Tag: Accidentally

Guest Review: Accidentally Catty by Dakota Cassidy

Posted April 20, 2011 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Genres: Paranormal Romance

Accidentally Catty (The Accidental Series, Book 5)Mary‘s review of Accidentally Catty (Accidental Series, Book 5) by Dakota Cassidy

Katie Woods never thought she’d be forty-one, divorced, and thrust back into the dating world. To start fresh, Katie uproots her veterinary practice to upstate New York—not exactly the hottest dating scene on the planet. But when an unconscious cougar appears at her clinic, Katie’s newly single life gets a much needed jolt of the supernatural kind.

After Katie examines the cougar and leaves him caged overnight, she’s shocked to find a big strapping specimen of young, hot man in its place. And when the scratch she got during the exam results in some unnatural side effects, Katie has more to deal with then her animal attraction to a much younger guy—she has to figure how to stop herself from becoming a cougar of the four-legged variety.

I started this one a little while ago and had to put it to the side because I was really not liking it. But then, after encouragement from some other readers who enjoyed other books in Cassidy’s Accidental Friends series, I picked it up again. And, I have to admit, I rather liked it.

Katie is a fun character. A little older than many of the heroines in my books, she loves animals and is willing to do just about anything to help them, including “liberating” an injured one from a local animal sanctuary (okay, so she was talked into it but still). When that cougar turns into a young, hot, very naked man, she has a little freak-out. Completely understandable. So is the not-so-little freak-out she has when her canines grow and one of her hands turns into a paw.

Enter the OOPS crew (Out in the Open Paranormal Support). These four gals—Wanda, Nina, Marty and Casey—used to be your average, everyday humans until circumstances changed them into their current paranormal state (events that occurred in the previous books in this series). After living through their own experiences, they decided to bond together and be available to help other who have paranormal events disrupting their lives. When they hear about Katie’s incident, they spring into action and invade her vet practice in small-town New York, ready to help her transition into her new life.

The crew is overwhelming. Nina, in particular, just about sent me over the edge. At times, she could be funny with her pissiness but did she have to be a beyotch all the time? It’s wearying. Wanda tries to rein her in but Nina just steamrolls right over her. Personally, I would have slapped some duct tape over that vamp’s mouth and locked her in a closet. Not that it would have worked. I’m sure there are people out there who love Nina but she was just too much for me. But because I really liked Katie and her hot man-cougar (aka Spanky-Beck-Shaw. Nina just called him “Three name” which was pretty funny), I slogged through her bits so I could get to the good stuff.

Katie and Shaw were really quite good together. At first, Katie’s all, “No, I can’t lust after him because he’s way too young for me.” Then she decides that he’s got to be gay because, though he can’t remember his name or anything personal, he knows Project Runway. But Shaw knows what he likes and he likes her. It doesn’t matter to him that she’s 41 and he looks like he’s in his 20’s somewhere. He charms the pants right off her. Literally. (Personally, I’m all for a 40-something/20-something pairing. And 41 is not old! Sheesh.)

Of course, there’s plenty of action and not just in the bedroom. There’s Shaw’s mysterious past, what’s going on over at the animal sanctuary, the people of the small town who hate Katie, and a badly beaten man who accuses Nina and Wanda of the crime before slipping into a coma.

Overall, while the super-fast dialogue was overwhelming at times and the snark over-the-top, the love story between Katie and Shaw is cute and well worth sticking it out to read what happens.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

The series:
The Accidental Werewolf (The Accidental Series, Book 1)Accidentally Dead (The Accidental Series, Book 2)The Accidental Human (The Accidental Series, Book 3)Accidentally Demonic (The Accidental Series, Book 4)Accidentally Catty (The Accidental Series, Book 5)

This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.


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Guest Review: Accidentally Demonic by Dakota Cassidy

Posted October 6, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 1 Comment

Genres: Paranormal Romance

When mild-mannered Casey Schwartz wakes up in jail with no memory of how she got there, she realizes two things: Something weird is going on, and Orange is definitely not her color. After her sister, Wanda, bails her out, Casey has more to deal with than a foggy memory–like abrupt mood swings and fireballs shooting from her fingertips. But things really go south when a vampire shows up on her doorstep.

