Review of Sheryl Nantus's Blood of the Pride

Title: Blood of the Pride

Author: Sheryl Nantus

Publisher: Carina Press

Format: eBook

Source: NetGalley (and purchased – see below)

Publication Date: February 13, 2012

Rating: 4 out of 5

A few years ago I was looking for some steampunk novels for my Kindle, and Amazon recommended that I read Sheryl Nantus’s Wild Cards and Iron Horses. I liked the book so much, I went back and bought two more of her books, both in wildly different genres. Blaze of Glory features reality tv super heroes suddenly forced to step up and actually BE super heroes, and What God and Cats Know is a mystery with a feline shapeshifter PI. I loved all the books, so when I saw Blood of the Pride was available on NetGalley, I immediately requested it, thinking it was a sequel to What God and Cats Know. I realized as soon as I started reading that it’s not actually a sequel – it’s the same book published under a different title. That’s actually not a bad thing. I suspect that Ms. Nantus will get wider distribution with Carina Press, and I loved the book the first time I read it. Upon re-reading it for review, I STILL love the book.

Rebecca Desjardin is a Felis shifter kicked out of her Pride nearly 20 years earlier, because she was unable to shift. She’s living in the human world, working as a private investigator, when a severed rabbit’s paw mysteriously appears in her office, the signal that the Pride wants to meet with her. A woman was murdered, and photos of her corpse stuck in mid-shift are splashed across the pages of a tabloid. Even though Rebecca’s convinced that no one will take the photos seriously, the pride wants her to investigate the woman’s death.

Investigative reporter Brandon Hanover found copies of the photos slipped under his door and decided to publish them, even though he’s convinced they’re nothing more than the tabloid’s usual fare. But there’s no doubt that the woman in the photos was brutally murdered, so when PI Rebecca Desjardin approaches him for his help, Brandon senses that there’s more to the story. Before long he’s involved in a world of felis shifters that he never knew existed, and he’s very interested in the mysterious felis PI. But the more they learn, the more danger both Rebecca and Brandon find themselves in. Can they solve the case without exposing the felis shifters to the world?

If you’re looking for a strong romance, this is not the book for you. While the book has a romance, that’s not the principal focus. For at least the first part of the book, I found Brandon to be a bit of a nuisance, and while he eventually won me (and the heroine) over, the most important storylines of the book are the mystery surrounding the murder and Rebecca’s broken relationship with the Pride.

That said, the book drew me in from the first. Rebecca is a strong character who’s dealt with rejection from her pride while carving out a new life for herself. She’s a kickass PI, and I love that she’s the focus of the novel. Her relationship with Jess Hammersmythe, the leader of the Pride, is complex and troubled, as Jess made several troubling decisions about Rebecca in the past in order to protect the Pride. As Rebecca uncovers the truth behind the murder, she risks exposing the Pride and has to make difficult decisions about her future and how best to punish the murderer.

All of the above makes for fascinating reading. I was as invested in solving the mystery the second time I read the book as I was the first, and if you’re a fan of strong female characters and mysteries with a paranormal twist, this is a real winner. I have high hopes that one day I’ll see a sequel to this book, since the story really sticks with you.

Review of Cheryl Crane's The Bad Always Die Twice

Title: The Bad Always Die Twice

Author: Cheryl Crane

Publisher: Kensington Books

Format: Hardcover and eBook

Source: Goodreads FirstReads Program

Publication Date: September 1, 2011

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

I won this book from Goodreads First Reads program, which was a nice surprise, because I probably wouldn't have purchased it for myself if I had seen it on the shelf in the bookstore. (Note to publisher - that cover is HORRIBLE!!) Cheryl Crane is the daughter of actress Lana Turner, and there are semi-autobiographical touches throughout the book, which add an air of verisimilitude. I believe this is Ms. Crane’s first novel, although she has published other non-fiction works in the past. While there are a few glitches that detracted from my enjoyment of the mystery, Nikki Harper was a likeable character with a strong voice, and I'll definitely be looking forward to reading the next Nikki Harper mystery.

