robgirlbooks: Double Review Time, Folks!! robgirlbooks' reviews of Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles and Magic Dreams by Ilona Andrews

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Double Review Time, Folks!! robgirlbooks' reviews of Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles and Magic Dreams by Ilona Andrews

4-ish STARS! Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles is a hard one to rate. Ashtyn doesn't have an easy life. Her father has completely checked out and she's pretty sure love means running away. There is one thing she truly believes in...football, not watching it, but playing for her high school. Derek is a spoiled arrogant jerk, but he's loyal, introspective, hot, and totally damaged. Love means running away for him too. You can guess their lives crash into each other and not smoothly either. Derek won me over pretty quickly. Ashtyn drove me crazy. She said she's this tough chick, but never once showed me that. She loves football, but we never get the chance to play a game with her. I wanted inside her head. I wanted to smell the grass and dirt, even the locker room. I just wanted her to pull me into her world because it's one I've never known. I had a lot of issues with this book, but I read it in a day. Elkeles also wrote the Perfect Chemistry Series (one of my favorites). I enjoy her writing and look forward to the next installment. I have to say the grandma completely stole the show. She could have her own story and I'd read it for sure.

5 FAT STARS!! Magic Dreams (Kate Daniels 4.5) by Ilona Andrews is so awesome. When I first met Dali I couldn't wait for her to have a novella. She's a rare white tiger. She's nutty. She acts more like a cute insecure petulant teenager than a brilliant shapeshifter. And she has the biggest crush. I love crushes! Shapeshifter Jim, AKA Scary Jim, Asshole Jim, Head of Security Jim is a mystery wrapped in a beautiful man. He makes hard calls and doesn't cry in his beer about it. See where this is going? Well, now Jim's life is at stake and Dali has to save him. Yay! As a total bonus, we get insight into Kate (who I'm pretty sure is still in the dark about what we learn-hehe). Read this novella. If you haven't started the series, come on!

Thanks for stopping by! In case you missed it, I just released Shadow Town: Maggie Lane Chronicles #1, my first foray into New Adult Paranormal Romance. You can find Maggie's story on Amazon and Smashwords.

8 comments:

UnknownFebruary 11, 2014 at 9:17 PM
magic dreams sounds great, I love shape shifting stories, I havn't read any of her stories but she has always been on my TBR list I guess now is as good as time as ever. Aussiebookworm
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UnknownFebruary 12, 2014 at 12:58 PM
I've seen Wild Cards around so much and hear it's great, but the fact she never actually plays football would annoy me too. I agree that I want to get into their head and understand why it's so important to them.
Dali! I haven't read this short story but I love Jim and I want to learn more about him! I will have to read it soon. Great reviews Robyn! :D
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AthinaFebruary 12, 2014 at 1:28 PM
Magic Dreams sounds like something I would read. And since you gave it five fat stars, sounds interesting. :)

Thanks for sharing, Robyn.
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Bookworm BrandeeFebruary 12, 2014 at 7:43 PM
I love Elkeles' writing too, Robyn. I haven't picked up Wild Cards yet - I know I will because I love her, but I've read so many mixed reviews. I do like the premise, but I'm with you...I want inside her head. And what is it with these kickass grandmas?!? <3 them!

I have read Magic Dreams yet either, dammit! It'll be part of my 'series catch up self-challenge' this year. :) I was so happy that Dali and Jim got a novella...no telling how long this has been on my nook. Probably since release day! *ha*

Great reviews, girl! I hope you've had a fantastic day!!
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Little bit about Robyn Jones

I laugh when people fall down. It's a glitch in my programming, but even my mom has suffered this quirk. I have a BA in Studio Art from the University of Puget Sound. My boys make me laugh every day. I steal pens; I try real hard not to. I collect those free bookmarks at the checkout counter at libraries. I've had more stitches than anyone I know. I love stories, writing them, reading them, watching them. You can email me at robgirlbooks@gmail.com or write a comment on a post or on my Goodreads page, just click my picture to go there.

Soul Walker, A Touched Girl Novel

Available Now on Kindle. When five-year-old Anna Pierce is offered a chance to have nightmare-free nights for the small price of her voice, she jumps at it. Silence has to be better than all-consuming dreams about blood and death and fangy monsters. The bargain she strikes comes with a secondary benefit, visions of a person’s future potential. The combination of visions and silence changes her very nature and soon she's diagnosed with autism. Twelve years of living in her head comes to a screeching halt the moment Peter Davis pulls her out of an icy river. Her new life has her twirling, tiptoeing, and crashing through unfamiliar territory, one filled with a cranky grandma, a knocked up cousin, an unpleasant cousin, a bunch of mostly good vampires, and the boy who rescued her. To top it all off, the deal she made at five is no more. Anna is expected to talk, to figure out her reemerging nightmares, and to control her ever-growing powers. And she'd better get it done soon because if the good vamps want a piece of a living, breathing Touched girl, the evil ones simply want. They'll take Anna for their very own.

