Nice Girls Don't Live Forever by Molly Harper and Amanda Ronconi

Nothing sucks the romance out of world travel like a boyfriend who may or may not have broken up with you in a hotel room in Brussels. Jane Jameson's sexy sire Gabriel has always been unpredictable, but the seductive, anonymous notes that await him at each stop of their international vacation, coupled with his evasive behavior over the past few months, finally push Jane onto the next flight home to Half Moon Hollow -- alone, upset, and unsure whether Gabriel just ended their relationship without actually telling her.

Now the children's-librarian-turned-vampire is reviving with plenty of Faux Type O, some TLC from her colorful friends and family, and her plans for a Brave New Jane. Step One: Get her newly renovated occult bookstore off the ground. Step Two: Support her best friend, Zeb, and his werewolf bride as they prepare for the impending birth of their baby...or litter. Step Three: Figure out who's been sending her threatening letters, and how her hostile pen pal is tied to Gabriel. Because for this nice girl, surviving a broken heart is suddenly becoming a matter of life and undeath.

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Audio Book Review

The Story:

Nice Girls Don’t Live Forever is the third book in Molly Harper’s Jane Jameson series, which is a cross between Contemporary and Paranormal Romance, with the slightest hint of Chick-lit.

As is always the case with Molly Harper, the storytelling is brilliant. My earlier slight disappointment in the world building is gone, and this story is romantic, funny, sexy, fast paced, and at times poignant. The story takes place in the quirky small town of Half Moon Hollow where vampires have been ‘out of the closet’ for a while now, and share the air with humans, ghouls, witches, ghosts, and werewolves. Makes for some interesting reading!!

The Audio:

Amanda Ronconi does a phenomenal job of bringing Jane Jameson and her friends to life. Her voice is just rough enough to give Jane the edge you'd expect from a sassy vampire, as well as give all of the characters truly distinctive voices. I love that I know who's speaking without the "Jane said..." or "Jolene said..." Honestly, Ms. Ronconi is a very talented narrator!

Once again I can wholeheartedly recommend this amazing author/narrator team!

Killing Time by Cindy Gerard

Fast paced, action packed and very sexy, Killing Time is the perfect start to Cindy Gerard’s new One Eyed Jacks series! This spinoff of the Black Ops Inc. series opens with Mike “Primetime” Brown’s anxiously awaited story.

Still tortured by the deaths of his team members during a mission dubbed Operation Slam Dunk - a mission gone horribly wrong - Mike is physically scarred and mentally tormented. The memories of that clusterfuck, and his guilt over the decisions he made, haunt Mike every day of his life, but the anniversary of the horrific event is the worse, one, even eight years later, Mike spends trying to drink away the memories.

CIA Attorney Eva Salinas lost her husband in Afghanistan, a casualty of that same OSD clusterfuck. The military trial ended before it even got started when one of the surviving team members accepted full responsibility. Eva has tried to put it all behind her, but after receiving a file from an anonymous source, Eva is wondering if justice has truly been served. Armed with this new information, she is more determined than ever to find out what really happened, and what better place to start than with Mike Brown, the man thought to be responsible for her husband's death?

Though some of their questions are answered, more are being raised, and Mike and Eva find they have a common enemy. With their passion for one another growing, they work together to bring down the bad guys and avenge the men who died in the crossfire of arrogance, greed and ambition.

The bottom line: Time and time again Cindy Gerard delivers romantic suspense the way it should be written - with the perfect balance of action, excitement, romance and steamy goodness! Her characters are people we can't help but connect with and care about, and their happily ever afters are sweet, satisfying and well deserved! Killing Time truly is a great start to this new series, one I'll definitely be following, start to finish!

5 stars!

My thanks to Pocket Books, a division of Simon Schuster Publishing, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. It was such a pleasure!