****Release Day Spotlight****MISSING IN MUDBUG by Jana DeLeon

Blurb:
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jana DeLeon, a new release in the Ghost-in-Law series.

After an eventful first week on the job, Game Warden Jadyn St. James is happy the small bayou town of Mudbug, Louisiana, seems to have fallen back into its normal routine. But when FBI agent Raissa Bordeaux is kidnapped, Jadyn is certain the short-lived peace has come to an abrupt end. Statistics don’t lie, and Jadyn knows that the longer Raissa remains missing, the less likely she’ll be found alive.

Sheriff Colt Bertrand knows the FBI won’t let him participate in their investigation, but is certain the federal agents aren’t as qualified as he is to locate someone missing in the swamps surrounding Mudbug. And although he’s been avoiding the beautiful game warden, Colt is sure that teaming up with Jadyn gives him the best chance of finding Raissa.

With the clock ticking, Colt and Jadyn defy FBI orders and launch their search, but can they find Raissa before it’s too late?


AMAZON
BARNES & NOBLE

Check out Jana's website HERE.

Jana DeLeon's books NEVER disappoint - check out my reviews of these books by clicking the Jana DeLeon label to the right!

       

SIZE MATTERS (Handcuffs and Happily Ever Afters #3) by Robyn Peterman

(I received a free review copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

BLURB:
It’s a big fat hairy deal when I lose yet another bet to my best friend, Rena. Not only do I end up attending Bigfoot meetings with her kooky Aunt Phyllis, I find myself traveling with a band of reality TV, Sasquatch-hunting nut-jobs! Not to mention a suspiciously shady film crew. As if those little nuggets weren’t enough to send me on the express-train to Crazytown...I stupidly swore off men!
Clearly all this would mess up any gal’s social life, but the worst part of the story? The minute I send my libido on vacation, I meet Mitch. Yep, Mitch, the sexiest cop ev-ah. The hottest, best kissing, finest tushied, SINGLE guy I’ve ever laid eyes on. I’d rather be hot on his trail than anything that involves the word Big or Foot. But sometimes what you’re hunting for has been right in front of you all along …


REVIEW:
Releasing December 19th, 2013 Size Matters is the 3rd book in the Handcuffs and Happily Ever Afters series (I also reviewed How Hard Can It Be? and Pirate Dave on this blog), and is currently available for pre-order.
If you like tightly woven, believable storylines with carefully crafted plots, then keep moving to the back of the room, please, while the rest of us Bigfoot-believing  adventurers get ready for the show.
HOWEVER, if you have a sense of humor, if you love to laugh so much you snort, if you love sweet and sexy romance, and if you have a profound respect for the creatively profane then you will ADORE this book! 
Robyn Peterman's books are brief vacations to a world of loveable nuts, screwballs, misfits and freaks, all taking part in loopy adventures while a romance plays out with the more "normal" hero and heroine. 
One of my favorite things about her writing is that the more normal characters discover their inner freak, while the nutty characters become more normal as we get to know them. The author obviously has great affection for her characters, and as wacky as they are, she writes them with respect.  Which is an incredible accomplishment with this motley crew.  I am more than happy to suspend my questionable mental stability in order to hang out in her world.
Kristy is a dedicated and compassionate woman who has been burned in love.  Mitch is the hottest thing on two legs but he has a mysterious law enforcement job requiring hm to be gone for long periods of time to secret locations, triggering Kristy's trust issues.
When Kristy is blackmailed/bribed/coerced into going on a Bigfoot expedition she hopes it will help her get over her breakup with Mitch.  But her traveling companions are so much more than they seem, and just as Kristy is learning to like them for who they are, she may lose them, and Mitch, forever.
Aunt Moon-Unit is back home (battling her evil chi with the help of alien guests), researching the suspicious reality-show producers, while the Bigfoot, Inc. gang spend their days tramping around the woods and their evenings getting kicked out of karaoke restaurants.  After Boo proposes laying a false trail of Sasquatch pubic hair to protect the big guy, Mrs. C. and Edith prove that they are remarkably well-prepared for the situation, producing hand-crafted multi-tasking merkins.  The fact that all of this makes complete sense is an indication of the hilarity of the story.

