Steamy reads with a dollop of magic, mystery and hot... hot men

Depressing plot and one dimensional characters.
Very little to recommend about this book - I ended up skimming about ten chapters, and even then really could have cared less what happened to lead character.

Well written quirky tale that reminded me more than a little of the TV show 'Once Upon A Time' but in a good way.
Until about the half way point, this book was rating a solid 4 star, but a little bit of the main character 'Red' - goes a long way. And I started to weary of her.
Her temper tantrums, her stubborn irrational attitude and her reactions to others - she tends to go nuclear in every situation, lashes out verbally (and her reactions don't always make sense - not for a grown woman anyway)
Considering her attitude, it surprised me again and again the number of male characters that professed their devotion/attraction to her - it just made no sense as she wasn't a particularly likeable person. And because of this I started to become disconnected to the story and my care factor began to erode. Found myself skimming the last few chapters just to get it over with.
I'm all for a heroine having flaws/baggage but not to the point where I actively begin to dislike her.

I feel a tad guilty -This was a well written book, the characters developed and rounded, the H & the h both strong but....
I can't put my finger on it. Their simmering attraction towards one another could have been written in any number of ways - the Christmas decorations, the overly jocular dialogue... it just felt too much and forced. I couldn't connect to the story or the characters.

Some clever details here - the fire spider, being able to reach into a book to withdraw any article/weapon that can fit through the page. However, the romance aspect of this read didn't work for me.
Overall, an interesting approach.

Okay - it's all completely implausible - but I just loved it! Eme, was so much fun, a brain, a beauty. She ran rings around everyone but was delightfully confused by male/female interactions like flirting.
Loved Eme/Ben together. The misunderstandings, the attraction, the laughs, great sparkling dialogue that had me smiling as I read.
The big mystery wasn't all that big of a mystery but then we have a nice little twist out of left field. Liked all the secondary characters.
A sweetie of a romance, made me laugh, little action, little suspense and a lovely HEA.

This was just bad. The writing, the story, the characters. Absolutely nothing redeemed this book.

First off it's incredibly short - 20 pages or so. It feels like the author knocked this up over a weekend and stuck a cover on it. Stilted, bad dialogue, lots of errors. And just bad... at one point the h, is referred to as 'the peasant girl' or the 'the curvy peasant girl' ten or so times on one page.

The sex scene was bad. He reveals he's a man, she shrugs and is suddenly hot for him so they do it. There is also a lot of strange cringe worthy - urgs, arghs, an assorted other sounds the couple make as they get together.

I picked this up as a freebie - but now note that you have to pay for it. Even a price of 99c is way too much to ask for this limp effort (almost feels like a joke) but the fact they are asking $3.99 (or there abouts) boggles my mind.

Threw this one on the dnf pile - just got bored. Everyone was so busy THINKING (invariably at odds with the other character) instead of doing that this book felt a little juvenile, and terribly obvious in what was going/had to happen next.

I was just so happy to be back in this world with all my favourite characters. .
Okay yes, there is a lot of repetition. LKH seems to forget we are devoted fans and already know who everyone is and what everyone looks like - but if you've been with her this long we the readers should be used to the fact that if she describes what one character in the room is wearing down to their shoes and underwear then she is bound and determined to describe every character in the room with the same attention to detail.
The babies are born - yeah factor. No definitive answers are given on who the fathers actually are - annoying.
Big bad relatives are circling, wanting the babies - Yeah. None of the threats really ever eventuate into any major action actually taking place - frustrating.
Merry cries - ALOT. Okay I understand the hormone factor but seriously she has a Goddess on her side, feel the love and suck it up already.
At least with Merry having just given birth there were significantly less sex scenes chewing up the scenery unnecessarily - with that said a little more plot/action would have been appreciated in its place - instead of a whole lot of talk.
I can only hope this book is a jumping off point for major happenings in the near future.

Overly wordy, overly complicated - kept zoning out as I read this, re-reading sentences several times trying to connect with the story and the characters. At the 30% - I'm officially calling time.
I was expecting steam punk and what I got instead was a magical mess, flat/wooden characters and a world that I just couldn't immerse myself in.

