Heat Wave
-- 'Rex on the Beach' by Stephanie Bond
-- 'Getting Into Trouble' by Leslie Kelly
-- 'Shaken and Stirred' by Heidi Betts

Average Overall Rating:  3.4 Stars

It's pretty typical that novella-length stories are usually only good for a fast and breezy enjoyable taste of what an author is capable of.  The three stories in Heat Wave are entertaining, but don't really feel all that interesting, and probably not stories I'd come back to because they aren't entirely memorable.  And maybe a little cheesy to boot.

The beach theme was nice though--it made me want to take a little vacation to relax on a nice, sunny beach myself... despite the fact that I've never really been fond of beaches.

But hey, this sounds kind of nice:

"We'll get a great room with an ocean view, go shopping for sexy new beach outfits and laze around on the sand all day, reading steamy romance novels and sipping umbrella drinks."

Rex on the Beach -- 3.0 Stars

by Stephanie Bond

I have a lot of problems with the premise of this story, if only because I'm not entirely comfortable with how quickly our couple lusts after each other even when they each have their own commitments--one of which is a possible marriage.  But if you can get past that, the development of our main couple had a pretty good amount of potential to make a fun romance.

When two characters carrying secrets hop into a relationship, you're bound to have all sorts of juicy twists and turns to work with.  So maybe if this story had been a little bit longer, it might have been more intriguing.   But otherwise, even the characters as individuals were a little flat.

Getting Into Trouble -- 3.5 Stars

by Leslie Kelly

Leslie Kelly is always hit or miss with me, and I've read enough of her work to keep her on my radar.  But a lot of her older work, or mainly some of her contemporaries are laden with dated romances, and an underlying sense of judgment towards females and their sexuality--akin to slut shaming, I'd say, but not quite so blatantly.  I say 'dated romance' because it's quite typical to find these themes in older romance novels: a sense that good girls don't talk about sex, don't think about sex, and don't have sex.

Which is in full contradiction of the main female characters in her contemporaries, because they are cast as very sexual people--they DO think about sex, the DO talk about sex, they DO like sex.  Except that there's always that unofficial disclaimer of "I don't always do this."  Because it's quite alright for a woman to have sexual needs and express herself sexually... if she doesn't announce it often, or if it's not in her normal behavior.  I'm not even sure Kelly realizes she does this, because I've read other works by her that don't have this underlying tone of a qualifying a woman's open sexuality.

It bugs me, if only because, even in this day and age, women are hesitant about expressing themselves in a sexual way, because society has taught us that women should not talk about sex nor even like it--that it creates gossip and makes you look bad.  Even though it's perfectly acceptable for men to joke about, talk about, have, and/or even be crass about sex.  On a regular basis.

I have a friend who can't even say the word 'sex' without turning pink and whispering it like it's an evil mantra.

But anyway, let me get back off of my soapbox, because this could go on for a long time.

Getting Into Trouble was the longest, most in-depth novella in this collection.  A lot happens that really DOES create a well-rounded romance, with conflict, angst, and fun.  I just got a little irritated with both of our characters:  Allie for being so wishy-washy with her actions; Damon for taking rejection so personally that he acts all butthurt and kind of douchy about it.

But in the end, everything comes together and it's a pretty nice and enjoyable romance.  My spiel about the whole 'dated romance' thing came mainly, because there were points in the book where Allie finds herself having to justify her attraction towards Damon, and it bugged me.  The word 'scandal' got tossed out there, and suddenly I'm thinking, "What is this, a historical?"  That people would disapprove of her getting close to a strange man because she's a single mom.  That it was okay when all the other women did it, but NOT Allie, because she's the virtuous main character.

That she feels she can't be attracted to, start a relationship with, or get to know this passerby in town, otherwise she'd get judged for it.

Of course, it might also have to do with the fact that Damon is traveling with a carnival, and carnies really do get a bad rep, more often than not.

Otherwise, the story was pretty good.

Shaken and Stirred -- 3.5 Stars

by Heidi Betts

The honest truth is that Shaken and Stirred was the better written of the three stories, with a cute and sweet romance, a slight amount of conflict, and a Happily Ever After™.  The relationship developed in a mature, fun, honest fashion, if a little too fast for my liking.  There was a cutesy, breezy feel to the story's progression.  And there weren't any overly complicated twists.

