Greg's Dailyish Blog

Shelley's Daily Blog

October 23rd, 2018

October 9th, 2018

New Release & Review:
100 Fathoms Below
By Steven L. Kent & Nicholas Kaufmann

The Hunt for Red October meets 30 Days of Night. There is something terrifying about being trapped in a canister so far below the surface of the ocean that the pressure alone would crush your body. Kent and Kaufmann selected an ideal environment for their tale.

Read my full review...

October 5th, 2018

New Release & Review:
An Easy Death
By Charlaine Harris

It pains me to write this review, almost as much as it pained me to finish this book. I’ve always enjoyed Charlaine Harris’ writing: the Sookie Stackhouse /True Blood series, Harper Connelly, Midnight, Texas. When I saw that Harris had a brand-new, what I would call, dystopian/fantasy, I was all in.

Read my full review...

October 2nd, 2018

Book Review:
Consumed
(Firefighters #1)
By J.R. Ward

I’ve read my fair share of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, but with so many titles in the series, it gets a little intimidating. That’s why I was excited to see a brand-new series from J.R. Ward, one that I could get my hooks into from day one and not have such a massive catalogue to get caught up to.

Read my full review...
Read Shelley's review.

September 25th, 2018

Book Review:
Strange the Dreamer
By Laini Taylor

This is my second venture into the kaleidoscopic mind of Laini Taylor. I fell in love with her Daughter of Smoke & Bone series. There was just too damn much in the synopsis for me to resist this new series.

There are different types of authors: some are storytellers (they captivate you with their tales), others are writers (they expertly piece together stories that follow all of the rules), then there are the world-builders...

Read my full review...

September 11th, 2018

Book Review:
The Book of M
By Peng Shepherd

This is one of those books that piqued my interest long before it was released. The whole idea of lost memories tied to an apocalyptic loss of shadows was new and unique. I love it when an author says: let’s make a different apocalypse.

Read my full review...

September 4th, 2018

Book Review:
The Passage
By Justin Cronin

I’ve heard many great things about The Passage over the past few years, the timing was right, so, I decided to embark on this epic journey concocted by Justin Cronin. I’ve got to tell you, I loved it. This was one of those books that I opened up to read whenever I had a few minutes…or hours.

Read my full review...

August 28th, 2018

Book Review:
Mega 2: Baja Blood
By Jake Bible

It was two years ago that I read Mega by Jake Bible. I was in the mood for another fun, fast and furious ocean adventure. What could be better than a return voyage with Team Grendel on a new and improved Beowulf?

After finishing Baja Blood, I had to go back and take a look at my review for book one. There are a lot of things that can change in two years: my expectations among those things.

Read my full review...

August 21st, 2018

Book Review:
Circe
By Madeline Miller

Greek mythology is filled with women. Many of these women were portrayed in a villainous or destructive role: Pandora, Clytemnestra, Helen, Medea…and Circe, to name a few. Why the Greeks did this is a completely separate topic, but they did. I love what Madeline Miller has done with Circe, she has taken one of the most famous villainous Greek women and she has shown her readers the other side of the story.

Read my full review...

August 14th, 2018

Book Review:
Xinners
By Wayne Simmons

Right from the start, Wayne Simmons brought me back to a comfortable, familiar place: Helo brought me back to the Creature Cantina. With the intricately detailed and varied aliens, I was brought back to my youth, invested in the story even before I got to know the characters. But this wasn’t the Creature Cantina of my youth, it was a bit more “adult,” I kept waiting for Rev to tell a couple of Stokians that “This is not the whore you’re looking for.” I was hooked.

Read my full review...

August 7th, 2018

Book Review:
Foe
By Iain Reid

You have to understand, you don’t just sit down, relax and read a book by Iain Reid; it’s a contest, a competition - can you figure out what the hell is going on before he has to spell it out for you? Well, that’s how I look at it, anyway.

Read my full review...

Read Shelley's review

July 23rd - August 5th, 2018

Gone Fishin':
Summer/Vacation Reading & Recommendations

Vacation time has arrived, I’ve got some reading to do. I’ve been on a bit of a book buying bonanza lately and I have a lot of books I want to read. My reading list for this summer’s vacation is excessively ambitious, but between balconyville and poolsideton, I’m hoping to succeed.

Read my full post...

July 17th, 2018

New Release & Review:
Baby Teeth
By Zoje Stage

A connection. When an author can create a connection between you and their characters, you’ve got a winner.

