Amy Lane - Keeping Rock Promise

Carrick Francis has spent most of his life jumping into trouble with both feet. The only thing saving him from prison or worse is his absolute devotion to Deacon Winters. Deacon was Crick's sanity and salvation during a miserable, abusive childhood, and Crick would do anything to stay with him forever. So when Deacon's father dies, Crick puts his college plans on hold to help Deacon as Deacon has helped him.
Deacon's greatest wish is to see Crick escape his memories and the town they grew up in so Crick can enjoy a shining future. But after two years of growing feelings and temptation, the painfully shy Deacon finally succumbs to Crick's determined advances and admits he sees himself as part of Crick's life.
It nearly destroys Deacon when he discovers Crick has been waiting for him to push him away, just like Crick's family did in the past. When Crick's knack for volatile decisions lands him far away from home, Deacon is left, shell-shocked and alone, struggling to reforge his heart in a world where love with Crick is a promise, but by no means a certainty.

Comment: This is another book I had in my pile to read for some years now. I'm making an effort in trying to go through long standing books and I hope I can keep on doing it the following years too. This was in the pile after someone's recommendation but I can't remember exactly why.

In this story we meet Carrick Francis, a young man who has always seemed to get himself into trouble but he discovered a model hero in Deacon Winters, the son of a man who took him in even when his own family didn't. Being at the Winters' farm was great in many ways, especially because it allowed him to realize he wasn't only thankful to Deacon's help and attention, but also to the fact he liked Deacon as more than a friend.

Since Carrick is so young, Deacon never really does anything about it until the day of their friends Jon and Amy's wedding but some miscommunication afterwards turned things into an almost unbearable situation. Can these two overcome their issues and make a happy life together?

This was a good story, very rich in details and emotions but it was also very angsty. If I had to summarize things, I'd say it was a little too much in the negative aspects so, despite the beauty of the writing and the analysis behind every action, this novel would probably read as just being a little over average for me.

This is basically a story about two guys not really thinking about each other romantically until a certain point. I liked how the author has tried to keep things simple, no big mastermind plot behind any action, any sequence, this is just a group of average people going about their lives. As in real life, things don't go perfectly scripted and all characters face lots of everyday situations and others not as easy to go through. I did like the fact the author inserted this vibe of normalcy in their lives and we can wonder how many thousands have similar lives or similar situations to overcome in their existence as well.

What I think is the most negative detail isn't the problems the characters face. I think the problem is the amount of problems. In almost every chapter there's something to solve, something to discuss, something to fear, something to go through, something to try to not worry about, something to... and so on. I know this can be realistic and I think the author wasn't trying to hide anything in relation to the type of issues real people go through, so this book has realism and emotion but it was too much. I felt like I had no time to breathe between the problems, the heartbreak and the defeat in certain chapters. 

Thankfully, there's a HEA at the end, otherwise, I'd go crazy thinking there wouldn't be no hope at all to them.

Carrick is a cute character and his personality is pretty much obvious from the start. He does go through several issues but I liked that despite all, I could commiserate with him and his words. He does act a little too impetuously and I found some outcomes of this to be rather exaggerated but overall his actions revealed someone caring and I'd have liked to know him in real life.

Deacon is more reserved but through his actions and decisions we understand he is someone amazing and trustworthy. I could see why he and Carrick are a good couple but their relationship wasn't an easy one until the end of the novel. I would have liked to see them interact more and in a more relaxed environment fr certain.

The plot is filled with difficult scenes. As I've said, the main theme is definitely emotion through obstacle overcoming, but I still liked little impressions we are supposed to get and feel by going through everything. However, it can be a little exhausting to read this because it feels like the problems are on going and it's hard not to be a little depressed about it.

Grade: 7/10

Jennifer Ashley / Amy Lane

The Mackenzies gather for a clan Christmas and New Year's in Scotland. In the chaos of preparations for the celebration--the first of Hart and Eleanor's married life--one of Ian's Ming bowls gets broken, and the family scrambles to save the day. Daniel busily runs a betting ring for everything from the time Eleanor's baby will arrive to whether Mac's former-pugilist valet can win a boxing match to who will be the first of the many guests to be caught under the mistletoe. Ian begins a new obsession, and Beth fears the loss of one of his precious bowls has made him withdraw once more into his private world. 

