Tag: Andrea Cremer

What I Read Last Week

Posted June 25, 2013 by Tracy in Features | 1 Comment

Howdy !

Whatcha all up to? Anything fun?

My week was pretty normal – work, home, kids, hubby – you know…normal.

So what did I read this past week? 

First for the week was a book that I’ve had for more than a while and finally picked up called A Rural Affair by Catherine Alliott. The story was based on Poppy who’s husband dies in a freak accident and though it wasn’t a close marriage at all she’s still shocked to find out he’d been having an affair for the past 4 years. The story follows Poppy as she tries to go on with her life – bumbling along – and then shoves a romance at us in the last few pages. Not a great book imho but at times entertaining. 3 out of 5 (read for Book Binge)

Next up was Tangled by Emma Chase. I know a lot of people didn’t like this book because they thought the first person POV from the “hero” (I use the term loosely) sucked. I personally loved it. I didn’t love him but I thought he had a great sense of humor though he could be an ass at times. You can read my quickie review here on Goodreads. 4 out of 5 

Next was Temptation by Lee Brazil. The story is about Lake, a male model who has a bit of a hook-up with a guy named Solomon at a party. When Solomon doesn’t call, and they always call, Lake decides to seek him out at his office. He is introduced to Sol’s partner – in all things – and they end up having a threesome. Sol and Adonis want more but Lake has severe anxiety and insecurities about being a third wheel in an already established relationship. It was a good read though Lake got to be a bit annoying at times. 🙂 3.5 out of 5 (read for Book Binge) 

Next up was Awakening by Serena Grey. This was a very short story about an 18 year old girl who is basically swept off her feet by an older guy. They share a night together and then get married. There’s more to it than that but that was the gist. I’m curious to see what’s next because you could tell the guy wasn’t in love with Sophie by any means so why get married on the spur of the moment? The series is called A Dangerous Man so there’s definitely more. I have to say was saying WTF a couple of times during the story and was kind of stunned at the end when it was done. 2.5 out of 5 

Rift by Andrea Cremer is a prequel to the Nightshade series. The story takes place in the 1400’s but involves demons and wraiths and all the paranormal stuff. It was a good read but it had honestly been so long since I’d read the first two Nightshade books that I was kind of confused about the relationship. I have to go back and read those first two books again before I pick up the last in the trilogy. 3.75 out of 5 

Anybody But Him by Claire Baxter is about Nicola who house swaps with her sister and ends up back in her hometown to help take care of her aging and eccentric parents. She runs into Blair who she had a crush on in school but was also the bane of her existence. She wants nothing to do with him until she sees that they’ve both changed over the years. I really enjoyed this one. The humor took a little getting used to at first but the story was easy to read and quite enjoyable. 4 out of 5 (read for Book Binge) 

How to Marry a Highlander by Katharine Ashe doesn’t come out til the end of July but I sat down to read it early. This was a great novella. It has Teresa approaching a destitute Scottish Earl and asking him to marry her. She saw him a year and a half earlier and hadn’t stopped thinking of him. When her parents want her to marry a stick in the mud vicar she gets desperate. She makes a deal with the Earl even though he has no plans to marry her. The relationship grows and only happens within a months time but this was oh, so good. I really liked just about everything about it and definitely recommend it. 4.5 out of 5 

Neanderthal Seeks Human by Penny Reid is the story of Janie who finds out her boyfriend cheated on her and then goes to work and gets “downsized.” She then meets Quinn Sullivan who she kind of starts dating, but kind of not and he helps her get a job at his security company. The story is odd and humorous at the same time as it’s awkward and sometimes frustrating. I really enjoyed the writing though and definitely want to read more from this author. 4 out of 5 (read for Book Binge) 

Wicked as She Wants by Delilah S. Dawson is a steampunk fantasy novel that mixes the contemporary with the historical and I really, really liked this one. The story focuses on Casper who is trying to help a princess get back to her homeland after she’s abducted. The world they live in is wonderful and it was just really good. You can read my full review here at Book Binge. 4 out of 5 

Last for the week was Werecat: The Rearing by Andrew J. Peters. This is a short story about a guy meeting a man who he thinks might be “the one” and having it go all wrong when the guy transforms him into a werecat. I’ll post my review of this one later this week. 

My Book Binge reviews that posted since last Monday:
The Secret of Mia Danvers by Robyn DeHart
Wicked as She Wants by Delilah S. Dawson 

Happy Reading!

