Letting Go // Maya Banks

Letting Go (★★★☆☆)
By: Maya Banks
Series: The Surrender Trilogy (1)
Genres: Erotica ~ Romance
Pages: 258
Format: eBook
Features: BDSM

I've been a fan of Maya Banks for a long time. The "Sweet series" knocked my socks off and left me nearly drooling with every installment. The "Breathless" trilogy was as emotionally gripping as it was physical.

In this first taste of the "Surrender" trilogy, however, she falls far short of the impeccable standard she set with her previous books.

I can't really nitpick about the book, because the things that made me grind my teeth about the book unfortunately took up a good chunk of it. So many different decisions, and thoughts, and statements, were repeated. Again and again. And then, yet again.

It slowed down the story and distracted me from what should have been a delicious undercurrent to the relationship building between Joss and Dash. I actually got more out of the budding relationship between Kylie and Jensen than I did out of the two primary characters, and Jensen only made barely more than a cameo appearance.

This was my eventual reaction to a lot of the prevalent "themes" in the story.

Joss' hesitation due to being dead husbands best friend: GET OVER IT!
Kylie's reaction to what Joss wants to do in her life to make her happy: GET OVER IT!
Chessy's reaction to, well, everything: Yeah, you get it. You understand, got it. No, really, I got it.

As always once the relationship between the two main characters actually gets established (this time with WAY more "filler" in the pages than I'm used to from Maya), I can't complain. The sex is hot, the necessary conflict is interesting, and the reconciliation is a struggle between pride and love.

I see a lot of "tricks" that have been used before in the other books she's written, however, which makes me think perhaps Banks should take a break, spend a few weeks in the sack with the lover of her choice, and then come back with some new, fresh and sexy ideas.

I'll probably pass on the remaining books in this series, but pick up the next one.

Mint Juleps and Justice // Nancy Naigle

Mint Juleps and Justice (★★★★☆)
By: Nancy Naigle
Series: Adams Grove (5)
Genres: Romance ~ Contemporary
Pages: 335
Format: eBook
Features: Suspense

Mike and Brooke have enough baggage between them to fill a fleet of jetliners. Between Brooke's nasty divorce and the murder of Mike's wife eight years ago, the odds are seemingly stacked against them from the start.

One thing I love about Mint Juleps and Justice is this - the characters are REAL. Brooke Justice has a real job where she interacts with real people, and has a real fun quirk of believing in good luck signs almost religiously. Mike is a former Marine who is trying to balance himself back into civilian life by running a small-town investigative firm, and giving a military pup its first year of training.

Brooke's job throws them together from day one, and in a small town, chance encounters are bound to happen on a frequent basis once you've met someone face to face. The "chance" encounters turn purposeful when Brooke's baggage forces her to seek the aid of Mike's investigative services.

However, just when things were finally getting settled for Brooke and she begins to gain confidence in her ability to have a relationship with Mike, Mike's world gets turned up-side-down when he finds out, two months after the fact, that the baggage he thought himself finally ready to let go of and move forward from has once again reared its ugly head.

Without going into too many details, the progression of the story - both the main story between Brooke and Mike, and the plots surrounding each of their individual baggage - is fluid and keeps the reader engaged. The only thing keeping me from giving this book a full 5-star review is this - I simply do not like being clued into certain things before the characters are, which is the case with Mike's baggage.

Overall, it's a nice, easy read. It's real people engaging in a real relationship with real problems that can only be overcome together. It's a story I can relate to, and that just makes it all the more engaging.

He's a Magic Man // Susan Squires

He’s a Magic Man (★★★☆☆)
By: Suzan Squires
Series: Children of Merlin (2)
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 258
Format: Paperback
Features: mythology, magic

I got this as a Goodreads Firstreads win, so I’m going to summarize a few points here while the book is still fresh in my mind since I don’t have time for a fully involved review:

1. Felt like it took too long to read.
Why? I’m a fast reader. I can get through the early books of the Wheel of Time in 3-5 days. This one, at (less than) half that, took me to the far end of that scale. The first half of the book kept my interest nice and fast, but the more I read, the less I caried about what happened to the people, or in general.

2. Been there, done that.
The descendants of Merlin, and people who get their power from Morgan La Fey. Athurian-era artifacts. Anybody remember Stargate SG-1/Atlantis?

3. The raging alcoholic.
Okay, score for throwing this in as a twist, and giving Drew the balls to do what she did. However… we’re talking, what, a week? Alcoholism doesn’t just go away in a week, no matter how thoroughly detoxed. Sure, throw the magic in and everything’s hunky-dory, but there is such a thing as relying TOO MUCH on the magic.

4. Drew’s got a pair.
This is one ballsy woman. After what we see her face early on in the book, she seems to have this bottomless pit of determination, while still maintaining a healthy dose of “what if”? (Not like she lets that stop her. Like I said, she’s got a pair.) I was cheering her on through the entire detox. That gave a REAL nice balance to the whiny high schooler she became any time her gift/power was involved (No, I’m not putting that bit down – considering her familial status and everything else, it almost makes more sense than just about anything else in the book).

All in all, it felt like the first half of the book is where Squires really took her time and thought out what she was writing. Maybe even first 2/3 – then its almost as if a reminder popped up on the calender and it became, “Oh, crap! Deadline!”

I do plan on reading other books in this series, so I can get a better feel for Squires as an author.

Micah // Laurel K. Hamilton

Micah (★☆☆☆☆)
By: Laurell K. Hamilton
Series: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (13)
Genres: Fantasy ~ Urban, Romance ~ Paranormal
Pages: 285
Format: eBook
Features: vampires, shifters

On one hand, I don’t remember what happens through most of the book. On the other hand, that says something about how utterly pointless this book was, given the way my imagination has been running away with the Anita Blake series so far. It was written almost as if Hamilton needed to put out SOMETHING, rather than a book actually relevant to the series.

I had considered every book by Hamilton I’d read up until this one (Merry Gentry included) to be, if not up to my usual “epic fantasy” standards, at least intriguing enough to get me to the end of the book.

The only thing that got me to the end of this book? It was short. Absolutely NOTHING about this book stood out to me. Not the interactions between Blake and Micah, none of the action, none of the metaphysical brouhaha did it for me. It was one of the dullest reads I’ve muddled through in a long while.