This was an incredibly moving story. It starts out with a questionable heroine that I wasn't sure I was going to like or want to root for. But I ended up falling in love with Sami. I quickly realized that she wasn't out to hurt people or steal someone's husband, but she was trying to find something in herself to value. Within the first couple chapters, I found a depth in her character that was unexpected and wonderful.



Michael was another one I had a hard time with at first. I think I was supposed to. He's put up a wall around everything in his life and pushed everyone away. He's so determined not to let anyone hurt him again, that he's destroying himself. You can't help but feel for the man who lost so much, and you really want him to just open up and let life back in.



Their romance isn't a traditional one. They both have so much to work through and it almost consumes their lives. But watching as they slowly build each other up in such positive ways was amazing. It was a true romance - not love/lust at first sight. It was life, pure and not so simple.



These two broken souls ended up being perfect for each other. Both looking for someone to trust and relate to. Someone that understands their brokenness in a way most people never will. A beautifully told, semi-clean romance with an HEA that almost made me cry.

This was a new and quite interesting world full of shifters of all types, vampires, and other things that I'm not even sure what they are yet. Kassity is one of the few remaining panthers in North America - she's special, and she's caught up in a war working for Lucius. At first I thought of Lucius as the bad guy, but once we get to know a few of the other characters better I realized he might actually be the good guy - just in a weird twisted way (which I love). His relationship with Kassity, and his other "people" is a strange one and his controlling nature makes it hard to appreciate him at times.

When Jaxon enters and inadvertently threatens Lucius's hold on Kassity and puts her in danger, all hell breaks loose. He finds himself stuck in a place between sides and not quite sure who is telling him the truth. What he is sure of, is that Kassity is his mate, and he proceeds to do everything in his power to make sure she stays safe.

In the background, we have the story of a missing stone. This might seem anti-climactic, but the stone turns out to be something very special - and Kassity's job is to find it. There is a lot going on at times in this story, but it was written in a way that really keeps in engaged and invested in all the characters, not just Kassity and Jaxon. It made me want to know more, especially about the mysterious Teagen.

Now, I had a paper copy of the book on hand since this was my first experience with an audio book. And since this was my first audio - I don't have anything to really compare it to (I think I also giggled through the first sex scene. Hearing it read out loud brought out my inner adolescent..) Because I read the book this way, I did notice just a couple of small little "oops" in the narration - nothing that takes anything away from the story. The narrator did a fantastic job of catching the personalities of the characters in her voice. My biggest fear before going in was that I would lose track of who was talking. Not an issue at all.

Part way through I forgo the paper copy and began listening to the audio book while I walked at lunch. It was a great escape and a good way to enjoy a book when I wasn't able to sit down and read. I'm glad I gave the audio book a try (thank you A.L.) because I know exactly what I'll be doing the next time I'm on a long car ride - say to Mackinac Island for Indie Romance Convention next year.

*The audio book was received free in exchange for an honest review*
*The paper book was purchased from the author at Indie Romance Convention 2014*

A Dangerous Talent was a really fun read. I won't vouch for the accuracy of the artistic facts, I'm not an expert in that area. However, the main character, Alix London, is. Alix has an interesting history in the art world, and it's a history that doesn't really help her reputation. With a father convicted for forgery, she's had a hard time finding clients that will trust her.



But she does have a few, and the newest one, Christine Lemay, has decided she just must have a Georgia O'Keefe. And so begins Alix's first trip into mystery and mayhem. Chris and Alix are a great team. Chris is the loud and wonderfully outrageous woman that doesn't care what anyone thinks, and is a nice balance to Alix's much more conservative nature.



A simple trip to view and authenticate Chris's painting turns out to involve a dead body, an explosion, and an FBI agent. With a great mix of mystery and action, and maybe the beginnings of something with a certain hunky guy. This may not top the list of all-time favorites, but A Dangerous Talent was something I was very happy to stumble upon.

Lover Unleashed continues Ward's story of the Black Dagger Brotherhood with the full introduction of Payne. I've seen her sparring with Wrath in the Sanctuary in the past book, but now she's on Earth with a horrible injury to her neck. Right off the bat there were a few storyline inconsistencies with her past and Vishious that really bothered me at first. But I'm so deep into the series now that I just had to keep going.



Very glad that I did. One of my favorite things about this book was seeing one of the women, Doc Jane, playing a major role after her romance was done. My biggest complaint about the series so far is that we seem to lose track of the women. There aren't many updates or glimpses into their lives unless it's directly related to the Brotherhood. But we got to see a lot of Doc Jane here - and it was a side of her that we hadn't really seen before.