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Review: Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

Posted July 29, 2011 by Tracy in Reviews | 2 Comments

Warning: This review contains spoilers from the first book in this series, Nightshade.

When Calla Tor wakes up in the lair of the Searchers, her sworn enemies, she’s certain her days are numbered. But then the Searchers make her an offer—one that gives her the chance to destroy her former masters and save the pack—and the man—she left behind. Is Ren worth the price of her freedom? And will Shay stand by her side no matter what? Now in control of her own destiny, Calla must decide which battles are worth fighting and how many trials true love can endure and still survive.


Calla has saved Shay from certain death and helped him escape.  She’s gone with the Searchers and hopes it’s for the best.  It doesn’t take too long to verify that all that she thought was true was a lie and that her previous masters, the Keepers, were using her and the rest of the Guardians as pawns in their own game.

Calla’s mind and heart is in a strange place and as much as she would like to have Shay fill those spaces Calla finds that she can’t seem to get Ren out of her mind. She loves Shay but she also loves Ren in her way.  Is this truly a love triangle or not?  It’s really pretty hard to tell and we don’t have any definitive answer to that question by the end of the book.

Calla works with the Searchers to try and save her pack but things don’t exactly go as planned and lives are torn apart.  Not only that but someone that Calla loves might actually be a traitor and the person they least expect to help in their mission shows up offering assistance.  What is Calla to make of it all?

This book had me asking a lot of questions by the time it was over.  I struggled with Calla and her indecisions in this book. Her wishy-washiness with Shay due to thoughts of Ren irked me at times.  I just wanted her to figure it all out in her head and be done with it.  She said she loved Shay but when someone calls her his girlfriend she vehemently denies it.  Really?  I thought you were!  sigh

Besides Calla’s uncertainty of her relationships she was a Guardian and she needed to get the job done.  When she is sent out with a team to extract her packmates she’s more than up for the job.  She’s only just turned 18 but she’s a strong wolf and ready to take even the largest Guardian on.

I really liked the story in this book – maybe not as much as book 1 but it really rounded things out for me and brought in more information about Calla’s Guardian background, what exactly Shay is and his role in her future, how evil the Keepers actually are and that the Searchers aren’t the bad guys.  It was a lot to take in but definitely worth the read.  I’ll definitely be reading book 3 when it releases (supposedly next January).

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

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Guest Review: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Posted July 26, 2011 by Tracy in Reviews | 2 Comments

Genres: Paranormal Romance

Tracy’s review of Nightshade (Nightshade #1) by Andrea Cremer

Calla is the alpha female of a shape-shifting wolf pack. She is destined to marry Ren Laroche, the pack’s alpha male. Together, they would rule their pack together, guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But then, Calla saves a beautiful human boy, who captures her heart. Calla begins to question everything – her fate, her existence, and her world and the orders the Keepers have asked her to follow. She will have to make a choice. But will she follow her heart if it means losing everything, including her own life?

Calla is not your typical teenager. She’s what is called a guardian (more or less a werewolf) and an alpha. On Samhaim, which is not all that far off, she will get married to another alpha from a rival pack and they will create their own pack. While Ren seems to get her blood going she’s not all that sure she likes him. She’s knows that this is what she needs to do because she’s known it all her life and she will fulfill her duties to the best of her abilities.

On patrol one day Calla saves a hiker from a grizzly bear attack. Not only does she save his life but she shifts right in front of him to do it. She’s now broken pack laws but she knows that the boy, Shay, won’t tell anyone about it. When Shay turns up as the new kid in her high school she’s excited yet confused. As they two get to know each other Calla gets to know Shay even more, and really likes him. But she knows she can’t act on her growing feelings for Shay because of the upcoming union with Ren.

Shay’s parents died a long time ago and he’s been raised, more or less, by his uncle. When Calla meets his uncle she knows immediately that he’s a Keeper – the masters of the guardians. But if the uncle is a Keeper that means that there’s no way that Shay can be his nephew as Shay has no magic. When left on his own in his uncles big house Shay comes across a book that’s written in Latin. Thinking that it’s been written in some way by one of his favorite philosophers Shay shows it to Calla. Calla is forbidden to read this book but Shay is mighty persuasive and gets her to agree to help him translate the book. What they discover is quite shocking. Not only do the Guardians have a different history than what Calla’s been told but they discover some information about Shay that’s confusing and disturbing.

