Discern by Andrea Pearson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I took my time with this one because I knew as soon as I started it that I would like the protagonist and love the story. I received a copy of Discern through Ebooks For Review program in exchange for an honest review. Discern is the first book in a new series about Nicole Williams who is a fourth child in her family which makes her what is called an Arete or magical. I found that premise very interesting as the family dynamics and relationships were displayed for multiple students in Nicole's school in Seattle, Katon University. It has to be a strain on parents that want to fit in knowing that having a fourth child would allow them to produce a magical child, as well as a strain on the children that come before that fourth child knowing that they missed out on something special due to not being the fourth child. Sibling relationships are difficult enough but this seems like it would create a sibling rivalry that would be hard to manage, especially for the one child that is different. Also, what if the parents are not fourth children? Nicole was a product of just a family. I picked up on her having brothers and so far we only meet her mother so I am looking forward to meeting her entire family. After we meet Nicole's mother we are left with a huge desire to know the history of her family.

Katon University is a specialized university designed for Arete students. It teaches not only traditional subjects like math, science, but also subjects that relate to magic like magical objects. Each Arete's gifts typically are related to one of the elements, earth, air, fire or water, but there are so many things in between that makes this story exciting. Nicole starts at Katon with her best friend Lizzie, who is also her roommate at an apartment that leaves a lot to be desired. There are some interesting neighbors and their apartment can be truly weird and horrifying but it just adds to action in this story. Nicole applies to go on an expedition in the desert to try and help determine why people are disappearing when they visit that part of the desert. It is suspected that it is magic related so her professor is one of two professors hosting the expedition and boy is that trip action-packed. Nicole learns a lot about herself, her classmates that also are on the expedition, and other Aretes that are part of the expedition.

Discern is a strong, exciting, action-packed start to the Katon University series. The world building was really well done. The character development gives the readers some really great characters to love, dislike and also some that leave us on the fence waiting to see who they become as the series unfolds. I am really looking forward to see where it goes next and I really look forward to hopefully a book dedicated to Nicole's life before Katon University.

Vincent by D.B. Reynolds
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, what a great addition to the Vampires of America series. It just gets better and better with each book. I received an early copy via NetGalley and could not wait to dig into Vincent. It is great to see the differences in the vampire lords. Every once in a while I noticed a consistency in the descriptions of the effects of the vampire bite on their mates across the series but, that really is the only thing that I can say that is the same throughout each of these action-packed novels. They are each well written and I love that I get a different story each time. There are character details that make each lord stand out. My favorite character detail about Vincent was a scene regarding a classical guitarist deep in Mexico. Obviously, that each gets mated in their story is a consistent feature of each book, but, each of them is as diverse as their mates. Another great aspect of these stories is the really cool gifts displayed by each of the lords.

Vincent is Enrique's lieutenant. Enrique is the one hold out of the North America lords that does not seem to understand the risk that they are under from the European vampires. Raphael has great insight and has worked with everyone on the council, or maybe stacked the deck if you ask me, so that they might be successful in fighting the coming war. Enrique is a jerk who has other ideas that is putting everyone else at risk. Raphael does what he does best and sends a message via Lana to Vincent asking him to help Lana deliver a message and boy is that message jam packed with information. The method of the delivery is genius. The trip to make that delivery shows Vincent more about Enrique and helps him make make his plans for the future. Lana is a bounty hunter that Cyn is familiar with and she recommends her to Raphael and the partnership is interesting, full of action and great to read about. It is hard to believe we have to wait until March to see how things go with the upcoming war.

Seducing the Dragon: Part One by Jessie Donovan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have a fascination with dragon stories and it is really interesting to read a dragon story where they are partially integrated within our society. It almost seems a bit like how the native tribes are here in the U.S., part of the U.S. but having their own territories and government. It is great that the story is written in the Scotland area with some aspects of the British government involved. I received Seducing the Dragon from the author with a promise to review it honestly. I have to admit that being new to romance/racy romance stories is quite new to me so I look around and see if anyone is reading over my shoulder and get a bit embarrassed at some of the words. Seducing the Dragon has some racy language but it is a great story. I hope that the author will write a full novel soon because she has a great backdrop set up in Scotland and a group of people with stories waiting to be told and I look forward to all of them. The relationships are contentious and interesting. The landscape is not as well flushed out but I hope that will be coming as I love to see pictures of Scotland and its cliffs.