I am completely addicted to this series/world.
Loved the feisty h in this book, after a bad marriage she's determined to stay single and always speak her mind, no matter who that upsets.
The H is solid, confident and knows from the moment they meet that the h is the girl for him, snarls, bossiness and all.
Love how these two meet and all their subsequent adventures - thanks to all the interfering family match makers.
Didn't think the author could top the invisible sheep but the cats in this novel were a hoot - loved how everyone was afraid of them. Wonderful secondary characters as always, great to see glimpses of people we've already met plus a heap of new faces. Loved that this book was set entirely in the Southern Sanctuary and gave the reader a view of the place from the H's perspective as a new resident of the region. Kudos to the author for the slow world building over the series.
Can't wait for Book 6 - but just who will be the H & h - too many characters/teases to count?

It seemed to take me ages to finish this book. And I kept asking myself, why am I not more enthusiastic about this read?
The writing is well done. The characters are all well developed (except for Sorren, the vampire, who's flat and uninteresting), the setting comes alive and I adore Charleston. The big bad was scary.
Why then, was I so on the fence about this book, neither really loving it, nor particularly hating it?
Finally it came to me - this is not a romance (not even a hint of it) so therefore it must be fantasy/action - okay then, why was nothing at stake? Oh, tons of people, peripheral people to the main characters, died. But for the core team, who faced danger over, and over and over again (seriously that got a little bit repetitive too) never really got injured, or seemed to be at risk. They burned down a museum for pity sake and the team walked away scot-free saying 'oopsie, my bad'. Having the vampire glamour everyone resolved too much and meant there were never any consequences to face.
So, to sum up, I found the book readable... but never really fell in love with it, the story or the characters. I wanted to care, but for me, the spark was missing.

This short story was beyond bad and bordering onto the painful. The characters were flat, one dimensional and all around woeful. The writing was abysmal, the conversations between the two lead characters stilted and often failing to make sense. The story jumped around, the plot (what there was of it) limped along... then suddenly the two leads are in bed together. Failed to make sense as there was no attraction, no spark. Mainly because thanks to the bad writing, the reader can never connect to the characters or care what happens to them.
I picked this up as a freebie, mainly because the cover was hot... unfortunately that is all the book has to recommend for itself.
This very, very short story has no other positive points. This book would certainly make it into my top two worst reads for 2014.
Just say no people... and then run as far and as fast away from it as you can.

Great premise. The blurb on this book totally sucked me in. Sounding promising, fresh and fun.
The reality? Not so good. The author completely failed to deliver. The main character - Marissa - was too YA, unsympathetic, bitchy (without the fun factor) unnecessarily mean, and inconsistent.
All the characters in this novel are kind of unlikeable. And the author failed to make me believe in the H & h attraction - which sets up the rest of the book to fail as the h's reasoning for a lot of her decisions never ring true.
There are too many clichés in this story to count. h working for a mystical organisation, against her will, she's a screw up so things always go wrong but she gets the job done usually with a high body count/property damage so she seems to think this makes everything okay. I really wish she'd been a bad ass agent and embraced her role. That was the story I wanted to read.
This premise could have been delivered in a hundred different ways - what a pity the author chose this route.

Reminded me of Gail Carriger's book Souless - but in a very good way.
Great h and nice, stoic, but ultimately good guy H. Did think there was a scene missing at the end - considering the build up with her parents, one last confrontation was really needed to complete things.
I bought the omnibus edition - as I hate those little short story chapters on offer - which always seem to me to be a money grab by the author and no friend to the reader.
Plus quite a few editing problems - mainly because as American writer is trying to write 'British'. Luckily the story was so good I didn't get bogged down by them.

Enjoyed this read. Smart and sexy. But seriously way too short considering the price. That will ultimately make me hesitate to invest in this author again.

This was heading for a four star review but the abrupt - out of no where - ending threw a cold bucket of water on that idea.
Interesting, well written take on the Beauty and the Beast legend, with a secret magic society thrown in for good measure.
Enjoyed the story as a whole - but it was cheapened by the abrupt ending and the sudden realisation that the author has chopped up the story into little vinaigrette stories so they can make more money - it was a shame and made me as a reader feel cheated. I probably won't be progressing with the series.