Fangs for the Memories (Half-Moon Hollow #4.5), by Molly Harper

Format: e-ARC, 86 pages

Publisher: Pocket Star

Published: November 2, 2015

ISBN: 9781476794549

Genre: Paranormal romance

Back cover blurb: How did Andrea and Dick Cheney fall in love? Join Half-Moon Hollow’s favorite couple for a trip down memory lane—to a time when Mr. Wainwright was newly dead, Jane Jameson was a newbie vampire, and a budding paranormal romance was not yet uncorked…

Half-Moon Hollow’s supernatural social event of the season—Zeb’s Titanic-themed werewolf wedding—is coming up, and Dick Cheney (not that Dick Cheney!) needs a date. But Andrea’s had enough of clever, handsome, and rakish to last a lifetime, and Dick Cheney is certainly not the sort of man you bring home to mom (not that Andrea’s deadist parents are speaking to her ever since she dropped out of college and became a blood surrogate.) Shameless, relentless, roguish, with a Stetson-worthy swagger, a naughty sparkle in his eyes, and a constant smirk—oh, and fangs—no, Dick is the last person (er…vampire) Andrea wants to date.

But the infuriatingly irresistible man who lives quietly on the edge of a criminal underworld knows exactly what he wants, and once he surprises Andrea with a thrilling hot and dirty kiss behind the paranormal bookshop, she knows what she wants too: Dick. All it takes to ignite their unconventional courtship is a near-undeath experience that confronts Dick with a choice between turning Andrea, losing her forever, or tapping into his countless shady resources).

My review: I’m a big fan of Dick (TWSS) and he just became even more lovely in this wee story about how he won Andrea’s heart. Full of the usual Harper humour, this is set just days after Mr. Wainwright’s death and shows how Dick came to Andrea’s rescue after a council-endorsed feeding goes bad. I loved everything about it, especially find out more about Andrea’s past. Just wish it was longer!

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 5/5

Amazon

Stacking the Shelves #19

Hosted by Tynga’s Reviews

Welcome back to Stacking the Shelves, a regular meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga’s Reviews. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the latest books you have added to your shelves, physical or virtual.  This means you can include books you buy in store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course e-books!

My Netgalley splurge continued this week, with a few more approvals added to my growing pile. First was Base Instincts, by Larissa Ione, which is a new M/M story in the Demonica universe. I really enjoyed this series and am looking forward to reading this novella.

The second was Fangs for the Memories, by Molly Harper, who is one of my favourite authors for a good laugh. This is a novella in the Half-Moon Hollow series which I have really enjoyed.

Based on a recommendation from a friend, I picked up Coming In From The Cold, by Sarina Bowen, which is currently free on Amazon Kindle. I haven’t read anything by this author but I value my friend’s advice and it was free, so why not!

Finally, I was browsing the bargain bins at a large department store this week and found All Fall Down, by Ally Carter in hardback on special, so I grabbed that, too. First time in a long time I have actually purchased a physical book for myself, but this has been on my TBR list for a while and the cover is so pretty!

So that’s it for this week. Keep an eye out for my reviews of these in coming weeks. So what new books did you pick up this week? Let me know in the comments.

Stacking the Shelves #6

Hosted by Tynga’s Reviews

Welcome back to Stacking the Shelves, a regular meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga’s Reviews. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the latest books you have added to your shelves, physical or virtual.  This means you can include books you buy in store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course e-books! Here is my haul from this week.

Purchased from Audible

Audible‘s half-price sale continued and I just couldn’t help myself. I purchased Pop Goes the Weasel by M.J. Arlidge, Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch, The Madness Underneath and The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, Blood On Snow by Jo Nesbo, and The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire by Molly Harper. Whew!

Approved Netgalley requests

Netgalley approved my request for Single Woman Seeks Revenge by Tracy Bloom and Heat Exchange, the first of Shannon Stacey‘s new Boston Fire series. Looks good, if the cover is anything to go by!

Downloaded from public library

From the local public library, I downloaded A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray on audiobooks. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book.

Purchased from Amazon

My only other purchase this week was from Amazon, and was True Love Way by Mary Elizabeth.

Wow, that looks like heaps! Keep an eye out for my reviews of these in coming weeks. So what new books did you pick up this week? Let me know in the comments.

Stacking the Shelves #2

Hosted by Tynga’s Reviews

Welcome back to Stacking the Shelves, a regular meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga’s Reviews. Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the latest books you have added to your shelves, physical or virtual.  This means you can include books you buy in store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts, and of course e-books! Here is my haul from this week – oooh, and I can’t wait to get started on some of them!

Netgalley e-ARC requests

As I mentioned last week, I have just joined Netgalley, and this week I was granted access to a surprising number of my requests. I’m clearly going to have to pace myself! So far I have already read Sea of Stars (Kricket, book 2) by Amy A. Bartol and the sneak peek of Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen and absolutely loved them. You can read my reviews here and here. Also in my Netgalley haul were Lone Star by Paullina Simons, In the Shadow of Winter by Lorna Gray, The Confectioner’s Tale by Laura Madeleine, The Blondes by Emily Schultz, 1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die by Mimi Sheraton, and Techbitch by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza. Such pretty covers, don’t you think?