It was just a sweet little chick lit piece about a woman breaking out of her normal, shy and closed-in personality, and having a fun vacation; meeting a man, having a fling, and generally enjoying herself.

It was simply a contemporary romance, about a man and woman who meet during a summer vacation, have a fling, and start developing deeper feelings.  The sex might have happened a little too quickly, and the "I love you's" were flung out faster than I expected, but it seemed like a pretty decently outlined, down-to-earth romance.

If only it hadn't been so boring.  Which is probably why it felt like the shortest of the three stories.

But, nonetheless, it was still very enjoyable, and readily likable.


***

Roll #33:  "Read a book with water on the cover, or where someone turns on the waterworks (i.e., cries) because of an emotional event."

The cover features water from a beach and ocean.

Page Count:  320
Cash Award:  +$9.00

Updated Bank Balance:  $258.00

Two Guys Detective Agency

by Stephanie Bond

Book 1 of Two Guys Detective Agency

I think I had been expecting a whole lot more from this book than a simple teasing introduction.  While the book is tagged as a mystery, and the cover even suggests that this is a "Humorous Mystery Series," I certainly did not find any part of that title to be true.

It's probably why the series was renamed to simply Two Guys Detective Agency?  The concept was going to be a nice one, even if a little overdone.  Two sisters, down on their luck when they find themselves husband-less and broke, reluctantly team up to take on a private investigation agency.

The summary suggests so much more than what actually happens in the book.  We spend a good 60% of the book itself setting up the "What will Linda and Octavia do now?" part of their failing marriages and broken families.  And while I liked the whole aspect of them maybe finding a niche in taking over Linda's husband's investigation agency, starting off by helping him close a few domestic cases, the entirety of that story line maybe comprised about 10% of the book... if even that.

I was even hoping that maybe the two would stumble upon a criminal case and a murder and help solve that case, and maybe make a name for themselves.  But aside from closing a few insurance fraud cases, and maybe helping to find patient zero for a spreading STD case in a nursing home (the conclusion they came up with was both, a long stretch, and not at all able to be proven with anything but speculation), nothing that these two women do suggest that they are cut out for investigative work.

Which makes me extra resentful that I felt righteous indignation on their behalf that everyone else also snapped to the judgment that the two of them couldn't possibly be good investigators, for other reasons that I didn't like.  Because it's the truth, but the other people didn't know that they were doing a laughing-stock of a job being investigators.  They were just all, "Well, you're just a stay at home mom and wife.  What could you possibly know about investigative work?"

Anyway...

To be honest, Two Guys felt like a drawn out introductory of sorts.  The only true mystery was the question of what happened to Octavia's husband, Richard, and what he ended up getting himself involved in.  Then there was the very, very open-ended conclusion regarding Richard's dealings, which turned out much more chaotic than I had expect... and also wasn't quite concluded, if we were to really be honest with ourselves.

Virtually nothing is really solved in this book, but the characters convene and close out the story as if everything is just wrapped up nicely with a bow on top.  And I probably would have been less upset if everything had been wrapped up nicely with a bow on top.  But there are so many loose ends, and so many more questions that need to be answered, and even so many turn of events in the entire story that made absolutely no sense.

The missing case files that the D.A.'s office is still requesting from Linda's husband, Sullivan's agency and how they relate with a murder case labeled "Foxtrot" was never closed out.  The mysterious evidence bag that Richard left with the maid, who was then killed, and which now leads to an even bigger mysterious twist in the book was, again, also still left hanging.

Then there's the death of Linda's husband, Sullivan, which I kept getting vibes that there was much more to it than a simple heart attach.  I keep trying to connect the "Foxtrot" case with his death, and my line of thinking when it comes to crime thrillers, or even cozy mysteries, is that there is definitely a connection.

And then, for some reason, I find Dunk Duncan--the private investigator who works on more high-end cases--kind of shady.  Mainly, the fact that he offered to pick up all of Sullivan's open cases seemed a little sketchy to me.  Or maybe I'm just paranoid.  And then I'm even seeing some sketchiness in Detective Oakley Hall as well--something about him gives me bad vibes.

Unfortunately, as I already stated, there were so many things left unanswered, so many loose ends that had no tie up.  And the ending was so abrupt that it might as well have been a cliffhanger--it almost feels as if our author just sort of needed to wind things up and turn in a manuscript because she was meeting a deadline, and screw the quality of the book.