Go read this and laugh and let your freak flag fly!


Check out Robyn Peterman's Facebook page HERE.

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Look what's coming in the next several months!
 

SWAMP SNIPER (Miss Fortune Series #3) by Jana DeLeon

(I bought this book.)

BLURB:
When only a crack shot will do…

In the two weeks CIA assassin Fortune Redding has been hiding in Sinful, Louisiana, she’s been harassed, poisoned, and shot at…and that was the easy part. But now, she’s about to face her biggest challenge since setting foot in the tiny bayou town.

When mayoral candidate Ted Williams is murdered, everyone is surprised. Ted was a blowhole and a Yankee, but those usually weren’t good reasons to kill someone. When Sinful Ladies Society leader Ida Belle becomes the lead suspect in the crime, Fortune knows she’s got to solve a murder and save one of the only friends she’s ever had.

But as the investigation begins, more and more secrets surface, and Fortune realizes that sometimes nothing is as it seems.

 
REVIEW:   My happy place is hanging out with Fortune, Gerti and Ida Belle in Sinful, Louisiana. Those three attract trouble, murder and mayhem like peanut butter attracts raccoons, and I can't get enough.  Fortune is a hoot, as she tries to maintain her cover as a beauty-contest-winning librarian, when in reality she's a wanted CIA assassin in hiding.  Fortune was raised by a legendary CIA agent father who may have been a sociopath as well, and she has no clue how to be "normal".  Her whole life has been about training and missions.  Trying to adjust to friendships, her attraction to the hunky local sheriff, and living a normal civilian life is almost too much for her.  But luckily she's hiding out in Sinful, so the definition of a "normal" life is pretty flexible, and usually involves firearms.
Ida Belle and Gerti are perfect friends and companions for Fortune.  As former Vietnam-era government operatives, both ladies "get" her and this fabulous trio treat every event and social opportunity like a potentially deadly mission.
This third installment of the series finds Ida Belle framed for the murder of a mayoral candidate.  It's up to Gerti and Fortune to clear Ida Belle's name by discovering the real murderer, all while avoiding Carter.  In the process of running their own investigation, Fortune gets her foot trapped in the sheriff's toilet, shoots out her own windows, Gerti has more tree mishaps, Marie joins the gang as a provisional member (she's too nervous to make a full-fledged agent) and Fortune acknowledges her fledgling emotions.  Par for the course for this group.

If you need an escape, a distraction, a laugh (or ten), then read this series!




And find my other reviews of Jana DeLeon's books by clicking on her label to the right of this screen - I am such a fan of her writing.
The author's website is at http://janadeleon.com/.

       

Fashionably Dead (Hot Damned Series #1) by Robyn Peterman

(I purchased this book.)

Blurb:
Vampyres don’t exist. They absolutely do not exist.

At least I didn’t think they did ‘til I tried to quit smoking and ended up Undead. Who in the hell did I screw over in a former life that my getting healthy equates with dead?

Now I’m a Vampyre. Yes, we exist whether we want to or not. However, I have to admit, the perks aren’t bad. My girls no longer jiggle, my ass is higher than a kite and the latest Prada keeps finding its way to my wardrobe. On the downside, I’m stuck with an obscenely profane Guardian Angel who looks like Oprah and a Fairy Fighting Coach who’s teaching me to annihilate like the Terminator.

To complicate matters, my libido has increased to Vampyric proportions and my attraction to a hotter than Satan’s underpants killer rogue Vampyre is not only dangerous . . . it’s possibly deadly. For real dead. Permanent death isn’t on my agenda. Avoiding him is my only option. Of course, since he thinks I’m his, it’s easier said than done. Like THAT’S not enough to deal with, all the other Vampyres think I’m some sort of Chosen One.