Hollywood realtor Nikki Harper is the daughter of 50s bombshell Victoria Bordeaux and is celebrating the recent sale of the white elephant mansion of TV has been actor, Rex March. But only a few days later, Rex March’s body is discovered in the bed of Nikki’s best friend and business partner, Jessica Martin. What makes the discovery so bizarre is that Rex supposedly died 6 months earlier in a fiery plane crash. Nikki finds herself trying to clear Jessica’s name, and as the investigation progresses, we meet some of Hollywood’s quirkiest characters. But Nikki soon begins to wonder if trying to clear Jessica’s name has attracted the killer’s attention to this realtor turned P.I.

There are many things to like about this mystery. Ms. Crane's writing is smooth and easy to read, and Nikki Harper's character is very likeable and down to earth. I love the relationship she has with her 50s movie star mother, Victoria Bordeaux and all the glimpses of old Hollywood glamour. Victoria and Nikki come across as real people you would want to spend time with, and Nikki’s friends and family make up a zany but loveable supporting cast. Also, you'll really enjoy Nikki's voice, which I think promises well for Ms. Crane's future novels.

I would have rated this book a 4 if it were not for a few small complaints. The first is that Nikki's best friend, Jessica, is really obnoxious. When Jessica is accused of murdering a former client and lover, Nikki immediately steps up to investigate what's going on, but Jessica is so unlikeable that it was hard for me to understand why Nikki would be her friend, much less such a loyal friend that she's willing to snoop around to clear her friend's name.

The second complaint is that there are small hints of a romantic relationship for Nikki, but these never really materialize into anything. If the relationship is going to be important, I would like it to be a more central part of Nikki's life. If it's not, then I'm not sure the character even needs to be included, because his presence doesn't add much to the narrative arc.

All of that aside, this was a pleasant read with a well thought-out mystery. Nikki Harper was such a likeable character that I kept turning the pages, and the secondary characters that make up her support system (her mother and several friends) were delightful.

Review of Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz

Title: Revenge of the Spellmans (Spellmans #3)

Author: Lisa Lutz

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Formats: Hardcover, Trade Paperback & Ebook

Source: Won from Goodreads’ First Reads

Publication Date: 2009

Rating: 4 out of 5

One of the reasons I enjoy Goodreads’ First Reads program is that I can enter contests to win books I normally wouldn’t pick up, thus discovering new authors in different genres. Sometimes this backfires (see my review of The Medusa Amulet), but since I spent last night laughing like a hyena and scaring the dog, I think we can safely say my plan worked out great with Lisa Lutz’s Revenge of the Spellmans. This book was so funny in places that I had to stop reading because I was tearing up from laughing so hard.

Revenge of the Spellmans is billed as a mystery, but to me the biggest mystery is how Isabel “Izzy” Spellman has managed to live 31 years without strangling someone in her family. Izzy’s family owns a PI firm in San Francisco, but as the book begins Izzy is taking a break by working as a bartender and attending court-ordered therapy sessions. When her boss at the bar asks her to look into a friend’s case as a favor, Izzy reluctantly agrees, but what at first seems to be a simple case of a husband suspecting a wife of cheating soon becomes far more elaborate.

What makes this book so unusual is that most of the book is focused on small mysteries within the family. Izzy wants to know why her perfect lawyer brother David is acting so unusual, her younger sister Rae keeps relocating Izzy’s car without permission, and her father keeps insisting on having lunch with her. This family is probably certifiably insane, and in the real world these people would drive you NUTS, but within the pages of this book the Spellmans are hilarious.

