Rock 'n' Roll is Undead (Veronica Mason, Book 1)

by: Rose Pressey

Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords.

Synopsis:
Veronica Mason—lead singer of the rockabilly band The Voodoo Zombies—discovers her vampire bass player staked through the heart. A vision of the murder flashes in Veronica’s mind and she wonders if she’s going bonkers. Up until now her supernatural skills consisted of a few botched love spells.

Using her sexy voice and pin-up style has paid off, she’s about to land a record deal. But suspicion soon turns to her when another vampire turns up as nothing more than a pile of ashes a vacuum would have a hard time sucking up. Veronica has to hone her paranormal powers or lose her deal—and possibly her life.

When an utterly delicious mystery man steps in as the new bass player, Veronica can’t figure out if he’s there to help or cause more problems. What she does know is she can’t resist his good looks and sex appeal. She wonders if they’d make rockin’ music together. But helping the undead could stop her from finding out and leave Veronica dead—permanently.

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Yes, this book is as quirky as the cover looks. Veronica is not only in a band with vampires, playing at vampire bars but she is a witch. And a very, very bad witch. Not evil, just not any good at it. The running joke is every spell she does she gets a tube of lipstick based on a spell gone wrong when she was 5, so her mom and her best friend are always asking her for lipstick. lol

I love the phrases Rose Pressey uses in this book, I realize she is from Kentucky but that's not so far away from Michigan...is it? Like saying the guys "are going to give me a hard way to go." We say "a hard time." And I laughed so hard when she said she was "wound tighter than my dad's flea market watch."

The story flows fast and you don't know who done it until pretty much the end...by then you are JUST starting to suspect but she keeps throwing in curveballs. Very good mystery, very funny story and great paranormal rules. I like that vampires can have babies...she says they age until they are 25. Plus they can eat food it just give them nutrition.

It's fun, if you like mysteries or paranormal books you will enjoy this. If you like both you will fall in love!

The Real Macaw

By: Donna Andrews

Available for purchase from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Meg juggles twins, murder, and a back-talking bird in the next side-splittingly funny installment in the award-winning, New York Times bestselling series

During a 2am feeding for her four-month-old twins, Meg Langslow hears an odd noise and goes downstairs to find her living room filled with dozens of animals—cats, dogs, hamsters, gerbils, rabbits, guinea pigs, and a stunningly foul-mouthed macaw. She soon learns that financial woes have caused the local animal shelter to repeal its no-kill policy.

Her kindhearted father, her zoologist grandfather, and other like-minded citizens have stolen all the shelter’s animals, both as a gesture of protest and to protect them until the hated policy can be repealed. But the volunteer who was to transport the animals to new homes has been murdered. Was it the victim’s tangled love life that drove someone to murder? Or the dark secrets behind local politics? And will Meg ever succeed in finding homes for all the animals that have landed in her life?

Full of the hilarious shenanigans – avian as well as human – that have come to surround Meg and her eccentric band of friends and family, the latest from the one and only Donna Andrews will have you laughing until the very last page: it’s The Real Macaw!

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This has the classic Meg Langslow cover. I love that every title and story in the series has at least one animal as a central part of the mystery. And yes, in this one it's a Macaw...apparently very rare and with a colorful vocabulary. lol

Meg Langslow is back with her quirky and very large family. She has just had twin boys, so her and Michael are dealing with lots of sleep deprivation. Despite her worries in previous novels, she is a great mother. She still has her "notebook that tells me when to breathe" and I am happy to see she is willing to ignore it to snuggle with her boys. She adores them, and her and Michael shifted from being a married couple to being parents with little to no added friction. It helps that they are both smart and even tempered.

On night after putting one of the twins' down after a feeding she hears animal noises coming from downstairs...praying someone turned on Animal Planet, she goes to investigate. Turns out the CORSICANS (read the book) stole all the animals from the county shelter because it had just changed into a kill-shelter. Most of the area is outraged...and things are destined to get worse before they get better. In all of this mess a murdered body is found behind the victim's furniture store.

Meg really stays on the outside of this investigation more than any other book because of the boys. She wants to stay safe, but being that all the animals are at her house and most of the discussing of the town's problems happen at her place, she gets pulled in anyway.

Donna Andrews does a fantastic job of writing a witty and charming story and weaving a fantastic mystery into the middle of it (and yes I was surprised). She also makes me laugh, the comedy in here is so dry and subtle and completely fits my sense of humor...especially Meg's goofy, large family on her mother's side.

Yup, 5 stars...I love these books! If you read them out of order, it's not too big of a deal. But if you read them all I doubt you'd regret it either.

Review - Freedom's Sword

By: J.R. Tomlin

Available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Smashwords

Originally reviewed for A Cozy Reader's Corner

Before William Wallace... before Robert the Bruce... there was another Scottish hero...

In 1296, newly knighted by the King of the Scots, Andrew de Moray fights to defend his country against the forces of the ruthless invader, King Edward Longshanks of England. After a bloody defeat in battle, he is dragged in chains to an English dungeon.

Soon the young knight escapes. He returns to find Scotland under the heel of a conqueror and his betrothed sheltering in the hills of the Black Isle.

Seizing his own castle, he raises the banner of Scottish freedom. Now he must lead the north of Scotland to rebellion in hope of defeating the English army sent to crush them.

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The title Freedom's Sword and the cover let's you know this book is about war. It takes place back in the late 1200s when the Scottish and English disagreed on who Scotland belonged to.

The story is based on a true historic event, about which little is actually known. So it gave the author freedom to develop characters and aid the plot a bit. Andrew de Moray, the main character spends much of the book in battle with the English. He does find time to get married to Caitlin - and saves her from a Nunnery.

The characters were likable, the story itself being largely true was of course believable. However, there is a lot of room for improvement to the story. Caitlin was introduced early in the book with a chapter from her perspective...then she isn't talked about again for half the story. I found it distracting because I didn't know who she was in connection with Andrew...I thought she was his sister. Well that does get cleared up, but with a couple more chapters from her side, it left me wanting more. It just wasn't enough information and felt shoved into the story. I think either adding more about her or cutting her out entirely would work.

The other part that was distracting was the amount of typos and changes in line spacing. It really left an unprofessional feel to the book. I was reading an e-book on my Nook, I changed it back to the "Publisher Defaults" and it was still an issue. Also the pace felt slow to me, even though there was so much battling and planning going on, after awhile it was predictable.

That all being said, it wasn't a bad story. There are lots of battle scenes, and the author is great with descriptions and making you feel you are really there. I think if you like books about war, you will enjoy this book. It wasn't really my cup of tea, and the other issues really kept me from wanting to finish. But I don't regret reading it, and I'm happy I made it through. I'm giving this 2 1/2 stars.