Bought by me this week

New Zealand iBooks had a promotion this week on New Adult series, with the first in several series free. I can’t resist a freebie, and managed to pick up I Want It That Way by Ann Aguirre, After by Anna Todd, All Lined Up by Cora Carmack, and White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout. There was also a sale at Audible, through which I managed to pick up Snow Falling on Bluegrass by Molly Harper, and Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

Not bad for one week, eh? I’d better get reading! Keep an eye out for my reviews of these in coming weeks. So what new books did you pick up this week? Let me know in the comments.

Nice Girls Don’t Date Dead Men, by Molly Harper

Format: Kindle edition, 376 pages

Published: August 25, 2009

Publisher: Pocket Star

Back cover blurb:

With her best friend Zeb’s Titanic-themed wedding looming ahead, new vampire Jane Jameson struggles to develop her budding relationship with her enigmatic sire, Gabriel. It seems unfair that she’s expected to master undead dating while dealing with a groom heading for a nuptial nervous breakdown, his hostile werewolf in-laws, and the ugliest bridesmaid dress in the history of marriage. Meanwhile, the passing of Jane’s future step-grandpa puts Grandma Ruthie back on the market. Her new fiance, Wilbur, has his own history of suspiciously dead spouses, and he may or may not have died ten years ago. Half-Moon Hollow’s own Black Widow has finally met her match. Should Jane warn her grandmother of Wilbur’s marital habits or let things run their course? Will Jane always be an undead bridesmaid, never the undead bride? Combining Mary Janice Davidson’s sass and the charm of Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse novels, this is an incredibly satisfying read for fans of paranormal romantic comedy.

My review:

Still laugh-out-loud funny, but maybe not quite as good as the first book. There was no real mystery to grip the reader, just a series of (hilarious) plots involving the werewolf Titanic-themed wedding, Jane’s “black widow” grandmother and her new beau she met at the funeral home viewing of her previous boyfriend, the excellent Dick and Jane’s bookshop employer, and Jane’s former high school crush. And, of course, there’s the lovely Gabriel, who is still being enigmatic and smexy. Hopefully the next book will explain a bit more about what he’s been up to. I loved his joke at the end about suitable wedding songs (“Hungry Like the Wolf” – perfect!). So pleased there are more of these books for me to read 🙂

My rating: 4/5

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• Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs, by Molly Harper (mrsaubergine.wordpress.com)

Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs, by Molly Harper

Format: Kindle Edition

Published: March 31, 2009

Publisher: Pocket

Back cover blurb:

Maybe it was the Shenanigans gift certificate that put her over the edge. When children’s librarian and self-professed nice girl Jane Jameson is fired by her beastly boss and handed twenty-five dollars in potato skins instead of a severance check, she goes on a bender that’s sure to become Half Moon Hollow legend. On her way home, she’s mistaken for a deer, shot, and left for dead. And thanks to the mysterious stranger she met while chugging neon-colored cocktails, she wakes up with a decidedly unladylike thirst for blood.

Jane is now the latest recipient of a gift basket from the Newly Undead Welcoming Committee, and her life-after-lifestyle is taking some getting used to. Her recently deceased favorite aunt is now her ghostly roommate. She has to fake breathing and endure daytime hours to avoid coming out of the coffin to her family. She’s forced to forgo her favorite down-home Southern cooking for bags of O negative. Her relationship with her sexy, mercurial vampire sire keeps running hot and cold. And if all that wasn’t enough, it looks like someone in Half Moon Hollow is trying to frame her for a series of vampire murders. What’s a nice undead girl to do?

My review:

This book was a laugh riot from start to finish. The snark was dialled right up to 11, and Jane made me snicker out loud so many times I lost count.

Set in a world very much like that of Sookie Stackhouse, where vampires are out in the open and drink synthetic blood products, children’s librarian Jane finds herself unemployed and undead all in one day, the latter thanks to a drunken hunter who mistakes her for a deer. She is “saved” by the hunky Gabriel, about whom I wish to know much, much more. He is a bit like Sookie’s Bill, a civil war-era gentleman who is deliciously naive in the modern manner of speaking (like another favourite character of mine, Leif in the Iron Druid series) but loves talking about books and knows how to please a lady, if you know what I mean.

Jane, though, is a bit of a walking disaster, having gained herself a nasty enemy on top of having a dysfunctional family and a best friend with a new, “different” girlfriend. The potential for humour is endless with material like that, and Harper capitalises at every turn. This was very close to a five-cupcake read for me, and only isn’t because I found the denouement a little unsatisfying and rushed. However, I’m very eager to read the sequels and find out more about yummy Gabriel.

My rating: 4.5/5