow, woman of action. Not that anyone here knew that, hidden as she was by her disguise. Still, she had not expected to find herself a nervous mouse every time. Didn’t expect it, and more to the point, didn’t like it.

Several young men filed in, talking quietly among themselves, joining the handful already present in the crowded room. Good. Once the gathering began, she could lose herself in her role. It was never as bad as she imagined, once the evening got underway. No, in truth, it was usually very dull—that was the great irony of the whole absurd situation. Sitting straighter, she turned her head, displaying the white length of her neck to best advantage. Suppressing a sigh, she affected a bemused smile.

The ten o’clock crowd was typically young, eager, and always the politest of the evening’s three groups. The men she sought were not likely to possess any of those qualities. Why did she even bother with the first gathering? Because Blackstone insisted? He was rarely here to check up on her and would never know if she slipped away to her room for a nap—just what she needed to fortify herself before the midnight gathering.

A footman entered with a tray of champagne glasses, a sign of Madame Cherie’s imminent arrival. Too late to escape. Resigned, Catharine accepted a glass, willing her hand not to shake. A sense of obligation would have kept her here anyway. Yes, she appeared dutifully at the ten o’clock gathering twice a week because underneath her scandalously low, black-ribbon-trimmed bodice beat the heart of a patriot. A very nervous patriot.

Noble motivations and stage fright aside, this was supposed to have been entertaining. That was the whole point, really. In that sense, it was all very disappointing. Who knew that in addition to being exceedingly itchy, prostitution could manage to be so very dull?

Meet the Author

Jenny Holiday started writing at age nine when her fourth grade teacher gave her a notebook and told her to start writing stories. That first batch featured mass murderers on the loose, alien invasions, and hauntings. From then on, she was always writing, often in her diary, where she liked to decorate declarations of existential angst with nail polish teardrops. Later, she channeled her penchant for scribbling into a more useful format, picking up a PhD in geography and then working in PR. Eventually, she figured out that happy endings were more fun than alien invasions. You can follow her on twitter at @jennyholi sand @TropeHeroine or visit her on the web at jennyholiday.com.

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Giveaway

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Island of Lost Girls by Jennifer McMahon ~ Review

Title: Island of Lost Girls

Author: Jennifer McMahon
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Length: 272 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Release Date: April 22, 2008
Rating: 2
Heat Rating: 1
Reviewed by: Cerridwen

While parked at a gas station, Rhonda sees something so incongruously surreal that at first she hardly recognizes it as a crime in progress. She watches, unmoving, as someone dressed in a rabbit costume kidnaps a young girl. Devastated over having done nothing, Rhonda joins the investigation. But the closer she comes to identifying the abductor, the nearer she gets to the troubling truth about another missing child: her best friend, Lizzy, who vanished years before.

From the author of the acclaimed Promise Not to Tell comes a chilling and mesmerizing tale of shattered innocence, guilt, and ultimate redemption.

Hmmmm...wasn't as impressed with this McMahon book but it is one of her earlier ones. It was still creepy with the whole kidnapping scenario. That's every parent's worst nightmare, but it still took me a good 70+ pages to get going and decide I needed to find out what happened to these missing children.

True to McMahon style though she delivers a twist and punch with the end you don't see coming.

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Suicide Squad Vol 1 Kicked in the Teeth by Adam Glass ~ Review

Title: Suicide Squad Vol 1, Kicked in the Teeth
Author: Adam Glass, Illustrator: Ryan Benjamin
Genre: Graphic Novel, Superheroes
Length: 160 pages
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: July 10, 2012
Rating: 3
Heat Rating: 2
Reviewed by: Cerridwen

As a part of the acclaimed DC Comics--The New 52 event of September 2011, writer and co-creator of the CW show "Supernatural" Adam Glass rolls out an all-new team of death-row super villains recruited by the government to take on missions so dangerous-they're sheer suicide.

The story begins with the Suicide Squad defeated, imprisoned and being interrogated about their newest mission. Harley Quinn, King Shark, Deadshot and company must make it out alive without revealing who's pulling the strings behind their illegal operations. Who will be the first to crack under the pressure? More importantly will they make it all out alive? Collects issues #1-7.

With the movie The Suicide Squad coming out in 2016, I wanted to read the graphic novel first. The book is supposed to be better than the movie, right? Marvel has had a pretty good following with getting their characters onto the big screen and I'm excited to see what DC can do.

The story begins with all the characters being thrown into a secret mission group where they basically must carry out illegal missions or die. They are baited with the prize of freedom if they continue to follow through. Unfortunately, nothing ever goes as easy as planned for the crew.

I am not a big graphic novel fan. The only character I was familiar with realy going into it was Harley Quinn. It gave some back story, so I feel safe in recommending it if you're new to the series.

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