Anyway, I'm contemplating reading the next book whenever it finally gets published, though, to be honest, it's kind of a stretch, and I might just stop here.  Aside from the children and the dog, and maybe Brittany, the Waffle House waitress, I didn't really care for anyone else in this book.  Octavia was driving me insane with her self-absorbed selfishness, and Linda really, really needed to grow a backbone.

But I DO find the parallel of both women, having molded their entire lives around their respective husbands, then finding themselves in a quandary when they both lose their husbands, kind of a great premise to bounce off of.  If anything, it gave the two a chance to rekindle their estranged relationship.


***

Booklikes-opoly

Roll #10:
This book is tagged 'mystery' on GR.

Page Count:  255
Cash Award:  $3.00

Updated Bank Balance:  $53.00

Voodoo or Die

by Stephanie Bond
Book 2 (final) of Voodoo in Mojo

**This book was also published as Finding Your Mojo.

Really, while this book is categorized as a cozy, it actually presents more of a genre-of-all-types book, same as the first book in this duology.  It has a light, casual, comedic air to the story telling that reminds me of a cozy mystery, but the atmosphere will sometimes dip into the darkness that I typically associate with grittier crime thrillers.  Then it includes the steamy sexy times of category romance... while at the same time incorporating fluffy, sweet devices used in contemporary romances.

It's like a contemporary, cozy, romantic suspense crime thriller.  Or something like that.

But whatever it is, the entire Voodoo doll scenario actually feels a little absent despite the fact that it is entirely present.  Why?  Because I didn't even think to write about the use of Voodoo in this review until right before scheduling this post to publish.  Granted, I know little about Voodoo, so I'm not one to make any noise about how it's represented.

The Voodoo doll is mentioned a lot, and we even have our resident expert on Voodoo cryptically explaining to us what might be going on.  But the for the most part, I feel like that aspect of this book is more in the background as a jumping board to tell the story rather than a huge part of said story.

If that makes any sense.

Nonetheless...

I felt that I really enjoyed this second, and final, installment of the Voodoo in Mojo duology more than the first book.  I don't really know if it was because the characters were more familiar, but I definitely DO think that it might have to do with our main couple being a bit easier to like--I've found that second-chance romances really DO have more heft to them in single-book romances than any other type, really...

But honestly, the romance wasn't all that made me like this book more than the first.  It could just be that the mystery and all the secrets, and surprising twists and reveals just seemed so crazy and outrageous that the entire book really appealed to me.  A lot of instances, the story really did keep me guessing.  And there certainly were a lot of mysteries to guess about.

Gloria was a great heroine to follow, and her relationship with Zane, though a little rushed at times, DID elicit a lot of sweetness to it.  There was even the obligatory angst that actually seemed quite in tune with all the conflicts between our main couple, considering Gloria's been leading a fake life and couldn't admit to Zane that she was the girl he loved when they were teenagers who suddenly disappeared one day and fell off the face of the earth.  There was bound to be angst at the resolution, and while I don't really like romantic angst all that much, I think this situation was handled very well.

On the other hand, some of the concluding scenes felt a bit rushed, but I'm not really complaining.  In fact, I'm thoroughly happy with the way everything wrapped up; although it COULD also be because I just really found enjoyment in this book.


***

2016 Reading Challenges:
• Goodreads Reading Challenge
• BookLikes Reading Challenge
• Reading Assignment Challenge
• Bookish Resolutions Challenge
• 2016 Halloween Bingo

In Deep Voodoo

by Stephanie Bond
Book 1 of Voodoo in Mojo

In Deep Voodoo is an enjoyable, cute, and easy to read, fast-paced cozy--except for the two detailed sex scenes, of course, because I've never seen them so 'adult' in other cozies (so correct me if I'm wrong).  I'll admit that the mystery was intriguing and kept me guessing, although I had a bit of an idea what was going on even if I couldn't pinpoint who the killer was.  Little hints here and there, after all, very obviously point at the resolution to one of the mysteries circling this book.

The book started out very strong and continued on in that same vein.  The characters were all pretty quirky and the atmosphere of the Voodoo festival was set-up really well.  Those moments when Penny is heading to Deke's home, whenever she's ascending the stairs to her home, and even some other moments in the story, were depicted in such a way that I could kind of feel a chill.

