Romance
The Stubborn Dead by Natasha Hoar Review
April 26, 2012 | 
Author 
Rachel Miller is used to dealing with the unruly dead as a member of the Order of Rescue Mediums in The Stubborn Dead by Natasha Hoar. But when Rachel is called to deal with a wraith at client Sylvia’s house, she finds herself it a difficult position because the wraith isn’t acting like he should. When it comes to the Order’s attention, Rachel finds herself having to decide whether to get rid of the wraith at great personal cost or lose her supernatural abilities. As if the situation wasn’t difficult enough, Janus Ostara, a local supernatural mob boss is now demanding Rachel take different action because of what may be inside the client’s house.
The Stubborn Dead was an interesting read, Rachel’s job as a member of the Order as a rescuer of lost souls was different and intriguing. I don’t usually read a lot of urban fantasy but The Stubborn Dead caught my attention. Natasha left the story line wide open and I look forward to seeing how the relationships that Rachel has developed continue. The Stubborn Dead is a novella so it was a quick fun read, start to finish.
You can read an excerpt here.
The Lost Souls:
The Ravenous Dead (July 2012)
Rating: 
Content: 
Title: The Stubborn Dead
Author: Natasha Hoar
Format: eBook
AISN: B006BVTFT4
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: January 2012
Available for purchase: Amazon
Reviewer: Jessica
**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley but was not required to provide a review and it did not impact my review in any way.
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Crystal Gardens by Amanda Quick Review
Evangeline Ames, employee of the Flint and Marsh Agency, has left London for a vacation in the English countryside but when someone attempts to murder her in her bed her vacation suddenly becomes a lot less restful. Crystal Garden by Amanda Quick is the first book in a new series A Ladies of Lantern Street. Evangeline has taken a small cottage near the Crystal Garden estate, rumored to contain plants that have psychic properties, to add flavor to her novel writing. When a killer breaks into her house, Evangeline escapes into the gardens and meets the mysterious Lucas.
Lucas Sebastian has inherited the Crystal Garden estate from his uncle and feels that he must get control of the gardens that are a hazard to everyone who enters them. When Evangeline enters the garden, Lucas is drawn to the fiery woman and vows to help her track down the person who hired the killer to kill her and for her safety insists that she move into the main house. Little did he know that by inviting Evangeline into the house it would turn his entire life upside and lead to more danger arriving at the estate. But can Lucas figure out the secret of the garden before it or someone else kills Evangeline?
Amanda Quick has once again brought the psychic to her historical novels with fabulous results in Crystal Gardens. The idea of a garden that comes to life at night with terrifying ferocity and the ability to make entire bodies just disappear is intriguing. Quick’s characters are witty and entertaining but Crystal Gardens’ setting is what makes such a great read. Evangeline is an investigator who goes undercover during her investigations, I have to admit I would love to read about Evangeline’s investigations based upon the snippets we get in Crystal Gardens. Once again, with Amanda Quick’s writings, while I like the main characters it is the secondary characters that make me love her writings. I thoroughly enjoyed Crystal Gardens and look forward to the rest of the series.
You can read an excerpt here.
A Ladies of Lantern Street Series Order:
Rating:
Content: 
Title: Crystal Gardens
Author: Amanda Quick
Format: Hardbound, eBook
Page Nos.: 352
ISBN: 978-0399159084
Publisher: Putnam
Release Date: April 2012
Available for purchase: Amazon
Reviewer: Jessica
**I received a copy of this book from the publisher but was not required to provide a review and it did not impact my review in any way.
Crystal Garden by Jayne Ann Krentz Interview
Novel Reaction is very excited to welcome Jayne Anne Krentz in connection with her latest novel Crystal Gardens
The author of a string of New York Times bestsellers, JAYNE ANN KRENTZ uses three different pen names for each of her three “worlds”. As JAYNE ANN KRENTZ (her married name) she writes contemporary romantic-suspense. She uses AMANDA QUICK for her novels of historical romantic-suspense. JAYNE CASTLE (her birth name) is reserved these days for her stories of futuristic/paranormal romantic-suspense.
“I am often asked why I use a variety of pen names,” she says. “The answer is that this way readers always know which of my three worlds they will be entering when they pick up one of my books.”
In addition to her fiction writing, she is the editor of, and a contributor to, a non-fiction essay collection, DANGEROUS MEN AND ADVENTUROUS WOMEN: ROMANCE WRITERS ON THE APPEAL OF THE ROMANCE published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. Her commitment to her chosen genre has been strong from the very beginning of her career. Each year at the annual convention of the Romance Writers of America she participates in a special day-long workshop for librarians and speaks on the importance of the romance genre.
“The romance genre is the only genre where readers are guaranteed novels that place the heroine at the heart of the story,” Jayne says. “These are books that celebrate women’s heroic virtues and values: courage, honor, determination and a belief in the healing power of love.”
