#ReadingCram Round Up

End of 2013 Reading Cram Read-a-thon Round Up!
A Huge THANK YOU to Juliababyjen's Reading Room and Dana Square for hosting this wonderful challenge! Check out their blogs!

I managed to read 66% of my list and review 8 of my 12 book goal! I'm very proud of this!

Final Status:
Read 14/21 = 66.6%
Reviewed 8/12 = 66.6%

KEY:

Currently Reading

To review

Finished and Reviewed

Archived - did not read

Overdue Reviews

1. Addicted to You  (Link)
2. Ricochet (Link)
3. Addicted for Now
4. Broken Blade
5. Hustlin' Texas

Author Requests

1. Temptress (Link)
2. Ivory (Link)

NetGalley Approved Requests

1. Beauty Secrets (Link)
2. Bitten by Treachery (Link)
3. Sex Love Repeat
4. Layers Deep
5. Moonlight
6. King Hall
7. Restless Spirit
8. The Sinners Club
9. The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers

Other

1. Keeping it Real (Link)
2. Selling Out (Link)
3. Going Under
4. Chasing the Dragon
5. Down to the Bone

Ivory - By Lola Dodge (#ReadingCram)

Manhattan Ten - Book 2

That cold day in hell? It’s here…

If Ivory’s fellow flight attendants whisper that she has ice in her veins, they’d be right. She’s spent years ruthlessly suppressing her dangerous ice powers, pretending she didn’t grow up wild on the tundra.

Her legendary coolness has held solid—until a crazed attacker snaps her composure, unleashing her ice beast and blowing her cover. And she’s not sure if the man who defuses the situation is any less dangerous.

When Panther’s trans-Atlantic catnap is interrupted by Ivory’s ice spear through his mark’s gut, he doesn’t hesitate to claim her as one of the Manhattan Ten. It’s the only way to shield her from prosecution. It doesn’t hurt that the Nordic beauty puts his inner cat on the prowl.

Panther tempts Ivory in every smoldering way, but to let him melt her resistance is a risk she can’t afford. But when her past rises up to claim her, Pan is caught in the crossfire…and the only way to save him is to let the beast claim her, body and soul.

Another stunner superhero romance novel from the amazing Lola Dodge. This novel is before Temptress but it makes no difference to the story line. Dodge starts the book off with a mammoth bang and I was done for. Valdis a.k.a Ivory is a flight attendant but she has the wicked power of ice. I was intrigued as to her "kind" because it's mentioned often but not really explained. Maybe it's those fancy ice giants, regardless, Valdis doesn't want to be a superhero or anything in the public eye, she wants to be normal, live under the radar. Unfortunately, an anti-superhero butt head decides to make a sense on the plane causing Valdis to take action. Charming Mr. Panther is there and able to save Valdis, whisking her away to the Manhattan Ten headquarters. Panther is attracted to Valdis like bees to honey but she wants to keep him as far away as possible. It makes for an amusing read - charismatic guy meets ice queen.

Beauty Secrets - By Jill Elaine Hughes (#ReadingCram)

Amanda Brown is a high-flying cosmetics executive for Revina Corporation, the oldest and most venerable cosmetics company in America. She comes from a good "old money" family, she went to Swarthmore, and she lives in a beautiful penthouse apartment in NYC’s Meatpacking District. But she's only successful on the surface----like many New Yorkers, she's also financially overextended. Her parents are dead, her trust fund is gone, and when the Great Recession hammers her company, like millions of people across America she suddenly finds her job hanging by a thread.

Enter George Watson, a hedge-fund manager and self-made man from the Midwest who swoops in from Indiana to rebuild Revina Corporation from the ground up. Even if he fired everyone else at the company, he decides to keep Amanda on for her expertise. The two of them are from different worlds, and they can't stand each other. But that doesn’t stop them from having wild no-holds-barred sex on their first meeting----for reasons neither of them fully understand.

But this is no ordinary corporate takeover, and the unlikely romance between George and Amanda is no ordinary love story. It involves corporate greed, undercover investigative reporters, a sleazy reality TV producer who puts George and Amanda's sexual relationship on national television, dark family secrets----and a dog named Botox.