Clayton Gunnersson is a seriously hot vampire. And seriously taken–by a demon in a ritual gone wrong. Clayton tried to free himself from his unwanted bond but spilled some demonic blood on Casey. So now Clayton’s spurned mate is sharing her demonic powers with Casey, and she’s not happy about it. Neither is Casey, who can’t escape this bizarre love triangle. It’s hard enought possessed by a demon. Falling for that demon’s boyfriend could get Casey killed–from the inside out.

It has been said that . . . Laughter is the best medicine. And for whatever ails you, Dakota Cassidy is the author for you. In a book that is based on a plot and story that involve some very serious, hell-bent-for-leather kind of stuff, the laugh-outloud kind of humor is not to be believed. Serious because it involves the life of a young woman who is just trying to find her way in life–belatedly, to be sure, but struggling to be her own person nevertheless. Funny, because Casey Swartz is made of stern stuff that erupts in razor-edged repartee and a mind that just won’t quit. Serious, because this story has characters straight out of Hell, but very funny because the interactions between vampires, werewolves, were-vampires, and demons is hilarious, crackling with fun and intelligence, and absolutely guaranteed to make any reader with a brain crack up throughout.

Casey has stumbled her way into adulthood, changing her college major repeatedly, trying to manage a wounded heart and libido, taking on a job that is really smothering her in so many ways, and as a result has distanced herself from her family. While chasing after her twin charges–the unforgettable Lia and Lita at a crowded nightclub, Clayton the vampire accidentally spills demon blood on Casey, and the effects are immediate as the blood sinks into her skin and her course in life, both the earthly and the eternal one, are changed forever. In the course of reuniting with her estranged sister, she discovers that her sister has been changed as well–into a were-vampire, now married to a vampire, and Wanda’s two best pals are Nina the vampire, and Marty the werewolf. What else can go wrong? Well . . . Casey finds out that the blood that marked and changed her belonged to Clayton demon mate, making her Clayton’s mate as well. She finds out that she can levitate and only Clayton can keep her earthbound. She throws fireballs whenever her temper gets out of control and she can even summon vermin of every kind. Holy cockroaches, Batman!! The situation keeps getting more and more complicated.

Clayton knows he is responsible for Casey’s new life, horrible though it may be, and he vows to keep her safe from the rage of his ertwhile demon mate. With the help of the vampire clan and a really funny and actually adorable demon ally named Darnell, Clayton seeks to figure out how he can be free of Hildegard and act on his attraction to Casey, growing closer to her, and knowing that either she or Hildegard, his despised demon mate, will celebrate their “anniversary” by drinking from him. The other will lose her tie to the earthly plane and will be consigned to Hell from that time on.

This is one very funny book. It is one of those paranomal, fantasy books that just has a marvelous way to getting under your literary skin, making it impossible to lay down once you’ve started reading it. I haven’t laughed this hard since I read The World According to Garp. It was irreverent, witty dialogue, ripping through the consciousness and so well done that it was never difficult to envision the scenario. Ms Cassidy has that wonderful capacity to put it out there, just as if the characters were standing right in front of you. There are so many surprises here and more than enough twists and turns in the plot and story line to keep one guessing. The push-pull between Clayton and Casey is the core of the story and out of that grows a relationship that is both heart-warming and scarey.

So even though it has been a few months since this book was released, be sure to get it and put it in your “To Be Read” pile. It, like all of Dakota Cassidy’s books, deserves to be read and enjoyed.

I give this novel a rating of 4.75 out of 5.

The Series:
The Accidental Werewolf (Accidental Friends, Book 1)Accidentally Dead (Accidental Friends, Book 2)The Accidental Human (Accidental Friends, Book 3)Accidentally Demonic (An Accidental Series)Accidentally Catty (An Accidental Series)

You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.

This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.


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