Review - Twice as Hot (Tales of an Extrordinary Girl, Book 2) by Gena Showalter

This is the sequel to Playing with Fire.  It was a good book and lots of fun to read.  If you liked the first book you will like this book even more!  This is a light-hearted book not meant to be taken all that seriously.

Belle is finally getting her life together.  She has a great job as a paranormal investigator, her superpowers are under control...kind of, and she is planning her wedding to Rome Masters (the super hottie she meet in the first book).  Then everything goes wrong Rome gets attacked by Memory Man and has all his memories of Belle stolen and Rome's exwife is feeding Rome lies to turn Rome against Belle.  Memory Man has disappeared and seems to involved with super-villain Desert Girl.  If Belle wants to salvage her relationship with Rome, first she will have to track down Memory Man and save the world from Desert Girl.

If you liked the first book in this series you will like this book.  This was a fun and fast-paced read.  You are really pulling for Belle as she struggles to deal with Rome's evil ex-wife.  Tanner is a lot of fun and you see more of Cody (the lightening wiedling superhero) than before.  The plot is well done and the book is very readable and engaging.

Belle does a better job of holding her own in this story than in the previous book.  You also get to see a bit more superhero butt kicking than in the first book.  There still is a lot of sex and talking about sex and groping...so this book is definitely more on the romance side of paranormal romance.  Still it is all in good fun and leaves you feeling happy at the end :-)

At times Belle is still a bit immature and needy; especially in the beginning of the book.  She does manage to pull herself together though and redeems herself in the end.  Also it was a bit corny how everyone was grouped into happy couples at the end; definitely a fairy tale romance type of book.  The tone of the book reminds me a lot of the Aisling Grey series.

Overall a great fun summer read and a feel good novel.  Just beware this is more romance than urban fantasy.  Belle isn't my favorite heroine, but she's alright and she's fun to read about.  I hope that Showalter does more books in this world.  So, far this is my favorite series by Showalter.

This book goes towards the following challenges;
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge

 

Blacklisted (Teen Alien Huntress, Book 2) by Gena Showalter (3/5 stars)

This was the second book in the Teen Alien Huntress series by Gena Showalter. As far as I could find there are not anymore young adult books planned in the Alien Huntress series at this time. I didn't like this book nearly as much as the first one, Redhanded, but it was okay.

Camille Robins and her girlfriend go to a nightclub chasing after some boys from high school. Camille is interested in Erik (who was in Redhanded) and is ecstatic when he passes her a note in the club. When she finds out the note is only a blank napkin it pisses her off, so she follows him into a back section of the club. There she is attacked and drawn into Erik's illegal activities. Erik and Camille end up fleeing for their lives trying to outrun AIR agents.

I didn't like this book nearly as much as "Redhanded". My biggest problem was Camille. She is cowardly (which she admits to herself), somewhat whiny, and I found her to be annoying. Erik is, in general, kind of a jerk. Like with many other of Showalter's books Erik ends up being better in the end, but I still didn't like him much. The relationship between him and Camille felt forced and unrealistic.

I also didn't like that the main premise of this book was that Camille wanted Erik. At least in "Redhanded" Pheonix was trying to beat her addiction and make it through A.I.R. training; in "Redhanded" her relationship with Ryan was part of the story not the whole story. Don't get me wrong there is some plot outside of Camille and Erik, but it is pretty thin.

Additionally I thought the book was wrapped up really quick and a little too conveniently. It was unreal how all these strange coincidences happened all at once so that the story could be end quickly, almost as if Showalter had to hurry and get this book done. In general it made for an unsatisfying story.

The positive points were that Showalter has created an interesting world here, the actions scenes were well done (although much fewer than in "Redhanded"), and the book was a quick, easy read. In the end it was an okay read, definitely nothing to write home about, but a quick diversion. I would definitely read "Redhanded" first since that is, by far, the better of the two books.

Seduce the Darkness (Alien Huntress, Book 4) by Gena Showalter (2/5 stars)

This is the fourth book in the Alien Huntress series by Gena Showalter. While I thought the first two books in this series were okay; I really didn't like the third book all that much. Unfortunately this book followed the third book as far as how much I liked it. I did really like her first book in the Extraordinary girl series "Playing with Fire".

Bride is a vampire who lives on the Earth's surface. She has never met another of her kind and has, for some reason, started getting sick when she drinks blood. Devyn we have met in previous books; he is the womanizing Targon that tried to buy Eden in the second book. They meet when Bride recognizes the scent of her old friend on Devyn. Things get more dangerous when Bride takes the disease invested Nolan from Devyn to piss Devyn off. Now Devyn has to find where Bride is hiding Nolan before Nolan's queen arrives from her home planet. Someone is also trying to kill Bride and she doesn't know why.

The plot in general was pretty thin in this book. I don't mind reading books a bit heavy on the romance, but I do like some substantial plot. The plot basically focused around Nolan and trying to get him to tell where and when his Queen would land; in an effort to stop the virus that Nolan is carrying from wiping out all of Earth. There wasn't much to it. Most of the book focuses on Bride trying to piss off Devyn and Devyn trying to get into Bride's pants. It was also a bit weird that there are all of these alien races on Earth and suddenly Showalter has to throw a vampire in there. I mean where did that come from? Was she worried about missing the current "everyone loves vampires" trend in books?