My absolute favorite scene has to be when Izzy recounts the first job interview she ever had. Even though she’d been working off the books for her parents since she was 12, her father insisted on having a job interview when Izzy turned 15. Honestly, I think I found this scene so funny, because I can TOTALLY see my Dad doing this. Unfortunately, I resemble uptight lawyer brother David more than Izzy, so I would have played along. Izzy doesn’t, and just thinking about the scene makes me snicker. She’s quite the smartass, and while at times that definitely gets in the way of her developing relationships with other people, it creates some hysterical moments within the family. When her Dad (Albert) calls her from the office and tells 15 year old Izzy to “Dress appropriately, Ms. Spellman”, Izzy dresses up in her brother’s old nerd costume and packs a lunch in his briefcase. When the interview begins, she breaks out a napkin and starts eating. Really, I was crying by this point. But my favorite lines come at the end of the interview, which I have to quote here:

ALBERT: Why should we hire you?

ISABEL: Do I need to remind you that I already work here?

ALBERT: Tell me how you can contribute to our organization.

ISABEL: Please. Just let me drink the Kool-Aid.

ALBERT: That’s it, Isabel. Get out of here!

ISABEL: It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Melman.

Ms. Lutz varies the narration in a lot of different ways, including transcripts from Izzy’s court-ordered therapy sessions, more traditionally narrated passages, appendices, case files, and flashbacks like the one I just mentioned. The back and forth between the family mysteries and the ones Izzy is hired to solve mesh perfectly, while the snarky footnotes help make this book a winner.

My only criticism is that the actual mysteries Izzy has to solve really aren’t that interesting to me. The family dynamic is what keeps you turning the pages and wanting more. I think if you know that going in, you’re really going to love this book, but if you’re looking for a gritty, hardcore mystery, this is probably not the book for you. I’m also not thrilled by the cover art, but it seems in keeping with other books in the genre, such as the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich, so I’m sure that was intentional.

In the end, this was a lot of fun to read, and I’ll definitely be catching up on the series before the fifth book is released in February. If you’re the mood for a good laugh, you really can’t go wrong with Revenge of the Spellmans.

Review of Sofie Kelly's Sleight of Paw

Title: Sleight of Paw (Magical Cats #2)

Author: Sofie Kelly

Publisher: Obsidian Mystery

Formats: Mass Market Paperback & Ebook

Source: Purchased

Publication Date: September 6, 2011

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

This is a lighthearted cozy featuring librarian Kathleen Paulson and her two magical cats, Owen and Hercules, in small town Mayville, Minnesota. In this second installment of the series, Kathleen is determined to discover who killed Agatha Shepherd, a former school principal who loved children and helped several teens turn their lives around. When Agatha's body is discovered outside the local diner and Kathleen's friend Roma is arrested, Kathleen decides to investigate Agatha's murder.

I absolutely loved the first book in this series, Curiosity Thrilled the Cat, (see my review) so I was eagerly awaiting the release of this second book. While I enjoyed Sleight of Paw, it wasn't quite as good as the first.

This book is just as funny as the first, with several laugh out loud moments and zany supporting characters. Local artist Maggie is probably one of my favorites, since she's hysterically funny. The novel begins with Kathleen and Ruby helping Maggie stuff a "body" into Ruby's SUV so they can set up an exhibit Maggie put together on local sports for the town's Winterfest. It turns out that the body is actually a mannequin dressed to look like NHL star Eddie Sweeney. Apparently he's so lifelike that members of the small town believe that Ruby's dating the player on the side, which leads to some funny moments. Also, magical kitties Owen and Hercules make a few appearances to comedic effect as well, even if Fred the Funky Chicken (my favorite from the first novel) is not quite as prominent here. I like that in both this and the first novel the cats are important to Kathleen and help her investigation but are not the primary detectives.