Comment: I really liked this story. I am a fan of the series and I took the time to get the two novellas sort of at the same time. This one is like a sugar rush because it's sweet and full of wonderful scenes and warm feelings and special things and possibilities. It's to assure the reader things are indeed well with all those beloved characters. I know some readers don't like these types of stories much, but personally I don't mind and even gladly wish for them if they're meant to be good. I think it's a nice read, to reassure us of the power of family love.
Grade: 8/10

*  *  * 

Whim believes himself to be the least powerful sidhe at Green's Hill: he is as constant as a bumblebee in a hurricane and as faithful as a stray breeze. Whim's prince believes there is more to him than that and on Litha, the night of the summer solstice, sends Whim into the mortal world where he strives to give a piece of himself to others. It is on Litha that Whim meets Charlie, a young, desperate human who steals a kiss. Whim steals one back and, in turn, craves another taste of this extraordinary man. Their vows to return next Litha and finish what they started launch a thirteen-year tradition of celebration between the mortal and the immortal, between love and patience, that is sustained by Whim's driving, faithful compulsion to love and keep his human close to his heart.

Comment: This story isn't very big, it's about two guys meeting by chance and falling in love. It's set int he same world of the Little Goddess series I've read recently by the author, so many things are familiar. This story has a certain sad tone to it...it's hard to think about sacrifices and distance and time going by when you have so many things to live for...I was a bit depressed by this story, the author has created a special world but always with a little sad note in there...
Grade: 6/10

Amy Lane - Rampant

Lady Cory has carved out a life for herself not just as a wife to three husbands but also as one of the rulers of the supernatural communities of Northern California-- and a college student in search of that elusive degree. When a supernatural threat comes crashing into the hard-forged peace of Green's hill, she and Green determine that they're the ones in charge of stopping the abomination that created it. 
Their vow to protect leads Cory, Bracken and Nicky to Redding--where a tight-knit family of vampires threatens the people Cory loves to keep a terrible secret. It also leads them to a conflict of loyalties, as Nicky's parents threaten to tear Nicky away from the family he's come to love more than his own life. 
Cory has to work hard to hold on to her temper and her life as she tries to prove that she and Green are not only leaders who will bind people to their hearts, but also protectors who will keep danger from running RAMPANT.

Comment: This is the fourth book in the Little Goddess series by this author and so far, th last one, I've asked ms Lane if she's planning to write more, but I'm still waiting for a reply. Anyway, I'll consider this one to be the last book after four months reading the series. I've started this just to get four more books out of my TBR pile so I wasn't really expecting to be amazed. Still, I've read them all now and my opinion grades this with an average of three starts in GR mainly because the main character annoyed me in three of the four books. Oh well...

This fourth book continues the story of Cory, a new goddess-like person who got to know her powers after the touch of another god, which led to a succession of happenings that changed her life, her perspective of life in general and how to see herself and others. In this book Cory and her new family have to deal with a threat to her family and to anyone else because a predator is turning children into monsters. While dealing with this they also meet Nicky's parents and a guest that will prove quite the challenge...

I was thinking how best to write about this story...the thing is, I did like the book and the others before for there's something special about it, some little thing in there that makes me want to read, there's an interesting lesson as well, but at the same time I find many passages boring and too slow to fully enjoy this. Besides, the books demand a lot of time and I had some struggles with this one, for it took me practically a week to finish it.

It's not that it is bad or stupid. It does have, like I've said, some interesting elements and lessons in how to accept others and their relationships and how to be open minded and in reality the only thing we have to protect is our family and our beliefs, just letting go of all the others prejudices and fears we might have. But good sentences and ideals aside, I found the story to be...slightly boring. Oh and I really don't see the attractiveness in the female protagonist. The series revolve around her so there's no avoiding her, but while I warmed up to her in the first book, now she's annoying and it get on my nerves how she suddenly is the holy grail of everything in the series. Also there's too much speculation, what ifs about a thing or two and I just wanted some more objectivity at some points.

