High Stakes by Erin McCarthy

ISBN:  9780425219782

Publisher:  Penguin Group USA

Rating:  B

Vampire Nation President Ethan Carrick is trying to find a bride.  He’s got to prove that after 900 years he’s settled down and deserves to be re-elected.  When he makes his monthly visit to his dentist, Brittany, he decides that she is perfect, sweet and funny not to mention half vampire, that will get him the Impure vote for sure.  He makes her an offer she can’t refuse; there’s only one slight problem her sister Alexis doesn’ t care for the deal and sticks her foot in it and offers to take Brittany’s place.

I absolutely adored the character of Alexis, she had drive and purpose and flaws.  Sometime a characters “flaws” can be overdone to the point of major annoyance, however McCarthy created Alexis to be big as life, but only 5′2″ on a good day.  She is always wearing heels to give herself that slight added height, but Ethan always refers to it as such an innocently cute thing she does because he sees her as she is, everything he needs from a woman.  I will say however her obsession with her butt was getting slightly annoying.

Erin McCarthy is always on my list as light hearted fare.  It’s not a genre I typically enjoy reading, meaning paranormal light however the characters and the interesting plot made it feel meatier than I think it was meant to be.  I will be reading more in this series, but probably not for quite some time.  Looking back over my reads of this past year, I look at my paranormal choices and they are mostly darker fare, J.R. Ward, Nalini Singh, Laurell K Hamilton.  I used to love Mary Janice Davidson, but she was no longer funny for me, so I am glad i took a chance on the lighter side with McCarthy’s Vegas Vamps.    I will be meeting up again with them, but I just don’t know when.

The Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz

ISBN:  9781416532415

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing

Rating:  B

Isabel Spellman is up to her old tricks, investigating the men she dates to the point of violating a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and admitting her true feelings to her mom.  As is a typical adventure into the world of Spellman’s there is always SO much drama going on.  Izzy is having trouble keeping tabs on all the craziness that is raining down in her life.
Her workaholic brother David has taken to drunken bouts in his bathrobe watching his ginormous TV in the middle of the day.

Izzy’s best friend and David’s wife Petra has gone MIA and won’t return any of Izzy’s calls except to the land line of Spellman Investigations.  Petra’s disappearing act and David’s penchant for Bourbon in the afternoons leads Izzy to think there might be trouble in paradise.

Izzy’s parents have been taking random “disappearances” aka vacations and hating every minute of them.  Izzy’s dad seems to be taking showers in the middle of day and no one knows why and Izzy’s mom keeps waking up in the middle of the night to vandalize a motorbike.

And enter the new neighbor and exboyfriend #10, John Brown, if that is really his name.  He has a locked door in his apartment that he consistently finds Izzy trying to break into, and their relationship lasts about 3 days because she has to get in that door and he refuses to let her.

And as always Rae and Henry, while Henry gives Rae driving lessons, she accidentally almost murders Henry by running him over.  Ahhhh you gotta love a 15 year old with a learners permit.
I really adore this series, it’s so light and fun and almost normal.  Lutz has created a cast of characters so truly unique and inspired that they almost surpass my love of the Stephanie Plum gang.  Currently Lutz has created a more realistically true cast, and that has me begging for more already.  However, I do not see news of the next installment on the authors website

If you haven’t yet read The Spellman Files, it is one of my new favorite series because the minute I open the cover I am completely sucked into the my role as the innocent observer in the craziness of The Spellman family.

Pacific Vortex by Clive Cussler

ISBN:  978553276329

Publisher:  Bantam Books

Rating:  B

Dirk Pitt is given the mission to find a submarine that fell off the grid 6 months ago.  Although it appears that his mission has been primed for a quick and easy resolution there is more to this mystery than meets the eye.
Since this is my first visit into the world of Dirk Pitt, it took me a bit to acclimate myself to the way that Clive Cussler writes his narratives.  And it appears that I received the British publication of this book from Paperbackswap, so that put a slight damper on my experience as well.  However, being able to picture Matthew McConaughey as Dirk helped me a great deal, yes I admit this shows my slight shallowness quite a bit, but at least I freely admit it.  It seems to always take me a while to warm up to a new series because it always feels like the beginning of a new friendship where you are always so full of questions about the other person that can’t possibly be answered in the few hours you spend getting to know them.

This is a series that I will be definintely be sharing with my significant other because I think I started reading it just to see if it would be something he would enjoy.  He finished it a lot quicker than I did, but it’s more a “man” novel than a chic book, so I guess that is okay.

I love how the author wove a little bit of everything through the pages; murder, mayhem, international intrigue, oceanic lore, friendship and love.   It was a very unique blend of each of those elements that made this book and these characters multidimensional.  I honestly can’t wait to see what other mischief Dirk can get into in his next caper, and I look forward to a long winding adventure with this author and these characters.

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig

ISBN: 9780451217424

Rating: B-

Courtesy of: Ck2S Kwips and Kritiques

Eloise Kelly is on a mission to discover the true identity of one of the most elusive and influential English spies of the 19^th Century. When Eloise leaves Harvard behind and heads to England to research this most romantic of all heroes, she is in for an adventure to exceed many lifetimes. Eloise learns that relatives of Lord Richard Selwick, aka The Purple Gentian, may have papers that will help her solve the mystery that has captivated her enough to lie about the true reason for her dissertation.

It took me a while to become engaged in THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE PINK CARNATION. I can admit this probably had more to do with how I prefer to learn about the characters rather than any problems with the story itself and how it was written. I loved it when I was reading it but I kept setting it down; not because I didn’t want to know what happened, but because I knew I was so far away from finding out. THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE PINK CARNATION is the first in Willig’s series; therefore the build up of the world and characters is important and will definitely lead for a more fulfilling experience with the future stories in this series. I just prefer a little more action while getting to know the cast of characters. After I reached the point of no return, I could not set this book aside without itching to get back to it. Which is a mark of great storyteller, keeping me interested enough to keep reading and then springing the good stuff on me that I couldn’t put the book down.

While Eloise’s story is the prompt for the plot, her intrusions detracted a bit from the story, whether it was by design or by flaw it doesn’t matter she always appeared just as I was about to find out somebody’s dirty little secret. Willig made me feel as though I were Eloise as I was reading and having her appear randomly took me out of the story and distracted me from the story. However, the last chapter of the book had me wanting to know more about both The Pink Carnation and Eloise which gave me hope for the future books in this series.

By the time I closed this book, I cared for all the characters and couldn’t wait to know more, and the almost cliffhanger at the end of THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE PINK CARNATION had me reaching for the next book in this series THE MASQUE OF THE BLACK TULIP. Although the beginning of THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE PINK CARNATION did not fit my reading personality, by the end I was caught in the mystery and intrigue of The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel and all the spies that were trying to save England from a French invasion.