Shay and Calla aren’t sure what to make of the whole situation but they know that there’s way more to the Keepers, the Guardians and their enemies, the Searchers than what’s at face value. When Shay’s life is on the line, what will Calla do to save him once again, if anything?

I hadn’t heard anything about this book when it was sent for review but since I love shape-shifting stories I thought I’d give it a whirl. I’m so very glad I did! I loved the world that Cremer built for us and the main characters were engaging yet mysterious.

I definitely admired Calla for her sense of duty to her pack. Did she want to marry Ren, nope, not at all, but she knew that it was something that she had to do and was willing to go along with it. It was really too bad that her and her family, as well as the other Guardians, had been sadly misinformed about what exactly their role in life was. I think Calla made some hard decisions during the book but as any 17/18 year old would, tended to doubt those decisions after they were made. I think I liked her all the more for her doubts as it made her that much more human and realistic to me.

Shay was wonderful. He was probably a little more accepting of the craziness of the supernatural world but he did have his share of nay-saying throughout the book. Despite his feelings for Calla he made the effort to work with her and not trounce Ren whenever he wanted to. Lol

Ren was an different character that I didn’t quite get a handle on during the course of the book. He seemed to care for Calla – and was looking forward to their union – but I couldn’t quite see why he looked forward to it so much. On the outside he showed us a confident, arrogant teen alpha who knew his place in the pack – at the top. But then he would show us bouts of vulnerability and his actions at the end of the book, I must admit, were quite surprising to me. Hopefully in the next book I’ll get to know him better and I’ll be able to pin him down in my head a bit more.

There were many other characters in the story – Ren’s pack and Calla’s pack – that were in the story but they were really more peripherals in the book and we didn’t get to know them at all that well.

I must say that I would have loved to have seen a bit of Calla’s life before this story started. She went from wearing torn jeans and t-shirts to skirts and cashmere sweaters – because her mother demanded it – but we were only told this information rather than seeing it for ourselves. Calla seemed to have a lot of friends in her pack that seemed close but once Shay came on the scene those friendships were pushed aside. I always hate reading about that – even though I know it happens in real life as well. I can only hope that those friendships will be rekindled in future books.

Overall I really liked the book a lot and highly recommend it.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

