Buffy's Ramblings

Summary: He’s forbidden fruit with a supernatural secret. She’s a prize he’s compelled to claim. For as long as she can remember, Luna has been warned by her father to stay away from Nikko, his family, and his sinister gang of friends. But with her father away, Luna can’t resist temptation any longer. The most thrilling night of her life becomes the most horrifying when Luna turns into a werewolf, and Nikko does, too. Nikko knows the first she-wolf in generations is a prize that will guarantee his position in the pack, so he claims Luna as his mate against her will. When Luna is thrust into the middle of a pack war that puts everyone she loves at risk, can she find a way to save her family and her pack without sacrificing her freedom? Title:   Wolf Claimed Series:   Supernatural Sanctuary Book #:  1 Author:   Kellie McAllen Approximate Book Length:   228 Pages Recommended Reader Age:   16+ Sexual Content:   Mild Thoughts: This was...

Summary: Starting over sucks. When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring...until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up. And then he opened his mouth. Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens. The hot alien living next door marks me. You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. If I don't kill him first, that is. Title:   Obsidian Series:   Lux Book #:  1 Author:   Jennifer Armentrout Approximate Book L...

Cursed by Fire (Blood & Magic Series, Bk 1) By Danielle Annett Narrated by Nicole Poole Blurb: Blood is going to spill … It won’t be mine. Someone is feeding the flames, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake. The victims are innocents, chosen to pit the shifter Pack and the vampire Coven against one another. If war breaks out, humanity won’t survive. But controlling fire is my thing, and I won’t let that happen. I’m a mercenary, but this is about so much more than money. It’s my city and someone is threatening it. I won’t stop until I find them. When the good guys start to look more like villains, I have no chose but to question everything I knew, including the people I thought I could trust.  It turns out the humans might not be as helpless as they seem, and I'm in more danger than I realized.  Available for purchase at  Audible MY REVIEW Title:   Cursed by Fire Series:   Blood and Magic Boo...

Summary: Jazz Vanessen is weird—and not just because he’s a werewolf. For most of his life, he’s felt different from his alpha male brothers and friends. Since he’s adopted, he can’t even blame it on family. Now eighteen, Jazz meets his idol, the social activist Lysandra Mason, and her breathtaking nephew, Dash Mercury. When Dash is around, even stranger things start to happen, including Jazz falling hopelessly in lust. Not only is Jazz having visions, making people disappear, and somehow turning invisible, but somebody’s following him and threatening to reveal his pack’s secrets to the world. Together with Dash and Jazz’s equally amazing friends—Carla, BeBop, Khadija, and Fatima—they discover the danger is even more lethal than they thought, and Jazz’s weirdness may save all their lives. Title:   Hidden Powers Series:   Superordinary Society Book #:  1 Author:   Tara Lain Approximate Book Length:   278 Pages Recommended Reader Age:   18+ Se...

Summary: Lady Elanna Valtai is fiercely devoted to the King who raised her like a daughter. But when he dies under mysterious circumstances, Elanna is accused of his murder and must flee for her life. Returning to the homeland of magical legends she has forsaken, Elanna is forced to reckon with her despised, estranged father, branded a traitor long ago. Feeling a strange, deep connection to the natural world, she also must face the truth about the forces she has always denied or disdained as superstition powers that suddenly stir within her. But an all-too-human threat is drawing near, determined to exact vengeance. Now Elanna has no choice but to lead a rebellion against the kingdom to which she once gave her allegiance. Trapped between divided loyalties, she must summon the courage to confront a destiny that could tear her apart. Title:   The Waking Land Series:   The Waking Land Book #:  1 Author:   Callie Bates Approximate Book Length:   400 ...

Summary: The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss Everdeen. Title:   Mockingjay Series:   Hunger Games Trilogy Book #:  3 Author:   Suzanne Collins Approximate Book Length:   404 Pages Recommended Reader Age:   16+ Sexual Content:   Mild Thoughts: This book felt familiar yet completely different all at the same time. Everything is still life and death and hating President Snow, but there’s no more arena. There are more resources and more consequences. This is war and war isn’t pretty or easy. People die – innocent people sometimes. For someone who’s never been in a war scenario myself, the mentality of Katniss and the results of some battles felt very realistic. I cried a lot reading this book. I was on the edge of my seat with my breath held for a lot of it too. The ending didn’t really surprise me and it made a lot of sense to me. I also appreciate the time i...

Summary: Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. Katniss and Peeta should be happy. After all, they have just won for themselves and their families a life of safety and plenty. But there are rumors of rebellion among the subjects, and Katniss and Peeta, to their horror, are the faces of that rebellion. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Title:   Catching Fire Series:   Hunger Games Trilogy Book #:  2 Author:   Suzanne Collins Approximate Book Length:   403 Pages Recommended Reader Age:   16+ Sexual Content:   Mild Thoughts: This book once again brought me to tears and kept me on the edge of my seat. The PTSD that Katniss experiences and Snow’s threats backing her into a corner just killed me. Ending up back in the arena wasn’t a surprise, but it was hard to read. Very intri...