Books about spoiled rich kids who end up broke and unable to cope in the real world as adults should have warning labels so I can avoid them. It's not only because I can't relate to them but also because I have not one iota of sympathy for adults who are can't function in the real world. I'm pretty sure the majority of the population have difficulty caring for a character who mishandles money and then fails to learn practical skills to work themselves out of a slump. Amanda Brown is one of these spoiled rich kids. Initially I thought she was a bitchin' executive who knew what's what and why, only to have her crumble into a spendthrift baby. Argh. It's not that I dislike her because she was rich. I dislike her because when she loses her job and has to rethink her life, she doesn't. She cries and whines and wallows in self-pity. Oh no I can't pay for my thousand dollar a month penthouse. Uh? Move out. Oh no I have no money because I spent my paycheck already. Uh? Sell some stuff. Oh no I'm the only person who still has a job at my company but I get a lower salary. DON'T FRICKEN QUIT!

The amount of times I wanted to slap this woman upside the head was unbelievable. There is a reason I like strong female characters and it's because I want to admire them, I want to be them, I want their actions to motivate me into a better woman. Amanda Brown is everything I don't want.

Ricochet - Krista and Becca Ritchie (#ReadingCram)

 Addicted Series - Book 1.5

As a sex addict, Lily Calloway must do the impossible. Stay celibate for 90 days.

Cravings and fantasies become her new routine, but while Loren Hale recovers from his alcohol addiction, Lily wonders if he’ll realize what a monster she really is. After all, her sexual compulsions begin to rule her life the longer she stays faithful to him.

Progress. That’s what Lily’s striving for. But by trying to become closer to her family—people who aren’t aware of her addiction—she creates larger obstacles. When she spends time with her youngest sister, she learns more about her than she ever imagined and senses an unsettling connection between Daisy and Ryke Meadows.

With Lily and Lo’s dysfunctional relationship teetering and unbalanced, they will need to find a way to reconnect from miles apart. But the inability to “touch” proves to be one of the hardest tests on their road to recovery. Some love brushes the surface. Some love is deeper than skin.

Lily and Lo have three months to discover just how deep their love really goes.

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." -Shakespeare
This is what Krista and Becca Ritchie do to me, I'm quoting Shakespeare to them and their amazing books. Another stunner that isn't even a sequel but a prequel to the sequel - a 1.5 book in the series, not a 2 - and here I am slayed once again. Babbling in poetry trying to express how freaking much I love these authors and their ability to create literary magic. I'm just going to come out and say I've found my Beyonce(s) of the literary world I am happily going to bow down to their greatness. How often do sequel's fail to impress? Movies? Books? The newer version of your favourite jeans? How often do we express, "it was good but not as good as the first"? Now imagine how often a 1.5 novel is disappointing, too short, not enough plot development, too much of tease etc. WELCOME TO THE BOOK THAT SLAYS ALL OF THESE THINGS AND PUNCHES A HOLE IN THE SKY TO REACH BEYOND THE TOP.

You may think I'm over exaggerating but I'm not, simply giving credit where credit is due. Krista and Becca Ritchie not only write a full length novel as a prequel to their Addicted sequel. They write another jaw-dropping, heart-stopping, I can now die happy book despite my exceedingly high expectations due to book one, Addicted to You. It is no blasphemous feat to call them the Beyonce's of authors because they keep the hits coming and I love them for it.

Selling Out - By Justina Robson (#ReadingCram)

Quantum Gravity Series - Book 2

Book two of the Quantum Gravity series sees Lila Black drawn into the intoxicatingly dangerous demon realm. Capricious, in love with beauty, demons are best left to themselves. This is not easy when they can't resist tampering with humans.

Justina Robson's new series is a joyful melding of science fiction and fantasy brought together in the figure of the dangerously lovely Lila Black, a 21-year-old secret agent who's had much of her body replaced with weapon-and-armor-heavy intelligent metal and who isn't sure where her mind ends and her installed AI begins. Lila's world is one where demons, elves, and elementals live alongside people. And somehow Lila and the other agents of the security agency have to provide security for all and stay alive themselves.

