Mercury's War by Lora Leigh

Summary: Someone has been slipping the Sanctuary’s secure information to a pharmaceutical company. Now it’s up to Ria Rodriguez to pose as a clerk and uncover the leak. Yet she has no idea of the danger she’s about to encounter—or the passion she’s about to ignite in one of the greatest Breeds ever created.

Review: I was pretty darn happy to read Mercury's book. I'm curious about him, Rule, and Lawe so reading Merc's book was a treat. I enjoyed it very much. Ria got on my nerves a good bit, but Merc was fab. It was nice to see Jonas in a better light too. I still don't like him a whole lot, but he was far more bearable in this book than he was in Harmony's Way. I thought the story was done very well too. My only real beef with this story was the end seemed slapped together. I thought this book was more about the romance than the rest of the story. If that makes an sense at all. That's fine because Merc and Ria's relationship was written very well and I enjoyed reading them together. I still think it's a great story worth picking up.

4 howls

Harmony's Way by Lora Leigh

Summary: Harmony Lancaster is of the Lion Breed, created to be a huntress with a thirst to kill. But the way she seeks justice outside of the law makes her a liability to her own kind. Yet she also possesses information that they need on the existence of the first Leo-who holds the precious secrets of desire.

To save her life, Harmony is paired with Sheriff Lance Jacobs, who tries to tame the killer within her, while protecting the gentle woman he longs to possess. But a dangerous cult leader, bent on destroying the Breeds, could change the way Lance looks at Harmony forever...

Review: First off, characters. Harmony might be my favorite female. Wolf breeds are my favorite, but I liked Harmony's spunk. She was fun to read, and I felt bad for her throughout the story. I hated Lance. He will probably be my least favorite male. He bothered me so much it was unbelievable. If I was reading this book for characters alone then I would have probably given up on finishing it. It's a good story, but Lance was just...ugh. And Jonas? Is he that much of a jerk to everyone? I can't recall as it has been a while since I've read a Breeds book. He didn't piss me off nearly as much in other books I've read though so hopefully he was just being a jerk to Harmony. I'm curious about Dane too. I want to learn more about him.

Like I said before, the story was good. I'm probably going to have to re-read all of these books in order though so I can have the story straight in my head. Sometimes I felt like I was missing a big part of the story, but that's probably my fault for reading these books out of order to begin with. Not my favorite Breeds book, but I enjoyed it.

3.5 howls

To Tempt the Wolf by Terry Spear

Summary: In this third in the series, wildlife photographer Tessa Anderson must prove her brother innocent of murder charges. But when she discovers a gorgeous naked man barely alive on her beach, she's got a new world of troubles to deal with, not least of which is how he affects her with just a look, a touch, or a whispered word.

Hunter Greymore is a lupus garou, a grey werewolf. Hoping to keep a low profile at Tessa's cabin on the coast, he's drawn into her life—and into her bed. His animal instincts war with his human half, but in the end, the only thing he can do about this fascinating, adorable woman is to leave her forever —unless she becomes one of them.

Review: Oh Hunter was dreamy! Dev is still my favorite male, but Hunter was pretty darn close. And I liked Tessa a lot as a female. She seemed pretty strong and clear-headed which is always nice when you're reading about the mate of an alpha. I thought Meara was interesting too. I would be curious to read her story if she gets one. The only thing I wasn't super big on was how chill Hunter, Ashton, and Rourke seemed to be together considering they all had some kind of physical relationship with Tessa. Other than that, I thought this was a very well done book and I can't wait to keep reading this series.

4 howls

The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett

Summary: On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There's an avaricious but inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course THE EDGE of the planet...

Review: I have an off/on Fantasy mood so I wasn't sure when I was going to get around to reading this book when I bought it, but I wanted something short to read and The Color of Magic is a bit over 200 pages. I laughed pretty stinking hard when I read this book. The story is incredible and I enjoyed reading about Rincewind and Twoflower's adventures. I found the first half more entertaining than the second half, but it was all enjoyable.

