Tempting Target: Heart of a SEAL by Carmen Faye (*)

I knew he was trouble from the moment I saw him 
My life had fallen into a rut. I had no future, no prospects, and no way forward. So I did what every other lost soul do in those situations: 

I ran—as far as I could, as fast as I could. 

And then I ran into him. Matt Perrier. The six-foot-five Navy SEAL with tattoos snaking across his rippling muscles and dripping with danger and wildness from every pore. 

From the moment I see him, I know that he’s nothing like anyone I’ve ever met. 

I know that losing wasn’t in his blood. 
I know that nothing gets between him and what he wants. 

And I know he wants me. 

REVIEW: *

This was a great book if you wanted nothing but sex scene after sex scene...long ones at that...I wanted an actual story between those sex scenes which did not really happen. And there were some major inconsistencies. Like he tells her he loves her and 40 pages later he says that he never said he loved her ...major error. The author tried to put some obstacles out there...but they never amounted to anything...her illness was a no go issue as was her stalker, his stalker type, his amnesia. The whole gamut of stuff that was over before it even started. It really made no real sense in the book and added nothing to the non-existent plot line. It was like the author did not know where to take the story ... she just threw in a bit of everything and hoped it worked. It didn't. The characters were flat, uninteresting, and evoked no emotions from the reader (me).. I would not recommend this one.

Starship Eternal (War Eternal #1) by M.R. Forbes (**)

A lost starship...
A dire warning from futures past... 
A desperate search for salvation...
----------------------------------------------

Captain Mitchell "Ares" Williams is a Space Marine and the hero of the Battle for Liberty, whose Shot Heard 'Round the Universe saved the planet from a nearly unstoppable war machine. He's handsome, charismatic, and the perfect poster boy to help the military drive enlistment. Pulled from the war and thrown into the spotlight, he's as efficient at charming the media and bedding beautiful celebrities as he was at shooting down enemy starfighters.

After an assassination attempt leaves Mitchell critically wounded, he begins to suffer from strange hallucinations that carry a chilling and oddly familiar warning:

They are coming. Find the Goliath or humankind will be destroyed.

Convinced that the visions are a side-effect of his injuries, he tries to ignore them, only to learn that he may not be as crazy as he thinks. The enemy is real and closer than he imagined, and they'll do whatever it takes to prevent him from rediscovering the centuries lost starship.

Narrowly escaping capture, out of time and out of air, Mitchell lands at the mercy of the Riggers - a ragtag crew of former commandos who patrol the lawless outer reaches of the galaxy. Guided by a captain with a reputation for cold-blooded murder, they're dangerous, immoral, and possibly insane.

They may also be humanity's last hope for survival in a war that has raged beyond eternity.

REVIEW: **

The characters all felt flat and uninteresting to me. Honestly the time loop theory had me very confused. It was hard to follow and did not really make any sense to me. It was decent enough to finish the book, but not enough to have me go out and buy the next two books in the series. It just did not hold my interest long. It felt...off somehow. And the quickness in which he was accepted and became, for all intents and purposes, the leader of the rag tag band of criminals was a bit too much. The author was trying for camaraderie or brotherhood or something along those lines I think, but it just did not come to fruition. It did not feel like a "band of brothers" or come even close to that. It was too quick to form real feelings and relationships among the crew and the ending was just that...an ending...no feeling of triumph or relief or looking forward to continuing the story.

Devolved by James Bowler (*)

Everything was fine until the lights went out. Sure I had my problems, college was fun but all that homework takes it's toll. True the girl I liked turned me down flat but hey, besides that, life was good. 
That first night after the darkness still haunts me. I can't even begin to describe the pace of my pulse or the terror. I never knew what fear was until I saw that face and felt those claws on my flesh. It's a miracle I even survived. It's sad so many people had to die. The hardest ones though, are the ones I killed. I can't close my eyes without seeing their faces and feeling their accusing stares. The apocalypse isn't all bad, I get to travel with the hottest girl in school. She can be a handful sometimes (all the time) and will probably be the death of me. 
By far the worst part of this mess is the smell of rotting corpses and all the miles walking. The food's OK, I just hate how heavy it is. I hate it worse when my bag gets too light and I know I 'm running out, that's a different kind of fear, not adrenaline terror, but a pressing unavoidable dread always in the back of my mind.

REVIEW: *

In a word: BORING. It was hard to get through this one, I ended up skimming through a lot of it just to get through it. There was no real dialogue, the characters were flat, and I got tired of the descriptions and the thinking instead of acting/speaking.

Iron Mike by Patricia Rose (****)

They came, but not in peace. They came to destroy us. Our cities crumbled. Our people died by the billions. Their weapons were sophisticated beyond our worst nightmare.

But they didn't count on our stubborn tenacity or our will to live. We fight back, and we fight dirty.

Mike Sanderlin survived the first attack ... but could he survive the war? How will he keep his sister safe in a world where terror swoops from the sky and looters claim the streets? Law and order are as forgotten as the bodies that rot in the sun.

To keep his sister alive, Mike changes. He becomes Iron Mike, a man unafraid of making the hard decisions, a man unafraid of war, of killing or being killed. Iron Mike isn't afraid, period.

