#19 A Dog Among Diplomats by J.F. Englert

My Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

The follow-up to last year's A Dog About Town comes out of the gate running. And it's a winner! Like the first book in the series (review here), this one is written in the first person from Randolph's point of view. But I was now used to seeing through the eyes (and nose) of a dog by this time! :P

In this installment, Randolph and Harry are still pining after the missing Imogen, but now there's been evidence that she's still alive and in New York City. Though why she was last seen fleeing the scene of a murder, and is now nowhere to be found again, has the police, as well as Harry and Randolph, a bit baffled. Randolph has even been asked to play a part, by playing the role of "therapy dog" to a visiting diplomat who will be staying at the Bed & Breakfast from which Imogen recently fled. Now as a few more dead bodies turn up, Imogen's involvement in this string of murders is questioned, though she still can't be found and brought in for questioning herself. Is this just some elaborate hoax someone is trying to pull? Or is there a reason for Harry and Randolph to be worried?

This was another fun cozy and I look forward to reading more about Harry and Randolph in future books.

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#18 A Dog About Town by J.F. Englert

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

Are you sick of all those mysteries series which feature that snotty feline breed? Are you a canine lover like me? Well if so, then make way for Randolph! He's a fully cognizant—if a little pudgy—Black Labrador dog with a taste for fine literature and a nose for crime. He and his owner, Harry, have found themselves in the middle of a string of murders. If Randolph is going to help Harry steer clear of trouble, he must find a way to communicate everything that his nose is telling him. The solution will crack you up!

I enjoyed this cute new cozy mystery series which prominently features a dog instead of the usual cat. Randolph is a thinking—though not necessarily talking—dog, and the story is written from his first person point of view. This took a few seconds to get used to, being inside the head of a dog, but once there and settled it, I found it quite comfy. :P This is the first book of the Bull Moose Dog Run Mystery Series, and I look forward to reading more about Randolph and Harry in future books.

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#17 X-Rated Blood Suckers by Mario Acevedo

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

This is the second book in the Felix Gomez series, but for some reason, I didn't find it quite as entertaining as the first. A lot of the ridiculousness of some of the situations, that I found so amusing in the first book, were missing from this second book.

In similar vein to book 1, Felix Gomez, still a private eye, has now been called to Los Angeles to investigate the death of porn star Roxy Bronze. Upon arriving in LA however, he finds that the person who visited his office only the day before to hire him, one Ms. Katz Meow, has joined the ranks of the missing herself. But Felix has been given a secondary, and perhaps even more important, assignment while in LA. The Araneum, the governing force of the Vampires, has asked him to look into suspected collusion between vampires and humans, since it's forbidden for the vampires to reveal their true identity to any human other than those who provide them blood, conveniently called chalices.

I definitely liked this book enough to want to read the 3rd in the series, The Undead Kama Sutra, which was just released this past March. I only hope that this series doesn't begin to take the "sequel spiral". I'd prefer to see it get better instead. ;)

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#16 The Nymphos of Rocky Flats by Mario Acevedo

My Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Felix Gomez is a private eye... who went to Iraq as a soldier and came back a vampire. To blend in with the rest of humanity and keep their identity a secret, he and his fellow vampires must hide their unique vampire features behind makeup (for their translucent skin) and special contact lenses (for the mirror-like hypnotic reflection of their eyes). However, there's one vampire custom which Felix hasn't much embraced—the drinking of human blood; he drinks animal blood instead. It makes no difference that the blood comes from blood banks, and no humans need be harmed in the taking. Yet Felix still very much lives with the guilt of the innocent Iraqi family he and his platoon accidentally gunned down over in Iraq.

Unfortunately, this failing of Felix's is causing him to slowly but surely lose his vampire powers. And though it hasn't much hampered his current investigation within the Department of Energy (DOE) of tracking down the source of the recent nymphomania outbreak, it is putting him at a slight disadvantage against the vampire hunters who are actively hunting him!

