Tag: Micah Persell

What I Read Last Week

Posted August 20, 2012 by Tracy in Features | 6 Comments

Well let’s see – the girls started school on Thursday and they are both thrilled. The youngest got a male teacher and so far she really likes him (for the whole 2 days she was in class). My oldest loves her schedule and her teachers – hopefully it will stay that way. 🙂

I’m home today with a thick head, sore throat, ear ache and temperature. Boohoo. lol Oh well, whatcha gonna do, right?

Ok, on to what I read last week. Sorry, I think these descriptions will be abbreviated because of my head so if something doesn’t make sense just laugh and carry on. 🙂

First up for the week was Highland Bride by Hannah Howell. This is a book that Holly sent to me and I’m so damned glad she did. We talked about it over coffee the morning we were leaving RWA and I’d almost forgotten about it when it showed up. Such a great medieval romance! You can read more about the book and my review here. 4.5 out of 5

Next was Savage: Daughters of the Jaguar book 1 by Willow Rose. This was the story of a boy from Denmark who ends up in Florida to study for a year. His next door neighbors are odd but he ends up falling in love. Too bad they’re not like other people. You can read my full review here. 3 out of 5

Next up was A Perfect Stranger by Jaden Skye. This one I read for Book Binge (the review will post this afternoon) and it was one that didn’t work for me in so many different ways. The story is about 1 woman in particular but the series is about Tom’s River (I think it’s supposed to be in Wisconsin?) and it’s a huge soap opera. We get to know the citizens of Tom’s River and frankly I wouldn’t want to know any of them except the character Hunter and he was a drifter that wasn’t from there. The story was mostly about a woman whose husband disappears without a trace and then the character stories fan out from the people in relation to the woman. A very character driven story. If you like soap operas then this might work better from you than it did for me. 1 out of 5

Of Eternal Life by Micah Persell was another one I read for Book Binge. This story is about a woman who just graduated from med school and is recruited to supposedly help refurbish an old military hospital to help the locals. Instead they have no patients and are just in the lab constantly. She comes across a naked guy in the supply closet that she feels strangely comfortable with and he ends up kidnapping her and they head across country running from the bad guys. This was an interesting story as it was mostly a contemporary read but definitely had a bit of the paranormal involved when it came to finding the Garden of Eden and eating from a tree. Pretty entertaining in the end. 3.25 out of 5 You can read my full review here.

Next up was The Way to a Duke’s Heart by Caroline Linden. This is the last book in The Truth About the Duke series and we actually get to know the heir apparent, Charlie, quite well. He’s investigating more to try to find the person who was blackmailing his father and the clues lead to a man who is currently searching for investors in his canal project. Charlie thinks that some woman, including our heroine, Tessa, might be in on the scheme and he tries to ingratiate himself into their lives and follows them to the boondocks. What he finds is that his heart is on the line – oh and he finds out stuff about the blackmailer too. 🙂 Good story – I’ll review this one next week. 4 out of 5

Hard Tail by JL Merrow is the story of Tim who is basically laid off and then his wife leaves him. Right after that he finds out his brother was in an accident and Tim ends up taking over his brother’s bike shop til he’s back on his feet. Tim ends up having feelings for the bike repairman, Matt, but Matt’s in a relationship with someone. This is a really great story of two men trying to find their way to each other and it was wonderful. It was fun, emotional and humorous and had a serious issue involved as well. I’ve only read 3 books by Merrow so far but I definitely need to read more. Her books are always fabulous and I haven’t read one I didn’t like so far. 4.5 out of 5

Mummy Dearest by Josh Lanyon is the first book in the XOXO Files series. We meet Drew who is in Wyoming to view a mummy in order to get published. He runs into trouble with both his live-in boyfriend (as the boyfriend didn’t want him to leave…for his own selfish reasons) and with a film crew who is at the museum to film. Drew and the film crew end up working together and then Drew and the host of the show, Fraser, have a little alone time together. When they are watched, chased and run over by a mummy they think that maybe there’s more going on in the museum than they originally thought. This was a cute story that had me laughing out loud at times. I felt horrible for the way that Drew was treated by his boyfriend and wanted nothing more than for Drew to get together with Fraser…and I got my wish. I’m looking forward to reading more in this series. 4 out of 5

