Follow Friday!

Welcome everyone, to another Follow Friday hosted by the every lovely Parajunkee. I'm participating once again because I love meeting new bloggers and discovering new blogs. Plus, it always gives me something to look forward to when I get home from work. =)

So if you're here because of the Hop, leave a comment and say hi! I always comment (and follow) back.

I'll Have What She's Having - Review of "When Harry Met Molly" by Kieran Kramer

 Haha, see what I did with the title of this review? Yeah yeah, I'm so clever. =)

Disclaimer: This book is on loan from my local library. I was not given this book in exchange for a review.

Type: Historical Romance, Series, Romance, Clever women, Impossible Bachelors, Funny contests.

Why this book?: Well, after seeing the summary on the back of the book, how could I pass it up?

Cover Lovin': Not the best I've ever seen, surely. But I like it. Simple, and elegant.About the book: Harry and Molly have quite the past. The Christmas Incident was years ago, but it has affected both their lives to this day. When they meet again in a rather seedy pub, Harry's mistress takes off with Molly's fiance, leaving her without a ride, and him without some to help him compete in this year's Impossible Bachelor's Mistress games. Harry convinces Molly to be his pretend mistress for the next week, promising to help find her a more than suitable husband if she wins the festivities. Molly quickly learns that being a pretend mistress is not the easiest thing for a proper lady. This week is going to be a lot harder than both of them thought...

My Review: Occasionally you find a Historical, Romance or otherwise, that requires a fair amount of imagination. This might just be one of these books - it's hard to believe that these sort of circumstances would actually happen, and that there would be no huge blow-out scandal resulting from it. And surely, no eligable titled bachelor would be able to go a year without receiving some sort of marriage proposition - Prince Regent's orders or no. And the ending did have some sappy moments. There were some sappy, pour your heart out moments by characters you would expect to act otherwise. But, it all leads up to that beautiful Happy Ever After feeling that I so love in my romances.

I'm a big fan of the enemies-to-lovers scenario in romance, and this is a great example. Harry and Molly weren't really enemies. They shared a scandal some years ago, blamed each other, and spent any time they had seen each other after that playing pranks on one another. The banter between the two was amusing and felt spot-on. And the easy going friendship that begins to develop is heartwarming, and charming. Harry and Molly seem young and fresh, not afraid to tease each other and joke, even in some serious situations, and I loved watching them interact with each other as well as with all the equally fascinating and loveable side characters.

Recommendation: Definitely. Fans of Historical Romance, and just good characters in general will enjoy "When Harry Met Molly" by Kieran Kramer.

Final Rating: FOUR POINT FIVE out of FIVE (4.5/5)

Have you read "When Harry Met Molly" by Kieran Kramer? Or any of her other books? Tell me your thoughts in the comments. Want to get a copy? Buy it from Amazon.com via the link at the left!

Happy Reading! And please, bear with me as I continue to play around with my review system. It's a new year, and I want to try some new ways to spice it up. Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions!

~!~ Amanda, aka Morning Glow ~!~ 

Whatcha Got Wednesday - Making up for Last week!

Remember last week when I had nothing to post? Well I'm definitely making up for it this week! I'm so excited to share my loot with you - and this doesn't even include the massive amount of library books that have come in!

For Review for Romance Reviews Today:
"Hexbound" by Chloe Neill
"Skeleton Crew" by Cameron Haley
"American Vampire" by Jennifer Armintrout (LOVE this author!)
"Night School" by Mari Mancusi
"Seaborne" by Katherine Irons
and "Hellforged" by Nancy Holzner

For Review on my Blog:
"Song of Eidolons" by Jessica McHugh (Another author I love!)
"The Kensei" by Jon F. Merz (Guest post coming soon!)
"Credo's Hope" by Alison Holt (ebook, not pictured)
"Danann Frost Falls From Grace" by Joanne Valiukas (ebook, not pictured)

For Fun:
"Goodnight Tweetheart" by Teresa Medeiros - Thanks to my RRT critique group member who sent it to me after saying I was interested in reading it.

I think that's it for me this week... What about you guys? Get anything you're excited about?

Stay tuned for a review of "When Harry Met Molly" by Kieran Kramer coming tomorrow!

Happy Reading!
~!~ Amanda, aka Morning Glow~!~

Rawr! Review of "Eat Prey Love" by Kerrelyn Sparks

 Haha, can I just say how much I love this title? Genius!

Disclaimer: This book was borrowed from the library. I did not receive this book, or any sort of compensation, in exchange for a review.

Type: Series, Romance, Paranormal Romance, Shifters, Vampires, Werepanthers, Weretigers, Psychic Powers, Puddles of... is that what I think it is?!

Why this book?: Originally this book was on my "I'll read it if I see it somewhere for cheap" list, but the lovely ladies at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books mentioned a particular scene (the word "splooge" was used.. a lot) and, well.. I had to see what they meant.

About the book: Caitlyn Whelan has just reconnected with her sister after being kept apart for years. Now, not only will they remain in touch, they'll be working for the same company. Caitlyn has always had a very useful psychic gift - being able to communicate with humans and most animals, no matter what the language. And she always had a thing for stray animals. Carlos is a werepanther, one of the last few left in the world. And he just got a tip that there might be some more werepanthers in a remote region. Despite fighting the decision, and his attraction to Caitlyn, she is assigned to be his translator on the trip. Now the two must battle the harshness of the jungle, and a group of mysterious men who all have the same odd tattoo...

For the longest time, I couldn't make myself read anything by this author. I'm not sure why, maybe because I didn't like one of the earlier books in this series. But since then, I have read "The Undead Next Door," "The Vampire and the Virgin," and now "Eat Prey Love," and it's been all good experiences. Kerrelyn Sparks is definitely on her way to being an author I love. And "Eat Prey Love" was definitely another good installment in the series. I loved the banter between the two characters - Caitlyn was quippy, amusing, and the two played off each other perfectly. Caitlyn knew she liked Carlos, knew that he liked her too but wasn't going to act on it, so she took it upon herself to flirt. And it was brilliant. Caitlyn is the kind of person I want to be friends with, and not just because she can talk to animals (which would be awesome!). And Carlos - well, he'd definitely be more than a friend.

I did feel like the ending felt a bit rushed, however. The book had some excellent descriptions (the "splooge cave" scene included), but suddenly the excitement was over, and it seemed like the author only had a short amount of space left, so she had to tidy up and get through it too quickly. Don't get me wrong, it's a satisfying ending, but it just seemed everything happened too quickly, and we were getting a summary of the events, rather than actually reading them as it happened.

So all in all, I did enjoy this book. I look forward to reading more of this series and seeing some of the characters we meet (weretiger!) in future books - maybe he'll get his own story, which would be nice. And this novel has definitely been the book that made me want to go back and read more of the series, maybe even give the one I read and didn't like a second chance.

Recommendation: Definitely recommending this to fans of good Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy. And people who just enjoy awesome snarky female characters.

Final rating: FOUR out of FIVE (4/5).

Have you read this book? Or maybe more of the series? Share your thoughts in the comments! Want to read it? Pick up a copy at Amazon.com!

Have a great Monday, and of course, Happy Reading!
~!~ Amanda, aka Morning Glow ~!~