Summary:

Santa’s Ninja Elves: two short stories depicting elite elves whose missions are to protect Santa against all enemies using an assortment of cinna-bombs, candy cane bullets, tinsel traps and throwing bells and intelligence from the fortune-telling Mrs. Clause. After years of dedicated service, Santa decides to reward them by helping them find love on Christmas.

Past retirement, Natasha is sent from the North Pole to Ohio on a final mission to identify a threat to Santa. Natasha runs the lead to ground, only to find Santa sent her there for an entirely different mission. She’s been set up with a handsome stranger, a final gift from Santa to his favorite Ninja Elf.

Hunter gets drunk on eggnog one day and beheads an innocent snowman. His punishment: he’s banished from the North Pole to work at a mall in Arizona, managing a fake Santa’s long line of kids. When the fake Santa sheds the fat suit to reveal a beautiful woman, Hunter falls fast for the woman who makes him feel the thrill Christmas Eve with one look.

Review:

Really cute stories to enjoy. One was 16 pages, the other was 10 pages long. A couple of laugh out loud moments from each story. Closed the book with a smile on my face. Not far-fetched at all, other than the main character in each book is a ninja elf.

Self-published, but well done on grammar, spelling, and formatting - no issues to report. With the way my reading has gone over the weekend, having no issues in basic book writing is like a Christmas miracle! (hahaha)

Summary:

Any couple who spends the night in the Christmas cottage shall have love everlasting...

Lacey Quinn did not believe in happily ever after or the legend of the Christmas cottage. As maid of honor for her best friend Ava, her duties included decorating the cottage for the newlyweds. It was a simple enough task, but she hadn't counted on sexy Ean Callahan, the bride-to-be's brother, to be assisting her.

Spending the evening ensconced in the overly romantic setting while a blizzard howls outside has Lacey wondering if fairy tales really do come true...

Review:

Good news - it was only 95-96 pages long.

Now on to why this book sucked (and not in a good way):

1. Twas the night before self-publishing this book and no proofreader was stirring, not even Spell check. Grammar? We don't need no stinking grammar. Dialogue was hard to follow since each person's piece was not always set off as a new paragraph. Typical SPA spit it out and upload. Every page had at least a couple of grammar, language, or spelling mistakes. Formatting was way off. It was originally published in November 2012; the author revised it and uploaded the revised version...at least on Amazon. I downloaded this book after the revision (I'm assuming, because there is a different cover than the one I have) from NOOK.

2. Lacey - whining and pining for Ean, who is the only man she ever loved or could love. Making her naïve and dull. Also, not a very good friend of Ava - enabler of Ava's stupid wedding plans while giving Ava reasons why she should not marry Mason (very good reasons). Lacey is so damn insecure, I felt I was reading YA or NA, not a story about 26 year old. Lacey needed so much re-assuring, it was pathetic. She pouts and throws temper tantrums - made for very awkward reading. She is so inconsistent - Lacey staunchly defends Ava and the wedding when Ean gives Ava the same reasons she gave to Ava about not marrying Mason. It made no sense and was stupid just to give conflict. The pining and dreaming of Ean was borderline obsessive and creepy; however, more than anything it was just sad, awkward and embarrassing for the reader.

3. Ean - beta hero that could be king of dullsville. There was no chemistry between Lacey and him. For being the smarty pants business owner he was supposed to be, he was hella dumb creeping around the cabin trying to see who was in there. Dude, that is your family's cabin and you have a key, just open the damn door! Spoiler -

4. Ava was too over the top. Maybe because I saw how planning a wedding makes the bride and groom cranky and unhappy, I chose to go the courthouse route with my hubby (also, he went on a deployment the next day and I didn't feel like waiting until he got back to make arrangements....cause I am lazy like that :D). Honestly, Ava was such a brat, I had wished everyone RSVP'd No to her invitation. Also, Ava had some serious mood swings within a scene - happy, worried, rage, hugs. Every scene she was in was nothing but over produced drama.

5. The stupid story about the magical cottage and the constant use! of exclamation! points! in every! piece of dialogue! especially when females were talking! If I was Lacey's or Ava's neighbor, I would be calling the cops on them for disturbing the peace quite often. The over use of exclamation points also made them sound as if they were fourteen year olds; just incredibly childish.

6. Spoiler! That ending

ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!

Not going to read another book by this author. Waste of a day's reading time.

