A Witch's Handbook of Kisses and Curses by Molly Harper, narrated by Amanda Ronconi

Why I listened to it:  I have enjoyed all of the Jane Jameson/Half Moon Hollow books on audio and picked this one up at Audible when it was released.

What it's about: (from Goodreads):  Nola Leary would have been content to stay in Kilcairy, Ireland, healing villagers at her family’s clinic with a mix of magic and modern medicine. But a series of ill-timed omens and a deathbed promise to her grandmother have sent her on a quest to Half-Moon Hollow, Kentucky, to secure her family’s magical potency for the next generation. Her supernatural task? To unearth four artifacts hidden by her grandfather before a rival magical family beats her to it.

Complication One: Her grandfather was Mr. Wainwright and the artifacts are lost somewhere in what is now Jane Jameson's book shop.

Complication Two: her new neighbor, Jed Trudeau, who keeps turning up half naked at the strangest times, a distraction Nola doesn't need. And teaming up with a real-life Adonis is as dangerous as it sounds, especially when he’s got the face of an angel and the abs of a washboard—can Nola complete her mission before falling completely under his spell?

What worked for me (and what didn't): To be honest, I nearly quit this one about 10 minutes in. I usually enjoy Amanda Ronconi's narration but her accent for the narrator and main character, Nola, was putting me off.  I persisted, in the hope I'd get used to it.  Fortunately, by the middle of Chapter 3, it was explained that Nola's accent was a horrid mashup of Boston and Ireland and maybe something else.  And you know what? That's exactly what Nola's accent sounded like.  I thought it was Ms. Ronconi doing a really bad Irish accent.  But I did her a disservice when I thought that - she actually voiced the character as written - it's just that it's not written right at the beginning of the story so it was a little hard to understand at first.  When there were Irish characters, Ms. Ronconi did a fine Irish accent.  I can't say I'm sorry that the Boston dropped out of Nola's accent for the most part by the latter part of the story.  It did sound a bit like Ms. Ronconi's teeth were clenched and that can't have been comfortable.

The Art of Seducing a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper, narrated by Amanda Ronconi

Why I listened to it: I've listened to all of Molly Harper's other books and realised I had missed this one.  So I picked it up from Audible and pressed play.

What it's about:  (from Goodreads)  Baring It All.  Generations of werewolves have been secretly residing in a secluded valley a stone’s throw from Grundy, Alaska. So when a snooping Outsider comes to Grundy to investigate rumors of lycanthropic shenanigans in the area, the valley’s pack alpha, Maggie Graham, resolves to chase him away, even if doing so takes a quick bite on the butt. What a pity that researcher Nick Thatcher turns out to be so drool-worthy, and that his kisses make Maggie want to sit up and beg. Maggie just can’t seem to convince Nick to leave . . . and even worse, she can’t convince herself to stay away from him. Cross-species dating is problem enough for a harried alpha female, but on top of that, a rival group of werewolves is trying to move into the valley. With interpack war threatening, Maggie can’t afford to be distracted. Combining romance and a career can be tough for anyone; for a werewolf in love with a human, it may be disastrous. . . .

What worked for me (and what didn't): I actually enjoyed this one more than the first book in the series.  Maggie seemed to have undergone a personality transplant since the events in book 1 and I was grateful as I realy didn't like her much before. 

September Reads

on Paper/eBook

**NB this review first appeared in the September ARRA members newsletter and at the ARRA blog on #**

What a Girl Wants by Selena Robins - C- Maddie Saunders is a daredevil travel reporter who decides she needs a “sexual boot camp” and she’s nominated her best friend Alex Donovan to be her “Sergeant”.  Alex is one of those reporters who goes into war zones and writes about the serious issues.  When they are both sent on assignment to Hawaii (I should be so lucky) Maddie decides her time has come. 

I don’t know a lot about reporting but it seemed odd to me that Maddie and Alex were to spend weeks on the (fictional) island of Makana for their story – Alex was to interview reclusive billionaire Maxwell Hollister and Maddie was to take in the tourism spots.  It seemed like a long time spend on an assignment.

I was expecting a fun, flirty, friends-to-lovers story and at the beginning, that’s exactly what it was.  Except that Alex turned Maddie down quite a few times and she came off as desperate and a bit pathetic after a while.  Just when she’d decided to bow out gracefully, Alex decides that resisting temptation isn’t worth it and they begin to steam up the sheets.  I found the sexual euphemisms somewhat surprising, considering this is a book from Samhain, a publisher very comfortable with the erotic.  Would a man really refer to his penis as “my hardness”?  Some of the terminology made me roll my eyes.  I would have preferred the characters “call a spade a spade” but YMMV.