But as the book approached it's ending, I have to say, it felt very rushed and detached.  In my mind's eye, I was kind of seeing a checklist of "Events that need to happen to resolve this mystery," and after each scene was written and slightly touched upon, we immediately careened in to the next item on the checklist.  It gave the effect of feeling very detached when the scene called for some emotional impact, or very comical when it was supposed to be kind of serious.  It was almost jarring to finish the book.

The romance was also a bit forced.  Our couple, Penny and B.J. are both attracted to each other, yes.  And they're lusting after each other.  I can give them that much, because attraction at first sight is allowed.  But Penny spends about 80% of the book questioning what she even really knows about B.J. that when the "I love you's" are thrown out, it felt kind of sudden.  I think I would have settled with a more realistic, "I really like you and I want to see where this relationship goes," type of conclusion to their little love story.  Because the romance just wasn't developed enough in this book to really merit "I love you" declarations... as is typical of most romances, anyway, so whatever, I guess.

Penny's healthy habits are commendable, and I found it a nice personality trait--that she's so health conscious with her organic foods, multivitamins, natural herbs, regular exercise...  That was all an interesting character trait to incorporate, as opposed to the "I eat everything in the world, but never get fat" character trait that's used too often.  Of course, because I myself will eat anything and everything that tastes good to me, after a while Penny's little remarks about what other people eat gets a little irritating and overdone.  I started getting this twitchy little grimace.  Because I don't care if someone keeps to a diet that works for them--in fact, good for them; but once you start judging everyone else's food choices, it kind of crosses a line, you know.

I mean, how rude is it to watch someone eating a hamburger and say something like, "How can you eat that disgusting filth?  You're going to clog your arteries and die of a heart attack."  Or how about, "Do you know what is actually in that pizza?"  Not exactly polite dinner table subjects, y'know.

Anyway...

Aside from those few little complaints, I really honestly enjoyed reading In Deep Voodoo.  It was simple and sweet and straightforward.  It is a cozy mystery with a side of romance, with quirky characters.  It was simply enjoyable.


***

2016 Reading Challenges:
• Goodreads Reading Challenge
• BookLikes Reading Challenge
• Reading Assignment Challenge
• Bookish Resolutions Challenge
• 2016 Halloween Bingo

Actual Rating: 2.8 Stars (overall rating taken from average of individual story ratings)

Behind the Red Doors is the first in a five book romance series called Santori Stories as well as a collection of three romances surrounding Valentine's Day. The stories all take place with the setting of a high-end department store called The Red Doors that houses three boutiques: Heaven Scent sells items pertaining to aromatherapy oils and candles, perfumes, and so on; Diamond Mine sells jewelry and accessories; and Sheer Delights sells mainly lingerie and sexy women's clothing.

While this collection follows a promising premise for three love stories, it didn't escape my notice that there were quite a few things that triggered my frustration and "eye-rolling" issues. Yes, the stories were cute. Yes, this would make a nice little romance read for Valentine's Day. And it also seems that many others have enjoyed it. But I couldn't help but notice that certain aspects in each story didn't quite sit well with me even as I enjoyed their cuteness. They are enjoyable love stories, but only if able to overlook a few quibbles here and there that weren't quite easily overlooked.

Also, it finally dawned on me by the end of the collection that each of these stories hinges on big secrets and lies to create conflict and propel the love stories. I'm not sure how to feel about that.


A short summary
Thanks to a nice financial windfall, courtesy of Dev Sherman, the two best friends Jamie and Faith have decided to invest all their money into a high-end boutique targeting gifts for women. What makes The Red Doors different from other boutiques are the specially programmed gift kiosks for men--a means of which they can input information about the women in their lives to produce a specially tailored gift order from one of the three Red Doors boutiques without the hassle of shopping in the store.

Each story begins a few days before Valentine's Day and progresses into the love story surrounding a certain couple. Meanwhile, a secret admirer is amidst our group of friends, leaving little gifts for widower and manager of Sheer Delights, Dixie Merriweather.


Heaven Scent by Vicki Lewis Thompson -- 3.0 Stars
Jamie has had a crush on Dev since before she could remember and looks forward to seeing him every morning as their small group gets together for coffee each day. Dev has started taking notice of Jamie for the past two years since The Red Doors has been in business. Thanks to the meddling of younger sister Faith, Jamie and Dev find themselves getting together alone for business research where neither can continue to deny the attraction brewing between them.