Bride was very immature for a ages old vampire. Mostly she came off as a brat and was not likable at all. Devyn is an admitted womanizer and most of the time was a jerk. I think Devyn's character was supposed to add some humor to the book; mostly though he was just irritating. Devyn's sense of humor reminds of a hormone ridden teenage boy and really wasn't all that funny. I was actually looking forward to reading more about Devyn, but his back story ended up not being all that interesting.

Showalter's story between Devyn and Bride mimicked the storyline of the previous books. Feisty girl meets arrogant alpha male. Male wants girl, girl resists. Girl can't resist anymore, male gets her then realizes he can't live without her. Boring. This could have been forgiven if there was tension between the characters or decent sex scenes. Unfortunately Devyn and Bride didn't seem to have much chemistry and the sex scenes were uncreative and boring.

In addition to all of the above the scanty plotline about the Queen arriving is left wide open. If I had to hedge my bets I would say the next book in the series is about Dallas falling for the alien Queen...but that is just a guess on my part. I guess I will never know, because I don't plan on continuing to read this series. I don't like any of the characters and the world building (as well as the plot) is thin at best. There are better books out there for romance/sci-fi/paranormal. I would suggest Sunny's Monere' series for those interested in steamy scenes with paranormal races.

Savor Me Slowly (Alien Huntress, Book 3) by Gena Showalter (2/5 stars)

This is the third book in the Alien Huntress series and I really did not like it all that much. Compared with the previous two books this one definitely fell solidly into the romance category; way too much page space was given to the main characters needing each other, owning each other, and forgetting what they were doing because they weren't together.

In this book Mishka rescues Jaxon (he appeared as Mia Snow's co-worker in the first Alien Huntress novel) from torture by Otherworlders. Mishka is a Shadow, an assassin that kills Otherworlders to protect humans. She is supposed to get information from Jaxon about a virus that a new type of Otherworlder has brought to earth. The virus turns humans into flesh-eating monsters of a sort. Of course, as you might imagine, Mishka and Jaxon hit it off pretty well. This is complicated by the fact that Mishka is part machine and her actions are controlled by a computer chip in her brain.

The characters from the first two books join Mishka in this novel. Eden and Lucuis really do not play a large role. Mia Snow plays a slightly larger role than Eden or Lucius; but mainly she is a jerk like in the first book. It would be helpful to have read the back-stories on Mia and Eden, but not necessary to understand the plot of this book. The only ray of light in this book for me was Mishka's conversations with her internal computer; some of those were a tiny bit funny.

There were so many things that I didn't like about this book I am not sure where to start. First of all Mishka isn't a strong character. She is distracted and whiny and needy almost the whole book; the only place she shines is in her kick-butt fight scenes...but those are rare. Jaxon, who I actually liked in the first book, sheds all his personality in this book and turns into an obsessed/possessive character. In fact Jaxon is just about absent of any personality outside of his unexplainable obsession with Mishka. Why are Jaxon and Mishka attracted to each other? This remains a mystery to me; I guess we are just supposed to accept that they are.

Mishka and Jaxon's obession basically destroys what could be an interesting story line. In every scene they are apart (or together) Mishka and Jaxon can't work because they are thinking about each other. The whole thing was pretty intense (not in a good way), and pretty boring to read about for 300+ pages. The plot could have been very interesting with the new alien race and viruses and all. The action scenes also weren't as prevalent in this book and were constantly interrupted by Mishka or Jaxon worrying about each other. There were a lot of sex scenes and, while they were a bit more creative than in "Enslave Me Sweetly", they still weren't all that great. I also missed the humor in this book. Both Mishka and Jaxon were 100% devoid of any humor what-so-ever and that took a lot away from the story.

The main plotline with the virus is never well resolved either. I am assuming it continues in Book 4 "Seduce the Darkness" of this series. I own book 4 and will eventually read it, but for now enough is enough. There was so much mush and needing/owning each other junk in this book that I fear, if the next one follows in this book's path, my eyes will fall out my head from me rolling them so much. After reading the first three Alien Huntress books in a row these books are also starting to feel a bit formulaic to me. Maybe I just need to clear my head with something a bit more substantial before I read another one.

Enslave Me Sweetly (Alien Huntress, Book 2) by Gena Showalter (4/5 stars)

This is the second book in the Alien Huntress series. It doesn't really use any characters from the first book; although it is in the same setting. You wouldn't have to read the first book to know what is going on, but the first book does provide some background on the world in general. I actually liked this book a bit better than the first one.

Eden is a Raka, basically a beautiful golden alien. Unlike Mia Snow (who was part of AIR); Eden Black is a Shadow, trained to assassinate Otherworlders who are up to no good. Unfortunately her first field mission to assassinate an Otherworlder who has been selling humans as slaves, goes horribly wrong. She is assigned a partner, Lucius, to help ensure that the second time around the mission goes as planned. This time though Eden isn't going in with guns blazing though; she is posing as bait. Will things go as planned or will Eden end up sold as a slave to the wrong person? Can her and Lucius keep their minds on the job and overcome their hatred (and attraction) long enough to get things done?

