Location: United States
Member Since: Nov. 06, 2011
C.C.
Where to find C.C. online
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Blog: http://imavoraciousreader.blogspot.com/
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Blog: http://imavoraciousreader.blogspot.com/
Books
This member has not published any books.Smashwords book reviews by C.C.
- Gargoyles
on Dec. 04, 2011
Amoreena Daniels is a top-of-the-class pre-med student and she’s helping her mother fight a losing battle with cancer. On top of everything else her mother lets her health insurance lapse and now she’s not covered for any of the expensive treatment for her cancer. What is a daughter to do? Well, Amoreena finds out about a surrogacy program and, after much thinking, signs a contract. Then finds out things aren’t all what they seem to be. This book was an easy read for me. It flowed smoothly, the characters were well-fleshed and the story progressed in a timely manner without excess description. I had a hard time putting it down. I wanted to know what the heck was going on, so I was compelled to keep turning the pages. Alan Nayes dropped breadcrumbs to the mystery in well-timed proportions. In other words, before I got too frustrated in the unraveling and peeked ahead. A fine balancing act! The only problem I had was that Amoreena was an excellent pre-med student and she kept ignoring not only factual information about pregnancy in general, but her own gut feelings as well. I kept wanting to smack her upside the head, but it was only an occasional urge, so I was able, for the most part, to ignore it. All-in-all a most excellent read! I definitely look forward to reading more books by Alan Nayes.
- How Gods Bleed
on Dec. 10, 2011
Thousands of years after Cada Varl unwittingly sired the vicious werewolves and became an immortal he believes he has found a way to destroy them all. The way is dangerous, so he travels into the heart of werewolf territory with six of the finest warriors from the country of Helluv and hopes he can carry out his plan before the werewolves figure out what he is doing. First, the concept of this story is sound and I liked it. It is what I refer to as a ‘Lord of the Rings’-type story where someone or several people set out on a quest or mission in order to save or protect the world at large. I like to read about the journey, the hardships conquered, the friendships formed and the battles that must be fought. However, the writing needs some heavy editing. Punctuation is missing, paragraphs sometimes were two pages or more long and sentences were awkwardly worded or stilted. This would be a wonderful story if it had a lot of polishing and fine-tuning done to it.
- All I Want For Christmas
on Jan. 03, 2012
This book contains two short stories. The first is about Kate Carson, a lawyer stranded in Chicago for Christmas and Derek Worth the owner of the hotel she’s staying in. The second is about Grant MacKenzie and Annabeth Martin, two people who’ve known each other for years. I really enjoyed both stories. For such quick reads they had surprising depth of character and a smooth-flowing plot with steamy sex thrown in. I liked that the characters weren’t angst-ridden and there weren’t insurmountable problems to overcome. Sometimes, I like a story that just goes with it and it works out without a lot of what I call whangst (whining and angst). This is the first I’ve read of Liliana Hart and now I want to get the rest of her books.
- The Merzetti Effect
on Jan. 18, 2012
Ainsley Crawford is an unemployed trauma nurse answering an advertisement for a job with Dr. Delano Bowen who needs a research assistant/secretary/phlebotomist. When she goes to the nighttime interview she’s attacked by a vampire. Fortunately, Delano saves her. Unfortunately, he’s holding buttloads of information from her. By learning about vampires her world has just been turned on its ear. Little does she know that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I enjoyed this twist on the vampire world. Well-written, smooth-flowing and well-fleshed characters. There were no jarring holes in the plot, no gaps in the story and I loved the resolution of the bad guy situation. I’m still smiling about that. Gotta love Karma. I very much look forward to the next book in the series. *The author provided a copy of this book to me for review. Please see disclaimer on my blog.
- Nightfall
on Jan. 25, 2012
Aiden Afflack is a 200+ yr old vampire who also happens to be a vampire hunter. Samantha ‘Sam’ Shea is a photographer with a gift for more than fantastic weather pictures. Her dreams tell her where weather in its violent beauty will be and she travels to photograph it. Then her path crosses Aiden’s and she starts dreaming of violent vampire attacks. They team up to stop the rogues from preying on humans and that’s when things get interesting. I loved this story! Aiden is a strong, hot, dangerous, yummy, intelligent, hot (did I mention that?) vampire with a sense of humor who is also a fantastic cook. I want him! Sam is a beautiful, intelligent, independent, spunky mortal with a special talent for finding violence in her dreams, be it weather or vampire. Loved the characters and writing style, the story flowed smoothly and the sexual tension between the characters was great. I loved that Sam didn’t give in to her lust for Aiden right away. That can be so annoying! I also loved the humor interspersed throughout (the scene with Sam’s leg cramp had me LOL-ing because I’ve so been there!) and the action scenes were paced just right. I hate long action scenes. I hate long descriptive scenes, too. What can I say? I’m an impatient person. I want more of this world! Impatient, remember? And hungry for more! Bring on the stories for Eli, RJ, Garret and Liss then maybe I’ll be satiated. *The author provided a copy of this book to me for review. Disclaimer on my blog.
