Kiss at your Own Risk

Kiss at Your Own Risk

This is my first book by this author but I will read more.  Trinity is a girl with a black widow curse--she kills the men that she falls in love with.  Her father sacrifices himself to save her and in order to get him back, she must kill a serial killing monster.  Trinity meets Blaine, a magical sort of man who has just escaped the den of a witch who has help him captive for years.  Trinity convinces Blaine to kill the monster and he convinces Trinity to kill the witch.  In the process, they fall in love, which when it's Trinity, could be deadly for Blaine.  This book was a good mix of paranormal, romance and action.  I enjoyed it.  Sourcebooks sent it to me for review.

Night School (YA) (Kindle)

Night School (YA) (Kindle)

This is book #5 in the Blood Coven series and I love them all.  In this book, Sunny and Rayne find out that they have fairy blood in them and they need to hide from the fairies who are after them.  I love the tongue in cheek writing style--humorous but real all at once.  Rayne is a tough vampire slayer who also happens to be a vampire; she rocks.  Can't wait for #6 to come out this summer.

Reckless (YA) (Kindle)

Reckless is the last name of Jacob and Will.  Their father disappeared into a magical world accessed through a mirror in his study.  Jacob has repeatedly ventured into that world looking for him.  He does not find him and Jacob returns to Will in the real world on and off.  One day Will decides to go into the mirror after Jacob and he is turned into a Goyl--a creature whose skin is stone.  Jacob has a slim chance of stopping Will's total transformation into a Goyl and he tries to save his brother.  Clara, Will's girlfriend, also enters this world and she tries to save Will too.  A cool world is created in this book but it is almost too much at times--unicorns, dwarves, fairies, shapeshifters. . . you name it, this book most likely has it.  I did enjoy it though.

The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy

The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy

This book expands on the love story of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett.  For the most part, it stays true to Jane Austen's work.  However, in this book, Darcy's cousin Anne is the matchmaker behind the couple's reunion.  This was a good twist.  Characters are further developed in this book more than the original, such as Mary and Anne, and that was well done.  This book was well written and I enjoyed it.  Austen fans and romance readers alike would enjoy this book.  I received this book from Sourcebooks for review.

Left Neglected

Left Neglected

I loved this author's first book, Still Alice, and was very excited to read this one.  Left Neglected is about Sarah, a workaholic mother of three who is in a car accident and ends up with a condition called Left Neglect--she is unaware of the left side of things, including her own body.  For example, if she is looking at a full dinner plate, she only sees the right side of the plate.  Sarah has to go through a lengthy rehab to try to retrain her brain to acknowledge the left side of life.  Once again, Genova writes an awesome book and her background in neuroscience adds so much to this novel.  I loved it.

Fever Crumb

Fever Crumb (YA)

Fever Crumb was found as a baby and raised by a group of rational men called The Engineers.  As a teenage, she is sent out into the world to help out a scientist and this is a big culture shock for her.  There is a war brewing in London and Fever does not realize she will play a pivotal role in that war.  Fever is a strong female character and I liked her.  This is not my usual genre (sci fi/steampunk) but I liked this book.  This book was on the YA literature book list for a class I am taking.  I borrowed this book from the library.

Howling at the Moon

Howling at the Moon

This is the first in a werewolf series.  Sophie is half-human, half-werewolf.  She has been living in Austin for most of her life and has never met another werewolf until she meets Tom, sent to Austin to hunt down some rogue wolves.  But Sophie can't just focus on him, she has other issues.  Her witch mother is charged with murder when a love spell poisons a politician, her boyfriend wants to celebrate their anniversary on the full moon and she'll be a werewolf, and her boss thinks she is on drugs because her wolfsbane tea bags look like pot.  Humor, great characters. . . I loved this book and have #2 on my Kindle to read.

The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook

The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook

This book was hilarious and I loved it.  It was sort of chick lit for men but women could totally relate to it as well.  Ed comes home to find a note that his girlfriend, Jane, has moved out of their apartment to go to Tibet for three months and advises Ed that it is "not her, but him" that needs to work on changing ways.  Ed takes that to heart and decides he will make over himself within the three months.  Dan, his player best friend, gives him all sorts of advice, some better than others, and helps Ed make himself over physically, car-wise, career-wise etc.  Tons of humor in this book and at one point I laughed out loud.  A totally fun read, with a nice romantic aspect to it and great characters.  This book was sent to me by Sourcebooks for review.

To Fetch a Thief

Third book in the Chet and Bernie series and once again, it's a good read.  Chet, the dog, continues to be the narrator and I love the writing of this.  Chet and Bernie are hired to find a missing circus elephant and its trainer.  As usual, they get into some scrapes during the investigation.  Good action and great characters make this one of my favorite series to read.  I borrowed this book from the library.

2010 Total

In 2010, I read 137 books.  Not too shabby :-)

Happy New Year!