Soul Bender, A Touched Girl Novel

Available Now! How much can a soul take before it breaks? Anna Pierce has a vampire boyfriend, a driver's license, real friends for the first time since she was five, and now she faces one of her biggest challenges, senior year at a mostly all girls Catholic high school. Sure, she's a member of the talking crowd now, but she'll never be like everyone else. How can she when the first of her kind has camped out in her dreams? Little dead girl Emily decides Anna's destiny can wait no longer. It's time for this generation's Touched Girl to hunt. Trained in a virtual dream landscape to destroy all in her path, Anna must choose between her destiny, the one beat into her on a nightly basis, and her legacy, the one instilled in her by her parents. Along the way, old enemies remain dutifully obsessed, new foes lurk in the shadows, and odd Little Duckie Anna Pierce sets out to be social.

Soul Twister, A Touched Girl Novel #3

Available now! “Peter and I are about to play a game. Don’t help him.” “Game?” crazy Shopgirl asked. “A hunting game,” Peter answered. His voice had a new quality to it. He caught me staring and instead of smiling, he held my eyes. “First one wins the bite. I’m going to win, Anna.” Months into recovering from the bloody events that took place in Soul Bender, Anna Pierce is ready to get back out there and fulfill her self-crafted destiny. Sadly, no one in her life feels the same way. The emergence of buried memories and out-of-the-blue powers send her straight into regular sessions with the school counselor. If only she could talk about her overly protective vampire boyfriend or the real threat posed by former friends turned enemies or her new guide who makes her former guide look like a bowl of sunshine. Anna has a lot going on, but at least she's too busy to think about her first Christmas at Ella's.

"Mom, you said shit." "I know, John." "You said shit, Mom." "Stop saying shit, John." "You stop saying shit."
"Mom, what do you want for Christmas?" "I want two happy boys." "You already have two happy boys." John 3/12/13
"Mama, I want to stay with you forever." John 3/2/13
I keep my perfume out of reach so the four year old won't mess with it. One day, he climbed the closet shelves, grabbed the bottle and sprayed away. After tagging everything from his hands to his penis (did I mention he was naked?) he shouted, "God dang it!" "John, little boys do not say God dang it. Try drat." "God drat!"
"Why did the chicken cross the road?" "Why?" "Because there was poop on the ground." 4yr old John (2/18/13)
"Mom, you're not a superhero. You're just a human." 10 yr old Will (2/11/13)
"When I'm at daddy's, sometimes I think about hugging you, mom." 4yr old John (2/8/13)
"We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. I'll do it the easy way, mom. You do it the hard way." 2/6/13 4yr old John
"I sleep, eat, and watch TV like Garfield." 4yr old John
John snatched his older brother's Lego Star Wars shorts out of the laundry and quickly put them on. "These are mine." "No, John." "But they look good on me."
"John, what was you favorite part of school today?" "When you came to visit me in class."
In an attempt to redirect the morning car-bickering routine, I transformed into one of those newly-minted teachers, you know, the enthusiastic cheerleader smiling kind. "Who knows the number one car rule?" I toss out there in a chipper voice. "I do. I do!" bounces around the car as excited hands wave back and forth. "Okay John, what's the number one car rule?" "No, pooping in the car."
Will's teacher asked him, "What do you want to do when you grow up?" "Help my mom."
Just to set up this next quote, I'm not the best interpreter of 4yr old speak. "Mom, Will's clothes disappeared." Since Will wasn't naked I looked back at John. "What does that mean?" "Disappeared means Will's clothes are gone!" he says with his hands making a vanishing act gesture.
"Mom, what rhymes with duck?" 4yr old John
Recently, John found a handful of Pez dispensers. Since he doesn't like the candy, he plays with them like action figures. "Mom, you play Woody, I'll play Garfield and Thor." I dutifully play Woody from Toy Story. "I'm Sheriff Woody. Reach for the sky." "I'm Garfield. I'm a talking cat. I'm Thor. I'm a superhero. Hey, let's look up." (because that is all a pez dispenser can do)
"Will, stop bossing John around." "I'm helping you boss John around." my 10 yr old
"Mom, I wanted weapons for Christmas. Santa is on the naughty list." my 4yr old
"Hot dogs are made of dead animals, Mom...I love dead animals!" my 4yr old
"When I say I don't like you, I love you." my 4yr old
"I've had a rough day." me "Like a Viking?" my 10 yr old
Seven days before Christmas it snows. "Merry Christmas, Mom," ten year old Will says with his arm around me.
"We have to take care of each other, Mom." my son Will
"The baddest guy in Mexico beat me." 4 year old John
"If you think my name is Cinderella, you just don't get it." my son John
"Mom, I love your Buddha belly." my son John