Spaz Reviews: By A Thread - Jennifer Estep

My new review of By A Thread by Jennifer Estep is up at WLP!

I love Gin Blanco. I say this every single book, and I mean it. She is exactly who I would want to have as my friend in real life. Sure, she is an assassin, but her loyalty and compassion for those who are lucky to have her love is unmatched. With this sixth book in Jennifer Estep's Elemental Assassin series, By A Thread is definitely no exception to the rule, each book just gets better and better in this series. I loved this book!

By A Thread is a wild ride. Gin is finally convinced that she needs a vacation, something she has never had before. She and her sister Bria head out a day early together to Blue Marsh, and from the start, things are a little tense between them. Bria is being really annoying with the constant talk of her best friend, Callie, and is making Gin feel somewhat alienated. Having once lived in Blue Marsh, Gin is faced with the insecurities of there being someone else in Bria's life whom she has loved like a sister. And it sucks. Finn and Owen are going to leave later and meet them there, giving them some girl time together. But of course, trouble follows Gin like a bee to honey. As they are visiting Callie's restaurant, The Sea Breeze, it becomes clear that Callie is being bullied and threatened to sell her restaurant so the local wealthy vampire tycoon, Dekes, can build his casino on it. When the threats go too far, there is no way that Gin can walk away. And that is what I love most about her.

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Spaz Reviews: Hammer Down - Moira Rogers

My latest review of Hammer Down by Moira Rogers is up at WLP!

After reading Demon Bait, the novella kicking off this series, I had to start this full-length Children of the Undying novel immediately. I knew I would like it, but had no idea how much. THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD, YOU GUYS!! The setting and feel for me is very Matrix-Meets-Firefly. It has the network with virtual realities similar to that of the Matrix, but the comradery and post-apocalyptic feel of Firefly, only with trucks and demons. But don't let me box Hammer Down in to anything in specific, because it is all super unique to itself. There is so much more to it, and so much happens.

The hero, Zel, is very very (very very) alpha. He is the leader of the outcast underground city of Rochester and all that inhabit it. He is also a halfbreed, part demon, and all warrior. In Rochester, half-breeds are openly accepted, one of the only places they can live in peace. Lately, however, that peace has become challenged because people have simply forgotten what it was like a century ago. He and his side-kick techie come to the rescue of Devi while her crew and their trucks are enduring a very bloody demon attack, and they discover that there was a spy in their crew, unbeknownst to them. Continue reading...

Spaz Reviews: Demon Bait - Moira Rogers

My review of Demon Bait by Moira Rogers is up at WLP! 
Moira Rogers whisks us away into a futuristic world with Demon Bait, the first book in their Children of the Undying series and quite a powerful ride! I don't typically read this genre much, but was curious, because hey, it's Moira Rogers, y'all! In this post-apocalyptic story, the humans have banded together underground and through virtual networks, and demons walk the earth.

Marci is a human summoner who is smart and savvy and working as a network programmer. Before the Fall, the summoners had all the power with the ability to control demons by calling them from wherever they resided. After the Fall, demons have taken over the earth and the power has shifted to them now. As a halfblood, Gabe is part-demon and he immediately identifies Marci for what she is. While visiting Marci's outpost on a trade mission, he feels the pull to her immediately, and wants to mark her the moment he steps in to the network station. There is a demon attack on the mill, and their station goes in to lockdown, leaving Marci and Gabe physically trapped together. Gabe makes it his mission to convince Marci to go with him to Rochester, where he claims halfbloods like them are openly accepted and respected. Continue reading...

Spaz Reviews: Hearts in Darkness - Laura Kaye

My review of Hearts in Darkness by Laura Kaye is up at WLP!

Okay, am I really the last person to read this book? I noticed on Twitter it was on temporary sale, so I pounced. I was hearing great things in general about it from my trusted sources, so I put it on the back burner and knew I'd have something promising when I had a break to get to it.

