Author Archives: karenjvjohnson

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A Different Witch

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17161939

A Different Witch (A Modern Witch #5)

This is a another good entry of witch central with a group of witches who have a community that tries to bring other witches in who may not have anyone to take care of them. The characters are all well defined and complete as individuals so they make you feel like you know them. The dialogue is perfect for the characters and helps to keep you involved in their lives and world.

Almost two years ago Jamie went to Chicago to evaluate Lauren when she was fetched by their program that identifies witches. He and Lauren ended up crashing a coven meeting and totally destroying what they had by telling them they were doing it wrong. While he left and forgot about what he had done, Beth Lander, the leader of the coven could not forget and felt abandoned after his show of arrogance. While thinking about Jamie and preparing to go online she is accidentally teleported to Witch Central with no warning. Things do not get much better after that. This is a very different witch than any of them have ever dealt with and it is going to bring some bad feeling to light.

This is basically a light urban fantasy with plenty of humor, a touch of romance, and some characters that are unforgettable. If you want something that can be enjoyed without a lot of thought or fuss then this is perfect. I recommend this series to everyone!

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Naughty or Nice

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19523854

Naughty or Nice (Ella Reynolds #2.75 (Dark Christmas))

After averaging out the stars my rating comes to 3.6 stars for the book. The stories in it are very diverse and all thankfully are about the holiday season.

‘The Santa Call’ by J.R. Rain is a bit of a weird one that I gave 3.5 stars because it is so different you can’t help but keep reading. Santa calls a radio show run by the Love Doctor who gives romantic advise. Santa calls because Mrs. Claus has left him and he needs someone to tell him how to get her back or Christmas will be ruined. I liked it but was not wowed by it.

‘Disco Angels’ by Danielle Younge-Ullman got a rating of 4 stars. Sarah is visiting her family for the holidays which means she has to put up with her less than sweet sister Meli. She loves being there but is still sad about the loss she had 2 years earlier, it has affected everything in her life. The story was good but very sad in so many ways with hopeful undertones for the season.

‘One Stormy Christmas’ by Toni LoTempio I gave 3 stars for being alright. This used characters from a book I had never read and so they were not important to me. Abraham Adams has bought a shop from his cousin and thinks that he will find something worth a lot of money. Abraham finds a box that seems to speak to him. The box somehow ends up on the shelves and is purchased by Autumn, a writer on the show “Stormy Seas”, who proceeds to let out a bit of evil into the world. It actually took me a minute to get into the story but it picked up nicely near the end.

‘Fortune Cat’s Visit’ by Heather Massey got 2 stars. This was my least favorite of all the stories in the book. It did not seem to be about anything more than a woman finding love during Chinese New Year. I did not care about the characters and therefore did not care about the story itself. They mention aliens but you never see them.

‘Real Elves’ by Helen Smith received 3 stars for being cute. Miranda is an artist who has created an enchanted forest for a department store. She just needs to have a dry run before they open it to children. Emily helps by asking her neighbor to bring his granddaughter to walk through and see how she feels about it, things do not go smoothly. This story was cute and had a feeling of magic. I actually liked the characters.

‘Carol’ by J.W. Becton gets 3 stars for a nice story. Calla Hawthorne was at a Christmas party when she was told to go pick up a revenant. It is her job to make sure that souls or the pieces of them get to where they are going, but nobody told her this was a murder victim, they are a little more trouble. The story was interesting and the characters were also interesting.

I gave ‘Krampus Klaus’ by Christiana Miller 4 stars because this story caught my imagination. Jessica and her kids find themselves in witness protection for the holidays and it is nothing like they have experienced before. Her husband is not a nice man and brought his mistress into witness protection and spends most of his time with her. The children make a find when they cannot sleep on Christmas Eve that makes their lives and their mothers better. I loved the ending to this it was just what I would have wanted.

This I gave 5 stars because I like a good mystery just like our heroine, ‘Dark Christmas’ by Liz Schulte. Ella is a recluse with good reason, her husband was murdered in their home and she was the prime suspect. Now however she lives with one of the detectives in the town and writes true crime novels, one about her own experiences and the town. There seems to be something more going on when a dead body is found on her front porch during a holiday party. I think this one was excellent and had me on the edge of my seat.