Part paranormal mystery, part Koontz-like thriller, and a sprinkle of the nonsensical, this was a wonderful first novel from Mario Acevedo, the first in the Felix Gomez series. Felix reminded me a little bit of Harry Dresden, from Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, except that the problems Felix is hired to investigate aren't necessarily supernatural in nature. And Felix presents himself as human to all but other supernaturals, while Harry openly admits to being a wizard. But I have to say that based on my enjoyment of this first novel, this series looks quite promising and like it could be nearly as good as The Dresden Files.

Though a first work from the author, I'd have thought he was already well established as he wrote quite well and in a style very much suited to the genre. I had absolutely no complaints about the dialogue, the writing style, or anything else for that matter. The pace of the story was quick and punchy and the chapters short which added to that fast-moving action. I already had the second book, X-Rated Bloodsuckers, here on Mt. TBR so I started on it immediately after finishing this one. I'm looking forward to another fun ride!

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#15 The Scot, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Annette Blair

My Rating: 6 out of 10 stars

Victoria Cartwright is a hereditary witch who prefers to deny her heritage rather than embrace it—until the day she opens her grandmother's locked wardrobe and discovers a carousel unicorn inside. From that point on, her carousel dreams, which previously starred her and a sexy Scot in kilt and full Scottish regalia, become even more vivid until Scotsman Rory McKenzie showed up on the doorstep of her little Salem, MA antiques shop a few days later, having traveled all the way from Caperglen, Scotland. What happens then is both unimaginable as well as magical. Are they doomed to repeat the mistakes of their ancestors? And just how are the two connected anyway since they've been featuring in one another's dreams so often....

This story was cute, if not exactly funny IMO. Because I don't really like romance, I didn't particularly care for the dream sequences as they were a bit too flowery for my taste. But the rest of the story wasn't too bad, and certainly entertaining enough to keep my interest. Though I remembered previous characters from The Kitchen Witch and My Favorite Witch, I remembered very little about Victoria, on whom this story was based, I think because I'd found her the least interesting (and most prudish) of the three friends: Melody, Kira, and Victoria. LOL

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#14 Beneath a Mountain Moon by Silver Ravenwolf

My Rating: 1 out of 10 stars

This book, supposedly a mystery with a witchy background, wasn't grabbing me at all, and after only 30 pages in, I was having a hard time staying focused and keeping my mind from wandering. I picked it up at least 4 different times throughout the course of the day, just in case my disinterest was caused by my mood at the time, but try as I might, I simply couldn't get into it.

Now, dare I say this publicly, but in the real-life world of Witches, Wiccans, and others practicing the Craft, we refer to Silver RavenWolf as a "fluffy bunny" and her practice as "fluffy bunny wicca". Yes, being the bunny lover I am, I hate to use what to me is such a wonderful creature in conjunction with such a derogatory term, but since that definition has pretty much been adopted worldwide, and can be found at the Urban Dictionary, it's much easier to just adapt and use it myself rather than to try to come up with my own term and explain what it means. :P (See also the article "What makes a Fluff-Bunny?")

Anyhoo, because Silver RavenWolf lives in the fantasy world of Wicca, I thought perhaps I could get a kick out of her fiction; perhaps her delusions would translate well into the fiction realm. But sadly, such is not the case, and again, besides just being super bored with it, I was actually starting to get a bit angry as well!

Okay, so these are not your fantasy type of Witches at all. Too bad, as I think maybe I could have been able to enjoy this a little bit if they were. Instead, at only 15 pages in, she has the main character, Elizabeyta, proclaiming to the small town minister who's just declared his undying love for her that she's a W-I-T-C-H! A hereditary Witch who practices the old religion. Okay, that's all well and good. She's obviously trying to bring some validity to the religion, so you're thinking that she'll be treating the Craft in an honest and straightforward manner, but then the minister finds himself wondering if she can possibly be serious, and if he can suspend his disbelief of "ghosts, murder, and witches" (the author's words, not mine) long enough to listen to what she has to say. Give me a break! Major lame-o! Are we still living in the dark and unenlightened times where witches must practice secretly for fear of persecution? Apparently so because Elizabeyta's whole family lives at a secret covenstead to which no mere mortals know the location! =:o And they use the address of a safe house run by "non-magickal people" to act as their go-betweens to the rest of the world. *sigh* If she hadn't just finished trying to lay down a bunch of "facts" about our religion, I might've believed this was supposed to be based on fantasy after all. But at this point, the minister dude is really pissing me off with his attitude of thinking witches can't possibly be real! How trite!