As a father, with one child, a son, I could feel an affinity for Suzette. My son and I often butt heads and disagree; his relationship with his mother is the complete opposite. I saw parallels with Suzette and Hanna and Hanna and her father.

Read my full review...

July 13th, 2018

Book Review:
Whore
By Matt Shaw

After reading Whore, I think I must be a little bit dead inside. I like big books, write a fabulous story and I’ll read two thousand pages of it. But once in a while I like to grab a shorty…one hundred pages or so; a little something to reset my barometer, some literary sorbet, if you will.

Read my full review...

July 10th, 2018

Book Review:
Midnight Crossroad
By Charlaine Harris

I’ve been having a tough time of it the past few weeks…months; finding that book that gives me that Calgon moment, yes, I’m aging myself, but I want a book to take me away. I thought it would be good to go back to an old favorite, Charlaine Harris.

I was immediately ready to pack my bags and move to Texas. Harris filled that little town with such an intriguing cast of characters.

Read my full review...

June 26th, 2018

New Release & Review:
The Cabin at the End of the World
By Paul Tremblay

I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. When I pick a book to read, I want to love it. I want the book to captivate my mind, take me away and immerse me into the lives of its characters. The Cabin at the End of the World did none of this.

Sometimes I think that I get caught up in the hype surrounding certain authors. This award-winning, that prize winner, on the board of this, that and the other thing.

Read my full review...

October 23rd, 2018

Book Review:

The Hunger

By Alma Katsu

History is filled with many fabulous stories that can skillfully be turned into fictional horror. The less we know, the fewer the survivors, the more horrific the actions of the participants, all the more readily we are to accept the involvement of evil.

Read my full review...

What he's reading!

This week's list of new and

upcoming releases is posted

below. Enjoy!

New Releases!

- Trailer Park Heart – By

Rachel Higginson
Trailer park born and raised.

It’s my legacy. That’s how my

mama lived. And that’s how

her mama lived. It’s the life I

was born into and it’s the life

I swore I would leave the

second I was old enough to

make it out.
Only legacies have a funny

way of sneaking up on you.

An innocent decision the night

of high school graduation led

to a series of complications in

my plans to escape.
Seven years later, I’ve resigned myself to this small town and the roots I’m tied to. Nothing could make me leave. And nothing could make me spill the secrets that keep me here.
Until he walks back into town with a chip on his shoulder and a stupid hunch nobody else in town has been smart enough to follow.
Levi Cole is my opposite. Born on the right side of the tracks with family money to spare, he’s the kind of black sheep that can afford to be rebellious—because his family will always pay for his mistakes. He’s also the only living heir to Cole Family Farms, after his brother Logan was killed in duty seven years ago.
He sees something in my life that he thinks he has a right to. But he’s wrong. And obnoxious. And he needs to take his stubborn good looks and that intense way he looks at me and go back to wherever it was he came from.
I know better than to trust men like him. I was born and raised in a trailer park, I know nothing good happens to girls like me—girls with trailer park lives and trailer park hearts. Especially from gorgeous, kind, pigheaded men like him.

- Fall (VIP #3) – By Kristen Callihan – Rock star romance!
The first time I met Jax Blackwood things went a little sideways.
In my defense, I didn’t know he was Jax Blackwood—who expects a legendary rock star to be shopping for groceries? More importantly, a blizzard was coming and he was about to grab the last carton of mint-chocolate chip.
Still, I might have walked away, but then he smugly dared me to try and take the coveted ice cream. So I kissed him. And distracted that mint-chip right out of his hands.
Okay, it was a dirty move, but desperate times and all that. Besides, I never expected he’d be my new neighbor.
An annoying neighbor who takes great pleasure in reminding me that I owe him ice cream but would happily accept more kisses as payment. An irresistible neighbor who keeps me up while playing guitar naked–spectacularly naked–in his living room.
Clearly, avoidance is key. Except nothing about Jax is easy to ignore—not the way he makes me laugh, or that his particular brand of darkness matches mine, or how one look from him melts me faster than butter under a hot sun.
Neither of us believes in love or forever. Yet we’re quickly becoming each other’s addiction. But we could be more. We could be everything.
All we have to do is trust enough to fall.

- Saint (Mercy #2) – By J.B. Salsbury - The continuation of the story that began in Ghostgirl.

- Cards of Love: Nine of Swords – By Bella Love-Wins

My job was to do what I do best.
Watch my target. Protect them at all costs. Kill anyone who

gets in my way.
My weapon of choice?

Anything with a sharp edge.
But the second I see my newest client, I know I'm in trouble.

