Finished Don’t Look Down by Suzanne Enoch.

This is the second in Enoch’s contemporary romance series featuring retired cat burglar Samantha Jellicoe and rich businessman Richard Addison. This time, Sam gets caught up in a murder investigation in Palm Beach, Fla., when a prospective client for her new security firm business is murdered in his own home. Rick bets Sam that the police can solve the crime before she can, and Sam sets out to prove him wrong.

I really enjoyed the first book in the series, Flirting with Danger, because it reminded me a lot of the movie To Catch A Thief. Don’t Look Down has a lot of the same elements, including snappy dialogue and some fun, breaking-and-entering scenes. Sam’s also a pretty cool heroine who can take care of herself in a pinch. What can I say? I love strong heroines and heist books (although this one isn’t as much about the heist as the first book was).

However, one thing I didn’t like was the way Sam and Rick thought about their relationship. Both used the word obsessive or obsession more than once. I get that they’re in the new stage of their relationship where they just can’t get enough of each other, but the word obsessive bothered me. Made me think of Romeo and Juliet, for starters, or some other angsty, teen drama. Also, Rick trying to control Sam, and Sam freaking out about going straight (and walking into the police station) both got a little old after a while.

Also, the title — I didn’t understand what the title had to do with the book. There’s no highwire or towering heights or anything like that mentioned in the book. Maybe it’s referring to Sam and Rick admitting their love for each other? I don’t know. I take most titles with a grain of salt, but this one stuck in my mind as not relating to the overall book that well.

Overall, if you’re looking for a light, fun read with a nice mystery element, you’ll probably enjoy this one. So, thumbs up.

Up next: Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

Finished My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon. This anthology features stories from nine popular fantasy authors, including Kelley Armstrong, Jim Butcher, and Marjorie M. Liu.

One thing I like about anthologies is they give you a chance to try several new authors at once — and perhaps discover some writers you might not have read or found any other way. I’d never read Armstrong before, but I really enjoyed her werewolf story, Stalked, and plan to move her novel Bitten closer to the top of my TBR pile.

I also enjoyed Her Mother’s Daughter by P. N. Elrod. It reads like a classic detective noir story (love those!), except with a vampire as the put-upon gumshoe. And there’s a nice little twist at the very end I didn’t see coming.

But my favorite story, once again, was Roman Holiday or Spq-arrrrr by Rachel Caine. Caine brought back her pirate story characters Cecilia and Captain Liam Lockhart from the first anthology, My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding. This time, the newlywed couple have to face down a mutiny and ancient Roman pirate. I hope Caine writes a whole book about Cecilia and Liam someday. And I’m so buying some of her Weather Warden books to try.

To me, the weakest story was A Wulf in Groom’s Clothing by Ronda Thompson. It’s about an outdoors-loving, cursed werewolf who marries a bona fide city girl who’s never been hiking or fishing. Nothing really wrong with the story. I just thought the world building wasn’t quite as elaborate as the other stories, and the werewolf curse didn’t really seem to get resolved in the end.

But overall, I thought this collection was even better in the first one. There’s plenty here for fantasy fans to enjoy.

So, thumbs up.

Up next: Don’t Look Down by Suzanne Enoch.

What about you guys? Anyone read anything good lately? Share in the comments.

Finished Hell’s Belles by Jackie Kessler. Jackie won a copy of Hot Mama during one of my contests and was nice enough to suggest we do a book swap. Thanks, Jackie! 😎

This book is about Jezebel, a succubus (demon) who seduces men and steals their souls during sex. But when there’s a major change down in Hell, Jezebel decides to get while the getting is good. But her superiors aren’t about to let her go that easy, and send demons out to search for her and bring her back. With a witch’s reluctant help, Jezebel disguises herself as a human and goes to work as an exotic dancer to escape her pursuers. What she doesn’t count on is falling for Paul Hamilton, a sexy guy with a secret of his own.

I’d heard of this series, but I’d never had a chance to read it until now. This book and especially the character of Jezebel reminded me a lot of MaryJanice Davidson’s Undead series. Jezebel is bubbly, full of life, and a little ditzy, just like Betsy Taylor in the Undead books. The book is written in first-person, and Jezebel’s breezy voice really shines.

I like fun characters who don’t take themselves too seriously, and Jezebel was certainly one of those, although she has her difficulties adjusting to being a human. For instance, she can’t understand why people willingly drink milk, which she finds utterly disgusting. But Jezebel loves her first taste of pizza, pastries, and shopping, of course. Especially when she’s charging everything on someone else’s credit card. 

The strip club setting was interesting and rather depressing at the same time. Not because of the writing, but just because strip clubs aren’t the nicest places to work. Especially when you have a creep of a boss like Jezebel does — and her demon friends keep popping into his body.

One thing I do want to mention is the plot doesn’t unfold in a straight line. Whole chapters cut between the action at the strip club and Jezebel’s former life in Hell, slowly revealing why she left in the first place. So, you really have to pay attention and remember what’s going on between the flashbacks. But it all comes together nicely in the end.