Now, let's talk characters. Rincewind is so great to read about. He's far too serious for his own good. Twoflower was fun as well, but he's not serious enough. I don't think I would like them apart, but put them together and that's good fun. Death is my favorite character. I don't know why, but He is. Rincewind might have been my favorite if it wasn't for death.

4 howls

Blood Bound by Rachel Vincent

Summary: Most can't touch the power. But Liv Warren is special – a paranormal tracker who follows the scent of blood.

Liv makes her own rules, and the most important one is trust no one.

But when her friend's daughter goes missing, Liv has no choice but to find the girl. Thanks to a childhood oath, Liv can't rest until the child is home safe. But that means trusting Cam Caballero, the former lover forbidden to her.

Bound by oath and lost in desire for a man she cannot have, Liv is racing to save the child from a dark criminal underworld where secrets, lies, trauma and danger lurk around every corner...every touch...every kiss.

And more blood will be spilled before it's over...

Review: Ahh Rachel. You are so brilliant it's scary. I'm not quite sure who my favorite character in this series will be, but I loved Cam to death. I felt so bad for him and I hated him and I loved him all at once. It was actually a bit frustrating. Another incredible story! When I first heard the book was coming out, way back when, I didn't even care what it was about to be honest. I just knew that Rachel was writing a new UF series and I had to get ahold of it. I did read what it was about right before I started the story so I wasn't completely clueless the whole way through. So many bombshells in this book. My jaw kept dropping. I clued into one of them a bit before the characters. It was nice to have a little nugget of information tucked away in my head. I wasn't sure if I was right about my theory, but turns out I was. This series will definitely give the Shifters series a run for its money, but one thing I like more about this series is the romance is strictly between Cam and Liv. Shifters was great, but it was hard for me to root for Mark or Jace when they're both so likable. Rachel could pull someone else out of thin air though. I wasn't sure how I felt about the alternating viewpoints. I cringed a bit when I first read Cam's chapter because I'm not a big fan of doing that, BUT one of the bombshells could have only been done from Cam's POV I think so it worked very well. Go read this. Just go. Now.

5 howls

Cloaked by Alex Flinn

Summary: I'm not your average hero. I actually wasn't your average anything. Just a poor guy working an after-school job at a South Beach shoe repair shop to help his mom make ends meet. But a little magic changed it all.

It all started with a curse. And a frognapping. And one hot-looking princess, who asked me to lead a rescue mission.

There wasn't a fairy godmother or any of that. And even though I fell in love along the way, what happened to me is unlike any fairy tale I've ever heard. Before I knew it, I was spying with a flock of enchanted swans, talking (yes, talking!) to a fox named Todd, and nearly trampled by giants in the Everglades.

Don't believe me? I didn't believe it either. But you'll see. Because I knew it all was true, the second I got cloaked.

Review: I like Alex Flinn's books. I can't wait to read what else she has to give us. Granted, I've only read a few of her books. Cloaked was really good. Not my favorite. I think Beastly is still my favorite for now, but Cloaked was really good. I kind of liked Johnny as a character, but Meg was more likable in my opinion. I don't know how I feel about everyone accepting magic as easily in this book. In Beastly and A Kiss in Time, the characters still hid what they did and how they did it because they knew that no one would believe them. At the same time, it helps the story progress much faster so I didn't get too bogged down by it. I was confused when I first picked up this book though. The title makes me think of Little Red Riding Hood. Maybe it's just me, but I thought this was going to be a re-vamped version of Red's story. I was in no way disappointed though. I thought the story was interesting and the characters were likable. Even Ryan, the jerky "friend" of Johnny's. I'm not quite sure they really were friends, but that's just me. Magic was a more obvious focus of this book but, in the other two books I read, it was just love breaking a spell. Witches helped and hurt Johnny as he tried to fulfill his quest. Another great story from Alex's brilliant mind.

4 howls