Holy Hell, if I’m in charge of saving an entire race of blood suckers, the Undead are in for one hell of a ride.

Review:
From the delightfully warped and foul-mouthed mind of author Robyn Peterman comes Fashionably Dead , a fun, paranormal romance tale that introduces my new imaginary BFF Astrid.  Astrid is a gorgeous, art-teaching, rather aimless, single gal with an unholy love of Prada and a mouth that would make a sailor blush.  She's never known her father, and her mother is a stone-cold bitch who can't stand the sight of her daughter.  After Astrid is changed into a Vampyre, she meets her bombastic guardian angel, Pam, who affectionately yells at Astrid, preferring to call her by some really creative Ass-word monikers.  Throw in a 2,000 year old Fairy Warrior, her not-quite-human best friend Gemma, and a Vampyre hierarchy right there in Kentucky, and you've got the setting for one rollicking, rowdy romp.
Astrid is mouthy, funny and trying to figure out her life being Undead.  Her new family makeup of best friend, guardian angel and fairy is soon joined by strange little ceiling monsters, and Astrid soaks in all the love she has missed since her Nana died, just as she learns that she's the Chosen One and intended eternal mate of a smoking-hot Vampyre Prince.  But before she can take care of THAT business, Astrid still has to show up at the senior center to teach her art class to horny senior citizens, deal with her nasty mother who has informed Astrid that she's dying this coming Friday, and figure out how to identify and avoid Rogue Vampyres.
It was laugh-out-loud snickering funny, super-hot and sexy, and I even teared up a bit when Astrid tried to come to terms with her desperate need to please her hateful mother.  All in all a wonderful escape!




But Fashionably Dead at Amazon.
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How Hard Can It Be? by Robyn Peterman

                                                     
(I won this book in a dirty recipe contest.  I'm very proud of that.)


BLURB:
What happens when an accountant decides to grab life by the horns and try something new? Apparently a pirate named Dave, a lot of pastel fleece, and blackmail—just to start with…
Visualize and succeed, Oprah said. I was sure as hell trying, even if my campaign to score a job as the local weather girl had ended in a restraining order. Okay, TV was not my strength. But a lack of talent has never stopped me before. Which is why I’ve embarked on a writing career. I mean, how hard can it be to come up with a sexy romance?
Leave it to me to wind up in a group of porno writing grannies who discuss sex toys and apple cobbler in the same breath. Also leave it to me to leak an outlandish plot idea to a bestselling author with the morals of a rabid squirrel. And only I could get arrested for a jewelry heist I didn’t commit—by a hunky cop whose handcuffs just might tempt me to sign up for a life of crime. Maybe I’ve found my calling after all…

REVIEW:
After reading (and reviewing HERE) the novella Pirate Dave and His Randy Adventures, I was pretty excited to read another book by the delightfully wacky Robyn Peterman.  How Hard Can It Be? is the novel that spawned/begat/birthed Pirate Dave. And it's a delightfully screwy trip through the world of Rena, a CPA who's decided a career-change is in order.  After trying to be the new local weather girl, and ending up with a restraining order for her troubles, Rena joins a romance author's writing group.  But she soon realizes that the seemingly benign and sweet-looking ladies are really a seething group of porno-writing grannies with a serious axe to grind.  And that axe is being sharpened for the freakishly deluded, surgically enhanced and slutty-outfit wearing Evangeline O'Hara, evil best-selling novelist extraordinaire.  Turns out Evangeline is blackmailing all the women in the group into ghost-writing her popular novels, and Rena is her next victim.  This is in spite of the fact that Rena's proposed plot is none other than the randy adventures of Pirate Dave.
Pretty soon Rena and the other ladies are spewing out the most ridiculous, bawdy, crappy writing of their lives in the hopes of ruining the creepy Evangeline.
Reading about Rena's poorly planned and ill-fated adventures is funny and entertaining.  Lutheran speed-dating, anyone?  Cat-house interior decorating ideas with a million-dollar budget? 
If you love tongue-in-cheek snark, surgically sarcastic skewering of hateful characters, a lovely romance blossoming in spite of Rena's nutty family, and some really lovely revenge, you'll love this book.  I sure did.