In Seducing the Dragon Evie, an employee with the Department of Dragon Affairs, has come to the clan Stonefire under the guise of investigating the welfare of a baby who lost his human mom and checking on the status of Melanie, the latest human sacrifice to the Stonefire clan. She also has an ulterior motive which requires the cooperation of Bram, the Dragon Lord of the Stonefire clan and has a plan to get his assistance. Determining if it will work is what we are waiting to see. It is great to see more about Bram though we do not get to read his story. We get a glimpse into who he is and a bit about him. I can see an entire novel written on Bram and Evie and hope that one day the author will suss that out. Another thing I would like to see is how the clan came to be and how the relationship between the dragon shifters and humans has come about. In addition, it would be great to see how humans became aware of the dragon shifters. Jessie Donovan has so much raw material to draw upon that I can see a lot more coming from these characters. Another thing I thought about was learning more about the dragon shifters' skills and magic. As I read each one I feel as if I walked into the middle of a great movie full of action and I'm asking questions to see what I missed, but the action is there, as are the great characters so I look forward to seeing what is next for Bram and Evie.

My Own Mr. Darcy by Karey White
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have wanted to read My Own Mr. Darcy for quite some time when I was offered the chance to review it through the Free Book in Exchange for Review program. I am not a Austenite or purist of Jane Austen books so I love all of the offshoots that I have seen over the last few years. My Own Mr. Darcy was a great addition to this category. It is about Elizabeth Barrett (close I know) who falls in love with a specific version of Mr. Darcy after seeing Pride and Prejudice on the big screen as a teenager. She lives her love life strictly by what she sees in this movie and will only accept 2nd dates from men that fit the criteria of what she fell in love with in the movie. It cannot be just any Fitzwilliam Darcy. It must be the one she saw in the movie. When she is an adult and sharing an apartment with her best childhood friend years later she is still living by this rule until her best friend makes her promise to give her next date a chance by dating him more than once. The unexpected occurs just when she meets "Mr. Darcy" in the flesh and has a shot at a relationship with him.

It was great watching Elizabeth as she grows from a smart-mouthed teen who has no interest in the classic Pride and Prejudice who falls in love with not only the movie, but also, Mr. Darcy, into someone who has a chance to live her dream and do her dream job into someone who understands that sometimes what we dream is not realistic. Sometimes what we think is perfect is maybe not so perfect. I have to admit that I am not a fan of what appears to be a love triangle but Karey White wrote one that was not too painful to read. Elizabeth was smart and sweet and realizes that Chad is someone who is great and worth having in her life. It is great reading My Own Mr. Darcy as everything unfolds and you see how things turn out with Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.

The Extraordinary Life of Lara Craft by Lola Salt
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lara Craft "not Croft" is a hilarious woman doing her best to find her place in the world and what she should be doing under the guise of finding new men to date after a terrible break up with her circus boyfriend. I received a copy of The Extraordinary of Lara Craft from NetGalley. I saw in the book details that there would be travel across the globe and really wanted to try it. I was not disappointed. There was a time when I was worried about Lara's wild ways but this book really does a good job of showing a person going through the paces of trying to figure things out for themselves. Lara Croft also loses her job as things start out, but the one thing I liked about her is that she didn't give up and along the way her trials are just entertaining. I laughed throughout the book, sometimes out loud. I have already started recommending this book to other people. It does contain adult content so it may not be for everyone but at the end you realize there is a bit of something for readers who like romance, something for those that like adventure and a bit of action even.

