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Lillie St. Claire is just starting to recover from the mess her husband’s death has left her life in, not that it was any better when he was alive, when his zombified body appears in her bathroom as she is about to slip into a bath. Dark & Disorderly by Bernita Harris is about Lillie St. Claire, a Talent who can permanently dispatch the spirits of the dead and is in great demand as the spirits on earth are getting more restless. With the appearance of her husband’s zombified body, Lillie finds herself a suspect in his murder and finds herself having to deal with psi-crime detective John Thresher. Lillie can’t understand why anyone would think she would want to reanimate her husband when he thought she was a Freak and made her life a nightmare.
As if things weren’t bad enough, Lillie finds herself the target of a series of accidents and Thresher decides to stick close to her side as things get more deadly. Lillie finds herself attracted Thresher but is hesitant to let anyone close physically or emotionally after the abuse she suffered from her husband.
Lillie’s talent isn’t an easy one, most of the time she is called upon to get rid of ghosts who like to relive their horrific death or crimes they committed, like getting rid of pedophile ghosts who linger around children’s playgrounds making children uncomfortable. Most members of society are both nervous of Lillie’s talent and super demanding of her powers to get rid of the apparitions. I really enjoyed this novel. Lillie was a sympathetic character with all that she has gone through without being weak, always a fine line for an author to tread. In many of the urban fantasy novels I have read, the main character has flaws and problems that come about because of selfish choices, I didn’t feel like that was the case here, Lillie pushed herself to the edge of her powers both physically and emotionally because she feels strongly that the ghosts lingering behind to terrorize the living need to be dispatched as soon as possible. One of my favorite characters is Lillie’s ghost dog Dumbarton, not only does he scare away intruders, he also spends time chasing the ghost squirrels that reside in the cemetery next door. Thresher’s history is left wide open and I eagerly look forward to the next book in the series. Dark and Disorderly was a great mix of mystery, paranormal and mythology and I recommend it.
Rating: 
Title: Dark & Disorderly
Author: Bernita Harris
Format: ebook
ISBN: 9781426890338
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: June 2010
Available for purchase: Carina Press, Amazon.com
Reviewer: Jessica
**I received a copy of this book from Net Galley but was not required to provide a review and it did not impact my review in any way.
Austenprose is celebrating Georgette Heyer for the month of August. They are posting 34 reviews and one lucky commenter will win all 34 books reviewed here.
A Girl Reads a Book posted about the Canadian Teen Choice Awards, go here and vote for your favorites. I was interested to see that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Hunger Games are both in the all time favorite categories.
Karen Essex, author of Dracula in Love, a retelling of the classic novel has posted an excerpt here.
Julia Quinn, author if the Bridgerton Series, has announced a novel in three parts, The Lady Most Likely, will be available in December with Eloisa James, author of A Kiss at Midnight and Connie Brockway, author of So Enchanting.
Interviews:
Elizabeth Hoyt, author of Wicked Intentions, at Reviews By Martha.
Contests:
Reviews By Martha is giving away five copies of Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt, contest ends Sept. 30th.
Dear Author is District 5 on the Mockingjay Blog Tour, they are giving away a unique messenger bag, contest ends August 18th.
Eloisa James is giving away a copy of her book Your Wicked Ways, contest ends August 31st.
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The amazing Jackie at Literary Escapism does an incredible regular posting about news, interviews, and contests regarding the paranormal and urban fantasy blogging world. I have looked around and not found its counterpart in the historical romance world so I thought I would provide that to the readers of Novel Reaction.
What happens when the world as you know it ends, for the second time?! Do you have the courage to pick up the pieces and find happiness in a world that is not your own? Abby, known as Glowing Sun by the Native American tribe that took her in and raised her after her white family was killed by fever, has witnessed the massacre of her tribal family and now has no where to go except with Wade Sawyer.
Wade, a cowboy who found God after traveling down the path of drunkenness, finds himself having to return the absuive father who raised him and sent him down the path of drink. But his father has been injured, his ranch is not being worked and Wade must come to terms with his past.
I love Abby’s strength and refusal to show weakness. After witnessing the slaughter of her tribe Abby decides to travel with Wade, a cowboy who saved her before but only until she decides to go somewhere else. She slowly accepts some of the habits of what she considers the crazy white people, even going so far as to wear a gingham dress but she refuses to give up her knife and pulls it on anyone she considers a threat. Slowly, both her and Wade begin to realize that true strength is found in quietly standing up for oneselves in the face of adversity and not in forcing your will on others. Several of the characters found in this third book of the trilogy were in the first two books. Wildflower Bride was a great read with Abby beliveably struggling to find her place in the world, she doesn’t really belong with the tribe but she doesn’t fit in with the white either and I want to read the rest of the trilogy.
Montana Marriages Trilogy:
Montana Rose
The Husband Tree
Wildflower Bride
Rating: 
Title: Wildflower Bride
Author: Mary Connealy
Format: Paperback, ebook
Page Nos.: 320
ISBN: 1602601445
Publisher: Barbour Books
Release Date: May 2010
Available for purchase: Amazon.com
Reviewer: Jessica
**I received a copy of this book from Net Galley but was not required to provide a review and it did not impact my review in any way.