While the writing is well done and the characters engaging, the mystery fell a little flat for me this time around for several reasons. The first is that I spotted the villain almost immediately. In fact, I was a bit stunned that he did turn out to be the villain, because it seemed so obvious. The second reason this cozy wasn’t quite as successful for me has to do with the protagonist, Kathleen. In the first novel, Kathleen was implicated in a murder, and she conducts her investigation in an attempt to clear her name. However, in Sleight of Paw, her reasons for looking into Agatha’s death are less personal. Detective Marcus Gordon warns her not to interfere several times, but Kathleen continues to investigate. At times it felt as if she were channeling Angela Lansbury in Murder, She Wrote, butting in where she really wasn’t needed, whereas her involvement in the murder investigation in the first book felt much more natural. And the denouement results from a TSTL moment when in spite of everything her friends tell her, Kathleen goes by herself to look for evidence against the villain. This bothered me a lot, because I really like her character, and she never struck me as being quite that dumb in the first book.

I was also a bit disappointed that the hint at an incipient romance between Kathleen and Detective Marcus Gordon didn’t develop in this book, although there are several scenes with the two that are certainly promising. Hopefully future books in the series will continue with the romance.

Despites its flaws, this is an engaging and irrepressible mystery that’s a lot of fun to read. I’m definitely looking forward to the third book in the series and hoping that we’ll see more of Marcus Gordon in it.

Labor Day Weekend Preview

Despite having Monday off from work, next week is going to be busy! Here’s a preview of some upcoming reviews, plus a list of books being released on Tuesday, September 6, that I’m really excited about.

This week I’m participating in the “Write a Post, Save a Dog” bloghop. Here’s a picture of my favorite rescue beagle, Lettie! This is probably the only action shot I have of her since she's usually busy sleeping. What a great life, right? I’ll be posting pictures of other family rescues along with my posts all week long. If you are thinking of adopting a dog or cat, I highly recommend getting one from your local shelter or a rescue society. The pets we’ve adopted have made fun and loving companions.

Upcoming Reviews:

Motor City Wolf by Cindy Spencer Paper This was a fun, short paranormal romance that was a bright spot among some not-so-great books by other authors I was reading at the time. I enjoyed the book so much that I purchased the first two in the Urban Arcana series. Definitely recommend this one!

Shadow Wolf by Bonnie Vanak This Harlequin Nocturne will have the dubious distinction of being the first 2 out of 5 stars review on the blog. There’s lots of lusting after one’s destined mate while fleeing for one’s life, plus a deus ex machina moment that drove me nuts. It comes with a short story at the end and the deus ex machina bit appears yet again. Yikes.

The King’s Courtesan by Judith James I’ve just started this historical romance and so far so good. I’m intrigued to see how the conflict is resolved, since the King marries his favorite mistress off to an Earl so she’ll be close to court. That’s gotta make for some interesting politics.

New Releases this Week (September 6)

Just to make it all the more difficult to focus on teaching next week, here are some long-awaited releases by several of my favorite authors. I’m hoping I’ll luck out and find a few of them early at the local bookstore!

Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh This fourth installment of Singh’s Guild Hunter series features archangel Raphael’s right hand man, er, vampire, Dmitri. Since Dmitri is smokin’ hot and I love the world building in this series, I cannot WAIT to read this one. Early reviews have been very positive.

One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire I’m excited about the fifth book in McGuire’s October Daye series because the blurb on Amazon says that Toby’s dating again. Dare I hope she’s dating sexy Cait Sidhe king Tybalt? Love this Urban Fantasy series, and Toby is one of my favorite UF heroines. This might be my favorite book cover of the series as well.

The Dragon Who Loved Me by G.A. Aiken Anything Shelly Laurenston writes under the name G.A. Aiken is pretty much an autobuy for me, because her books are sexy and hilarious. How can you go wrong with that combination? This is part of her Dragon Kin series, and features Cadwaladr clan dragon Rhona the Fearless and Northern dragon Vigholf the Abhorrent. This could make for some funny, funny reading.