‘Santa Stole My Ghoulfriend’ by Rose Pressey gets 4 stars because I already liked the character. Larue Donavan sees ghosts and speaks with them because they seek her out for help. A ghost shows up and asks for help in bringing the Christmas spirit to a new arrival in town. Deanna Snow hates Christmas and does not decorate her shop like everyone else. This was a bit short and did not build like it could have but still gave me a smile.

This was a long tale and I gave ‘The Perfect Gift’ by Barbra Annino 4.5 stars. Dane Caulfield finds the perfect gift for his wife in an antique shop but believes he has left it at his place of business. On Christmas Eve the gift is found by his wife and he does not want her to open it because it could bring back bad memories. Julia starts to act strange after opening the gift and Dane begins to think she may not be the wife he needs. But more is happening than either of them are aware of. This was a mystery with a subtle paranormal element. Definitely worth reading.

Some of the stories are good some are bland but all have something interesting to tie it to Christmas.

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Bubba and the 12 Deadly Days of Christmas

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11343941

Bubba and the 12 Deadly Days of Christmas (Bubba Snoddy #2)

I am a bit torn on how to rate this. It took me a while to get into the story because I was so confused as to what was happening, if I had read the first book I would have known though. The characters are all very eccentric but in a fun way that makes you like them. The mystery is a good one because I was baffled the entire time and could not figure who it might be though there were a lot of possibilities. I have never been to the south but the way they were talking I guess could be authentic and it is also another reason that makes them kind of charming.

Bubba Snoddy had a hard time the year before when he almost went to jail for the murder of his ex-fiancee. Now here it is Christmas and as he is heading toward the sheriff station he stumbles over the dead body of a man he had recently quarreled with. It does not look good and he is once again being looked at as the prime suspect in a murder. Soon it comes to light that something sinister is happening in the little town of Pegramville.

When his mother finds another body things just become more complicated. Not only is he a suspect his mother is now suspected of murder as well.

I am going to be reading the first book in this series so that I can get some background on these characters. I also think I want to read the next book at least since it ended with a cliffhanger that I did not see coming. It was an enjoyable read with some good laughs and a heck of a mystery.

My rating: 3.5/4 of 5 stars
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Nice Girls Don’t Sign A Lease Without A Wedding

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11860446

Nice Girls Don’t Sign a Lease Without a Wedding Ring (Jane Jameson #3.5)

It was super short but a really nice piece anyway. The perfect way to check in with the characters and see what they have been up to.
The story can be found on the author’s blog.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Christmas Healing

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18815181

Christmas Healing (Healing The Regime #1)

This was a very moving story that brought together two people who would seem to have nothing in common. I felt for Annalise from the beginning because she was such a fighter who never let her situation get her down. Her character was so clear from the beginning and once I started reading it was hard to stop. The other characters were also well defined and easy to know and like as individuals from the first one introduced to the last. The narrative flowed naturally from beginning to end and kept the story moving.

Arthur Bugresson has been asleep for 1000 years while his brothers have been conducting the business of the family. Only Brock, the youngest also went to sleep, and then only for 100 years. His family are Initials, the line from which all vampires have come to be and so he and his brothers are the King and princes of the vampire empire. When Arthur awakens suddenly he will need to be brought up to speed on the modern world and so his brother finds him a cultural tutor.

Annalise had been a popular girl whose  friends did not realize was poor and mostly lived on her own when her parents went away on business. When she became ill with leukemia and was unable to pay for her treatment she was saved by an unlikely source, a vampire doctor. The doctor made a deal to treat her and pay her a salary for helping to bring his family into the 21st century. It was working well for them all. Then the King decided to take her away to help with his brother. Was she going to be able to help or would she die.

This was so much better than I had anticipated. I thought it was going to be some drivel about a teenager who is self centered or something. This was a sweet, sentimental, moving story about two people who seem to have nothing in common that find each other even in the face of tragedy. So worth the time!

