Book Review: The Rogue Hunter by Lynsay Sands

At First Sight: Vacation with her sisters in Cottage Country sounded like a really good idea to Sam Willan, a workaholic lawyer in the fast track to be made partner. She recently went through a bad break up and is quite happy to just relax with her sisters Alex and Jo, until they finally get to meet their elusive next-door neighbor and his friends. 

They all seem rather nice, and all three men are certainly very handsome, but it's Garrett Mortimer who catches her attention, at first because she can see he thinks she's clumsy as hell, and then because even with that, he seems to be very interested in her. 

What Sam doesn't know is that Mortimer is, in fact, an enforcer working for the Immortal Council, and he's in town to hunt down a rogue vampire.

Well, at least that was the reason why Mortimer and his partner Bricker were sent out to camp out with Decker Pimms - another enforcer and the girls's actual neighbor - but he didn't count of meeting his life-mate - the one person in the world whose mind he can't get into, the one meant for him - or that she would be rather clumsy and way too skinny. 

But she is his life mate, and soon he can't resist the pull her feels toward her as he learns that she's smart and funny and fiercely loving of her family. But he still has a job to do, and he needs to get it done quickly.

Second Glance: The Rogue hunter is actually the 10th in the Argeneau Series and the first of the Immortal Hunters section of it. I've read all of them to date but I have to say that it's the later ones that I find the funniest, which is I why I review them.

I had a lovely time reading The Rogue Hunter. I liked Sam instantly - she is smart and fun, she works very hard and has a great relationship with her sisters, and the insecurities her last relationship left her with were quite real. Mortimer was a great hero, he's an enforcer and has been a bachelor for close to 800 years, so he's really rusty when it comes to the whole courtship thing. 

And I actually loved that at first he wasn't exactly thrilled with finding Sam because she was not at all like he had imagined his ideal life mate to be. Usually with these type of stories, the Immortal is just happy of finally meeting someone, but Mortimer's reaction seemed more realistic to me. 

Bottom Line: All in all, The Rogue Hunter is a fun book to read, and great to relax with. The characters are likable and, even though it is the 10th book of the series, it doesn't feel repetitive or like I've been here before, which is great. This is a great book to read when you just want to have some fun.

Tune in Tuesday (25) - V-Day Edition

 This meme is hosted by Ginger at GReads and music. Each week you can post an old or new song so that it gains more interest! So head on over and link up.

Since today is V-day, I decided to put one of my favorite love songs but as it turns out they are mostly songs about broken hearts, I have no idea why since I've always though that love should be hopeful. So, instead, I went classic.

This is, I Say A Little Pray For You, and since I'm just in the mood and I'll probably watch this movie when I get home... I give you the My Best Friend's Wedding version - It's my Dad's favorite part of the movie too!

Oh, I love this song from the movie too:

So, what song plays for you?

Have a great day everyone!

Love, Alex.

PS... Yup, I'm aware I'm a sap.

Book Review: Card Captor Sakura Vol.1 (Omnibus Edition)

The Deal: After stumbling into a strange book in her father's library, Sakura Kinomoto - a sporty, cute and girly fourth grader - met Kero-chan, the beast that guards the Clow Cards, and he needs her help getting them all back. 

The Clow Cards are magic devices, created long ago by a great wizard, they were supposed to be sealed, but at some point they escaped, and now it is up to Sakura to find them all. Without knowing, Sakura has always had some magical power - which enabled her to open card's book and awaken Kero - and she must  now use it to complete her mission.

Her only aid? Kero-chan (who looks like a cute, little plush lion) and her best friend Tomoyo, who enjoys designing outfits for Sakura and recording her adventures. Not so helpful? Sakura's big brother's Toya who always seems to be around when you least expect him. He's a fairly typical annoying older brother, but he has a good point in his favor: the fact that he's best friends with Yukito, Sakura's crush. 

Vol 1 is the first of a projected 4 volumes that will collect the whole saga. In Vol 1 we are introduced to Sakura and her friends and family, and to the cards. We also meet Sakura's rival, Shaoran Li. 

My Thoughts: I tried to give you a short rundown of the story of CCS, and I know I've talked about the anime before, so really I just wanted to talk about this particular edition of CCS, since I so love this story.

This particular edition is massive and beautiful, and I absolutely loved it. The paper is high quality and the translation is lovely - I own some of the volumes of the previous edition and the translation was a little spotty, I gotta say. It also has several full-color pages which is very nice. 

And I definitely think it's a good value purchase as this single volume covers 3 of the previous edition. 

At the Movies: The Descendants

After a boating accident leaves his wife in a coma, Matt King (George Clooney) has to face a few harsh realities about his life. Like the fact his marriage was a bit in shambles, that his wife was cheating on him and that he doesn't know whom his daughters Alexandra and Scotty have become.

Also, the fact that his wife is never going to wake up and it's time to say goodbye.

Aside from having to decide how to tell this to younger daughter and the rest of his family and friends that his wife is going to die soon, Matt also has to decide the future of a massive plot of land his family has owned for generations, which may bring his family a great deal of money if they sell. 

Not ready to make either decision, Matt distracts himself tracking down the man his wife was having an affair with, with the help of his eldest daughter, Alexandra, and her friend Sid. 

The Descendants was a movie that touched me a great deal not because a lot of things happen but because the few things that do are quietly momentous, the kind that shake you to your foundations and you don't realize it until you're dealing with the consequences. It's a movie about family and grief, and how life goes on even when you think it won't. 

I loved it from start to finish - Matt's opening monologue was awesome. This movie made me cry and laugh and then go to my mom and tell her how awesome it was. 

I give this movie an A. 

Love, 

Cover Love #28 - A Night Like This

Well, I hadn't done one of these in a while and I decided to share the cover for Julia Quinn's A Night Like this.

US Cover

Summary (From Julia Quinn's site)

A Night Like This

Book #2 in the Smythe-Smith Quartet

Anne Wynter might not be who she says she is…

But she's managing quite well as a governess to three highborn young ladies. Her job can be a challenge — in a single week she finds herself hiding in a closet full of tubas, playing an evil queen in a play that might be a tragedy (or might be a comedy—no one is sure), and tending to the wounds of the oh-so-dashing Earl of Winstead. After years of dodging unwanted advances, he's the first man who has truly tempted her, and it's getting harder and harder to remind herself that a governess has no business flirting with a nobleman.

UK Cover

Daniel Smythe-Smith might be in mortal danger…

But that's not going to stop the young earl from falling in love. And when he spies a mysterious woman at his family's annual musicale, he vows to pursue her, even if that means spending his days with a ten-year-old who thinks she's a unicorn. But Daniel has an enemy, one who has vowed to see him dead. And when Anne is thrown into peril, he will stop at nothing to ensure their happy ending…

I think I like the UK cover better, so I might splurge on Book Depository and buy it from them

A Night Like this is the follow up to Just Like Heaven, which I loved, and it comes out May 29th.