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

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What I Read Last Week

Posted July 25, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 8 Comments

Happy almost end of July!!
What’s up in Tracyland?
I continue to have bizarre reading weeks as I continue to get up early. My daughter’s summer school ended last week but since I originally thought it ran until the 29th of July that’s how I planned my schedule at work. There’s only 1 week left – woohoo! I hate getting up early but I love, love, love getting off early from work. But then I hate having to go to bed earlier in order to get enough sleep to wake up early again. It’s a vicious cycle! lol
So this past Saturday I drove down and saw Holly for a girls day. We talked about family, and friends, and kids, and rhino and panther dicks (which you can read about in Holly’s post here) and laughed and ate and just had so much fun. I ended up coming home with a large stack of books to review for The Book Binge – bigger than the original pile she had to mail me. lol
Holly also showed me the wonderful app that Goodreads now has and it’s awesome! I was using the mobile site on my phone and it was kind of a pain, I must say. For those of us who still read print books it’s got a barcode scanner and you can direct the scans to exactly which shelf you want to put the books on. The rest of the app is incredibly easy to use as well and I entered all of the books that I got from Holly all in the space of 5 minutes (I had to enter some by hand since they were ARC’s). If you use Goodreads a lot, as I do, and you have an app capable phone I suggest you get this one – it’s the perfect price: free!
Update on my oldest: She’s doing great. We had a follow up with our regular doctor. He had her give blood again to check her levels, scheduled her for an ultrasound to check things out a little more closely and then set up an appointment for us with a Gynecologist so that we can talk about the cause of the cyst and how to avoid them in the future, etc. She’s back to her normal self and doing well which is a huge relief.
It’s going to be a hard week this week. My boss, the one I’ve worked for for the past 10 years, is retiring. This is her last full work week and then her last service (she’s a priest) will be on Sunday. I has a great big sad. I know that things will be ok after she leaves but I love her so much. I’m pretty sure 75% of my love for my job is her. She’s been a wonderful boss and a great friend and I will miss her something fierce.*sniff*
I was thinking this past week that I need to take a vacation and do nothing but read. I could head to my bosses cabin near Lake Arrowhead and have peace and solitude and read my ass off. Doesn’t that sound good? Of course I think I might have to make it a 3 week vacation: 1 week to read just from my m/f TBR – 1 week to read all of my Book Binge review books and write reviews – 1 week to read nothing but m/m. Heaven. It sounds like sheer effin heaven.
Oh, and I’m over at DIK today and for the next couple of days.
Enough about me…how are you? What did you do this past week or weekend that was fun and exciting? Anything.
I started the week with my TBR Challenge Read which was My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins and Fenway Park by Steve Kluger. This was an wonderful book and I loved it. You can see my review here if you’re interested. 5 out of 5
Next was a novella for The Book Binge called Surrounded by Woods by Mandy Harbin. It was the story of mountain lion shifters who live to eat and mate. They stay away from society because if they are around an unattached female they’ll go feral, mate with the woman against her will (can you say rape?) and that has deadly consequences for both parties involved. Mikaela heads to Woods estate to help with some legal issues and she’s safe because they think she’s engaged…which she’s not any longer. Mikaela and one of the four sons, Josh, hit it off in a big way but what happens when they find out she’s not really engaged? A cute story in some aspects, and a bit ridiculous in others. 2.5 out of 5
Next was Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer. This is book 2 in the Nightshade series and it starts off where book 1 left off. Calla is now with the Searchers but she doesn’t know who to trust and what’s happening back in her pack. She wants to get her pack and make sure they’re safe…along with Ren. Shay isn’t too thrilled that Calla is still thinking about Ren but he deals with it. Things don’t go as planned with the rescue mission and Calla finds out she has a traitor in her pack. Another good story – I’ll be posting my review this week for this book.
I started The Summer of You by Kate Noble but halfway through I put the book down. I was a little bored and though I normally like sweet, somewhat non-angsty romances this was a little too slow for me. I may go back and finish it some other time as I started and stopped Compromised as well – went back later and loved it. DNF (for now)
England’s Perfect Hero by Suzanne Enoch was my next read and it was so good! As much as I loved the story and the romance it was really Bit that made this book for me. He was just so emotionally scarred and I wanted to hug him for most of the book. The story was about Lucinda who has decided to teach her “lessons” to the fourth son of a duke but feels quite guilty about it since she’s really vying for marriage. The man, Geoffrey is courting Lucinda’s father, a general, as much as he’s courting Lucinda. Bit overhears about the lessons and offers to “help” Lucinda with them. Lucinda and Bit get closer and spend more time together and though they each say they’re only friends love grows between them. 4.5 out of 5
When I head to Holly’s I always get an audio book to listen to. This time I got Irresistible by Susan Mallery. I listened to about 4 of the cd’s before I got home and then read the last part of it via ebook. I liked the book but had an issue with the reader. I didn’t like her voice all that much and she made everyone but the hero and heroine have what sounded like southern accents. I could hear the where the lines were supposed to be humorous but frankly she didn’t have much inflection in her voice and it was all lost in the translation. She also made the heroes voice sound like he had no personality at all. I think she was going for stoic but didn’t quite manage that.
Also – a note to audio book readers: drink water. I really have no desire to hear the pastiness when you get dry mouth. Ewwww. lol
The story itself was about an ex-marine who moves into an apartment and becomes emotionally involved, against his will, with his neighbor and her daughter. It was a cute book. 3.5 out of 5
Last on the list was a soon to be re-issued book called The Husband She Couldn’t Remember by Maggie Shayne. The book is about a woman who has been thought dead for 2 years by her husband and his family who shows up not knowing who she is. I’m posting my review of this later this week. 🙂
My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:

Happy Reading!

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What I Read Last Week and Holy Shit, What a Monday!

Posted July 19, 2011 by Tracy in Features | 14 Comments

The “Holy Shit, What a Monday” part of the post:

Last night (Sunday for those of you in a different time zone) my oldest got very sick.  I thought at first that her pain was cramps and so gave her an ibuprofen and moved on.  Well not soon after that she started throwing up and continued to do that throughout most of the night.  When she woke up this morning she was crying and complaining of severe abdominal pain and I finally figured that I should take her to the doctor.  I called top get an appointment and they said that based on her symptoms I should take her to the ER.  After 8 hours in the ER (only 15 min. of that was in the waiting room), 2 doses of morphine, lab work and a CT scan they figured out that she (probably) had a ovarian cyst that had ruptured.  We just got home a little bit ago.  They sent her home with prescription strength ibuprofen and said to check up with her doc in a couple of days.  Needless to say I’m thoroughly relieved that it wasn’t appendicitis, kidney stones or any of the other awful possibilities that the ER doc mentioned originally.  The worst of the pain has passed (I assume since she’s not hunched over howling) and we’ll just have to hope that she continues to improve.  It was a scary day – and tiring for everyone.  My oldest is really glad she’s home – although she did say the hospital bed was comfortable. Kids can sleep anywhere, I swear! LOL