I found Cory to be really annoying now. In the first story sh was just someone with potential finding out about her powers, her life, the possibilities, she got to know others and herself and the story felt like a whole new existence to all the characters. Now, Cory is a different person, she's still a bit timid and she does power related stuff because she has to..but I don't like her voice anymore, she is too much in a position of power and focus. Yes, I know it's all about her, but I no longer like that, I'd have preferred to see her as someone important but did the others have to bow all th time (metaphorically and figuratively speaking) to her and her sudden new take on life? At some parts I just agreed with some of the antagonists were they spoke badly about her because at those moments it seemed she was just too much the know-it-all and a bit arrogant too. It annoyed me immensely. All the other characters that like her usually let her do and talk like she's the only one who matters and although she claims she doesn't see herself that way, the author has written things in such a way, it's right there in the face of the reader and it gets tiring and annoying.

As for this book's plot, I thought it was interesting enough to see things develop but it took forever and it ended in a thrilling cliffhanger. If the series is to end this way I don't mind I thin it's artistic and leaves a lot of space for the imagination, but I guess I see why many readers would like a follow-up.
This book is so long I could spend many more lines talking about several subjects, like how Nicky's parents weren't exactly what I thought, how we had characters playing an important role but whose main story is in another series and must we read everything, but to be honest those things feel like secondary.

I enjoyed reading the series overall, but this book in particular was harder for the reasons I've mentioned. If there are more books to come I really hope they're better and not as Cory oriented or done in a way that only shows how wonderful others see her or how perfect she seems to act even when she isn't. Too much of her gets too much, period.
Still, many elements to think about.
Grade: 6/10

Morgan Hawke / Amy Lane

Rory knows better than to get involved with someone whose first love is their Job. Unfortunately, chief of Security Jin won't take no for an answer. 
Rory has a rather intimidating personal problem: Teradyne Corporation's chief of security, Jin. Despite his attraction to the dark-haired elite, Rory knows better than to get involved with someone who's first love is their Job. Unfortunately, Jin doesn't seem to want to take 'no' for an answer.

Comment: I've had this one to read for a long time and I only got it because I enjoyed some other things by the author. However, this one fell flat because it was a short story and I don't think it as enough time to develop the characters or their personalities. The storyline had interesting elements but the personal side wasn't as well done. I didn't feel any empathy towards the two main characters and when the story ended I wasn't sorry to see it over. This is set in a futuristic world bu I wished for a more conventional personal development.
Grade: 3/10

*     *     *

Humans have the option of separation, divorce, and heartbreak—for Corinne Carol-Anne Kirkpatrick,

sorceress and queen of the vampires, the choices are limited to love or death. Now that she is back at Green’s hill and assuming her duties as leader, her life is, at best, complicated. Bracken and Nicky are rivalling for her affections, Green is gone taking care of his people, and a new supernatural enemy is threatening the sanctity of all she has come to love. Throw in a family reunion gone bad, a supernatural psychiatrist and a killer physics class, and Cory’s life isn’t just complex, it’s psychotic. Cory needs to get her act and her identity together, and soon, because the enemy she and her lovers are facing is a nightmare that doesn’t just kill people, it unmakes them. If she doesn’t figure out who she is and what her place is on Green’s hill, it’s not just her life on the line. She knows from hard experience that the only thing worse than facing death is facing the death of someone she loves.
Because loving people is easy—living with them is what takes the real work, and it’s even harder if you’re BOUND.

Comment: This is the third story in this series and this time there's another villain to conquer. The story doesn't run away from what we were used to in the first two books, but as always we see a lot of inner thoughts and interactions. Although the storyline doesn't feel like it's that different, there's no doubt it provides quite the emotional ride because all characters show their feelings, their issues and t some point everything is discussed. I think the author does  good job showing the reader what can be inside someone's head, no matter the humanity of the subject. This isn't as bad or as good as I thought after the first book, but I can't say it isn't emotional and thoughtful.
Grade: 6/10

Amy Lane - Wounded

Green: "If someone gives their life for you, it is because they can not bear to live in a world without you. This is a great gift and a terrible burden, and if you are going to live, you need to be grateful for the gift and prepared to bear the burden."
Cory: "I do fearsome things, when I'm touching people who love me..."
Cory fled the foothills to deal with the pain of losing Adrian, and Green watched her go. Separately, they could easily grieve themselves to death, but when an enemy brings them together, they find out what a great and terrible force love can be.