Lara had this great knack for making the best out of her situations and I loved that. She manages to have a good time under the worst circumstances. You have to envy someone that makes the best of their world no matter what is thrown at them, though sometimes she seemed to get off-track. It has to be said that sometimes she got a little too wild and I was concerned that maybe she might be missing the big picture but that is a part of life sometimes. Every once in a while we just feel like taking a day off from responsibility. Lola Salt does a great job of allowing us to see ourselves in Lara. One of the great things about The Extraordinary Life of Lara Craft is that it was just a bit off the beaten track, a bit fanciful and I loved that. There were these larger than life characters that Lara ran into during her travels and I have to admit that I would have loved that job. It had great pay and she got to travel across the globe. I wanted to try a cake that is only made in New York and Brazil where the cake originates. The shop did not ship and I looked around for a way to get that cake to Michigan so I can see how people's indulgences would result in shipping the oddest things around the world. I look forward to seeing more from this author, especially if her humor comes across in all of her work.

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Burned for Me is a great start to a new series by Ilona Andrews. I received an early release copy through NetGalley. I know this book is great because I am quite off of Urban Fantasy right now and it burned right through my Urban Fantasy reading slump. Burn for Me starts the story of Nevada Baylor who is part of a pretty awesome family. She heads an investigative agency that she inherited from her parents. Her cousin Bern, whom I am particularly fond of, tends to be the person who she worked with most as he is super smart and a supernova when it comes to computers. Every once in a while even the younger siblings get involved, along with her mother, an ex-military with some serious skills with weapons, and her grandmother who is an excellent mechanic with special skills of her own. Unfortunately, she is tasked with capturing a Prime, an extremely gifted mage, with a power that she cannot possibly even defend herself against. She runs afowl another vested party named Mad Rogan who gets under skin. Well, actually they get under each other's skin. Unfortunately, they meet when he kidnaps her and she does not have much recourse initially since he is another Prime.

I have read The Edge series and I also follow the Kate Daniel's series avidly and I have to say that this is another winning series for me. The location, a customized version of Houston, is nicely described, though I am not quite sure of the time period for this series. I get the feeling that it is more of an alternate version of now. The people appear to be ultimately what have evolved. I cannot decide which I loved most about Burn for Me, the action scenes which were very detailed and well-written or the descriptions of the magic. There were some great things left open regarding magic and those that have magic. There is the relationship/anti-relationship between Nevada and Mad. Given the ongoing relationship for Nevada's firm and the family it rolls up to I expect to see a lot more of several other interesting characters. Mad Morgan is a wonderful wild card that I cannot wait to to read more about.

Sicilian Engagement by Rachel Lyndhurst
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sicilian Engagement was an enjoyable read. I received an early release copy from NetGalley. I always look for books based in the Mediterannean and this is one of the few that I have read so far based in Sicily. I always flash back to an episode of Anthony Bordain's No Reservation where he spent time in Sicily when he spoke with one of his hosts about whether there was still "family connections" there and she confirmed that it is not as obvious but every once in a while it reared its head so it is not completely gone. So when I read contemporary stories that hit on this I think about this and realize there is a bit of realism there and this story was quite interesting. It spent some time on "family" politics in Sicily and how this effects business. Lorenzo Ferrante's story delves into these relationships since Lorenzo has done his best to stay out of his father's "family" business. But Lorenzo has a plan for how to clear himself once and for all and try to do some good in Sicily but he needs to be married to sit at the table for the deal. But he has to start somewhere so he needs to find a fiancee fast and hires one but the person chosen to be his fiancee through a temp agency in London is blackmailed into it. She has no choice but to honor the contract but she goes in with her head on straight and is determined not to fall for Lorenzo, who of course is gorgeous. One of the best things about Sicilian Engagement is seeing Sicily's landscape through the author's eyes. There were some great descriptions of Sicily which are always my favorite. Although I am new to pure romance I love when they have a bit of a twist and there was a bit of excitement in this book which helped make it more enjoyable for me. I will look for more books by Rachel Lyndhurst!