Click here for Robyn Peterman's website

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Resurrection in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law Series #5) by Jana DeLeon

(I purchased this book.)

Blurb:
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Jana DeLeon, RESURRECTION IN MUDBUG, aka The Return of Helena Henry!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the bayou…

Jadyn St. James is excited to start her job as game warden in Mudbug, Louisiana, and hopes it is the beginning of a new and improved life. She expected to run across any number of odd occurrences in the small bayou town, but she never thought her life would be in danger within a matter of days. And that’s not even the worst thing.
Helena Henry was hell on wheels—both alive and dead—when she resided in Mudbug, and a year in heaven hasn’t improved her one bit. Now, she’s back and has brought trouble with her.

When it becomes apparent that a major crime is occurring in Mudbug, Colt Bertrand is more than frustrated to be saddled with an inexperienced game warden, especially one who looks like Jadyn. But it soon becomes apparent that they need to put their differences aside if they expect to solve the crime, and more importantly, stay alive.

Review:
Helena's back and Mudbug's got her!  Specifically it's Maryse, Mildred, and Jadyn who are the unfortunate locals who can see and hear the not-so-dearly departed Helena Henry.  Turns out she's pissed off God, which is completely believable (and oh, so funny to hear her describe it)!  When she turns up in Mudbug, and pops back into Maryse's life (literally, of course), Maryse and then Mildred are aghast, afronted and afeared, all with good reason.  But when they realize Maryse's newly arrived game warden cousin, Jadyn, can see her as well, they now something bad's going to happen.  As fans of this delightfully nutty series already know, Helena is visible to new people when they are in mortal danger.  Nobody knows if Helena is the deadly bad luck charm, or if those in mortal danger simply gain the ability to see and hear Helena in all her sartorial splendor (Jana DeLeon has outdone herself with the funny and horrifying outfits conjured by Helena).
Pretty soon somebody's shooting at Jadyn, right after she walks into in a deadly smuggling operation her first day on the job.  As Jadyn tries to solve the crime, stay alive, and assist the hunky sheriff Colt Bertrand, she must also deal with Helena and her "help".
The perfect blend of zany antics, laugh-out-loud humor and a really good mystery make this a delightful adventure in Mudbug!


I love the cover with Helena's ghostly leg!


Check out the sidebar on the right and click on Jana DeLeon's name for my other reviews of her books!


Check out Jana DeLeon's website.


  

Trashy Chic (A Bertie Mallowan Mystery) by Cathy Lubenski

(I bought this book.)

Back of the Book Blurb:

Reporter Bertie Mallowan has drifted away from hard news stories and into the shallows of "fluff" features, the kind you find buried in the back of the newspaper. Writing about preschool fashion shows and the latest in designer garbage bags bores her so she amuses herself by inventing naughty passwords for her computer and pushing the envelope when it comes to creative lying to management types.
 When she interviews greedy, nasty Robert Bellingham, the king of must-have luxury items for the rich of Southern California - like monogrammed airbags for "The Crash with Panache" and mink coats pre-streaked with red paint to foil PETA kamikazes. Over the years, his products have become de rigueur for the class that has two of everything and is seeking the one and only of something else. He's made a lot of money and a lot of enemies.

