Author: Dirty Girl Anne

Caged Warrior by Lindsey Piper

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Caged Warrior (Dragon Kings, #1)

Grade: A-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Paranormal
Series: Dragon Kings #1
Reviewed by Anne
379 pages
 
I picked this book up at the RT Convention and packed it in a bag to take along to my sister’s house.  I read the first 20 pages on the plane and I was hooked!
 
In the Dragon King world a dragon race lives among humans.  They look human in appearance, more or less, but they don’t shift forms.   They DO possess dragon powers, which vary from person to person, or rather, dragon to dragon.  Their race has problems reproducing.  Audrey was banished from the dragons and led a life with humans, until she and her human husband had a baby.  Then dragons arrived.  They killed her husband, kidnapped Audrey and her son, and delivered them to the sadistic Dr. Aster’s lab.  After a year of torture and experimentation, Audrey is separated from her son and sent to train to be a cage warrior.  (Think Gladiator type cage matches.)  She’s been promised that if she can stay alive for a year, her son will be returned to her.
In the warrior complex, Leto is assigned to train Audrey.  Leto’s success is tied to Audrey’s by Old Man Aster (who runs the Cage), and they come to realize they have to find a way to work together even though they hate each other.
 
This book really worked for me.  I know, I know, I don’t like angst, and this book is full of angst.  I also don’t like children in danger, and Audrey’s son, Jack is certainly in danger. That was all off page, though it’s Audrey’s constant focus, which made it tolerable for me.   But there’s fighting!  And there’s powers and brainwashing.  And it’s complex, but written well enough that I didn’t have problem tracking along with it.
 
Audrey is such a strong character! You get to see her gain self confidence and grow stronger. You get to see Leto come to admire her more and more as he gets to know her, though in the beginning he’s just the latest in a line of abusers.  I was ok with Leto’s asshole behavior because, from the beginning it was clear to me that it was all about the reality of training for cage fighting.  They had a short time to get her ready to fight, and Leto has a personal stake in her success.
 
The story line was really interesting with enough twists and turns to really keep me enthralled.  The best part was that they didn’t seem to come out of nowhere.  Each twist was an “ahhh!” moment for me, where suddenly things fell into place.  I thought the world was interesting and well written.  I want to know more!  The villains (Old Man Aster and his son, Dr. Aster) are a bit two dimensional.  That was fine with me.
 
Overall I give the book a 4.5 out of 5 and look forward to reading more. It was dark and gritty.  Lindsey Piper’s writing reminds me of Kresley Cole minus the screwball humor. I really enjoyed it and I’m putting it on my best of 2013 list.

Bite Me by PJ Schnyder

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Bite Me (London Undead, #1)

Grade: B+
Hotness Level: Blaze
Kink Level: No Kink
Genre: Paranormal (shifter, zombie), Novella
Series: London Undead #1
Reviewed by Anne
90 pages
Zombies have invaded the world, but seem especially drawn to London.  Werewolves have always existed in secret, and they are immune to the zombie virus.  The zombie outbreak presented them with an opportunity to come out to the world.  Seth is Alpha of a werewolf pack in London.  He and his pack are working to protect the humans, even though many humans are still pretty scared of werewolves.  Maisie is a young woman who was orphaned and maimed in a zombie attack.  She’s on her own now, and despite needing crutches to walk for any distance, she is a fierce hunter and defender of those she cares about.  One night she comes across some tourists under zombie attack.  Yes, in this London there are still tourists.  Now they come to see or hunt the zombies!  Just as Maisie’s assistance is looking to be not quite enough, Seth comes to their aid.  He’s fascinated by this small but feisty human.  She admires his strength and skill and remarkably isn’t afraid of his bad werewolf self.  
 
I really liked this story! The author accomplished a lot in a novella format, leaving me with both a satisfying story and some unanswered questions about the world she built. Maisie and Seth were fun characters, though a little simple, probably due to the novella format. The post-zombie attack London – complete with the Zombie Hunter tourist crowd was well done! There were interesting questions about the zombies. What had started them? What might stop them? Why were they so drawn to London?  There’s plenty to work with in future installments.

I loved that Maisie is really tough, even though she’s a human. Seth, as alpha of his pack was a pretty stereotypical alpha with the heart of gold. I’m pretty fond of that stereotype, though, so it wasn’t a problem for me.

I did have one issue with the story, though. I thought the ending was too much, too abrupt, and too soon.  It was both that I wanted more time with Seth and Maisie and that the final sex scene seemed poorly timed. Maybe a few days later would have been more believable.

It says a lot of good about the book that my complaint has to do with the sex in it. Generally I complain because a book has too little sex. In this case I was so engrossed in the story, the sex pulled me out (ha!) of it. So it’s a good thing.

I recommend this book for readers who enjoy a good shifter story and those who enjoy a strong female lead. I really enjoyed it and will be looking for the next one!

I will say I’m not a huge fan of the cover.  I’m fine with a romance that has zombies in it. Not so much zombies on the cover. Or maybe that’s supposed to be Maisie?  It’s definitely not my favorite cover.  What do you think?

Burning Up by Anne Marsh

Posted on by Dirty Girl Anne

Burning Up (Smoke Jumpers, #1)
Grade-B
Hotness Level-Inferno
Kink Level-None
Series-Smoke Jumpers #1
Reviewed by Kay

Let me start by saying that I LOVE firefighters and books about them. I really, really do. I loved Jo Davis’ series and  Bella Andre’s series both and have missed them since they concluded. If there’s a book about firefighters, I’m usually bouncing in my chair until their release date. This book in no way disappointed me. It was fun, exciting, suspenseful and sexy. What more could you ask for?

Jack Donovan is a smoke jumper, meaning that he literally jumps from a plane into fires to fight them. He, his brothers and his friends from the military all created a business doing smoke jumping. He gets a call from his foster mom, Nonna and he finally goes home to find out about a string of fires that threaten the town he grew up in. Needless to his brothers and teammates follow him. He knows his run in with the girl he left behind will be stressful to say the least because he has never gotten over her.

Lily Cortez is a woman on the run from a past she can’t seem to escape. She ran away to the big city to avoid all things that reminded her of the bad boy from school she always wanted but never had. In the city, she built a life for herself only to have it fall apart at the hands of an unknown threat. She moves back to her hometown and things are good for awhile but then fires start to pop up there too.
She knows her stalker has found her again and he can hide in plain sight.

I enjoyed this book on every level. It did kind of drag a little toward the end but did finish well. If you love romantic suspense, this is a mild one in my opinion. The bad guy is a sicko no doubt, but he was also chilling in his pursuit. The two main characters had great chemistry and the love scenes were sexy. I can’t wait for the next book which is on my computer and for me, a book away.