She earned a B.A. in History from the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to obtain a Masters degree in Library Science from San Jose State University in California. Before she began writing full time she worked as a librarian in both academic and corporate libraries.
She is married and lives with her husband, Frank, in Seattle, Washington.
**Photo credit Marc Von Borstel
Jayne took some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions for us:
NR: You write under three different pen names: Jayne Castle (futuristic setting), Jayne Ann Krentz (contemporary) and Amanda Quick (historical). Do you have a preference?
Jayne: Nope, no preference. Having three identities as an author has kept me refreshed and invigorated throughout my career. Each name and the accompanying world allows me to do a different kind of plot. There are some stories that work great in my AQ historicals that just wouldn’t fly in my contemporaries. And other things that work in futuristics would be hard to do in either historicals or contemporaries – alien technology and dust bunnies, for example.
Jayne: I actually got the idea for CRYSTAL GARDENS from a tour of a carnivorous plant nursery in California. You never know where an idea will come from.
NR: Any hints on what we can expect for Beatrice and Clarissa, Evangeline’s friends from the investigation agency, in future Ladies of Lantern Street series?
Jayne: This is definitely shaping up to be a trilogy. Clarissa’s story will be next. I’ll be writing it over the summer and it will be out this time next year. Meanwhile, readers who enjoy CRYSTAL GARDENS might be interested in my August Jayne Castle release, THE LOST NIGHT. A descendant of the hero of GARDENS (Lucas Sebastian) will appear in the next futuristic. I just couldn’t help myself.
NR: If Crystal Garden were to be made into a film, who would you cast as Lucas and Evangeline?
Jayne: Sadly, I have no clue because I don’t see many movies. I try to keep up with that sort of thing by reading the Hollywood gossip magazines at my hair salon every month but I just can’t remember the names or faces of the stars.
NR: On Novel Reaction each month we do a books-to-movie challenge where we read the book, watch the movie, and discuss it. Which is your favorite or least favorite books-to-movie and why?
Jayne: How about books to-TV? Does that count? I really enjoyed the Jesse Stone made- for-TV mysteries based on Robert B. Parker’s series and I can’t wait for the second season of SHERLOCK (the British series 
featuring a contemporary Holmes and Watson).
FINAL NOTE: Thanks for inviting me to do this Q&A here at Novel Reaction. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who reads my stories. I have always felt that if you enjoy my books it is probably because we have a lot in common when it comes to world views, values and sense of humor. That’s a terrific basis for a good friendship. I wish you all a happy spring.
___________________________________________
Thanks so much for stopping by Jayne. I also can’t wait for the next season of Sherlock and Novel Reaction will be doing a books-to-movie challenge in May when it is released on PBS. 
Jayne stopped by previously to talk about one of my favorite characters from her futuristic novels, dust bunnies, you can read Beware the Dust Bunnies here. You can read my review of Crystal Garden here.
Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbors by Molly Harper Review
Jane Jameson’s life finally has leveled out and no one has tried to kill her for months in Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbors by Molly Harper, the fourth book in the Jane Jameson series. But then Jane witnesses a car accident of the boy she used to babysit who is now a hot teenager, when she rushes to his side he begs her to turn him into a vampire because he isn’t ready to die. Having been in his position in Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs Jane understands what he is going through, so Jane agrees to turn him, not realizing the Vampire council would make him her responsibility and have him moving in with her and Gabriel.
Having a teenage vampire with super hearing and an insatiable appetite has really put a cramp in Jane’s life. Until her new vampire child can get his urges under control her human friends can’t come over, not to mention the kink it has put in her love life with Gabriel. But when someone tries to kill Gabriel, Jane realizes that once again she is going to have to take care of the problem before the problem takes care of her.
I was tempted to give Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbors a five star review based solely on Molly Harper’s correct use of the word milquetoast. Anyone who can use my favorite word correctly moves to the head of the class but the five star rating was given for quality of the writing above and beyond Harper’s great use of verbiage. While I find the character of Jane entertaining, what really makes the entire Jane Jamison series for me is the entertaining secondary characters and Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbors keeps up this great story line. It is Harper’s entertaining secondary characters that give her novels such depth, warmth and never ending humor. I highly recommend the entire series, while Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbors can be read as a stand alone novel, to really appreciate the secondary characters back stories and craziness I would advise reading the series in order.
You can read an excerpt here.
Jane Jameson Series:
Nice Girls Don’t Date Dead Men
Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbors
Rating: 
Content:
Title: Nice Girls Don’t Bite Their Neighbors
Author: Molly Harper
Format: Paperback, eBook
Page Nos.: 368
ISBN: 978-1451641813
Publisher: Pocket Books
Release Date: February 2012
Available for purchase: Amazon
Reviewer: Jessica
**I received a copy of this book from the publisher but was not required to provide a review and it did not impact my review in any way.
- A Night Like This by Julia Quinn Review
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