Now, if you want to read a good fiction mystery which revolves around a real-life (non-fantasy) practitioner of the Craft, in the real sense of how they live and act in today's world, and integrate the Craft into their day-to-day life, then pick up M. R. Sellar's Rowan Gant Investigations series. He treats the Craft in a much more realistic way, doesn't try to sensationalize, and writes a darn good mystery in which the main character, a Wiccan High Priest, uses not only his divination skills but many of the other qualities and characteristics embraced by Witches and other practitioners. He truly understands what it's all about. If however, you prefer a lot of nonsense and rambling, and some half-truths and misinformation about a very valid religion, then by all means, read Beneath a Mountain Moon. Personally, I have too many other great books waiting on my to-be-read shelf to waste my time on this rubbish!

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#13 The 13th Reality: The Journal of Curious Letters by James Dashner

My Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Atticus "Tick" Higginbottom thought himself to be just your average thirteen-year-old boy... until the day he received a mysterious letter from someone who signed himself simply "M.G.". Little did Tick know that from that point on, his life would be forever changed. For all of a sudden, Tick is exposed to things that he never knew existed, things that were previously hidden from him. He's visited by people from "alternate realities" who refuse to tell him too much, only that he must solve the 12 clues that he will be receiving to proceed to the next step, and that if at any time he wishes the "madness" to stop, he need simply burn the very first letter he received from M.G.

But Tick is determined to see things through to the end and solve all the clues he receives, despite the difficulties constantly being thrown in his path. Because in all honesty, this is one of the most exciting things that's happened to him in a very long time!

Many of the scenarios Tick encounters throughout the story actually present important lessons to the reader, which is great for a young adult book. And even better when you're an adult and don't even realize it's being done. ;-) But one of the strongest lessons which overlaid much of the story's premise is how the actions you take in the here and now have far reaching consequences that affect the rest of the world around you, often without your even consciously realizing it. It's the pebble in the water theory, where the waves or ripples caused by a single event (the pebble thrown in the water) reach out to affect all of the surrounding area as well. Or as it's applied in this story: every choice a person makes can lead to drastic changes in other Realities.

The whole pebble in the water theory is a concept wholly embraced by Pagans, something we build our lives around, so I really liked the subtle emphasis on it throughout the story. It just made me feel very connected to the story in a way... if that makes sense. ;)

To sum up, this was a very interesting take on the theory of parallel universes. From that standpoint, it may even be partially science fiction and not simply fantasy as it was originally labeled. But whatever the exact genre—probably a mixture of both—I found this to be a satisfying read and a great start to The 13th Reality series. More detail on Tick and this fascinating new series can be found at The 13th Reality website.

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Tipping the Velvet (the movie)

My Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

I know I don't usually do movie reviews, but the other night I saw the BBC made-for-TV movie of Tipping the Velvet, a book I previously read and reviewed by Sarah Waters, so I wanted to talk about it here. I thought it was really good, though I still think the book was slightly better. (Isn't that always the case? LOL)

At nearly 3 hours, it was fairly thorough and consistent with the book, though some parts of Nan's life, like when she was working the streets and living with Grace and Mrs. Milne, was made a wee bit shorter as if to gloss it over a bit. You never really got the impression about how close Grace had grown to her, and they left out the part where she returned a few days after she moved in with Diana to get her outfits and let the Milne's know she wasn't returning. Though they did sort of allude to it because DH turned to me and said, "How'd she get her outfits back?" Didn't she leave them all at the Milne's?" So I explained that in the book, she did return a few days later to pick up her stuff and let them know she was leaving. They also changed the circumstances surrounding Nan's initial meeting with Florence, before she hooked up with Diana, though that didn't really affect the movie all that much.

I'm glad this was made in Britain as opposed to the U.S. because Americans are way too hung up on sexuality and I'm sure they would've definitely complained about the sex scenes. Personally, our society's hangups over sexuality are a huge pet peeve of mine so it was refreshing to see a movie not shirk away from the subject of girl-on-girl love.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie, and was glad that I supplemented my reading of the book by seeing it as well. :)