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
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Doggone Christmas

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23666459

Doggone Christmas (Polly Parrett Pet-Sitter Cozy Murder Mysteries #1)

This was a fun read with a mystery that was good but not great since it was almost to easy to figure it out. Not that it was a problem because even with that you still needed to know the why of things. The two main characters were well fleshed out as to who they were, some of the peripheral characters were just a little less than one dimensional, the animals were however just what you expected them to be. The romance which was happening in the background was nicely done and did not move to fast or slow.

Polly Parrett runs an animal sitting service and has a mother who is handicapped and needs to sell the family home for something smaller, preferable in town. To that end they have contacted a Realtor to sell and help them buy another home, they get Tyler Breslin who owns the realty company. Things seem very simple and they are happy to find that they will not have to pay a lot of money to get their home ready for sale.

Polly finds herself attracted to Tyler but is sure he could never feel the same. He asks her out to dinner in order to go over the paperwork and while they have a pleasant time the ending is not something either could have seen coming. As they are leaving Polly hears someone threatening to shoot a dog and runs to help, what they find is a standoff between a homeless man, his dog and a cop. Bad luck for the homeless guy, Rooster, who is accused of murder and his dog, Elaine, who is set to be euthanized for being vicious. If Polly and Tyler can not prove his innocence then he could be sent away for a murder he did not commit.

This was nice and kind of sweet with the type of happy ending you expect. For those who love a cozy mystery, this is ideal.

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I’m Dreaming of an Undead Christmas

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19166108

I’m Dreaming of an Undead Christmas (Half-Moon Hollow #2.7)

by Molly Harper (Author), Amanda Ronconi (Narrator)
I am always happy to take a trip to Half Moon Hollow and get a chance to visit with my favorite vampires. Amanda Ronconi does a fabulous job of bringing the denizens of this small southern city to life whether they be male or female. The story is always good and entertaining so that you can find something interesting even in such a short story as this. These are not all characters that I know very well because they are from another set of novels but Jane and friends are present since it is set in the same town.

Gigi Scanlon is coming home from college for the holidays for the first time since her older sister has been turned. Her sister Iris is afraid that she will not be able to control her blood-lust and so has as many vampires as possible on hand. Jane along with her husband Gabriel as well as Dick Cheney and Andrea are on hand for the festivities that Iris has planned to make her sisters Christmas as human friendly as possible.

But Gigi has a lot on her mind because she has been offered a job by the vampire council, she wants to break up with her safe boyfriend, and it seems she is being followed by a very handsome vampire. Any of these things could be a problem but having to tell her sister and over protective father figure is not something she wants to deal with. But the season has a way of making things go better.

As usual a fun read that had me laughing out loud at the antics of these characters. Make sure to hit the last chapter because you will find recipes for some sweet treats of the season. Highly recommend!

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Fangs, Fur & Mistletoe

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16165331

Fangs, Fur and Mistletoe (Mystic Isle #1)

I have always loved a good romance that involves a struggle of some type for the characters to be together. The characters here are so well defined that I immediately had an affinity with them and wanted to know everything about them. I was not drawn into things right from the start but when I was I had a hard time putting it down. The narrative is very straight forward and gives a fairly good look at everyone and everything that is happening on the Island. The story is told with multiple points of view so that you do not get just one side of the story.

CoCo Jeffres is taking a trip to Mystic Isle with her four coven mates in order to get her mojo back after getting out of a bad relationship. Coco is looking for some good sex and validation that she is still a sexy vampiress after Dimitri. CoCo’s friends are an interesting mix, her best friend is Izzy who has a particular dislike of werewolves and expects her friends to follow suit. Grayson West is a werewolf who has gone to Mystic Isle because he is about to go out on another mission and wants to have some female company before he enters the jungle, or desert or wherever he may end up.

Mystic Isle is the place paranormals go to play and have sexual encounters without consequence. CoCo and Grayson run into each other, the last time they saw each other was on a battlefield 100 years ago as enemies. Even as supposed enemies there was something between them that they could not name. When they see each other it all comes back, but they are not sure what it is or what to do about it. Can enemies become lovers?

