Revamped by J. F. Lewis

Lewis once again had me going back and forth with my like/dislike for his main characters. More Tabitha this time than Eric. Eric is still very flawed, but we see a softer, more caring side to him this time along with his no nonsense, get down to the nitty-gritty of the situation attitude. Toward the end, I was understanding Tabitha more, but I still want to smack her up side the head at times. And Rachel is a Brat (and I’m being nice here) regardless.

I have to admit I was a little concerned when we were introduced to Fang. My first thought was – On no, Lewis is going to go the macho-comic book or Stephen King routine with this. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised that this addition to the story really did work. ( I’m just glad I don’t have to clean out his trunk.) Some female readers might find this addition cheesy, but I was okay with it. I think Greta really helped with this when she named him. Leave it to her to crack me up at the start of a plot concern. Greta still rocks, as far as I’m concerned, and I would love to see more of her in upcoming books. Or even her own book.

Speaking of their own book, Talbot really came more into his own for me in this second book. I’m hoping to see a spin off series for him or his kind.

Lewis again came through with an action packed book with a good balance of insight into the characters, a variety of paranormal and comic relief to make this a really enjoyable read for me. Plus, this dysfunctional family (of sorts) makes mine seem like the Cleavers.
I had several laugh out loud moments. The power strip comment on page 46 for one and animal crackers on page 196. The reference to the Little Rascal and other TV shows were also fun. I can tell the author and I grew up in or around the same time from a number of his references.
Another thing I like is his vampires’ food infatuations. Those scenes started making me hungry. When Phil and Eric sat down for steaks, I was just about ready to go fire up the grill...even if it was after 10 pm when I was reading that part.

I always like/want some sort of closure at the conclusion of a book so I appreciate the no “cliff-hanging, Porky the Pig pop out moment” at the end this time. Yes, it keeps us fans coming back for more, but it also makes us want to hang authors up by their toenails and feed you to the Oni.

Thank you, Jeremy! Looking forward to the next book.

The Vampire's Seduction Giveaway

Random Minutiae has a great interview with one of my favorite authors, Raven Hart, on her Savannah vampire series. Better yet, she's giving away a signed copy of the first book of the series, The Vampire's Seduction.

I did a review of the first four books in May. Trust me when I say, this is a must read series for any paranormal/horror fan.

Head over to Random Minutiae and leave a comment for your chance to win.

Claire Morgan Mysteries by Linda Ladd

Been a while since I last added anything. Sorry about that but I’m really bad when it comes to this sort of thing. That and I always have trouble putting into words how I feel about a book.

This entry is about Linda Ladd’s Claire Morgan series. There are now three books out – Head To Head, Dark Places and the latest, Die Smiling. I read Head To Head a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. Then I happened to stumble upon Linda Ladd’s MySpace site last year about this time to find the second book had just been released. Off I went to my local bookstore and started reading it immediately.

Dark Places

I was asked how I liked Dark Places in comparison to Head to Head. I was really wishing I had a copy of Head to Head to reread at the time. (I originally borrowed it from a friend, but have since gotten my own copy.) Thankfully, as I was reading along in Dark Places there were enough references to jar my memory. I thought DP was much creeper than HTH. Then again, Ladd hit on something which just really creeps me out. (I’m not going to say what though so I won’t spoil it for future readers.)

As I first started the book, I got tickled at my reaction at one part (the doughnut) at the first crime scene. I enjoy how Claire and her partner, Bud, interact. Then we moved on the ER scene. Yikes! Now I’ll pretty much read most anything as to what we Book Obsessors classify as sick s*** mysteries and I didn’t think much would phase me. Boy was I wrong. The ER scene had a shudder start at the top of my head and work all the way down. I can’t recall an author ever causing that kind of reaction for me. Ladd had me checking my bed before crawling in and shaking out clothes and shoes. One evening, when I got up in the middle of the night for something, I even turned the light back on to check the bed again. One of my Rotties gave me a look that distinctly said…you’ve lost your mind. She even managed the shudder reaction several times before getting to the end of the book.

And the ending was even more creepy. I had to set the book down several times before I could complete the ending. Just to kind of walk off the creepies.

I must warn animal lovers though that there are a couple of disturbing parts in this book. I was able to steel myself for what was coming, but it still bothered me. I get more upset with books and movies when the animals get hurt or killed.

This was definitely a 5 star read for me.


Die Smiling

Some how or another, I keep picking up mysteries that take place during a beauty pageant. This is probably my third or fourth one in the last few months. Even so, I still enjoyed Die Smiling. There was a lower body count in this book as we get started and we seemed to spend more time digging up information, but Ladd still managed a shudder at the climax of the book when our heroine was confronting the killer. You know how a guy will grimace and hold himself in sympathy when seeing another guy just get racked. She managed a similar reaction from me. My hand automatically went to a certain area (don’t want to give anything away) just to make sure everything was still in place.

Between the main story and the secondary, Ladd had me trying to sort out the puzzle until close to the end and then delivered another of her 'have you on the edge of your seat' endings. Though I wasn’t overly thrilled with Bud’s choice of actions, I’m glad the author worked things out for us. This one gets 4 stars from me.