Other than that my week was pretty normal which I’m incredibly thankful for! 🙂

If it’s up your alley don’t forget to enter into the giveaway to win a copy of The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin.  You can do that by clicking this link to get to the post.  Giveaway ends 7/21/11

Now to the “What I Read Last Week” part of the post…sorry if my descriptions are odd in any way or if I leave stuff out – my brain’s a bit sideways right now. lol

I started off the week with a book called A Dish Served Cold by Andrew Ashling.  This was a really interesting story about a  wealthy 17 year old boy who lives in a world where indentured servitude aka slavery exists.   He’s made aware of a plot that would send him into slavery for life so he finds he must act as he normally wouldn’t in order to save himself.  This was a really good book in lots of little ways.  At first I had a problem with the story being told to me rather than shown to me but near the end of the book that is explained in an unexpected fashion.  The book pushed some serious buttons in me and made me more than uncomfortable in quite a few parts of the story, but the actions of the characters and the characters itself were so compelling I couldn’t help but read on even when I otherwise would have put the book down.  It’s really quite an interesting story with a bit of romance involved as well.  4.25 out of 5

Next up was The Reluctant Vampire by Lynsay Sands.  The story takes us back to Port Henry – the location of an Argeneau pairing a few books back.  We have Harper who’s lifemate died while being changed from mortal to immortal and his guilty feelings about that; and Drina who knows that Harper is her life mate but is afraid once he finds out he’ll run screaming in the streets because he’s just not ready to deal with it quite yet.  Needless to say we do have tension but they deal with it as well as the person who’s trying to kill the person they’re guarding. Good story.  Not great on the “romance” but a good relationship none the less.  4 out of 5

Linnette, the Lioness by Lavinia Kent was next.  This was book 2 in the Real Duchesses of London series and it was as good as the first.  You can read my mini review here. 4 out of 5

Nightfall by Ellen Connor was my next read and it was great!  I really loved almost everything about it.  Yes, it was a bit bloodier than my normal romances but it totally worked for me.  It’s a post-apocalyptic romance about a woman who is a non-believer in the apocalypse and the man who is sworn to save her.  I read this one for The Book Binge and I’ll let you know when it posts.  4.75 out of 5

My Tracy’s TBR challenge read for the week was Rough Cut: Vincent Diamond Collected by Vincent Diamond.  This is a series of short stories of cops, ex-cops, ex-cons, current convicts and others who find love and/or sex.  There are some that connect and those were great as we got to see a bit more into the men who were involved. There were 7 (I think it’s 7) stories with the same characters and after they were over I just wanted more!  They were so great – Conrad and Steven sigh.  If you haven’t read this I’d definitely recommend it. 4.25 out of 5

Next up was book 3 in the Pennyroyal Green series by Julie Anne Long called Since the Surrender.  The book had Rosalind seeking help from Chase Eversea when her sister disappears after being arrested.  Chase doesn’t believe there’s a problem and kind of blows her off.  But strange events happen that make him think twice about that decision.  On top of that there’s the intense attraction that Rosalind and Chase have for each other that hasn’t dimmed in the 5 years since they’ve seen  each other. A good brooding romance that I enjoyed.  3.5 out of 5

Last up was Nightshade by Andrea Cremer.  This is a YA paranormal book about a girl who is a shapeshifting wolf and the boy she comes to love.  There’s just one issue – she’s scheduled to marry someone else on her 18 birthday which isn’t all that far off.  This was a great story about a girl who stands up for herself when she doesn’t like the decisions that are being made for her.  It also is the start of a mystery involving her “clan” of shapeshifters and the people they know as their masters.  Have they been told the truth about who they are and what they should be doing with their lives, or is it all a sham?  I really liked the story and can’t wait to read the second book (which I have sitting here waiting for me – yay!).  4.5 out of 5

My Book Binge review that posted this past week:
One Magic Moment by Lynn Kurland
Flying Blind by Deborah Cooke

Happy Reading!

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