Maddie is also searching for the identity of her father – her mother has never told her who he is so she’s hired a private investigator to find out for her.  For much of the book it appears that the mysterious Maxwell Hollister is Maddie’s father (I won’t spoil it by telling you whether that’s true or not).  There’s also Maddie’s attempt to reconnect with her flighty mother, her relationship with Alex and something about a former IRA getaway driver.  If that’s not busy enough, add in that Alex has accepted a position in London (and wants Maddie to move with him), an ex-girlfriend with a grudge and a BMX accident for good measure.

I did like that Maddie had very good reasons for not wanting to drop everything and follow Alex to London and the way it was eventually resolved. 

Alex and Maddie certainly had chemistry but I was ultimately a little confused about what the book was trying to be – chick lit or a sexy contemporary romance.  But, if you like contemporaries with a hearty dash of women’s fiction, this might be a book for you.

Master Class by Rachel Haimowitz - C After a smallish cameo by Devon and Nicky in Power Play:  Awakening, I was curious to read their story. I already had SUBlime on my TBR having won it in a blog giveaway a while back but I wanted to start at number 1, so I went and bought Master Class.  At only 55 pages, it is a quick read.  Unfortunately, the characterisation you can savor in a 290 page book such as either of the Power Play books cannot be found in anywhere the same degree in a novella.  I found myself dissatisfied because I didn't get to know either character well enough.  I wanted to.  I found both men fascinating and as with the Power Play books,  I liked the writing style.  But it was really just the beginning of their story and there seemed a lot more to tell.  Nicky is a Broadway actor/singer and submissive/masochist who has come from money and feels guilty for things having come so easily to him.  Devon is a big time movie star  and Dom/sadist  but we really learn very little about him.  In fact, I felt I knew them better from their scenes in Power Play. 

SUBlime - Collected Shorts (Master Class #2)  by Rachel Haimowitz - C/C- This is a short (45 pages) collection of even shorter "scenes".  Many of the scenes felt incomplete in that they sometimes stop in the middle of the action.  There were, for me, hints of character growth, but only hints.  While the stories themselves were interesting and well written, they didn't satisfy my craving to get to know these two men better. The grades for these 2 stories reflect that I'm a romance reader first and foremost and the emotional depth was a bit lacking for me here.  I'd happily read a full story about them - I know they are married by the time the events of Power Play occur and I know that they don't live "the lifestyle" 24/7 but I don't know really how that works (at least for them) and I don't know how Nicky's career fits in (in Awakening he said that Devon "let him out" to play occasionally - I thought that meant Nicky doesn't work much?) and I don't know how they came to get married.  I would love to read that story.

August Reads

on Paper/eBook

Men of Smithfield:  Mark & Tony by LB Gregg - B  Originally published by the now defunct Aspen Mountain Press, LB Gregg has found a new home for her Men of Smithfield series at Carina Press.  All 4 books (as well as some new ones yet to be written – yippee!) will be released by Carina and the first is Mark & Tony (originally titled Gobsmacked).

Told from the first person POV of Mark, a surgeon at the Smithfield Hospital, the story details how he comes home unexpectedly to find his live-in lover Jamie bonking the landlord in his bed and the revenge he takes (it involves hitting Jamie with a bible at the Ash Wednesday Mass and taking his things to the rubbish dump), only to find out that Jamie has also stolen all of his savings and appears to be in some serious trouble.   State Trooper and long time crush Tony Gervase becomes involved when Jamie’s desperation leads him to assault and a little B&E.   It turns out that everyone but Mark knew that Jamie was a cheating dickwad and everyone but Mark knows that Tony’s loved Mark since forever.

Because Mark and Tony have been best friends for years, it is easy to accept the speed of the romance in this story, which spans only a few days.  There is a definite HFN with the promise of a HEA but they don’t rush into forever after, which was nice.   

Mark and Tony manage to find time to steam up the bathroom, the sheets and the lounge room, Jamie gets what’s coming to him (more actually) and it’s all wrapped up in LB Gregg’s trademark humour – which is quirky and laugh out loud.    Recommended for who likes a fast-paced funny contemporary M/M romance with some depth. **NB this review first appeared in the August ARRA members newsletter**

August Ice by Dev Bentham - See my full review here.