I liked this more than the first. I think it was the demons and Daemonia. They were all fun, games and killing people. I loved the nuances on color that existed in their world and that they didn't worry themselves into knots. They love living life and this series needed a little more pizzazz to spice it up. I was intrigued by Teazle, he was obviously drawn to Lila and there was more explanation to their possible relationship in comparison to Zal. By that I mean not much because Zal and Lila were all up in each other for no reason. I have a major issue with the relationships in this novel not being fleshed out enough. Lila's friendships and working relationships have back story and meaning but her romantic ones seem more like a lucky dip. The culmination of Lila, Zal and Teazle's triangle was abrupt and unexplained. I had no idea how or why they all ended up together an not in a sexual manner. *smh*

Temptress - By Lola Dodge (#ReadingCram)

Manhattan Ten - Book 1

Kiss your powers goodbye.

Kidnapping a super-powered suspected felon from a Vegas bachelor party is another day at the office for Jenny Ray, alias Temptress. With one kiss, any naughty supe’s powers are hers. Except this time she’s caught by her mark’s boss, who’s no ordinary superhero. 

It’s Thinktank, leader of the toughest hero crew around. One destroyed men’s room and near-toilet-drowning later, Jenny’s forced to steal an innocent hero’s powers. 

For a super brain, Tank’s feeling pretty idiotic. First, he let Jenny close enough to get to him. Second, he’s helpless against the tide of desire that rises in him every time he kisses her. Which he’s doing a lot, since she’s trying to give him back his power—only it’s not working. As he shadows her on her various freelance casino security jobs, he realizes she’s no she-demon—she’s a time bomb. Her acquired powers are shredding her, body and soul. 

As they give in to desire, a shadowy figure from Jenny’s past surfaces with a kidnapping plan of his own. Jenny will do anything—even level Las Vegas—to rescue the man she loves. But there may not be anything left of her when the dust settles.

Why are there not more books like this?! Am I blind? Have I missed them all? As soon as I read the blurb for these book I was sold. My two favorite things in one book - superheroes and romance - uh YES PLEASE! Dodge had me at hello, I write superhero novels *sigh* and what a novel it is. I think my only grump about this book is that it's too short. I've come to realize I'm greedy with books, if I love it I want MORE MORE MORE MORE. Temptress is no exception. Jenny is a wonderful female lead who puts the rights of others before herself - a true superhero even without the powers. But once you add in the powers she is a hero who isn't out for the glory and would much rather spend her time in front of the television in sweats (honey, wouldn't we all?). I love how she is willing to kick ass at a moments notice but isn't superior or mighty about it, she's totally down to earth. Treating superhero life like a normal job and being happy to make a difference where she can.

Enter Thinktank. Ooooooh honey. I see him as a kind of Professor X meets Wolverine.

Keeping it Real - By Justina Robson (#ReadingCram)

Quantum Gravity - Book 1

The Quantum Bomb of 2015 changed everything. The fabric that kept the universe's different dimensions apart was torn and now, six years later, the people of earth exist in uneasy company with the inhabitants of, amongst others, the elfin, elemental, and demonic realms. Magic is real and can be even more dangerous than technology. Elves are exotic, erotic, dangerous, and really bored with the constant Lord of the Rings references. Elementals are a law unto themselves and demons are best left well to themselves.

Special agent Lila Black used to be pretty, but now she's not so sure. Her body is more than half restless carbon and metal alloy machinery, a machine she's barely in control of. It goes into combat mode, enough weapons for a small army springing from within itself, at the merest provocation. As for her heart, well, ever since being drawn into a game by the elfin rockstar Zal (lead singer of The No Shows), who she's been assigned to protect, she's not even sure she can trust that any more either.

Phew was this book a challenge. One of the things I love about Science Fiction is how it pushes you make sense of the world you've been thrown in without giving you a map. It's up to you as the reader to untangle all of the different strands of the story, the world and it's rules. The Earth a.k.a Otopia that Robson imagines is super complex! She re-imagines elves, elementals, demons, ghosts and androids in a way I've never read before which may explain why I was having such a hard time putting everything together. This book continued to push the boundaries of my expectations and giving me a minor headache some moments. Most of the time I relished the challenge of deciphering the world but sometimes I was reading a page three times because I had no idea what was going on. Robson's attention to detail is phenomenal, she knows what's what and why, giving a depth to her world that some fantasy and sci-fi books struggle with.