She has to make the call to bring a human surgeon in to help repair the damage to Payne's spinal cord, and Dr. Manuel Manello is the only one she trusts to operate on the vampire female. And, of course, something happens between them that no one really understands. Payne and Manello will have to fight to be together and find a way to merge their two worlds.



On the war front, we don't see too much going on. Lash doesn't play a role in this story. The conflict was all within the main characters - a bit of a change from past books in the series. I loved how the story progressed and seeing some new characters in the mix - but still - I want to see the women play more in the story from book to book.

When FBI agent Ted Ellesworth asks Alix to help be his eyes and ears during an art auction on a luxury yacht, it seems more like a vacation than a job. Elkins did a great job showing the luxury and decadence of the Greek tycoon's yacht and captures some of the very unique personalities on board very well.

What she finds instead is a possible counterfeit, maybe a murder, and a stream of finances that just isn't adding up. Once again she's neck deep in a mystery involving the high-end art world. This one was a little more convoluted than the first with lots of hands in the pot and tangled webs wrapping around things.

One of the best things about the series so far - I don't figure it out halfway through. There are enough hints that point me in a general direction, but the big reveal only happens when Alix and her "crew" all get together and share their collective information. The fact that it takes the entire team to figure out all the details in the end only makes things better.

The ending of this was quite intense though. More so than I expected, but it kept me on the edge of my seat until the last page.

I loved this book. It was full of great characters (including a rooster), some hilarious situations, and stubbornness. I love when stubborn characters butt heads, and Cole and Summer definitely fit that bill.

Summer is a true southerner. She knows all the southern small town rules and niceties that a person must follow if they want to be part of polite society, but she's not quite welcome still. The reason is amazing. It's one of the best revenge stories ever, but it turned most of the residents against her. Yet Summer is the one that finds herself the center of attention again when Cole demands that she plays the leading lady in the film his is not only starring in, but directing.

There is tons of humor and watching as these two make the transition from barely tolerating each other, through friendship, and on to something bigger had me smiling the entire time. The antics and situations they found themselves in as they tried to one-up each other were amazing - and the rooster - the rooster stole the show a few times.

This is a light-hearted fun romance. I laughed out loud and couldn't stop grinning the whole time.

Alix London is making a reputation for herself as the "Art Whisperer," capable of telling if a painting is authentic or not by just looking at it. And her intuition is never wrong, it might just take her a little while to prove it. This reputation is getting her in trouble this time. She's being targeted online by a smear campaign, and it's strangely tied to her new job at a small museum.

She's determined to save her reputation and find out who is behind the attacks. But she'll end up needing some help on this one, and she's not sure exactly what her relationship with FBI Agen Ted Ellesworth is anymore. Which is another minefield that she will need to navigate.

I really enjoy how the mysteries in the series build off each other. The characters are dynamic from book to book, and their growth and development adds to the storyline and enhances the mystery and sleuthing as we go on. I'm also learning a bit about art, and I love how the authors tie it all together is such great stories.

Fatal Destiny was a great novella that was all about the good feels leading up to Sam and Nick's wedding. It also sets the stage for some future drama (or so it seems) that has the potential to shake up our main couple's lives. This was more of a bridge between books four and five (which I totally loved) than a full story unto itself. We do get to meet a really amazing character - the wedding planner - who manages to keep Sam and Nick on track, on schedule, and on their merry way for the wedding. She was a force of nature, and I have it on good authority that she pops up again in a future book (yay!).

This was fun short story showing a bit of the history of Amery, Lola, and Lochie. The story takes place in a summer camp - something Amery is being allowed to do for the first time. When a camper goes missing it gets pretty interesting. This was a good short story and gave a bit of background for the characters, but not much more than what we already know in the first book. In fact, I would recommend reading it after the first book so you have a little more suprises when you first meet them all.

- See more at: http://hotofftheshelves.blogspot.com/2014/07/review-ignite-project-integrate-05-by.html#sthash.B9MBUcnE.dpuf

I read this book a long time ago. With the recent rise of making mini-series for books on NetFlix, Hulu, and prime cable channels, book club selected it so they could read it before watching (at least most of them did). I loved having a chance to pick this incredible story up again. The TV show was quite different the further I got into it. It was a great way of highlighting things that I “liked” better or worse between the two and opened a whole new conversation about the events as well.



Most of you will know the basics of the story – a dystopian somewhat futuristic society that has reverted to extreme religious views (of a sort) and certain class of young fertile women are related to basically be breeding stock for the military higher-ups and the elite. Not a very pleasant situation.



I think what I enjoyed most about the book was the ending – so I won’t say too much other than it surprised me. It’s quite open-ended, which I usually don’t like. But in this case, it just seemed to fit. I highly recommend this book – and it seems to be a quite fitting read in our current political climate as well.