Last for the week was The Ugly Duchess by Eloisa James. This is the story of childhood friends – in fact they grew up in the same house and they end up marrying. They marry, however, because of the boy’s criminal father and though James does love Daisy and vice versa she’s not happy when she finds out the facts behind the marriage. This was a good book but there was a lot of it that didn’t work for me. I’ll post my review either later this week or next. 3.25 out of 5

My Book Binge reviews that posted last week:
Now or Never by Michele Bardsley
Of Eternal Life by Micah Persell

Happy Reading!

6 Comments

Tagged: Book Binge, Caroline Linden, Eloisa James, Hannah Howell, Jaden Skye, JL Merrow, Josh Lanyon, Micah Persell, What I Read Last Week, What I've Been Reading This Week, Willow Rose

Guest Review: Of Eternal Life by Micah Persell

Posted August 19, 2012 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Tracy’s review of Of Eternal Life by Micah Persell

In the hidden basement lab of a military research facility in Needles, California, Eli Johnson jerks to consciousness. He is strapped to a stretcher and remembers nothing until he hears a voice he knows only as “The Tormentor.” That’s when it all comes back: he has been a prisoner in this lab for eight years. And he’s about to die.

Abilene Miller, a newly minted doctor desperate to prove herself, snaps up the opportunity to work at a military hospital, but the reality of Needles proves to be vastly different from the pitch of the two recruiters. She spends her days running labs and wishing for things to be different.

When Abilene stumbles across Eli’s body in a supply close, she definitely gets different. She’s shocked when the dead man jerks back to life in her arms and infuriated when he kidnaps her. He thinks she’s part of a conspiracy; she thinks he’s insane.

Only together can they find out the truth—and brave the risks they run in loving each other.

Abilene Miller was pretty thrilled when she was contacted right after medical school to do be a part of an operation to refurbish small military hospitals for the local population. Since she’d constantly been hounded by her parents to be “perfect” this was her chance to do great research, make a lot of money and get away from the constant disapproval of her parents. The problem was, there were no patients. Abilene and four other women were working in the labs constantly and never saw any patients. Abilene was not thrilled with this and was starting to be discontent when her life gets shaken up in a big way.

Abilene come across Eli in a supply closet in the hospital and he seems dead. She tries to revive him and it seems she’s successful. Not a minute later Abilene’s boss comes tearing out of a hidden wall brandishing a gun and when Eli finds out Abilene works for Major Taylor he knocks her out and kidnaps her. Eli thinks that Abilene is in on the experiments that he’s lived through for the past 8 years but Abilene has nothing to do with them. Eli wants to believe – especially since he finds himself drawn to and completely attracted by this woman. But he’s very wary and decides to play it by ear. Abilene thinks that Eli is a ex-soldier with PTSD and decides that she’ll be the one to heal him so plays along with him.

Abilene doesn’t believe Eli when he tells her that he’s immortal and that was why the experiments were being forced on him but she soon sees for herself that what he says is true. Eli is determined to be free from the experiments and Major Taylor forever and he wants Abilene with him, but he’s just not a trusting person and he’s not sure Abilene, despite the fact he loves her, can be trusted.

This is a contemporary story which contains a large measure of fantasy. The author made a good attempt at keeping the story grounded and I thought she did a good job with it considering the reason for Eli’s immortality.

I liked the premise of the story but would have liked to have gotten to know the characters a bit more. We really only saw one aspect of each life and that played a major role in the couples’ relationship, but it just didn’t feel like it was enough. Despite that fact the book was entertaining and a quick fun read. It was hot and sexy and there was a bit of suspense involved as well. There were also the descriptions of the horrific experiments that were used on Eli – pretty graphic, but well done. The couple falls in love quite quickly but it’s almost a fated mate type thing and in this book it worked for me.

Rating 3.25 out of 5

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place

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