Crazy Hot, by Tara Janzen

A friend passed this book onto me after she picked it up at a conference(thanks!) She thought since I am a fan of romance I might find it interesting.
I did.
Crazy Hot is the first in a series set in Denver, CO. It centers around a chop shop which is really a special Special Forces unit.
Known as the SDF(Special Defense Force) Steele St. does things that the government doesn't want to know about. In order to get those things done they recruited a motley crew ranging from an Air Force pilot to a convicted murderer.

Quinn Younger was a Captain in the USAF until he was shot out of the sky by Iraqi missiles. He now works for Steele Street again. It's just this time he isn't stealing Porsches. He's tracking down a small time gun-runner who wants to make it big at the expense of Steele St and the Russian mafia.
Regan McKinney had a crush on Quinn when they were teenagers and he was sentenced to working for her grandfather one summer.
Now her grandfather, noted paleontologist Wilson McKinney, is missing and Regan's only clue is a note in his journal leading her to Quinn and Steele St.
The action is very fast paced and we get a glimpse of all the characters in the preposed series. The plot and sub plots are woven together well. In fact it's hard to call the secondary characters stories sub-plots. They work together to advance the main plot. It's just a slightly different point of view.
There is great humor in the books. I personally liked the fact that all the cars have names. The whole story about Quinn stealing and returning a classic Mustang was one of my favorites.
It's a good sexy exciting read. I'm looking forward to the next few.

Definitely Dead, by Charlaine Harris

Any day a Charlaine Harris book comes out is a good day. I'd run my grandmother over to get to the bookstore for her books. I would pay full price for her books, in hard cover. Enough said.

Definitely Dead continues the Dead series with Sookie Stackhouse. Sookie is a Louisiana barmaid who never really existed much outside - in thought or deed - her small town sphere until the day that vampire Bill came into her bar and sat in her section. It was like manna from heaven for Sookie, because you see, she has a little mental problem. She's a telepath. Being different has always set her apart from everyone else and now in walks someone just as novel and weird in the eyes of her neighbors. Bill sets Sookie up with an introduction into the supernatural world. She meets shape shifters, weres, witches, fairies, more vamps, and who knows what else. Her own uniqueness makes her accepted into their world, available to be drawn into all their battles and machinations.

In this outing Sookie heads to Louisiana to clear out her recently deceased cousin Hadley's apartment. Hadley had been a vampire before her final death and the girlfriend of the queen of Louisiana. Her death it would seem was more complicated than first appeared and now Sookie has become involved in the situation. It would also seem some of the troubles from earlier books follow her to New Orleans. Helping her out in her trials are 2 newer characters of the series: Quinn the weretiger who first appeared in Dead as a Doornail and Amelia, Hadley's landlady and a witch.

What I liked: Clearing out of some of the dead wood. In the previous book Sookie was left with a heck of a lot of suitors. Here Harris successfully got rid of Cal the werepanther, seemed to tie off the Alcide the werewolf drama, and definitely ended the reconciliation possibilities with Vampire Bill. Now, clearly there will be more Bill drama in the future, but I felt that Harris really put to bed the possibility of a happily-ever-after for these two - both for the reader and the character. Now, we're left with Quinn, Eric, and Sam - her boss. I have a feeling there will be some Sam drama in the next book, but as to which way it will go I don't know. Harris is one those great authors who can actually surprise the reader - pleasantly - with how she tackles things. Oh, I liked everything else too. Harris is The Master of dialogue and characters. If you look for those elements in your books you can do no better than her.

What could be improved: Yeah right. Go get her books!

Mystic and Rider, by Sharon Shinn

Mystic and Rider is the first book in what appears to be a trilogy. It centers around a woman named Senneth, an appointed leader of a small band of individuals sent out by the king of Gillinagaria to access the happenings in the southern provinces. Senneth is joined by two of the king's elite royal guards, a noblewoman friend and her bodyguard, and a young man they rescue from slavery in a tavern. Senneth you see, as well as a few of her companions, are mystics - a broad term used to cover those with a variety of magical abilities. Mysticism is becoming a hot button in the land, used to foster mistrust for the political machinations of power hungry nobles. Senneth and her crew have to get as much info on what's going on that they can and make it back to the king to report in one piece.

What I liked: The characters. I liked the mystical elements and the explanations for them. All the characters got some time. The main character wasn't overdone or annoying, their were lots of questions left unanswered - the perfect set up for a trilogy. I was very excited to find out what was going to happen. Unfortunately...
What could be better:
I'd have to add "the sequel" here. After reading this book and being both surprise and impressed by it, I was eager for more Shinn. Amazon showed me there was a sequel that came out in HD in March. I hoofed it over to Borders asap and started reading a bit of the book - to see if it was worth $25. Unfortunately it is centered around Kirra, a secondary character to Mystic and Rider, and one I found silly and annoying. Not only that, but this character has an affair with a married man and none of the big unanswered questions from Mystic and Rider are answered. The sequel is going unpurchased by me. Now I have to wait until the 3rd book to see if anything comes of the story. I'm suspecting we'll move on to yet another character and the promising beginning will go nowhere.

Working for the Devil, by Lilith Saintcrow

I passed this book by quite a few times at the store b/c it didn't look quite worth buying. Well, as every good reader knows, there comes a time when you are desperate to read something and none of your authors have a book coming out for a couple weeks. So, I picked this book up. After a brief period of time I actually started reading it and eventually, I finished it.