Summary: In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. Title:   The Hunger Games Series:   Hunger Games Trilogy Book #:  1 Author:   Suzanne Collins Approximate Book Length:   387 Pages Recommended Reader Age:   16...

Summary: When you loved the one who was killing you, it left you no options. How could you run, how could you fight, when doing so would hurt that beloved one? If your life was all you had to give, how could you not give it? If it was someone you truly loved? To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, a tumultuous year of temptation, loss, and strife have led her to the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or to pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fates of two tribes hangs. Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating, and unfathomable, consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella...

Summary: As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob --- knowing that her decision has the potential to ignite the ageless struggle between vampire and werewolf. With her graduation quickly approaching, Bella has one more decision to make: life or death. But which is which? Title:   Eclipse Series:   Twilight Saga Book #:  3 Author:   Stephenie Meyer Approximate Book Length:   641 Pages Recommended Reader Age:   13+ Sexual Content:   Mild Thoughts: I devoured this book in one day. I cooked dinner and did laundry, but other than that did NOTHING but read this book. I loved having the Cullens back, the pack history, the tension in the love triangle being at its strongest, and the cooperation of the vampires wi...

Summary: The "star-crossed" lovers theme continues as Bella and Edward find themselves facing new obstacles, including a devastating separation, the mysterious appearance of dangerous wolves roaming the forest in Forks, a terrifying threat of revenge from a female vampire and a deliciously sinister encounter with Italy's reigning royal family of vampires, the Volturi. Passionate, riveting, and full of surprising twists and turns, this vampire love saga is well on its way to literary immortality. Title:   New Moon Series:   Twilight Saga Book #:  2 Author:   Stephenie Meyer Approximate Book Length:   577 Pages Recommended Reader Age:   13+ Sexual Content:   Mild Thoughts: This is my least favorite book in the series. I appreciate the character development of Jacob and the progression of the relationship between Jacob and Bella. What I didn’t appreciate was the level of depression in to which Bella fell and the implication that she m...

Summary: Death is coming for you, Anne Moody... The Oddsmakers have been overseeing the use of magick in Las Vegas since the city's inception. For a dragon sorceress like Anne Moody, who tries to stay beneath the radar while running her cursed pawn shop, the Oddsmakers are the boogeymen she never wants to meet. They have the power to strip of her of her magick or worse if they deem her a danger to the city. Unfortunately, the Oddsmakers want her for a mission and Anne can't refuse. However, she has her own agenda: investigating a sorcerer who possesses the power to not only create life, but to raise the dead. With the gargoyle Vale by her side and with the help of her magickal friends, Anne tracks strange creatures beneath the streets of Las Vegas. But when tragedy strikes close to home, Anne realizes she may have to risk the wrath of the Oddsmakers and call upon her dragon for help. Because in the isolated desert, far from the eyes of ordinary humans, she is about to co...

Summary: To save Sin City, she must battle Hell. Too bad the odds are against her. Beneath the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas lies another city. A secret city in plain sight, full of warlocks and demons, shapeshifters and golems. A city that feeds off the chance magick that is generated by gamblers and which is ruled by mysterious beings called the Oddsmakers. It is in this strange underbelly of the occult that Anne Moody runs a cursed pawn shop for the desperate, the curious, and the magickally inclined. The job can be tricky, but it keeps her under the radar. None of her customers have any inkling that she is a dragon sorceress with a power that's been feared throughout history. One day, a visitor to her shop pawns a stone statue that is more than it appears. The statue is a gargoyle named Vale, who is shrouded in mystery and secrets. When she learns that Vale is possessed, and that the person responsible for cursing him plans to take over Las Vegas with a horde of demon...

I'm sharing my review of Catherine Bybee's Doing It Over today. Happy reading! ***************************** Summary: One small town. Three close friends. True love to last a lifetime. Voted Most Likely to Succeed, Melanie Bartlett ended up anything but. The down-on-her-luck single mom wants a complete do-over—is that too much to ask? With her family long gone from River Bend, strong, independent Mel is as surprised as anyone to end up in the quaint small town she once called home. But with her friends, Jo and Zoe, by her side, and a comfortable room at Miss Gina’s quirky bed-and-breakfast, she just might have turned the corner on a new life. Wyatt Gibson never liked the big city. River Bend suits the ruggedly handsome builder just fine. Wyatt knows he’s home, even if that means being charmed by the appearance of Melanie and her spunky, adorable daughter. Is Wyatt’s calm devotion—even amid a coming storm—enough to convince Mel she may have found a home to call he...