Review: Inked Armor by Helena Hunting

Inked Armor by Helena Hunting, Published May 13, 2014 by Gallery Books, $7.59 Kindle on Amazon, Romance

After reading Clipped Wings I knew I needed to be on the blog tour for Inked Armor by Helena Hunting. I had to know what happened next with Tenley and Hayden. First let me tell you that there is a novella called Between the Cracks ($0.00 on Amazon) that takes place between Clipped and Inked. This novella covers the gap of what happens since Inked doesn't pick right up where Clipped left off.

Tenley discovers that her dick of an almost brother in law is holding papers she signed while heavily drugged and in pain over her head. He wants the house his parents gave to Tenley and his brother as a wedding gift. When she discovers what he is trying to do and he becomes physical with Tenley, she seeks her lawyers to fight him. Once everything is taken care of she gets a call from Hayden that freaks her out enough to cause her to leave earlier than she was planning and head home.

Hayden meanwhile is not stable and freaking out that she hasn't contacted him. He continues to have nightmares about his parents murder - nightmares that only Tenley helped keep at bay. When Tenley comes home and heads to the Dollhouse in search of Sarah, Hayden is called to handle the situation that comes up. He is overly cautious with her and unsure, causing him to be a dick and not allowing them closure right away. But it does eventually come for them and for Hayden about his parents murder.

Helena's continuation of Tenley and Hayden's romance in this Clipped Wings series shows that love isn't always easy. That things you thought were buried can rear their head at any moment and sometimes closure is a long time coming. I highly recommend you read this series in it's entirety starting with Cupcakes and Ink before Clipped Wings for the complete story. Also be on the look out for her next book Crack in the Armor - it focuses on Chris and Sarah's story. Available for pre-order on Amazon $0.99 now, publication date June, 23, 2014.

Review: The Word Exchange: A Novel By Alena Graedon

The Word Exchange: A Novel by Alena Graedon, Fiction/Sci-Fi & Fantasy, $11.99 Kindle on Amazon, Published April 10, 2014 by Random House LLC

Imagine that there is this device that not only can be used as a phone, but also a computer, translator, dictionary, e-reader, tablet, read your moods and dispense medication as needed. Now Imagine that the more you used this device the more you became sick and lost the ability to speak properly. In this book it's the Meme and Anana is finding this out the hard way when her father disappears.

Anana and her father, Doug, work for NADEL, one of the last hold outs that still makes actual print copies of dictionaries. Bart is Doug's assistant and hopelessly crushing on Anana forever. When Doug disappears and Anana finds a note telling her to not trust Bart, she doesn't know what to do. A chance encounter with the Diachronic Society helps her to navigate the troubles she faces. The Meme is being taken over by a virus and causing Word Flu. And what slowly starts as someone stumbling over their words quickly turns into an epidemic of people not only talking incoherently but dying from the Word Flu. There is a cure but only if you can find people who know about it - the Diachronic Society.

I struggled getting into this book as first. When Anana narrates it is very wordy and descriptive. Being that this is a book about dictionaries there were words over my head at times. But I kept reading and was quickly drawn in by the story of what could go wrong if we were to cross modern technology and bio-engineering. Alena Graedon weaves a story like no other sci-fi/fantasy that I have read. I loved the idea that something we use everyday for everything under the sun could cause us to become sick. This is her first book and I look forward to more if they are in this genre.

Life and reading

Lately life has thrown me a lot of curve balls. I've been dealing with work and family issues for over the past month and a half. Unfortunately it has kept me to a bare minimum with web related things. It's not kept me from reading though and now I have a backlog of books to review on here and post. Instead of posting them all today I think I will schedule them to post over the next week. Something I can do and still keep actively reading and blogging. Oh how I wish I had thought of this before.

Now this doesn't mean that I won't come in and post as I finish books. No, those posts will go up as I finish in hopes that I will not get behind again. *Crosses Fingers* I thank all of you who are coming out and checking my blog and reviews. It means a lot that what I am saying about books is getting out there. Now I'll post this and get back to what this blog is about - writing reviews!

Review - Dog Gone, Back Soon by Nick Trout

Dong Gone, Back Soon by Nick Trout, Published April 8, 2014, $9.99 kindle edition on Amazon.com, Fiction

Cyrus Mills has come back home to take over his estranged father's veterinary practice after his death. But his small town practice has some competition with a national chain that is out for the kill. He's juggling saving his practice, trying to be less of a hermit, and trying to woo Amy. And there's the animals, Tallulah the stoned dog, Marmalade the overweight cat, Ermintrude the cow with bad migraines, and Stash the helper dog. Throw in two meddling teens and you have Cyrus in a pickle with a female vet from the competition.

Cyrus has to muddle through the things that are causing the issues with his animals. He's old fashioned and enjoys doing his own research and lab work. But dealing with the humans means he has to come out of his shell and talk to people. Which he slowly does and opens up to the women in his life.

Nick uses his veterinary experience to write his novels. It adds to the fiction in a way that enhances the novels but isn't overly technical with the jargon. His writing lures you in with the animals stories and the touch of love life thrown in as well. I look forward to reading Nick Trout's other novels and meeting the other animals the Cyrus works with.

Review - Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

Don't Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski, YA Fiction, Published 3/11/14, $9.78 Amazon.com Kindle edition

Your typical high school setting, but not so typical students. After the voluntary flu vaccines were given to each homeroom, one class finds they had a reaction. Not your typical reaction - they gain telepathy powers from a botched batch of the flu shot. The story is told from multiple POVs on how they handle learning they can hear others thoughts and what they do with this info. It effects friendships, relationships, and how they interact with their parents and teachers.

I really enjoyed this story. Sarah Mlynowski wrote the interactions well and thought that you could gain a super power, so to speak, from such a normal thing was a great angle to take. I look forward to reading her other stories in the future.

Review - Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan

Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan, Published 2/4/14, $10.99 Amazon.com Kindle

Kelly tells her life story after being diagnosed with cancer and having surgery. Her reflections on her past show the relationship between her and her parents. Especially her mother, and how it shapes not only her life but how she will be as a mother.

Kelly tells us of her travels right after graduation and how she ends up being a nanny for a widower in Australia. The children, step-son, the husband, and the grandfather (mother's dad) all live in the same house. Kelly's stay with them shows how the loss of the mother effects their lives and Kelly tried to help as best as possible. Later in life when Kelly is diagnosed with cancer all she can focus on is that she doesn't want to be like that mother - the one the Tanners lost to cancer. She doesn't want to have her family end up like the Tanners did.

While the memoir was well written, I struggled with reading it and the story kept losing my attention. I am glad to have read the ARC but I don't see myself buying this book to read again.

Review - Viking Fire by Andrea R. Cooper

Viking Fire by Andrea R. Cooper, Historical romance, Published 1/15/14, $3.82 Amazon.com Kindle price

Kaireen Lionnon - daughter of the Lord is used to some privileges. But having an arranged marriage thrust upon her has shown her that she won't always get what she wants. Especially when she finds out she is to marry a Viking.

Bram proves over and over that he can be trusted and would be a good husband. It takes a fire in the village to draw Kareen closer to him finally. But there is an outside force that is plotting against them. Will they make it to the alter before the threat closes in on them.

Kareen is written as a very spirited woman and is perfect for her Viking. Despite how she fights Bram, they were made for each other. Andrea R. Cooper gives these characters wonderful voice and the historical aspect was very enticing. I look forward to more stories written in this setting by Andrea R. Cooper. I plan to buy her other book - The Garnet Dagger to read as well.