- One Wild Ride: A Hollywood Chronicles Stand-alone Novel - By A.L. Jackson & Rebecca Shea

Elle Ward, daughter of Hollywood’s hottest director, has sworn off actors for life.
She knows their games and she refuses to play them.
That is until the day she collides with one of LA’s most promising actors.
Kas Cowen isn’t looking for love until it literally runs him down.
One look at Elle and he’s hooked.
He crashes into her life and flips it upside down.
Now he has to convince Elle he’s more than just a pretty face.
Little did they know they were up for one wild ride . . .

- Lost with Me (The Stark Saga #5) – By J. Kenner

- A Brand New Ending (Stay #2) – By Jennifer Probst - Standalone. Second chance romance!

Ophelia Bishop was a lovestruck teenage girl when she and Kyle Kimpton chased their dreams to Hollywood. Kyle’s dreams came true. Ophelia’s did not. When Kyle chose his career over their relationship, Ophelia returned home to rural New York to run the family’s B & B—wiser, and more guarded against foolish fantasies. Now Kyle has come crashing back into her life, and all her defenses are down.
Kyle can’t think of a better place to write his latest screenplay than his hometown. After all, that was where he met the heart of his inspiration—his first love. He knows the damage he’s caused Ophelia, and he wants a chance to mend their relationship. If anyone can prove to Ophelia that happy ever afters aren’t only for the movies, it should be him.
As much as Ophelia’s changed, she still has feelings for Kyle. But her heart has been broken before, and she knows that Kyle could run back to Hollywood at any time. She gave up her dreams once, but maybe she can dare to change her own love story…one last time.

- Loose Ends – By Kristen Ashley - Kristen Ashley’s first anthology, readers will find three short stories and two novellas taking them back to characters and series in the Kristen Ashley universe.

- Shadow and Ice (Gods of War #1) – By Gena Showalter – New paranormal romance series!

Knox of Iviland, the most ruthless warrior in All War history, has spent his life fighting others to the death, winning new realms for his king. Now the stakes are higher than ever. If he prevails in the battle for Earth, his slave bands will be removed. Victory is his sole focus…until he meets her.
On an arctic getaway with her foster sister, street tough but vulnerable Vale London is shocked to stumble upon a cave filled with ancient gods waging epic combat. When she is inadvertently drawn into their war, she is forced to team up with an unlikely ally—the sexy god who makes her burn with desire.
Though Vale is his enemy, Knox is consumed with lust and a fierce need to protect her. But only one combatant can triumph, and he will have to choose: live for freedom, or die for love.

- Close to the Bone (Widow's Island #1) – By Kendra Elliot - Suspense!

- Chasing the Sunrise (The Young Hearts Duet #2) – By H.A Robinson

At sixteen years old, Tom Williams has spent his entire life pretending to be someone he’s not.
The perfect son.
The perfect student.
The perfect friend.
After so long, it seems impossible he’ll find the courage to truly be himself, whoever that is.
And then he falls for his best friend—the one person in the world he knows he can never have.
Good looking, charismatic and popular, Luke Chang is everything Tom wants, and everything he wishes he could be.
There’s only one problem.
Luke is straight and thinks that Tom is, too...

- Reveling in Sin (The Sin Trilogy #3) – By Meghan March

- Break Me Down (The Breaking Trilogy #2) – By M. Mabie - The continuation of Abraham and Myra's story that began in Break My Fall.

- Big Stick: An Aces Hockey Novel – By Kelly Jamieson – Hockey/single mom romance!

Big move . . . Jodie’s motto is “Don’t wait for the perfect moment—take the moment and make it perfect.” And that’s just what she decides to do when she moves to Chicago with her two-year-old daughter. Now all Jodie needs is a place to live, and her best friend’s boyfriend has just the answer.
Big stick . . . Nick Balachov has zero interest in socializing, partying, or flirting right now. It’s not that he doesn’t like women. He loves them. It’s just that hockey, casual hookups, and hanging out at home are enough for him these days. Now Nick has a big problem—because the woman living in his empty coach house is a major distraction.
Big deal? The more Nick tries to keep his distance, the more Jodie needs him—around the house, that is. First he helps with the snowstorm, then the power outage. Nick even finds himself trying to impress her little girl. What the hell is wrong with him? Jodie represents everything Nick doesn’t want. But maybe she’s just what he needs. . . .

- Tempting Brooke: A Big Sky Novella (1001 Dark Nights) – By Kristen Proby

- Violet Ugly (The Granite Harbor Series #2) – By J. Lynn Bailey - Each book in this series can be read as a standalone.