Eden was a fascinating character; much more interesting than Mia was and much more well-rounded. She's an assassin from a peace-loving race; she is an Otherworlder who hunts down other Otherworlders. She is strong but not annoying or bitchy like Mia was. Overall she made a great character. Lucius was a good counterpart to Eden. I liked that their relationship actually had some basis to build on; respect for each other, etc.

The story was fast-paced with great action scenes and a few red-hot love scenes. This book should please the romance crowd more than the first book; I though the love scenes were pretty well balanced with a good plot and lots of action. The story was wrapped up well at the end; no huge plot points left hanging. This was a quick read too; a good summer read.

There were a couple minor things that irritated me a little; one was Eden's instant attraction to Lucius. Overall this was a bit overdone and not really all that believable. Also though this book had more sex scenes; they were all very similar and it would have been nice to have some creativity.

Overall I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next novel in the Alien Huntress series.

Awaken Me Darkly (Alien Huntress, Book 1) (4/5 stars)

This is the first book in the Alien Huntress series by Gena Showalter. I really liked her book "Playing with Fire". I was a bit leery about this book because...well...it's called "Awaken me Darkly" and it has a scantily clad woman in a black corset on the cover; it kind of screamed romance to me. Well, it is not a romance. It is a tightly packed paranormal crime novel, with back to back action scenes and a sex scene thrown in for good measure.

Mia Snow is part of AIR, Alien Investigation and Removal Agency. Basically she is an Alien Hunter; that takes out any aliens that are walking on the wrong side of the law. When she gets drawn into a murder case where nude males are left dead in plain site, she finds that the politics involved are extraterrestrial. When her partner, Dallas, is fatally wounded she finds that the super hunky alien Kyrin en Arr is the only on who can help him. Too bad Kyrin is the prime murder suspect, also too bad that Kyrin is the one who can help Mia unfold her dark past.

This book moved at a fast clip. The plot was tight and well-done. I really enjoy Showalter's writing style. The murder investigation and action scenes dominated the book. Anyone who picks this up thinking it's a romance will be deeply disappointed. There is some tension between Mia and Kyrin and one really hot sex scene, but that's pretty much it for romance. Overall I really liked the book. Mia's kick butt attitude reminded me of Anita Blake before she went all succubus on us. Although Mia's character could have had a bit more depth and been a bit more tempered with something other than anger; I still thought she was a pretty good lead.

I was also a little disappointed that they didn't go into more about the different aliens and their culture. Kyrin does go into Arcadian culture somewhat; but not in great depth. I also thought most of the aliens were a bit too humanoid, but well, I guess that's the author's decision.

Overall this was a very engaging and entertaining read. I liked that the story had a more sci-fi focus; it was interesting to read something paranormal-like in genre that took place in the future and with aliens. The book tied up all the main plot points but left some minor ones hanging. It doesn't look like Mia Snow is featured in the rest of the books in this series. Either way, I definitely look forward to reading the next book in the series. I am hooked on Showalter's writing style.

Playing with Fire by Gena Showalter (4/5 stars)

I've been wanting to read the Alien Huntress series by Gena Showalter forever. I picked this book up instead to get a flavor for her writing style without getting involved in another ongoing series. This was a cute book. If you like the Aisling Grey Guardian series or other similar funny paranormal romance books you would probably get a kick out of this one.

This book is about Belle. Belle is a girl who has a hard time getting and keeping jobs. She needs the money to help pay for care for her ailing dad. Then one day on break some guy in a mad scientist get-up runs out of an abandoned building into the coffee shop Belle is currently working at. Later she finds out he slipped something in her mocha latte. Suddenly Belle is like a Wonder Woman of the four elements and she can do things only super heroes can do. Fortunately this helps her meet up with another super hottie who has cool powers of his own. Unfortunately the bad guys want Belle for their own nefarious purposes.

This was a cute light read. There is a lot of imagining about sex and groping and a lot of talking about sex. So if that bothers you I would look the other way; I would say the sex talk is about the same level as the Aisling Grey books...maybe a bit lighter. There was a lot of action and suspense too and that really kept the book moving. The male lead Rome is sensitive, animalistic, and sexy. This book has a little of that alpha male thing going on but not that much.

Belle's powers were really cool; very X-men. I only wish that we had seen more of them. As with all of these paranormal romances I wish they had spent more time kicking butt and less time groping each other. But, what can you do? I knew what I was getting into.

All in all this book was fast-paced, a quick and light read, lots of fun, and just right for lifting your mood. I zoomed right through it. The story line wasn't the most original; and the characters somewhat stereotypical. This is another one of those books that if you know what you are getting into you'll have fun. If you abhor romance though, I would choose something different...maybe the Jaz Parks series would be more your style.

I am kind of glad this is a one book thing. It would be interesting to see Belle in a few more missions but I think the characters would get old in a few books.