Tall, Dark & Dead - Book Review

 

Tall, Dark & Dead (Garnet Lacey #1)

by Tate Hallaway

What is it about:

The line between magic and sanity is very thin.

That's part of why I, Garnet Lacey, quit cold turkey.

Never touch the stuff. No exceptions.

But magic is so addictive...and my inner Goddess Lilith is hard to resist. Besides, restraint isn't easy when you manage Wisconsin's premiere occult bookstore, and get customers like Sebastian Von Traum--piercing brown eyes, a sexy accent, and a killer body in denim and black leather. The only thing missing is an aura. Which means he's dead...

And that means trouble. I guess I'm a sucker for it. The Vatican witch hunters are on to us. My long-lost vampire ex has crawled out of the woodwork looking for action. And Sebastian's frustrated ex is stirring in her grave.

So what's a girl to do if she's hot for a dead man walking? Run like hell--and take full advantage of the nights...

What did I think of it:

I was browsing the shelves of a friend's bookshelves and came across this book. It sounded fun, so I decided to give it a try. 

And it was everything I had been hoping for!

This book is a great mix of funny and suspenseful. I loved Garnet, and could understand why she tries to stay away from magic. But magic and adventure manage to find her. I was really intrigued by Garnet having an actual Goddess inside her, and loved discovering what it did to her.    

Sebastian is a cool character as well, I was eager to find out what his deal was, and once I did I had to keep reading to find out if Garnet could save Sebastian, herself, and the day.

The romantic entanglements in this book were just a bit triangly, but not in an annoying way. I'm curious to see how things will develop in future books. 

There are some really fun side characters as well. I loved Garnet's friends and hope they'll be in future books as well.

The ending is satisfying and you could read this as a standalone, but you bet I borrowed the next three books in this series to see what's next for Garnet.

All in all a very enjoyable read.

Why should you read it:

It's a fun and suspenseful Paranormal Read.

buy from Amazon

Precinct 13 - Book Review

Precinct 13
by Tate Hallaway

What is it about:
Recent college grad Alex Conner is thrilled to have landed a job as the Hughes County coroner/medical examiner in Pierre, South Dakota. But when her first day on the job ends with a missing corpse, Alex starts to wonder if she would have been better off collecting unemployment...

When the cops made some cryptic comments about being careful with the body they brought in, Alex just thought the boys in blue were messing with her. That is, until something freaky happens that no amount of med school could have prepared her for. By the time Alex gets herself together, the body has disappeared and the other residents of the morgue start talking her ear off.

After working up the courage to report the missing body, Alex is transferred to the mysterious Precinct 13 where she discovers that her new co-workers—including a cute technomage named Jack—are paranormals just like her. Now, Alex is being encouraged to use her ability to speak to the dead to solve crimes. And despite being in the middle of nowhere, Hughes County sure does have a lot of paranormal activity…

What did I think of it:
I will confess I pre-ordered this book ages ago after seeing the cover and reading the tagline: The dead have tales to tell. Sometimes they just won't shut up.

I had expected a very different story going by that tagline than the story that I got.

do I mind?

Absolutely not!

This is a very entertaining and enjoyable story. I liked Alex from the start and Hallaway does a great job in taking the reader along on Alex's road of discovery.

There are some really cool characters in this book. My favorite is Valentine, Alex's on and off again boyfriend, who has some secrets of his own, while Officer Stone (who's name is very fitting) is a close second.

The story is both fun and intriguing. There's lots of things going on, but it never gets confusing or chaotic. There was one moment where I thought something happened that would be exploited later on in the story, but which sadly enough proved to be a dud. Otherwise this story was totally awesome.

All in all I loved this book and I can only hope Hallaway decided to make this into a series, because I want more!

Why should you read it:
It's a very entertaining Urban Fantasy