the loner.

He's every woman's fantasy. She's every bodyguard's nightmare...

Lucas "Huck" Finn is thrilled to join elite Ranger Security--until he learns his new assignment is to babysit heiress Sapphira Stravos a doggy-toting debutante who's driving everyone crazy. Still he can't help but feel there's more to Sapphira than meets the eye. And what's meeting the eye is damn hard to resist....

Thanks to a few stupid threatening letters Sapphira Stravos is having her style cramped big-time! How is she going to look after the charities she secretly supports? Although she'd managed to ditch her former jailers this guy isn't budging. Still having a guy as hot as Huck around has its perks. After all if he has to guard her body he might as well get to enjoy it too....

I warned you that another Blaze was on its way. What can I say? They're a guilty pleasure. This one was pretty good. It's the second of the Ranger Security books that I've read. I liked this one better than The Specialist. I felt like you could see the two characters falling in love more here than with the other story. It was also less serious than the other one, definitely funnier. And I do so adore a funny romance. All in all, it's an easy way to spend a couple hours.

And the cover is delicious. ;c)

touched by an alien.

Marketing manager Katherine "Kitty" Katt steps into the middle of what appears to be a domestic dispute turned ugly. And it only gets uglier when the man turns into a winged monster, straight out of a grade-Z horror movie, and goes on a killing spree. Though Kitty should probably run away, she springs into action to take the monster down. In the middle of the chaos a handsome hunk named Jeff Martini appears, sent by the "agency" to perform crowd control. He's Kitty's kind of guy, no matter what planet he's from. And from now on, for Kitty, things are going to be sexy, dangerous, wild, and out of this world.

I'm very picky about what kind of urban fantasy I read. There's a lot of paranormal and whatnot out there that I know I won't like (most paranormal romances - Lara Adrian, Christine Feehan, JR Ward, etc) so I take my time choosing ones that I think I will enjoy (Dresden Files, Cal Leandros). So I was wary of this series when my sister first suggested it to me. She got this one shortly after it came out and I refused to read it. However, the second book came out this month and after she read it, she mentioned it to me again. As I had just finished reading and reviewing a stack of books, I figured I'd go for it since I didn't have anything pressing to read. I am so glad that I did.

Touched by an Alien is ridiculous. And I mean that in the most fantastic way possible. Gini Koch has created a sexy, brainy alien race that has come to Earth to help save us from parasitic monsters. Sounds outrageous, right? It is. Amazingly so. There are corny alien jokes, purposely cheesy come on lines, and a lot of evil monster butt kicking. One of my favorite things about the alien race is that while both the men and the women are supremely gorgeous, the women are usually smarter and are the scientists of their kind. As such, they are attracted more to smart humans than to the sexy men from their planet and don't really find those men all that gorgeous. Love it! I also love how Kitty comes in out of nowhere with ideas and suggestions previously unthought of and how she seems to be constantly giving them a "why haven't you ever thought of this?" side eye.

It's hard for me to explain everything about the book without giving it away. I should mention if you're a pure romance fan, there's a relationship between Jeff and Kitty that gets a great amount of attention but is not really the focus. However, my sister is a hardcore romance fan and she admits that it's more of my kind of book than hers, but she enjoys it anyway.

hero at large.

Most readers know Janet Evanvoich from the Stephanie Plum series, not from her romances. In the late 80s and early 90s, she wrote romances under a different name and, thanks to the popularity of her current books, they have been re-issued. Here at Large is one of those titles. Chris Nelson is a former competitive ice skater who now teaches while raising her young daughter. When her car breaks down on the side of the road, a ruggedly handsome man comes to her aid and she ends up breaking his arm. Over the course of the story with another broken bone tossed in, the two fall in love. Everything is great until Chris finds out that Ken's been hiding something from her.

This is actually my second attempt at reading an Evanovich romance and it will be my last. There is so much I didn't like about this story. It is written only from Chris' POV which bothers me when reading romances. The addition of Aunt Edna is clearly meant for humor, but fell far short of that. Instead, the character seemed fake and forced into it. Chris and Ken are in love with each other about 50 or so pages in and pretty much coast along until she finds out his Big Secret. There was practially no character development in this book, especially with Ken. It was just bland, boring, and a waste of my time. I could've been reading a good book!

However, I can see people liking it. Evanovich has a strong fan base who appear to not notice what seems to me to be a complete lack of improvement in her writing and storytelling abilities. Those two reasons are why I stopped reading the Plum series at book nine. If you liked her other romances, I'm sure this is just more of the same and you'll probably enjoy it. Same goes if you don't like her other ones. Don't bother with this one, it doesn't get better.

happy new year!

You probably thought I abandoned you again. You needn't have worried. I just took a brief holiday break. I've been reading like mad this month and lucky for (all three of) you not all of them were for the review site. Which means I can review them here! There's still at least one more Blaze, a pair of paranormal fictions, I'm about to start books five and six in the Cal Leandros series, and I think another romance and general fiction book, too. So if any of that interests you, please stay tuned. Most of those reviews should be posted throughout January.

One of my goals (I rarely use the term "resolution") for 2011 is to keep up with this blog. Do I think anyone reads it? Nope. But, I'm going to continue it anyway. There might be one person out there reading my reviews and actually using them to help in their book purchasing decisions. If that's true, color me shocked. But it could happen! I'm starting off with 3 reviews a month as a minimum. Just so I don't get overwhelmed and nervous about it. Anyway, look out for those reviews within the next few weeks. If you're ever at all curious about what I'm currently reading, my Good Reads page is a great place to find out.

With that said, I am wishing everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Have fun and be safe.