Book Review: Kitty Goes to War

Product Description: From Booklist

In the eighth installment of the Kitty Norville series, Kitty, the alpha werewolf of the Denver pack and host of a radio talk show that examines lives and problems of paranormal people, is summoned to an army base to help with a werewolf problem. The werewolves in question were part of a secret project that infected soldiers with lycanthropy to make them more effective in the war in Afghanistan, but when their alpha was blown to bits the squad imploded. The three remaining members, who have a murderous lack of self control, are facing extermination unless Kitty can teach them the ways of civilized werewolves, while dealing with her own problems revolving around a libel suit and possible wizard. Kitty is an empathetic character and smart as can be in this fast-moving urban fantasy. --Diana Tixier Herald
 

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Review:
Given the excellence of Kitty’s House of Horrors, I expected quite a lot more from this one.  It was interesting enough to keep me reading but I wasn’t gripped like I was with the last one.  Ms. Vaughn had an interesting take on werewolves in the military but the resolution of the difference in Cormac was lame.  It’s a solid entry in the Kitty Norville series, but probably best read as a transition book as Book 9, Kitty's Big Trouble (Kitty Norville, Book 9) , looks really packed.  It actually looks like what I was expecting for this one given the name and the hints at war coming in Kitty’s House of Horrors.
Sensuality: a few fade to black sex scenes and some kissing.
 
Rating: 3 stars

Book Review: Kitty’s House of Horrors

Product Description

REALITY BITES
Talk radio host and werewolf Kitty Norville has agreed to appear on TV's first all-supernatural reality show. She's expecting cheesy competitions and manufactured drama starring shapeshifters, vampires, and psychics. But what begins as a publicity stunt will turn into a fight for her life.
The cast members, including Kitty, arrive at the remote mountain lodge where the show is set. As soon as filming starts, violence erupts and Kitty suspects that the show is a cover for a nefarious plot. Then the cameras stop rolling, cast members start dying, and Kitty realizes she and her monster housemates are ironically the ultimate prize in a very different game. Stranded with no power, no phones, and no way to know who can be trusted, she must find a way to defeat the evil closing in . . . before it kills them all.
 
Review:
Kitty Norville is back for the 7th book in Kitty’s House of Horrors.  She’s well-established in her marriage and as co-alpha in her pack and is a national radio talk show celebrity with her show: The Midnight Hour.  She’s just as out-spoken as ever.  This book has been out for a while and since I’m not a huge reality TV person, this didn’t seem like a book I would really enjoy, but I did!  That part of the story didn’t last too long and was really well-done.  The meat of the story starts about halfway in and starts in a shocking way.  I read this in a day, could barely put it down.  Highly recommended, probably best read after dark to enhance the tenseness and the horror. 
I think you could read this book as a stand alone novel, but it would be much better if you read the series starting with Kitty and the Midnight Hour (Kitty Norville, Book 1) for maximum impact.
 
Sensuality: a fade to black sex scene
 
Rating: 5 stars

Book Review: Magic to the Bone

Product Description

Devon monk is casting a spell on the fantasy world...
Using magic means it uses you back, and every spell exacts a price from its user. But some people get out of it by Offloading the cost of magic onto an innocent. Then it’s Allison Beckstrom’s job to identify the spell-caster. Allie would rather live a hand-to-mouth existence than accept the family fortune—and the strings that come with it. But when she finds a boy dying from a magical Offload that has her father’s signature all over it, Allie is thrown back into his world of black magic. And the forces she calls on in her quest for the truth will make her capable of things that some will do anything to control...

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Review:
I wanted to love this book, it sounded very promising.  I enjoy books where the characters have to train to use their abilities, they don’t just automatically arrive and the main character knows immediately exactly how to use the ability, I enjoy stories where there is a cost to using the ability, even if it’s only fatigue.  We have that here in spades.   Not only does Allie get fatigued, she pays a physical price for the magic she uses: headache, flu, nausea, bruising and sometimes she pays a double price: memory loss, sometimes large chunks.
 
The book was well-written, the theme is a nice mystery, it’s tense in the appropriate spots, I just wasn’t that interested in what happened to Allie and friends.  I’ve heard the next few books in the series are much much better now that the author has laid the groundwork in this book.  That’s the main reason I gave it 3 stars instead of 2.  It’s the first book in the series and often there’s a lot of world-building stuff that the author needs to do.  I will probably read more books in the Allie Beckstrom series but there are so many more books that are calling to me: “read me, read me!” that it will probably be a while before I actually get around to it.  Overall, I do recommend the book.  It probably won’t rock your world or anything but it’s a great alternative to sitting and staring at a wall! 
 
Sensuality: a few sex scenes
Rating: 3 stars

Book Review: Lord Langley is Back In Town

Product Description

Lord Langley and Minerva, Lady Standon, began their faux engagement with three simple rules set down by the baron's all-too-proper (and utterly unlikely) bride-to-be.
1. No more kissing. The intoxicating kiss Langley stole from her lips still has Minerva aflutter.
2. She will not share his bed. (For if his kiss is that tempting, Minerva doesn't dare imagine what a night in Langley's embrace will do to her already addled senses.)
3. No scandals during their engagement. With the infamous Langley back in Town, there is no lack of trouble he can bring to Minerva's unblemished reputation.
Oh, the wily Lord Langley will keep his word—but that doesn't mean he won't use every rakish trick he knows to get Minerva to break her own proper rules, especially once he realizes that this convenient arrangement has led him to the only woman he's ever loved . . .
 
Review:
Set in Regency England, I knew I would enjoy the book from the first page.  The author included a cast of characters, which included “the nannies.”   The story was a bit improbable but it was well-written with good character development as well as steady action.  The characters came to trust one another in a fairly believable manner, not immediate and not strung out forever.  The heroine was practical and smart, had a lot of spitfire buried under her  prim façade and didn’t have a lot of TSTL moments like so many heroines do.
 
Lord Langley is a man accused of treason and comes back to London to clear his name.  He finds his twin daughters’ former “nannies” (his mistresses) have moved into the house he’s hiding in, the indomitable Minerva, who has a huge secret of her own.  What ensues is a lot of craziness with the nannies, various relatives, intrigue and of course, a romance.  I recommend this book for a summer afternoon read.  It’s light with just enough action and romance.
 
Sensuality: a few sex scenes
Rating: 3 stars