- Lost Souls: Resurrection - Episode 1
on Feb. 01, 2012
Christian Thompson has just won a long struggle with his evil ex and gained custody of his precious daughter. While out for a walk with her he is struck by a car and killed. Refusing to move on and leave his daughter to the mercy of his ex-wife he stays earthbound. That’s when the really weird stuff begins. I really enjoyed this story. I’ve read stories that had ghosts or spirits in them, but usually they were adjuncts or side kicks not as main characters. Writing is smooth, characters are interesting and the world is fascinating. I’m looking forward to Episode 2. I can’t wait to see where this is heading. *The author provided a copy of this story to me for review. Please see disclaimer page on my blog.
- Entangled, A Paranormal Anthology
on Feb. 24, 2012
Entangled is a paranormal anthology containing 11 stories by authors: Jennifer Estep, Edie Ramer, Nancy Haddock, Misty Evans, Dale Mayer, Cynthia Eden, Michelle Miles, Lori Brighton, Liz Kreger, Michelle Diener and Allison Brennan. Of these authors I’ve only read Cynthia Eden’s work before, so 10 of these authors are completely new to me though I have heard of Jennifer Estep and have her book Spider’s Bite coming up soon in my TBR List. As far as I can tell the only stories in this anthology that are connected to other series by the authors are: Halloween Frost by Jennifer Estep is #1.5 in the Mythos Academy series. A Bit of Bite by Cynthia Eden appears to be in the world of the Night Watch and The Fallen series though I haven’t read the Bound series yet, so it could be connected to that series. I’m not clear if it does actually belong to a series or is independent of them all. Ghostly Justice by Allison Brennan is #2.5 in the Seven Deadly Sins series. Since these are short stories and I don’t like writing an individual review for each story I’ll just say this about Entangled…I really, really enjoyed each and every story. Some more than others, but they were all good. The only exception is Allison Brennan’s Ghostly Justice. I did not read that story because I would like to read the others in the series first, so I’ll have to revisit it when I do. And though I really hate reading a series out of order I didn’t think I would be reading the Mythos Academy series anytime soon, so I went ahead and read Halloween Frost anyway. I would love to read some more stories connected to the short stories in this anthology by Nancy Raddock, Michelle Miles, Lori Brighton, Liz Kreger and Michelle Diener. I hope there are more to come! *The author provided a copy of this book to me for review. Please see disclaimer page on my blog.
- The New Death and others
on Feb. 29, 2012
'The New Death and Others' is a collection of 44 stories and 19 poems. Some of the stories are so short they could be a vignette…if they’d been drawn instead of written. Irreverent, cheeky, sarcastic and very amusing is how I’d describe this collection. I skipped only three items: Under the Pyramids, The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune and The Garden of Adompha because I couldn’t get into them. The rest were pretty funny, at least to me they were. I’ve been told I have a strange sense of humor sometimes though, so what amused me in this collection may not be quite so amusing to others. A fast easy read and an enjoyable way to pass the time. I groaned, snickered, giggled and even LOL’d my way thru this hodgepodge collection. A great way to pass the time. *The author provided a copy of this book to me for review. Please see disclaimer page on my blog.
- Shattered, Western Romantic Suspense
on March 14, 2012
Tessa MacLean was running for her life. Her boss was trying to kill her, had already killed a co-worker and she had no idea why. The only person she could trust was her former fiancé, Jay Rawlings. Jay is a former Detective turned rancher after a case goes horribly wrong and his sister is murdered. Three years have passed and he’s still subconsciously wallowing in guilt when Tessa shows up and the past and the present collide. Decent writing and good storyline, but I couldn’t get past how whiny both Tessa and Jay were not to mention Tessa comes off as wimpy and Jay emotionally abusive. Also, Tessa has a killer on her tail. Someone who hasn’t hesitated to kill at least once already and has made no secret of the fact he’s on her tail every step of the way as she flees. And yet, that doesn’t stop her and Jay from doing stupid things to put her life in jeopardy. Such as leaving the safety of the house more than once or practically tearing each others’ clothes off in the barn right after Jay’s dad is attacked there. It was too much for me. I had no respect for them and started hoping one or both of them would get shot for being so hormonal and idiotic. While I didn’t care for this particular story I won’t let that stop me from reading more by Kate Kelly because I did like her writing style and the plot was a good one. *The author provided a copy of this book to me for review. Please see disclaimer page on my blog.