Okay, once again Christmas is only alluded to in the story and is not an integral part of it. It seems to be more for the use of the mistletoe. I do have to date my self a little bit though because Latham seems very much like Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island in how he handles his guests. I totally enjoyed this though, a very hot wolf, a sexy vamp, and a setting that made it all the more romantic in the end. I think anyone would enjoy this!

Sex, sand, and sun were the reason she and her four closest coven-mates booked this trip. Well, maybe not sun. The moon would have to do.

 

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A Vampire’s Christmas Carol

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18777598

A Vampire’s Christmas Carol

I am a major fan of the Charles Dickens story and read it and watch every film version I can find each Christmas. This was a perfect retelling with a vampire to rival Scrooge as a bad guy. This was a different type of vampire as well since they would not be considered technically dead, even though they are dead. This follows the original story very closely with the visitation by three guides, in this case a demon, an angel and a panther shifter. They appear for more or less the same reasons that Scrooge was visited by his spirits, in order to make him a better man and save him from himself.

Ben Prescott was an ordinary man until the Christmas Eve he was attacked and turned into what he considered a monster, he became a vampire, and he took the perception of evil to heart. His entire life was altered and he fell into a dark place because of the losses in his life and told himself that the things he did were justified. When he was about to make a mistake that could send him to the underworld for eternity ,Fate in the form of someone who cared, stepped in to give him a second chance at life by giving him a glimpse of what his future could hold if he does not change course.

There was a nice little twist to the story which may or may not be expected but I didn’t see that particular one coming. There is a Marley to start him on his journey, though not Jacob. This is a great addition to the holiday season for lovers of the paranormal.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
She flew back to the little town of Desolate. Headed into the town’s only bar. William and Jamison were already inside, waiting for her. William glanced up at her approach. His lips quirked. “A demon, a shifter, and an angel walk into a bar…” “And all hell breaks loose,” Jamison finished with a laugh.
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Holiday Submission

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22881403

Holiday Submission (Hot Alpha Billionaire)

This is the second book I have read by Marilyn Lakewood and I love the way she writes her scenes. They are so real to life and make me feel like I am a part of the action as it occurs. This is not about the holiday per se but takes place during the Christmas season and adds to the fantasy that is being played out. I was into the story from the first page and stayed glued until the last page.

Caro Anderson has come to England for a short term design job but her friend knows of a service that puts together Doms and subs. Caro has been looking for the Dom who can take her to extremes but who can be trusted as well. She has had some less than good experiences since she started her search but continues to hope that her perfect dominant exists out there. Rhys Devlin has been looking for a submissive with the same appetite he has. He wants to have more than the body of a woman, he also would want her heart. Rhys thinks he may have found his perfect match if only he can get her to safeword before their weekend together comes to a close.

I did not really learn anything deep about either of the characters but I still felt like they were people I would be willing to get to know better. I do have a total fascination for BDSM and the stories, especially good ones, always make me even more interested. I wanted more, the ending was so abrupt and I wanted it to continue for a little longer. That for me is the sign of a good book, when you don’t want it to end because you want to follow the characters further. This has some serious bondage with whips and other tools which might be offensive to some. If you have no problem with hot sex and a dominant male then this is for you. I loved it!

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Why did you start looking for a Dom?” “A vanilla lover couldn’t give me the extremes.” “Yet no Dom has won you. Why?” “I haven’t found a Dom who will give me the extremes, Sir.” “I want the truth, Caro.” “You’re right. I’ve found some extremes, but not the right kind. Not the right Dom.” “Why, Caro? What was missing in them?” “Judgment, honor, gallantry. There’s a huge difference between a consensual sadist in the BDSM lifestyle, and a complete sadist. To me, a male who just likes to hurt things and has no compassion is a complete sadist, and less than a man. A male who consensually torments a woman to heighten lovemaking and bring them pleasure—a man who cares for her—is a true Dom, and the most desirable kind of man.”
― Marilyn Lakewood, Holiday Submission