This is my second contemporary romance this month, and it was just as great as the first. I feel I am on a really good reading high if a contemporary romance, much less two of them, are decent. I picked up this book because it hates on reality tv and I needed to expand my reading horizons a bit.

Summary:

Her Fantasy And His Reality. . .

Classically trained actress Imani Gilliam is gifted, beautiful-and broke. Facing eviction, her only hope of staying afloat is to do the reality TV show, "Let's Get Married." The show pairs up single strangers, and viewers vote for who should be united in wedded bliss. Imani is only looking to be united with a paycheck-until she locks eyes with a fellow contestant. . .

Are About To Create A Buzz. . .

Dr. Raymond Thomas is determined to keep his struggling free clinic running-even if  means appearing on "Let's Get Married." He can't imagine finding love on TV-but when he spots Imani, he definitely finds lust. And their attraction isn't lost on the producers. But as the cameras start focusing on them, Raymond wonders if he's just a tool in Imani's career. Only time-and a life-changing choice-will tell. . .

Review:

First off, give yourself some time to adjust to Imani's many moods. In the first part of the book (less than a quarter of the book), she comes across as a difficult diva of an actress; as you learn more about her, you will warm up to her....just know she is not all cute and sassy in the beginning, she is more bluntly honest. She is about to bend some of her rules of her acting career to help restart said career by doing the reality show, so she is torn about staying true to herself and her principals and eating and paying bills.

Raymond is pretty great, but with a slight edge of bitterness as women see dollar signs when they find out he is a doctor, then drop him like a bad habit when they find out he works at his free health clinic. Raymond is 50-50 on traditional romance; he wants what his parents had, but he is more than happy to support his future wife in her own career. But at the beginning of the story, the clinic is bleeding money and the handsome doctor does the reality tv show to save the clinic.

I warn you that there is a chick-lit feel to the story; rather than retail brand and high-end names, you have actors, actresses, and rappers names being dropped or used to illustrate Imani's feelings for the industry.

Imani's big secret is that

, so there is no religious tones to her morality. Raymond also has a decent set of morals, but from his upbringing and early influencers rather than from religion. And they talk through misunderstandings when it happens like adults. Honesty plays a big part in their journey.

It does get soap opera-like towards the end, but by the time I got to that point, I so wanted these two to have the best HEA EVER.

4.5 stars. I will definitely be interested in reading other works by this author.

I tried all weekend to find the spark that would give me the motivation to finish this book.

Spark decided to take the weekend off.

So I am done. I have two print library books to finish this week and I just borrowed an e-book from the base library today (and I am almost to the page count that I am leaving Death by Darjeeling - and I just read for 45 minutes this morning).

Review:

Characters that were practically wallpaper, they were so boring.

Little plot to the mystery....I understand first book in series needs to set up a lot of the world building, but it took forever for the death to happen, much less anyone start asking questions.

I can't even be bothered to give this book (or as much as I read of the book) a star rating.

In the gentle coastal town of South Cove, California, all Jill Gardner wants is to keep her store--Coffee, Books, and More--open and running. So why is she caught up in the business of murder?

When Jill's elderly friend, Miss Emily, calls in a fit of pique, she already knows the city council is trying to force Emily to sell her dilapidated old house. But Emily's gumption goes for naught when she dies unexpectedly and leaves the house to Jill--along with all of her problems. . .and her enemies. Convinced her friend was murdered, Jill is finding the list of suspects longer than the list of repairs needed on the house. But Jill is determined to uncover the culprit--especially if it gets her closer to South Cove's finest, Detective Greg King. Problem is, the killer knows she's on the case--and is determined to close the book on Jill permanently. . .

My Review:

The summer months of 2014 have been filled with cozy mysteries. I did like the story settings and the characters, so I will be coming back for more later. Also, this might seem biased, but I love that the series takes place in one of the many small seaside towns along the California Coast - so much to do and see and still have that small town feel.

It was an easy and quick read, yet the reveal of the killer's identity surprised me. I did not need so many paragraphs about home renovations; I am hoping that by book 2 the house is completely made over and Jill is settled in. Jill is a smart character and a pretty good sleuth, but she was dumb as a brick over Greg's martial status (hello, look at this finger - is there a ring or tan lines that look like a ring? No? Then He. Isn't. Married. Go. Kiss. Him. Already.). For me, the relationship between Jill and Greg was more friendly flirting than red hot romance.