Blood Magic by Jennifer Lyon

Don't pay any attention to the amount of time it took me to read this book. I've been really busy lately.

  I love going to my mom's house as she quite frequently sends me home with something new to read. Last time, it was this book and some Heather Grahams. I have never read anything by Jennifer under this pseudonym; I have previously known her by the name Jennifer Apodaca, author of the Samantha Shaw Mystery Series. (Which I love)

  I was a little iffy when my mom tried to pimp the story to me. It's about witches and demons and slayers and sex magic. And I was like "Ohh boy". I'm not usually into fantasy-type stories (ohh they call it paranormal romance), that said- some of my favorite stories are fantasy; ie. The Lord of the Rings, The Mists of Avalon, The Winter of the World Trilogy, and The Circle Trilogy. Hey, I like sequels and guess what? THIS ONE HAS ONE.


  Blood Magic is about a young woman who learns she that she is a witch and people want to kill her for it. There are a small handful of men who know what she is, and are sworn to help her, but they have an "itch" to kill her too. On top of all this, she has a week to master her newly found powers and cure a sweet little girl of a deadly curse. And then there is love and trust issues.

  If I had to make one complaint, it would be the cheesy love scenes, or more the dialog therein. Sex scenes in books never work for me because I get caught up on the "nobody says that" !!! When's the last time anyone said they wanted to "touch your sweet desire??" Really. Girls, you will never, ever have a man say that to you because straight men don't talk or think that way. And when you go from thought processes like that to "balls slapping", it just doesn't work for me.

  I just had to get that off my chest because it seems all romance books write that crap. A good book draws you in and you're no longer a spectator, but a participant, and nothing sucks more than suddenly being thrust back into the audience when your mind rebels to a campy line and screams "Who says that?"

  That said, I really, really liked this book and I can't wait to read the next one. This should prove to be a series that has at least 4 to 5 books total, I think, based on the character formula she has set up. I'm going to have to raid my mom's book piles (can you believe she doesn't really have a functioning book shelf???) and see if she's got the next one, Soul Magic.

Happy Reading!

Breathless by Dean Koontz

I am a little apprehensive about this book. The back synopsis makes me hopeful of an epic thriller like Strangers, but then I see that it's only getting 3 1/2 stars and the little voice in my head says, "Ehhh, here we go again." I wouldn't even be reading it now if it weren't for a coworker who offered it to me knowing that I'll finish it long before she gets a chance to start it.....

..... Despite what I said, I really, really wanted to come back and say that this was a phenomenal book. It wasn't. I really don't think that there was a single new idea in the whole story. The same old formula... There was a super dog, something not of this world, a psychopathic killer, a man making amends, a girl fighting her past, and, of course, I think someone's falling in love.

This story didn't work for me. It bounced around too much to allow the reader to form any bonds to even one of the characters and it was hard to keep certain characters straight. And the ending was a half-assed attempt to tie it all up.

Strangers worked so well because the layout of the story gave the reader time to truly know each character; each was unique and well written, and had a purpose. When they finally all came together it was thought out and well executed. Not so in...... Breathless. (Wow, I had to think of the name. Then I was like, "why did they call it that?" Ohhhhh.... that's lame!)