 Two days after Bertie's interview, Bellingham's body is found on the floor of the foyer in the family mansion; someone has aerated his skull with the stereotypical blunt object. Thanks to her interview, Bertie has inside information about the life and times of a rich and powerful murder victim and is thrust into a big story again. Bertie is convinced that the family's bizarre emotional ticks make them all uniquely capable of committing murder. A second murder and an attack on Bertie herself brings her face-to-face with the kind of danger she's only ever written about, never experienced first-hand.

A Quickie Review: 
Trashy Chic is a satisfying, whodunnit laced with tongue-in-cheek humor, set in the trashy Kardashian/Real Housewives version of Southern California.
Bertie is the kind of gal I want to hang out with - she is smart, unappreciated, pissed-off and stubborn, kind of like an older, wiser, disillusioned, and sarcastic Nancy Drew.  When Bellingham is murdered, Bertie is determined not to lose the opportunity for a serious story, but the problem is, Bertie has become a target herself.  Because the murder victim was so incredibly wealthy and tacky, nobody is exactly sad to see him gone.  There is no shortage of legitimate suspects, from a greedy younger wife, to an inept son and bizarre daughter, and even the family gardener.  Bertie's adventures veer off into the madcap, but the mystery of the murderer's identity and the fast pace kept me reading until the end.

For more information check out the author's website at Trashy Chic Book 

 

Louisiana Longshot by Jana DeLeon (Miss Fortune Series #1)

Publisher's Blurb:  It was a hell of a longshot...

CIA Assassin Fortune Redding is about to undertake her most difficult mission ever - in Sinful, Louisiana.

With a leak at the CIA and a price on her head by one of the world's largest arms dealers, Fortune has to go off grid, but she never expected to be this far out of her element. Posing as a former beauty queen turned librarian in a small, bayou town seems worse than death to Fortune, but she's determined to fly below the radar until her boss finds the leak and puts the arms dealer out of play.

Unfortunately, she hasn't even unpacked a suitcase before her newly-inherited dog digs up a human bone in her backyard. Thrust into the middle of a bayou murder mystery, Fortune teams up with a couple of seemingly-sweet old ladies whose looks completely belie their hold on the little town. To top things off, the handsome local deputy is asking her too many questions. If she's not careful, this investigation may blow her cover and get her killed.

Armed with her considerable skills and a group of old ladies referred to by locals as The Geritol Mafia, Fortune has no choice but to solve the murder before it's too late.

Review:  OUT-FREAKING-STANDING!  I can't believe how much I loved this book.  When I finished it I was really annoyed because I love Fortune and the nutty world of Sinful, Louisiana so much I didn't want to leave them.
Fortune is a CIA assassin whose cover has been blown, so her boss sends her to lay low in the tiny bayou town of Sinful, posing as his beauty-queen/librarian niece who has just inherited a house from her deceased aunt.  Fortune has spent her entire life - including her childhood - training for her career as CIA spook/assassin, and she only understands tactics, weapons and missions.  The idea of spending months in hiding in a small town terrifies her almost more than the price on her head.  Immediately after arriving, though, her life is anything but quiet.  She meets two old ladies who are full of surprises, and before she knows it she's teamed up with them to locate their missing friend Marie, whose abusive, jackass husband disappeared years ago.  But one of his bones has just washed up on Fortune's back yard, and Marie is nowhere to be found.  Everyone assumes Marie murdered the jerk, and her friends want to find her and simultaneously find another suspect to give Marie a chance at beating a murder charge.  Pretty soon Fortune is up to her eyeballs in the wacky shenanigans of her two new friends Ida Belle and Gertie, who do not act like little old ladies.  They are shockingly prepared for anything, well-armed, running the town, and think nothing of bending the law a bit.  And every time Fortune ends up in a compromising position, usually dressed in a towel, or a trash bag and ski mask (yes, you read that right), she is caught by the town Deputy, a hunky, exasperated man trying his best to find Marie also.
Fortune is a great character - she is paranoid,smart and capable, comfortably killing anyone who needs killing, but her solitary live has left her ill-prepared for her budding friendship with Ida Belle and Gertie, and the emotional aspects of friendship.  Plus, they seem to be hiding something - a lot of things, and Fortune is never sure just how much they know before they rope her into their next hare-brained scheme.  From outrunning alligators on an island that smells like dung,  shooting raccoons in her own attic, racing old ladies for banana pudding, or stripping naked to ride in Ida Belle's car, the craziness never ends and it all makes perfect sense.
DeLeon is really funny - I was laughing out loud so many times.  Her writing is confident and self-assured, allowing the pace to move along at a fast clip.  As crazy as the characters seem, and as nutty as their adventures are, they still seem so real  and believable.  I really cared about them and hope this is the start to a very long series.