Once again, my trusted sources didn't lead me astray. I picked Hearts in Darkness up, and could not put it back down. I seriously was glued to it. You get the gist of it from the blurb above, but what an original and cute (and hot) story! Makenna is not paying attention when she enters the elevator, but Caden is. He notices her right away and is immediately amused by her. She never really gets a good look at him, just getting a glimpse of his tattoo. The power goes out and they are trapped in the elevator together. Continue reading...

Spaz Reviews: Lethal Rider - Larissa Ione (spoiler free)

My review of Lethal Rider by Larissa Ione is up at WLP! 

Larissa Ione is back with her third Lords of Deliverance novel, Lethal Rider, and it's totally worth the wait!

Thanatos has been kept immobile for the past 8 months by his own siblings, Ares and Limos. Upon discovering Regan's horrible deception in Immortal Rider, he went nuclear and squashed a lot of lives. They feel it's for his own good and only intend to keep him in that state until his baby is born. Hades has his own agenda, and helps break him out of his hellhound saliva-induced paralysis. Naturally, he immediately goes and finds Regan where she is hiding at The Aegis headquarters. We learn that Regan has been living the past 8 months in shame and fear over what she did to Thanatos. She knew she should not have run, yet she did, and is living with the sickening dreams of the guilt she feels. She is not surprised when he shows up for her. Continue Reading... 

Spaz Reviews: Born to Darkness - Suzanne Brockmann

My latest review of Born to Darkness by Suzanne Brockmann is up at WLP!

The setting is futuristic with elements of the paranormal with some action romance for good measure. The very best thing I found about this book is that is sort of played out as 2.5 romances. There are two wonderfully developed romances with one that kinda happens and is fun to watch. As a matter of fact, I was quite pleasantly surprised to discover that one of them was m/m! I loved it!

The first h/h established in Born to Darkness are between Michelle "Mac" MacKenzie, a scientist with the OI compound, and the new recruit NAVY Seal Shane Laughlin. I loved the start of their bad romance, after they meet in the bar and get it on! It is steamy and hot! But in true love-em-and-leave-em fashion, Mac has intimacy issues and beats the street running once she discovers he is a new recruit at her place of employment. OOPS. As much as Mac could be infuriating, there was a part of me that totally could identify with her. Mostly. And Shane... wow. From his muscle-bound Navy SEAL body to his popping his "p"s when he said nope... He was hot. Of course she wants nothing more to do with him, and he is all ABOUT her. It's fun watching, because he is undeniably persistent and charming no matter how she tries to scare him away.

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Spaz Reviews: Coveted - Shawntelle Madison

My latest review is up of Coveted by Shawntelle Madison at WLP!

Rogue wolf Natalya has found herself back at home in South Thoms River. We learn very early on that she has a very extreme anxiety disorder manifesting as Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. It's not far-fetched to see how this compulsive behavior may have led her to be ejected from the local pack. Her addiction is shopping for holidays items, be it Christmas Hanukkah or Kwanzaa, gives her a sense of control and yet to everyone on the outside, makes her look crazy. Boxes and boxes of untouched and cherished ornaments and items are "coveted" in her home, to an alarming degree.

Her best friend, Agatha AKA Aggie, shows up one night to stay with her, and she is a total delight. She has an addiction to food, so she can comprehend Nat's obsessive-compulsive tendencies,  and their relationship was so endearing. In fact, it's how they met, at a camp for supernatural kids with issues. Always with, or wanting for, a bag of Doritos, she is not to be underestimated. As a high-ranking alpha female from another pack, Aggie's friendship with Nat was the real thing.  Continue reading...

Spaz Reviews: Devil's Punch - Ann Aguirre

My latest review of Devil's Punch by Ann Aguirre is up at WLP.

Corine is back in this fourth book of the Corine Solomon series, by Ann Aguirre! I have waited a year for this installment and it was totally the wait.

Since the events in the last book, Shady Lady, we know that her friend Shannon no longer remembers her. Corine has basically lost a best friend and a would-be boyfriend by using a "simple" magic trick that went really wrong. Oops! When Shannon goes missing, and it's revealed she is being held in Sheol, it's a no-brainer for Corine to go find her. Corine had made all these plans with Shannon, and losing her has been gut-wrenching, the only female friend she has ever had. Chance is trying very hard to prove himself and how genuine he is that he is ready to move forward with Corine and win her back. When Corine sets off to Sheol, Chance goes with her. And that's the setup for a wild awesome ride.