Working for the Devil is about a necromance named Dante who on top of her raising the dead duties also does some bounty hunting and various other retrieval/investigative enterprises. A demon names Japhrimel shows up at her house one day to bring her to see Lucifer. He has a job that he wants to hire her for. It shouldn't be too difficult to understand that she doesn't turn him down. With Japhrimel's aid and that of a few of her friends she agrees to hunt down another demon and retrieve something he had stolen from Lucifer. Dante's glad to undertake the mission as this demon turns out to be a serial killer whom she had met a few years earlier when he killed her friend and attempted to kill her. What follows is a narrative introduction to this futuristic paranormal world and sympathetic adventure that brings us along on the grave changes that are taking place in the life of Dante Valentine.

What I liked: This new world. I enjoy fantasy books and reading about other peoples perceptions of alternative realities. The new understanding that is being presented about demons & hell is intriguing. Saintcrow seems to be setting up Demons as the new Vampires in terms of dark romantic leads.

What could be improved: This is tough to say. It needs a little something. A greater understanding of Dante's work and daily life? What exactly does she do, how does it benefit society, what position is she held in by her peers? Some of this is alluded to or may be inferred, but not clearly enough that the questions are answered. A little more plot to the fantasy adventure. Maybe more sympathy for many of the characters which just never came about. Many of these could be resolved in future books, we'll see.

Sunshine, by Robin McKinley

Sunshine is one of those books that takes place in an alternate, contemporary reality - much like the Charlaine Harris and Laurell Hamilton books. There are Vampires and shape shifters, demons and magicians. This book differs from those in that it doesn't take a fun, lighthearted approach. The main character is named Rae, or Sunshine to her friends. She works in her step-father's coffee shop as a baker and she is definitely lower-middle class. Her friends are all from this sphere being employed in various blue-collar jobs. Rae is a bit antisocial and one night when she can't take it any more she goes for a drive in her crappy car to the lake where she vacationed as a child. Alone, in the dark, she is abducted by vampires. Some plot is afoot she realizes b/c the vamps don't kill her, rather they take her to a house and chain her to a wall in a room with another vampire. For the next 2 days Rae gets to know this vampire and when she remembers long ago magical abilities that frees her she takes the vampire with her. This begins the major conflict in the story between the abductor vamps and Rae. It seems by remembering her forgotten abilities she has made herself very desirable by the bad guys. What follows is a small part mystery- in discovering her past, small part romance- in her developing relationship with this vampire, small part literature - with Mckinley's excellent writing style, adventure, fantasy, and horror - creepy vamps.

Mckinley does a good job of writing this atmosphere in a realistic manner - she's not making us feel sorry for the economic situations, nor is she idealizing it. It is what it is, and tells us about it. This approach makes the story come alive and is very easy to become involved in. There was a variety of characters - normal, ugly, old, fat, bald, plain. They all had their own personalities and relevance to the life of Rae and the developing story. Most importantly, the vampires aren't idealized hotties - they're living-dead things, they look alien to the rest of humanity, a marked difference to most paranormal type books out there.

What I liked: Everything. I'm not usually a fan of "literature" elements in my genre fiction (introspection, metaphor, much description), but I hope I got across above that this is really only marginally genre-ish. The description is evocative and relevant-in the sense that the author isn't going on and on about things the reader doesn't really give a flip about-the historical elements are parceled throughout the book as necessary to further the overall story. The characters were all realistic; no one was over the top or completely outside the realm of possibility. You felt you could know people like that. They all had the perfect ratio of reveal-mystery so that our imaginations had enough to see the character just as we might want them to be. The story developed at a good pace and while I could tell what the ultimate outcome would be I was happy just going along for the ride.

What could be improved: Author could write a sequel! :)

Speak Now: Married to Mystery, by Margaret Dumas

Speak Now: Married to Mystery opens up with the lead character, Charley, on a plane back to San Francisco with her new husband. It should be obvious that this is the set-up for the series. Charley's a socialite and the director/patron of a local theatre company. When she and the new husband arrive in town they discover the body of a woman in their hotel suite. At first glance its just a coincidence. Soon, however, it seems that the woman was sent as a warning for the new husband, a man Charley finds she really knows little about. When Charley goes back to work at the theatre company we learn that the murder may have more to do with her than was first thought.

What I liked: The characters. Charley and Jack are off to a good start and I think there is room for good character development in the future. There are also amusing situational elements that aren't absurd, ex. Jack's meeting the crazy uncle/father-figure. The setting in San Fran is fun. Good plot if not a little far fetched (the whole spy stuff).
What could be improved: Trim down the cast a bit. There are a lot of people to try to keep straight, a focus on a few a book could help move things along. The theatre stuff got a little boring, but that could be b/c I have no interest in it.

Steamed, by Jessica & Susan Conant

Steamed follows the trials of Chloe Carter, a twentysomething woman who is about to start a graduate program in Social Work for the purpose of claiming an inheritance. This is the secondary storyline to the main which centers on her love life. She is unlucky in love and it leads her to revenge dating and murder. The murdered beau is a fellow she meets through an online dating service. He turns out to be what one might expect, annoying, and what one can geuss, murdered. Chloe seems to fall into the role of investigator when the dead guy's family assumes she was his fiancee. At the funeral she meets Mr. Right who turns out to be Mr. Suspect and Chloe strives to prove is Mr. Innocent. There is a good amount of info into the restaurant business and cooking in particular. We're also treated to a good deal of analysis along the social-work-major line.

What I liked: The glimpses into graduate life. This is fairly dead on. I recall my orientations for graduate school with horror. She stuck through a lot of them more than I did! The boringness of her classes, the annoying classmates, the extreme amounts of reading... been there done that. The commentary & opinions on internet dating were also frighteningly familiar... The characters were all enjoyable with Chloe's father and Owen being the high points. If the author is smart, Owen is going places.
What could be improved: Chloe. She's a little annoying and I have no real idea what she looks like. The introspection. I know Chloe's a social work student, but if you're providing discussions and introspection along these lines make it really relevant because its boring.