Tiaras & Texans By Laina Turner Narrated By Lee Ann Howlett

Tiaras & Texans

A Presley Thurman Mystery

By Laina Turner

Narrated By: Lee Ann Howlett

Presley wins a bet against her boyfriend allowing her to finally work for his security company. Though she starts the assignment especially excited knowing she will be good at this job she ends up annoyed when she finds out that the job in question is to protect beauty queens at a Texas pageant. Soon after beginning the job she and Cooper, her boyfriend and now boss, find that this will be more than just protecting the girls against childish pranks now they will have to find out who murdered one of the girls before it happens again.

I absolutely loved Lee Ann Howlett’s narration of this book. First off her characters where each distinct from the low timber of cooper to the high pitched whine of some of the beauty pageant contestants making the story come to life. What really made this an excellent performance though weren’t just the different voices of her characters but also the accents. I am a native Texan and so many times I come across audio books or even on television where an actor or narrator will butcher the accent but Lee Ann Howlett was spot on, I didn’t even cringe once. The story itself is a great cozy mystery, which is a subgenre of crime fiction where the sex and violence are downplayed or even portrayed humorously. (Thanks Wikipedia!)  Laina Turner did a wonderful job with the mystery aspect of the book not once did I suspect who had done it until the very end which is great! You can tell this is not the first book in the series but the fun of a cozy mystery is you don’t really have to start at the beginning this book is no exception Laina Turner makes sure you can keep up with the story from the very beginning. If you are a fan of cozy mysteries or even a beginner I definitely recommend this book, and be sure to check out the great audio book the narration makes it so much better.

For more reviews please visit:

http://bookwormrflects8.blogspot.com/

Robopocalypse By Daniel H. Wilson Review

Robopocalypse

By Daniel H. Wilson

This is the account of the Robot War, after a soldier comes across a “ROB” with the events leading up to and during the war stored within its memory. It started off slowly a few incidents here and there of robots acting oddly but this was only the beginning of what the robots are capable of as soon they begin to make their own concentration camps for humans, though humans still fight back they seem to be on the losing end. But what “Rob” never counted on was the fact that humans created robots.

 

My mother is always telling me “I brought you into this world, I can take you right back out.” Usually when I have done something to really drive her crazy, though I know this is a hollow threat, this novel reminds me of that saying. This is a thoroughly action packed novel and the author truly makes the robots creepier and creepier as the story goes along. In the end you are rooting for the robots to get their butts kicked. The story I loved the most was between Takeo Nomura and his robot, it is a beautiful story yet sad in the beginning as his coworkers played an evil trick on him, it almost made me cry. This is only the tip of the book there is no way I could do this novel justice with its many intertwining stories, it is first and foremost a war and that in itself is worth reading but the author brings to life a future world and characters who reside there that is absolutely fascinating.

For More Reviews be sure to visit my blogs at:

http://reflectionsofabookworm.wordpress.com/

http://bookwormrflects8.blogspot.com/

Hounded by Kevin Hearne Review

Hounded

Book One of the Iron Druid Chronicles

By Kevin Hearne

Atticus O’Sullivan is the last of the Druids, he has survived for centuries in hiding, blending in with the people around him his neighbors and friends all see him as a tattooed Irish dude who owns the local occult shop in Arizona. In actuality Atticus is twenty-one centuries old, can speak to animals and shape shift at will just being the tip of his druidic powers. Everything is going fine until one day the those that have been searching for him finally find him and Atticus decides after centuries of hiding he is tired and if they want Fragarach, his magical sword known as the Answerer, they will have to come through him. Turning this into an action packed novel from the beginning.

I picked this one up thinking maybe I could get my husband to read it with me on our trip. He hates to read but he will listen to audio books with me on occasion, what I never expected was to open a can of worms with this novel. Not only did I love this book and find myself laughing until I cried but so did my husband! This series is full of action and comedy, but it also pulls on your heart strings at moments making this a well-rounded and amazing read. I have no idea how Kevin Gearne came up with his mish mash of characters, from Oberon the poodle obsessed dog, to the sexy bartender possessed by a Hindu Witch the cast of characters is eccentric yet lovable and make the book so much fun you cannot put it down. I highly recommend the audio book version of this novel just for the narration, Luke Daniels truly brings to life the characters especially Oberon who is now my absolute favorite.

For More Reviews be sure to visit my blogs at:

http://reflectionsofabookworm.wordpress.com/

http://bookwormrflects8.blogspot.com/