For anyone who enjoys sick s*** mysteries, Linda Ladd's Claire Morgan mysteries are perfect for you.



And let us not forget all those we lost seven years ago!

What scares you?

Literary Escapism has a great interview with Lynda Hilburn
Plus there is a contest in which they're giving away two books from her Kismet Knight series. But...you have to confess your fears for a chance to win. Good luck everyone.

More Christmas in July

Bitten By Books is having a Christmas in July contest/giveaway too. A $30 Amazon gift card. Don't miss out! Plus there are some great reviews there that I'm sure will have your book wish list growing even longer...as is mine.

More Contests

Fellow Book Obsessor, Terra, is having a Christmas in July contest. She giving away several signed books so go visit her blog. Check our her reviews on each of the books she offering too.

Terra's Christmas in July Contest

Oh and ladies, try not to drool all over your key board when you see the covers of these books. *fans self*

Amberkatze is having another contest for Wicked Games by Jeri Smith-Ready. Check out the great interview before entering.

Wicked Games Give-Away

Good luck everyone!

Staked by J. F. Lewis

Since I’m lazy at typing and love to take short cuts when I can, I’m coping the synopsis for this book from Amazon.


UNREPENTANT. UNIMPRESSED.AND TOTALLY UNDEAD.
Eric's got issues. He has short-term and long-term memory problems; he can't remember who he ate for dinner yesterday, much less how he became a vampire in the first place. His best friend, Roger, is souring on the strip club he and Eric own together. And his girlfriend, Tabitha, keeps pressuring him to turn her so she can join him in undeath. It's almost enough to put a Vlad off his appetite. Almost.
Eric tries to solve one problem, only to create another: he turns Tabitha into a vampire, but finds that once he does, his desire for her fades -- and her younger sister, Rachel, sure is cute. And when he kills a werewolf in self-defense, things really get out of hand. Now a pack of born-again lycanthropes is out for holy retribution, while Tabitha and Rachel have their own agendas -- which may or may not include helping Eric stay in one piece.
All Eric wants to do is run his strip club, drink a little blood, and be left alone. Instead, he must survive car crashes, enchanted bullets, sunlight, sex magic, and werewolves on ice -- not to mention his own nasty temper and forgetfulness.
Because being undead isn't easy, but it sure beats the alternative.

Okay, now for my review/opinion/thoughts.

First, I must start out by saying that most women, myself included, are going to think Eric is a complete pig. Be interesting to have himself turn into one then have Tabitha shot him with those special bullets so he’s stuck in that form for awhile. But then, he’d be a roast piggy so that wouldn’t work. Darn! Regardless of his “women problems” I still managed to like Eric. Then again, I’m a sucker for flawed heroes. You weren’t kidding when you say Eric has issues. *L*

Tabitha, I felt, needed a good swat up the side of her head in several instances, but again I still liked her. It was fun watching her fumble and experiment with her new found powers.

The funny thing as I was reading and thinking in what ways I like and dislike these characters, I had to give a mental chuckle at Lewis catching me off guard like this. I’ve always said I really like a writer who can elicit an emotion from me whether it be laughter, tears or anger. They’ve done their job, and very well, when they’ve achieved that. (Still only one has managed to tick me off enough to throw the book across the room though.) Here Lewis had me going back and forth with both of these characters as to how I felt about them. One chapter, I’m ready to stake Eric myself then the next I’m rooting for him to kick some werewolf ass. Kudos Jeremy!

Extra kudos for several laugh out loud moments. The little addition of the Three Stooges move in a fight and Eric’s learning of his bat wings had me rolling. And in bringing these two scenes up in topic, let me just add...Greta Rocks!! Seriously, as warped as it may be, I adored Greta. So help me if you kill her off in future books, I may have to go find the little old voodoo priestess who runs around downtown Memphis mumbling and shaking her fistful of feathers at everyone and have her come up with an extra special curse for you.

Also, I’m thoroughly intrigued by Talbot and looking forward to learning more about him in future books. Rachel had me pondering as to just what she was up too quite a bit. I have a feeling she’ll prove to be more of an upcoming quandary. The Japanese ogres were a great touch too. I had this mental image of some Sumo looking creatures squatting in the street stuffing their faces. And the holy roller lycans! I’m still snickering over them.

Now as for the ending. Holy cliffhangers, Batman!! I turn the page expecting there to be more and there’s “Hope you liked the book” and I’m thinking -- What the heck?! There’s got to be more. Frantically flipping through the last few filler pages, I realize that was it. Porky Pig might has well have popped out of the back cover and said “Th-th-the-th-the-th-that's all, folks!” I quickly looked up the release date of the next book. March 2009. Sheesh, I’ve got nine months to wait. I can just hear the “Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!” Curly impression Lewis is doing now from his office.

All kidding aside though, this was a great read. If I hadn’t had things that had to be done this past weekend, I probably would have read this in one sitting. Lewis has all the ingredients I love in a book...action, paranormal, mystery and humor with a different twist.

Thank you for the opportunity to read your book, Jeremy. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the next installment.