Comment: This is the second book in the Little Goddess series by the author. I liked the first one but after thinking about it for some time I found more things to dislike which meant that, despite keeping my general opinion abut it, I also lowered the grade a bit. Well, mentally at least.
I started this one only with the idea of going through with it to be one book closer to finish another series.

In this second book, Cory and Green are still raw after Adrian's gone. They have to deal with it and the support and needs from all the other people who live in the hill. They also have to prove to others heir feelings remain the same and are as strong as always. But what they can't do is to remain static with so many people dependent on them to keep their will to carry on and to feel accepted.

I kind of liked this one. I just thought things would be a bit more quiet and traditional but they didn't went that path. I should have guessed but I still had some hopes. I've described this series to a person as a YA fantasy erotica. Although the characters aren't teenagers, one of them is still even though with a personality beyond that. Still. 16 and 17 aren't numbers I immediately connect to mature people. I know, I know, everyone's different...anyway, the world is fantasy, vampires ans faeries and many other beings but they live in a society where it's not that strange for people to have re than one lover. I shouldn't have been surprised but I thought Green and Cory would become a couple and that's it.
They didn't....obviously. But you now, in a way I accepted things like they were being developed because considering the tone of the story it wasn't such a big deal.

Cory and Green have a special relationship but things aren't as easy as only the two of them. They have to consider two other people caught in a twist no one was expecting. I really was surprised with this as I didn't think I'd buy the whole idea of Cory kind of bonding with more than one guy that completely but in that world I wasn't surprised. I thin the author has an idea, a concept of how things are an she makes them work so even when apparently weird, things still manage to look fit like a good puzzle. Odd, but there it is.

The secondary characters are funny, interesting and I love to see them interacting as I think this is the biggest strength in the series.

What annoyed me really the most was the jumping scenes, things around...it was quite complicated to follow the action. So many things happening at the same time and not always as easy to interpret as that. At some point the reader gets an idea of what it meant and why but it can be quite the task to keep up. This slows down the reading a bit and can present a not so good image of the whole story, which is a pity.

All in all, not as bad as I thought, but despite some good surprised and easy immersing in the world, some structure story telling still bring the book down a notch.
Grade: 5/10

Amy Lane - Vulnerable

Working graveyards in a stop & rob seemed a small price for Cory to pay in order to get her degree and get the hell out of Nor-Cal. She was terrified of disappearing into the aimless vortex that awaited the lost and the young that haunted her neck of the woods. Until the night she actually stopped looking at her books and looked up. What awaited her was a world she had only read about--one filled with fantastical creatures that she was sure she could never be. And then Adrian walked in--and she discovered that risking your life was nothing compared to facing who you really were. And then falling in love.

Comment: I have no idea how long this book had been waiting to be read. I got it a long time ago, but there came the time I just avoided YAs because of the whole extreme feelings vs not mature enough behavior conflict and in the end I usually didn't read many and the ones I had already were immediately put aside. Then, I decided my current plan of spreading books from my TBR list throughout the months of the year and I just made my mind to get this series over with. I thought it was a plain YA story.

This book is the first of four about Cory, a young woman (19 IIRC), but not as young as that. Se finds out one day she has some sort of powers when a guy who goes to the remote gas station where she works nights touches her arm. From then on her life changes, she falls in love, she fights for her new friends and she gains the respect of those around her.

Er...so this book is pretty confusing at first. I wasn't very into it in the beginning but after a while I got more focused in the story and in the end ended up enjoying it a lot.
I didn't like how it ended. It was too emotional and despite being a good way to allow the possibilities of continuation to start developing, I wasn't very convinced by the way it was done. The thing is, someone dies and I don't think it was a smart move.