Heaven Scent was the easiest to like with the cuter of the three stories. Aside from the standard "cynical heroine who doesn't know how beautiful she is", I only had one other frustration about this story. Granted, the couple's interactions are cute, but at the same time, the consistent lack of communication and all the jumping to conclusions between the two made for a grand fest of frustration on my part. Really, if these kids would have just talked to each other and tried to be honest with each other... well, I guess there wouldn't be much of a story.

Enjoyable, nonetheless.


Diamond Mine by Stephanie Bond -- 2.5 stars
As the young daughter of the wealthy Sherman clan, Faith had been determined to make something of herself to prove her success with The Red Doors. But that's not this story's focus.

Faith and Carter broke up a year ago because neither were on the same page with their relationship: Faith wanted an actual relationship and Carter is the typical commitment-phobe broody male hero. He always showed up late or didn't show up at all to dates, and the last straw was forgetting Valentine's Day. Ending things on bad terms a year ago, Faith is not quite happy to see that Carter had been the police officer hired by her brother as the added security she needs for her newest diamond display. What she also hadn't expected was to find out that Carter was currently attached and in a committed relationship. Except that Carter really isn't... he just made one up to make a statement to Faith that he's not the man she assumed him to be and that she'd made a mistake breaking up with him; that he is not a man who is "not commitment material".

Except that he kind of is.

This story had a good premise to play off of. A second chance romance that went wrong because two people weren't in the same place at the same time. And while things were going quite smoothly and I even thought that the big secret reveal had all the potential to break into a huge angsty problem between the couple... turns out that the rest of the love story was just as rocky as Carter's lie.

As another reviewer had pointed out: I think I would have liked to have more honesty and truth telling before we started getting all lovey-dovey and naked. Otherwise, the story isn't too bad.


Sheer Delights by Leslie Kelly -- 2.5 Stars
Joe Santori draws his sister-in-law for their family's Secret Santa gift giving, and after a plea from his brother to get her something that will make her start thinking sexy thoughts again after her pregnancy, he ends up at The Red Doors to pick up a gift certificate. While there, he plays around with one of the gift kiosks and somehow creates a picture of the "woman of his dreams" after inputting several of his ideal details on a woman; for the next few weeks he continues to lust after this imaginary woman, even buying the lingerie gifts generated by his kiosk information input.

Meanwhile, Meg O'Rourke has discovered that her innocent photo posing had been used as part of the lingerie modeling program of The Red Doors kiosk gift generating program. While she's having an emotional breakdown over this problem, who should come to her rescue but Joe Santori, the perfect man, who realizes that his dream woman DOES actually exist.

I had so many problems with this story that it was hard to determine whether or not I actually enjoyed it. Because aside from Joe's strange habit of ogling a computer generated picture of Meg and buying all the negligees he ends up creating, and aside from a few other unflattering pieces of dialogue here and there... the story itself wasn't all that bad.

The interaction between Joe and Meg were sweet and cute, big looming secret notwithstanding. And if we could overlook Joe's strange, almost creepy activity as part of the backstory, the story itself would have progressed a little bit better. I mean, granted, like the second story, the big secret had big, delicious potential to implode with all sorts of revelations and angst... and it kind of did.

But what really made it hard for me to overlook was the fact that I would have liked a little bit of honesty in the relationship before anyone got naked. And on top of that, there were very casual off-hand comments here and there that came off kind of insulting to the female sex, including some indirect slut-shaming of no one in particular.

But I have a soft spot for Leslie Kelly, and while there were those few things that I didn't care for, the love story itself was still pretty cute.


Overall Thoughts:
I had been looking forward to this collection because it sounded like sweet, cute fun for hopeless romantics. I can't deny that I'm slightly disappointed that things didn't turn out the way I had hoped and that I had more quibbles about the stories than I expected. Just the fact that there's nothing else going for these stories outside of sweet and cute love stories makes it hard to overlook a couple flaws that really stand out.

Nonetheless, each story was written well and, in a way, still quite enjoyable to read.

***

2016 Reading Challenges:
• Goodreads Reading Challenge
• BookLikes Reading Challenge
• Bookish Resolutions Challenge -- New to me author #7
• Mount TBR Challenge