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Meeeeeee update!

Today we closed on our new dream house. Yay! We closed on the house we sold on 3/19 and here we are on 5/3 finally home-owners again. The Austin housing market is insane balls, guys! I'm happy Austin's economy is doing so well, but omg, I hope people just stop bringing their cars here. But I digress... It's been quite an experience, particularly because the Seller no longer lives in town, and there are tenants in the house that were doing a short-term lease through May. So, the good news is we have a house! The bad news is the tenants will be in our house and we cannot move until the first week of June. But we've made it!

Aaaaaaaand, we still have our Dakota! If you remember, he was diagnosed on November 1st 2011 with doggy lymphoma in his liver, eyes and nervous system. We have had him on high doses of steroids and daily prednisone, and he was given a max life term of 12 weeks. Here we are... SIX MONTHS LATER, and while he is reallllly old and has deteriorated, he just keeps on ticking! It has been bittersweet watching him deteriorate so quickly. Not a year ago he was able to run 10 miles with me. Now, he can't be outside longer than 10 minutes without really struggling to breathe in the heat. We are so grateful he has pulled through and has been here for us through this journey. Our goal is to get him to our new house, we are hoping his health just holds out for one more month so that he can see us to our new house. Gotta play fetch with a ball just once in that backyard before he leaves us, dammit.

So, we have just two more weeks in the Extended Stay room where we have been since 3/15, then we are moving in to my parents' house for two weeks, and then we take over our house in June! This process all began in a very different housing market in September, and I am just so eager to settle down and have a home! My body clock is telling me to nest, y'all! I need to nest!

Listen!! Santigold - Master of My Make-Believe

Have you heard of Santigold? If you have, then you have been with me, eagerly awaiting her follow up album Master of My Make-Believe, which dropped yesterday. If you haven not heard her before NOW IS THE TIME.

Hubs and I were able to see her 3 years ago when she was touring with her first self-titled album. She was awesome. Ever since, we've been waiting. And waiting. And waiting.... and the wait has paid off. Master of My Make-Believe is fantastic!

Santigold released Disparate Youth about a month ago to promote her new album, and my husband and I have had this song on repeat ever since. It never gets old. It's definitely one of my favorite songs of 2012.

Santigold also released this single Big Mouth prior to the album's release. It's amazing, holy drum and bass, people!!

NPR is still streaming the entire album for free so you can listen to it by single, or let the entire album play. Don't just take my word for it, go listen! NPR First Listen: Master of My Make-Believe. Their bio and writeup of the album is perfect:

Hand it to Santi White: If she's pursuing stardom on a massive scale, she's forgoing the easiest routes. The artist formerly known as Santogold now calls herself Santigold, and took an eternal four years to follow her frequently dazzling debut, only to strip her second album of the ingratiating fizziness that marked songs like "Lights Out." Master of My Make-Believe, out May 1, has its playfully bouncy moments — she says it's inspired in part by a trip to Jamaica — but its overall tone is one of severity, even solemnity. It's as if pop music caught up with Santigold's sound, and she tacked left to avoid the glare.

As uncompromising in her own way as M.I.A., whose music attacks more viscerally, Santigold seems ambivalent about most everything she touches on Master of My Make-Believe — especially success, if "Fame" is any indication. Even the profanity-laced "Look at These Hoes" seems to straddle the line between loathing material excess and embracing it; in that case, the result feels deadpan to the point of half-heartedness.

With its frequent nods to island rhythms — and the aid of collaborators from old standbys Diplo and Switch to Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O — Master of My Make-Believe has a sprawl to it that belies its 38-minute run time. As a result, whether a given song comes out as a jolt ("Freak Like Me") or a trot ("Pirate in the Water"), Master of My Make-Believe feels packed and filling. But fun has been edged out of the equation a bit, in favor of an emphasis on ferocity and artistry that's increasingly hard to deny.