Sleight of Paw by Sofie Kelly I loved Kelly’s debut mystery cozy, Curiosity Thrilled the Cat (see my review), and I can’t wait to read this second book in the series. The end of the first book hinted at a romance between a detective and the librarian heroine with her magical cats, so I have high hopes for this book.

Fred the Funky Chicken Meets Magical Kitties





A few months ago I reviewed several books featuring dogs by Jennifer Crusie, and my friend Cathie asked if I had any recommendations about books with cats. There are apparently TONS of books with cats as characters. I’m clearly behind the curve, because the only books I’ve read about cats usually star ones that turn into hunky 6 feet tall guys. Rawr! But while in Target this weekend, I saw that there was an entire shelf devoted to cat mysteries in the book section, so I picked one up. I am so glad I did, because Sofie Kelly’s Curiosity Thrilled the Cat is hilarious!

This novel is more of a mystery than a romance, although there are hints at a possible romance in the future for the heroine, Kathleen Paulson. Kathleen is a librarian who has recently moved to Mayville, Minnesota, to help renovate the town’s Carnegie funded library for its centenary in 2012. She’s been adopted by two feral kittens, Owen and Hercules, who are gifted with some disconcerting abilities. For one thing, Kathleen thinks the cats listen to and understand her when she talks to them, but she also recognizes that might have more to do with her than any magical powers her cats have. Just when she convinces herself that Owen and Hercules are normal cats, she sees Hercules disappear and walk through a door. Their feline magic powers come in handy when the obnoxious guest conductor in town for the summer festival is murdered and Kathleen becomes a suspect. To make matters worse, the contractor working on the library renovations is dragging his feet, and several suspicious accidents occur. Kathleen has a lot on her hands, and her trusty cats step up to help her solve the mysteries.

There were so many things to like about this novel! The book is narrated in first person, which is extremely effective. Kathleen has a strong and very funny voice, and her relationships with the secondary characters are as interesting and warm as the ones she has with Owen and Hercules. I knew after reading the first line that this book was going to be a hoot, and anyone with pets or small children can relate immediately:

The body was smack in the middle of my freshly scrubbed kitchen floor. Fred the Funky Chicken, minus his head.

Fred is a catnip toy that Kathleen’s neighbor Rebecca keeps buying for Owen in an attempt to make friends with him. Since he and his brother Hercules were feral as kittens, they don’t relate well to anyone other than Kathleen, and Rebecca’s efforts to win over the cats are in vain. Owen shows no signs of interest in her but is swiftly becoming a “chicken-decapitating catnip junkie”. Ms. Kelly’s descriptions of Owen blissed out on catnip, surrounded by furry toy chicken parts made me laugh out loud.

Hercules is no less an intriguing character, despite his disinterest in catnip. Apparently he and Kathleen have an unfortunate taste for Barry Manilow music, which sends Owen howling from the room. I certainly sympathize with Owen on this one.

The town’s residents make for an interesting cast of characters, and the older women of the town have embraced Kathleen as one of their own. Part of what makes this novel so enjoyable is the relationships between these women. At one point Kathleen’s friend Maggie becomes convinced that the library contractor is deliberately targeting Kathleen with accidents at the library. Maggie's determined to follow him and find out exactly what he’s doing. In an attempt to be inconspicuous, Maggie borrows an old, beat-up pick-up truck so they can follow him incognito, but the truck won’t start. When she spots the town vet, Roma, pulling into the parking lot in her SUV, she and Kathleen jump into the SUV and tell Roma to follow him. Much hilarity ensues:

Maggie touched her shoulder. “He’s turning,” she said.

“I see him,” Roma said. “It looks like Will has one of those trucks with a turn signal.”

In the end, the key to solving the various mysteries in Mayville has everything to do with relationships past and present, human and feline. There is a hint at the end of the novel that Ms. Kelly is planning on a romantic relationship for Kathleen in the future, and I can’t wait to see the sequel. This novel was so much fun that I highly recommend it.