Iron Mike is a survivor. 

REVIEW: ****

This was a wonderful book! I like these types of books but many of them don't fulfill the promise..this one did hands down. It drew me in quickly. The characters were great (especially Iron Mike) and the story was believable. It was not centered on fighting the aliens, but more about the characters themselves. And I love a good character driven story. For a first novel this was fantastic. The editing was great..no real errors that I saw and the plot flowed well. I can't wait to read the next one from this new author. The only real issue I had with it, and it was minor, was the ending seemed a bit too quickly finished. I wish she would have gone a bit further with it, but I hated the story was ending anyway so that may have something to do with it. Great first book..most definitely recommend this one.

The Will (Magdalene #1) by Kristen Ashley (*)

Early in her life, Josephine Malone learned the hard way that there was only one person she could love and trust: her grandmother, Lydia Malone. Out of necessity, unconsciously and very successfully, Josephine donned a disguise to keep all others at bay. She led a globetrotting lifestyle on the fringes of the fashion and music elite, but she kept herself distant.

While Josephine was trotting the globe, retired boxer Jake Spear was living in the same small town as Lydia. There was nothing disguised about Jake. Including the fact he made a habit of making very bad decisions about who to give his love.

But for Josephine and Jake, there was one person who adored them. One person who knew how to lead them to happiness. And one person who was intent on doing it.

Even if she had to do it as her final wish on this earth. 

REVIEW: *

I love K.A. books for the most part, but I could not even get halfway through this one. I HATED the Heroine - she was such a total bitch that I just felt like slapping her. And wow she did nothing but work, sleep, bitch and complain. No FUN at all. She seems to have lived 45 years in a bubble. I also do not understand her instant antagonism for him. He did nothing to her and said nothing to her to cause her to stand him up and berate him. 

The Hero was so so but her hero's are starting to get a bit boring. They are exactly the same type every time. I love the alpha male, but each of her Hero's talk the same exact way, make up some stupid nickname for the woman (I mean Slick? come on what woman wants to be called Slick?), they move the same, and to be honest I am getting tired of the "chin lift" every time they come and go. Don't they ever just say hi or shake hands? And they seem to be perfect sex partners. They ALWAYS take care of the woman first and foremost (great fantasy but realistically that just does not happen each and every time). 

Anyway I could not get into this one and I was so looking forward to getting lost in a K.A. book. Guess I will have to go back and read a Rock Chick book..now those were worth reading!

Lev (Shot Callers #1) by Belle Aurora (***)

From the moment Lev Leokov spots the young woman hiding behind her hair in the middle of the gentleman's club, he can't take his eyes off of her.
For the very first time in his life, he is affected. Having been told his entire life that he can't process or understand emotion, he considers it a big deal.

When Mina Harris gets caught red-handed with a wallet that isn't hers, she falls apart. She's tired, lonely and hasn't eaten in days.

Lev offers her an ultimatum... A nice warm bed, a hot meal and a job, or the cops.

Mina takes her chances with Lev. 
After all, a person with nothing has nothing left to lose.

REVIEW: ***

I liked this book overall. I did have a few problems with it...mainly that the heroine was so naive..she lived on the streets for 7 years supposedly and I don't know how anyone living on the streets that long could be that inexperienced and naive. I liked the story line overall and the writing was great. I just had a hard time suspending my belief that she could be that good and naive and selfless after living so long on the streets. It was a bit fairy tail like in that regard. I loved Lev. He was a great character...they never really explained what was wrong with him, but it seems to me as if it described Asperger's syndrome (a form of autism). He was easy to like and it was interesting to see him develop over the book.

Dominic: A Saint Brothers Novel Book 1 by Kristan Belle (*)

Just when things are going good, life has a way of turning everything upside down and biting you on the ass. 

Fallon had grown up surrounded by wealth and extravagance, but she had always needed something more, something real. Pursuing her dream job meant little time for a social life, but when a friend found herself in trouble, Fallon didn't hesitate to step in and help. Little did she know she was going to get more than she bargained for, in more ways than one... 

Dominic had been burned in the past. When he saw Fallon, he knew he wanted her. He wanted her for a single mind-blowing night and then he'd move on like he always did. There was too much going on in his life for anything more. Owning a down and dirty bar like Sinners gave him more than enough to worry about. However, she wasn't going to be that easy to forget. Would Dominic give it a chance? 

REVIEW: *

Not a great book. The editing was horrible....dropped words, wrong words used....inconsistencies (like he goes out regularly on friday nights, but it mentions he goes out regularly on saturday night later in the book) little things like that drove me crazy. 

The other thing that I hated was that they did not even meet during the first half of the book. Once they did it was two sex scenes and about three other scenes total before the end. They did not know each other, never had a conversation lasting more than a minute or two and how can you be in love with someone after that short a time? It was ridiculous. The epilogue was not really an epilogue in my opinion. He supposedly met her parents during this "epilogue" but no real interaction occurred. It was all in their heads..no real verbal conversations. Just bad all around. Not a lot of dialogue throughout the book..more them thinking (in their head) than actual interaction with any of the characters. Just not a great book. I will not be reading the rest of the series.