Overall, if you’re looking for a lighter, very steamy take on demons, you’ll probably like this book.

So, thumbs up.

Up next: My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon anthology

Finished Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughn.

This one’s about Xylara, a healer who sacrifices herself to become the “Warprize” and end a war between her people and a tribe called the Firelanders. Xylara has been healing the wounded Firelanders who’ve been brought into the city against the wishes of her half-brother king, Xymund. One day, Lara runs into Keir, a Firelander. She doesn’t realize it at the time, but Keir is the leader of the Firelanders. He’s immediately drawn to Lara and her compassion for his men. Keir tells Xymund that he will stop the war if Lara is given to him as the “Warprize.” Lara is horrified at the thought of being a slave, but she does the right thing and agrees to sacrifice herself so no one else will die. The rest of the book deals with Lara’s attempts to fit into Keir’s world and the growing love between the two.

The book is written in first-person, and I really loved Lara’s voice. She’s a great character — smart, compassionate, noble, and stronger than she realizes. It was easy to cheer for her. Keir was also easy to like, and the supporting cast of characters were a lot of fun.

This is a fantasy romance, and sometimes one or the other will get short-changed (usually the romance) as the plot goes along. Not in this book. It was an excellent blend of the two. I thought the romance progressed nicely and appropriately given Lara’s circumstances. I also really liked the ending, where Lara outwits Keir to get what she wants most — him. 😎

I do have a few little quibbles though (don’t I always?). One thing that never seemed to be fully explained was why Keir was attacking the land of Xy in the first place. I don’t remember a reason why other than the Firelanders had raided the land in the past. Or maybe I just missed it in my haste to find out what was going to happen next.

I also thought Lara forgave Keir a little too easily at the beginning. After all, he’s the one who started the war with no provacation. Thousands (?) of people are dead because of him. Lara is a healer first and foremost, and I thought this should have been more of a conflict for her — or at least made her a little more cautious about falling in love with Keir.

Lara’s half-brother, Xymund, was a bit of a stereotype — insecure and insanely jealous of Lara, even though she offered him nothing but love and support in return. But every book’s got to have a villain.

Still, despite my quibbles, this is one of the best books I’ve read all year, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the trilogy. Big thumbs up.

Up next: Hell’s Belles by Jackie Kessler.

Finished Quiver by Kevin Smith. There are some mild spoilers below, so if you haven’t read this, you might want to skip ahead to the next post.

This is a graphic novel about Oliver Queen, aka Green Arrow, one of DC Comic’s characters. The novels deals with the resurrection of Oliver, who was killed off saving the world (as comic book superheroes so often do). Oliver wakes up one day basically homeless one day and think it’s really several years ago. The rest of the book focuses on how he was resurrected and what he really is now. There’s also a side plot about a murderer on the loose in Star City that eventually dovetails in with the main storyline.

I’ve never read any of the Green Arrow comics before and picked this one up at the used bookstore on a whim. I’m glad I did. I enjoyed a lot of things about the book, mainly Oliver’s attitude. He’s far more carefree and cheerful than Superman or Batman, which was a refreshing change of pace. (Too much angst gets old after a while). Oliver also likes to punch first and ask questions later, and he runs his mouth a lot. It all made him a rough, loud, lovable character. 

Kevin Smith is a big comics fan, and you can tell from the number of references he drops into the storyline. There are so many mentions of different storylines there are actually asterisks in the book and references to specific comics/volumes. My significant other read the book and complained about all the other references. But I like tying things into other storylines, so that didn’t bother me.

In fact, one of the things that really made the book work for me was a reference Smith made to the Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman. I’m reading along thinking some of these people/events sound familiar and wondering why. I turn the page and there’s Dream, still encased in his prison. That was a very cool reference and way to tie the two stories together.

I have a couple of quibbles, though. One, I figured out who the bad guy was halfway through the story, and I don’t think Smith made it that easy on purpose. Two, I didn’t understand why the demon the bad guy was trying to control just didn’t eat him before the end of the book, if he had the power to do it all along. (The demon dispatches the bad guy rather swiftly at the end). 

Three, the way Oliver is resurrected is kind of gross. His friend Hal (a former Green Lantern) is the one behind the resurrection. How did he resurrect Oliver? By fishing his DNA out of Superman’s suit (Oliver died in an explosion Superman witnessed).

So Superman basically just didn’t wash his superhero suit well enough to get all the itty-bitty pieces of Oliver out of the material. Ewww! Couldn’t he have gotten Ma Kent to make him a new suit? I wouldn’t want to walk around wearing something my friend had got blown up on. But that’s just me.

Overall, if you’re looking for something to read to tide you over until Iron Man and The Dark Knight hit theaters this summer, you might want to check out Quiver.

Thumbs up.

Up next: Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughn.