KISS OF THE HIGHLANDER by Karen Marie Moning

KISS OF THE HIGHLANDER
by
Karen Marie Moning

AudioBook
narrated by
Phil Gigante
10 CDs
11 hours

Lady Mischief has recently had to spend many hours traveling the lonely highways. It doesn't take long to realize that the radio plays the same old songs in rotation on an hourly basis and how much talk radio can one person listen to before said person will need serious therapy? So the Lady decided that her time should not be wasted in such manner and went to her local library to borrow a few audio books to listen to.

The first book Lady Mischief chose was Karen Marie Moning's "The Kiss of the Highlander". It is the story of Drustan MacKeltar, a 16th century druid placed under a spell by gypsies. He sleeps until he is awakened in present times by Gwen Cassidy.

It is a true revelation to hear an author's words spoken out loud. Phil Gigante is a very talented narrator and Lady Mischiefs following statements are not a reflection on his talent, nor Ms. Moning's writing, just in this case it is perhaps an unfortunate combination of both.

Gwen Cassidy is described as having a Jennifer Anniston hairstyle and bee stung lips (ala Angelina Jolie?) Then add Mr. Gigante's falsetto voice and Lady Mischief's overly fertile imagination and the picture that crops to mind is David Spade in drag as Jennifer Anniston wearing a silver lame dress that keeps falling off.

Everytime Gwen spoke Lady Mischief exploded in laughter. After listening for awhile she grew accustomed to the voice and the explosive laughter calmed down to a giggle until she had to shut off the car but when she began her travels again it would be as if it were the very first time she heard Gwen's voice. (And to think there are so many people who believe Lady Mischief does not have a sense of humor!)

Lady was really torn on how to score this book. The story is well written and well told. The narration is very entertaining, but the whole David Spade in drag thing is also very distracting.

Yours forever between the covers of a book,
Lady Mischief

MY SEXY GREEK SUMMER by Marie Donovan

MY SEXY GREEK SUMMER
by
Marie Donovan

Harlequin
Blaze
May 09
#470

Grad student Cara Sokol is about to spend the summer on a Greek island. Her "nonexistent sex life" needs a "jump-start" but she has sworn off of Greek men forever. At least until she meets Yannis Petrides.

Lady Mischief loves Greek tycoons, stories that involve Greece, etc. It has always been one of Lady Mischief's major ambitions to find one of Harlequin's Greek Tycoons for herself. She doesn't want a real Greek tycoon because she is afraid he might look like Jackie Kennedy's second husband. That changes the fantasy drastically.

This book also changes the fantasy drastically. This is the first Greek based romance Lady Mischief did not finish reading. It was just too painful. She could not find a single person she liked in it.

Regretfully this book is rated:

Yours forever between the covers of a book,
Lady Mischief

ALPHA WOLF by Linda O. Johnston

ALPHA WOLF
by
Linda O. Johnston

Silhouette
Nocturne
January '09
#56

Dr. Melanie Harding did not believe in werewolves. She was a veterinarian. She owned her own clinic in rural Maryland. She was a scientist. She knew there was no such things as werewolves. She knew that injured dog she found late at night, practically on her doorstep was just a big dog.

So why did everybody in town insist he was a werewolf?

What was going on out at that top secret military base that hunky Major Drew Connell worked at?

What is Alpha Force?

This book has everything. An engaging heroine. A wild hero. Suspense galore.

Yours forever between the covers of a book,
Lady Mischief

BURNING WILD by Christine Feehan

BURNING WILD
by
Christine Feehan

Jove
Paranormal Romance
Paperback
May 2009

To anyone who knows Lady Mischief or even to anyone who has been following this blog the following statement will not come as a shock or even as a surprise.

When you spend your hard earned money on a product you should have something which does not leave you feeling cheated or misused in any way. If you purchase a ring from The Dollar Store you have certain expectations from it, however if the ring came from Tiffanys your expectations are much higher. But then, so aren't the prices at Tiffanys.

When Lady Mischief pays $7.99 (US) plus tax for a book she wants a book jam packed with words that mean something, that take you somewhere, that make you feel something. She does not want to pay that kind of money for a lot of white space, large font print, and a word count equal to a Harlequin Romance packaged in 400 pages.

With that said, Lady Mischief will now get on with BURNING HOT.

Jake Bannaconni had been bred for certain skills that he never let his vicious parents know he had inherited. He grew to manhood, became a ruthless tycoon, and tried to protect the woman and two babies that came into his life.

Emma Reynolds taught Jake how to care for his infant son and how to love.

But could he protect them from the ruthless people who wanted to breed them and experiment on them?

This is the best book Lady Mischief has read in several years. It hit every nerve a good book should hit and it left you wanting more, a lot more. When a 443 page book with small font and no white space leaves you wanting more you know the book, the characters, and the author are all winners.

Hey, Hollywood! This book would be a perfect movie or HBO series. Read it. Check it out. Produce it!

BURNING HOT is the Ultimate Reading Orgasm.

Five (5)

Yours forever between the covers of a book,
Lady Mischief

DESTINY OF THE WOLF by Terry Spear

DESTINY OF THE WOLF
by
Terry Spear

Sourcebooks Casablanca
Paperback
2009

Lady Mischief was waiting in a friend's car and wonder upon wonder her eyes fell upon a pile of new books. Oh, the joy that filled the Lady's heart!

She immediately slid her own book back into her shoulder bag and started to peruse the treasure awaiting her. One of the books was a werewolf book by Terry Spear and Lady enjoyed the small bit she was able to ingest before her friend came back to the vehicle and cruelly ripped the book from the Lady's hands.

The friend was adamant about not giving the new book back to the Lady until after she, herself had read it, but she did give Lady Mischief a prior werewolf book by the same author.

Lady was overjoyed because until this time she had not read anything by Terry Spear and what she had read in the car had whetted her appetite.

Terry Spear has a wonderful voice and DESTINY OF THE WOLF had a lot of potential. However, it did not live up to its potential.

Lady Mischief is going to break one of her cardinal rules and actually use some points from the book, which may prove to be spoilers, to explain the problems this story has.

1.) There is too much going on.
a.) It is confusing.
b.) There are too many villains.
c.) None of the many story threads receive the attention they deserve.

2.) The Heroine is a flip-flopper
a.) She says she is alpha but acts like a dumb (really DUMB) beta.

3.) Point of View
a.) Head jumping. It changes multiple times per scene.
b.) Confusing.

4.) Brother of Heroine
a.) Abandoned the family, especially the sisters to abusive men
b.) Then he rolls into town and is pissed that she didn't ask his permission to
mate with her love.
c.) He didn't even know where she was.
d.) He rescued his parents and not her. Leaving her alone and vulnerable.

5.) Sister of Heroine
a.) Had two mates plus a lover. (Makes it difficult to care about her.)
b.) Knew the Hero was really the one meant as her sister's true mate and she
stole him for herself anyway, and then cheated on him.
c.) She was weak and STUPID!
d.) She ran away from her abuser knowing her sister who had tried to save her
had been knocked unconscious. She left her to be beaten and possibly

raped, definitely abused.
e.) When she found a good man, she lied to him, stole from him, kept him

from his true mate, and left him for another abusive male.
f.) She even stole her sister's name.

And yet her sister and the hero still remember her kindly.

The bitch (since she was a female werewolf the term is appropriate) was willing to keep her sister from ever having any happiness. She does not deserve any forgiveness. At least not immediately. Maybe someday, but not right away. She almost cost too many people their lives, and she was not worth it.

This book is reluctantly rated:

Two (2)

Yours forever between the covers of a book,
Lady Mischief