The writing....This isn't the first book by the author I've tried so the writing style wasn't such a surprise. However, the editing was. It was awful and if the story wasn't thrilling enough by that point I think I'd have skipped most of the book because it as poorly written. Many sentences didn't seem to work out and many others were just oddly presented. I suppose the things out there saying being a self published work was the problem can be a good explanation, but still, it shouldn't be this way.

The plot...well, I enjoyed seeing Cory grow up and build up relationships with those around her and even becoming more self confidant because she is at the center of the plot. Most times I was positively surprised by her choices and evolution but I think now that it was the heat of the moment speaking. Now that I think about the plot, some things bother me...still, all things considered, the story of how a group of weird, different beings in this world live together and help each other any way possible, sexual included, wasn't that strange but I wasn't prepared to see it that way at first. When I got the idea it would be a sort of erotica story I accepted it, but it wouldn't seem so at first and part of me would have wanted to be aware of that sooner. I didn't really like some issues in the novel, but I was ready to overlook that until something happened and although I gave 4 starts to the book, I still didn't like that...so I guess my four starts are more a 3.5 by now.

The characters seemed to follow a certain pattern, they would go a certain way but some of them changed and apparently will do more in the future books. I'm not sure what I think about that. 
As for keeping on with the series I will, but I just hop I don't stop being captivated by this.
All in all, entertaining, interesting, good enough but after a while things stop being as appealing as one might have thought at first. Great premises and situations to explore, not as wonderful behavior after.
Let's see the second one, how it goes. Once again, the end of this one wasn't needed and annoyed me, but who know, things might be good after this.

Amy Lane - Truth in the Dark

"I am not beautiful..."

Knife's entire existence has been as twisted as his flesh and his face. The only thing beautiful in his life is his sister. When Gwennie is obliged to turn a suitor down because she fears to leave her brother to the brutality of their village, Knife is desperate for anything to ensure her happiness.

Her suitor's cousin offers him a way out, but it won't be easy. Aerie-Smith has been cursed to walk upright in the form of a beast, and his beloved village suffers from the same spell. Aerie-Smith offers Gwen a trousseau and some hope, if only Knife will keep him company on his island for the span of a year and perform one "regrettable task" at year's end.

Knife is unprepared for the form the island's curse takes on his own misshapen body. In one moment of magic, he is given the body of his dreams—and he discovers that where flesh meets spirit and appearance meet reality, sometimes the only place to find truth is in the darkness of a lover's arms.

Comment: This was my choice of mrs Lane for the challenge. I didn't check reviews or other comments before reading, so I could start it with a clean slate.
I wasn't prepared to read a story where one of the main cgaracters was an animal most of the time, but that fact didn't disturbe me or my will to read.

Aerie Smith has been cursed for an innocent mistake in his past and he knows only a sacrifice can help him and the people in the island where he lives. So, he asks for Naef's help, although Naef is often rude and doesn't accept it at first.
But a promise makes him go to the island and help his host.
In there he understands what its liek to be friendly, to trust and to love. He accepts the other habitants of the island and helps them in their daily issues, as well as accepting himself for what he is. Then there's his relationship with Aerie Smith and all that goes with it...especially love and confidence.

Naef has had a troubled childhood, he isn't good looking and has a limp. He was violated and his sister defended him, so she means the world to him. When she refuses to marry in order not to leave him, he agrees to go to Aerie Smith's island as a favour to his future brother-in-law, which means his sister might follow her heart at last. In there he understand what is to love and trust. I think the writer has a great way with words, it felt like she used the perfect words to describe whatever was happening. I eagerly read each page and was happy to see new things hapenig and how each main character dealt with his own feelings and what those meant to the whole situation and the other person. It's a very raw study on emotions, I believe, to understand sometimes what others see in ourselves is really there, no matter how difficult it is to us to see it too. I think the magic is in there, mostly. We just can't see it but someone else swears it is. Then there's the trust issue, with true love comes trust and although Naef didn't trust Aerie Smith at first, he grew to see that sometimes true love deserves all the trust in the world.

I liked the story a lot and I feel I'll re-read it often too. It has such sweet parts. I felt happy when I finished and the book totally worked out for me. Plus there's always some kind of magic in the air in the author's novels. I like that a lot.