For more information check out the author's website at http://janadeleon.com/.


 

Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich (Stephanie Plum Series #18)

Back of the Book Blurb:  Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum’s life is set to blow sky high when international murder hits dangerously close to home, in this dynamite novel by Janet Evanovich.

Before Stephanie can even step foot off Flight 127 Hawaii to Newark, she’s knee deep in trouble. Her dream vacation turned into a nightmare, and she’s flying back to New Jersey solo. Worse still, her seatmate never returned to the plane after the L.A. layover. Now he’s dead, in a garbage can, waiting for curbside pickup. His killer could be anyone. And a ragtag collection of thugs and psychos, not to mention the FBI, are all looking for a photograph the dead man was supposed to be carrying.

Only one other person has seen the missing photo—Stephanie Plum. Now she’s the target, and she doesn’t intend to end up in a garbage can. With the help of an FBI sketch artist Stephanie re-creates the person in the photo. Unfortunately the first sketch turns out to look like Tom Cruise, and the second sketch like Ashton Kutcher. Until Stephanie can improve her descriptive skills, she’ll need to watch her back.

Over at the bail bonds agency things are going from bad to worse. The bonds bus serving as Vinnie’s temporary HQ goes up in smoke. Stephanie’s wheelman, Lula, falls in love with their largest skip yet. Lifetime arch nemesis Joyce Barnhardt moves into Stephanie’s apartment. And everyone wants to know what happened in Hawaii?

Morelli, Trenton’s hottest cop, isn’t talking about Hawaii. Ranger, the man of mystery, isn’t talking about Hawaii.  And all Stephanie is willing to say about her Hawaiian vacation is . . . It’s complicated.

Review:   Fans of Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series may be disappointed with the eighteenth outing.  All of the now-standard plot aspects are here:  love triangle, wacky skips giving Stephanie a hard time, strangers trying to kill Stephanie, Grandma Mazur's antics, Stephanie's mom drinking and crossing herself, Lula's spandex-filled neon wardrobe, and so on.  But while all this familiarity and zany humor are expected and therefore comforting, they are also feeling boring.  More of the same.  Like Stephanie has learned nothing in the last seventeen novels, has not matured or grown, and is stuck in a rut.  The once sexy and exciting love triangle between Stephanie, Joe and Ranger has run its course, and as a reader it seems pretty obvious that Ranger is great sex but no commitment, and Joe is great sex and potential commitment.  Stephanie is a modern sexual woman, and I have really enjoyed reading about her and her relationships.  But her angst over these relationships has gone on too long.
As for the novel itself, the big draw is the teaser plotline about who Stephanie went to Hawaii with, and why she came home early and alone.  Evanovich very slowly lets little tidbits of information out about the situation, and it did keep me reading and wanting to know more.  The sideline plot about a murdered stranger from the plane, a mysterious photograph, and a bizarre group of people chasing Stephanie is genuinely fun and funny.
But the overall reading experience left me feeling....meh.  Blah.  I wish Stephanie would choose Joe or Ranger or neither.  I love this world and these characters, and I have a fear that in #19 Stephanie will find herself pregnant and we will have to read an entire book to learn who the father is, and nothing else will change. 

For more information check out the author's website at http://www.evanovich.com/.