A-Z Book List: G for Game

Nope, not the Game of Thrones 😉 You all know by now that I am a fan of that book and I have written innumerable posts on the series and the books. I am eagerly waiting for the next book and the series. My madness started from here and ended, for now, here. OK, enough of Game of Thrones. Let us go to another new genre and one book from one of my other favorite author.

Name: A Game of Chance by Linda Howard

Genre: Romance, Romantic Suspense, Suspense, Contemporary Romance

I am a fan of Linda Howard. Usually, her books (at least the big set I have already read of hers) have very strong female characters. They border on erotic romance. There is always something sinister  going on and our heroine gets into trouble. But since she is as strong as the hero hence, theirs is a combined effort at thwarting whatever is troubling her or someone related to her. This book is  the fifth book in the series called MacKenzie Family series. And who am I to avoid reading a series, especially the ones that tell us stories about each member of the family 🙂 In this book, the hero’s name is Chance MacKenzie, hence the title. Since this is a family series, there is a strong bond that is portrayed among the family members, which is an additional plus for me. If you want some light romance read with some suspense element added to it, then you can take up any of Linda Howard’s novels and have a good time. Her books are a sure bet for a good time.

PS: Check out the rest of the A-Z Book list here

Can you feel it ?

Have you ever really had a strange encounter with an unknown ? I call it unknown because I am not sure of how to call them (or it) Ghosts/Spirits/Visions !? Whatever they are. Names don’t matter here do they ? Lets leave aliens out of this. I think you get the point. I am reading Linda Howard’s novels one by one, and in one of them there is this woman protagonist (an artist by profession) who can see ghosts (as she calls them) and she paints their death moments later it happens, that too in her sleep. That lands her into trouble and we have a male protagonist to help her resolve the issues (and well, there is some very heavy romance also going on…)
I have never had such experiences, so I always give the benefit of doubt to those who do. Recently my very close friend was telling me how she feels that her father (who recently passed away) is always there in the house with her and she can somehow feel him. She says that sometimes when she gets up from her sleep she can almost see him standing there watching over her and telling her that things are gonna be alright and asking her to go back to sleep. She says that she isn’t afraid but that she is not able understand it and is sort of disturbed by that fact alone. I don’t blame her. I would be forced to think a lot about it too, wondering the reason behind these, how such a thing can really happen and all. I might end up having sleepless nights because of that rather than the scare of seeing some unknown.

I saw one very strange idea recently, but totally worth trying it 😉 (hoping that no one gets arrested for this).

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Post for this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “strange/stranger/strangest.” Use one, use ’em all, or just let them inspire you. Have fun!

SoCS Badge by HopeFloats@ My Leaky Boat

Mackenzie’s Family

Linda Howard’s Mackenzie’s Family Series starts with the father Wolf Mackenzie and his home Mackenzie’s Mountain. I completed the series amidst my late night work for the past week and it went on a little slow, even though this series doesn’t require that much concentration. It is a romantic series afterall. But even though the story line was the same across all the books in this series, the execution was different and was made interesting. It would have been a lot better if it was having different treatment for each of the people involved. Sadly this is how it went. A strong man (strong applicable to physical and mental strength) who is not afraid of anyone or anything has this instant attraction to an equally strong virgin woman (strong applicable to mental strength mostly here, physically they are a bit demure, but that adds to the chemistry and sparks) and they meet in unusual circumstances and the woman reciprocates the attraction and affection, thus leading to a whirlwind of romance. Add to it some spice of suspense element of a whodunnit and some action sequences and you get the whole series. If it was a terrorist in one, it is a federal Agent in another or a psychologically disturbed young man. Every book has the same standard formula. Then why did I read it ? Because it is a series 😀 and I like reading about the family and their love and affection for one another and all that stuff.

Mackenzie’s Mountain: Series starts with the story of the father Wolf Mackenzie and his strong attraction to a teacher Mary.

Mackenzie’s Mission: Continues with his first son Joe Mackenzie’s (not that of Mary) attraction to the Physicist Caroline

Mackenzie’s Pleasure: The fierce one of the lot, Zane Mackenzie and his attraction to an Ambassador’s kidnapped daughter Barrie.

Mackenzie’s Magic: Then comes the story of the only daughter in the house, Maris Mackenzie and how she ends up with a federal Agent MacNeil

And last but not the least

A Game Of Chance: The story of Wolf’s adopted son, Chance Mackenzie’s affair with the daughter of a terrorist Sunny.

Now I am going to start on a book which I have been postponing for too long. I think that is going to take a lot more time now. 

Open Season – Romantically Interesting and Funny

Open Season is the story of Daisy, a small town librarian who has led a very uneventful life till her 34th birthday along with her widowed mom and widowed aunt. Jack Russo, is the new Chief in this small town and he ends up fancying Daisy. She is so tired of her life, that she thinks to spruce it up. She gets the help of Todd and changes her looks and the way she dresses and goes to a club, only to end up as a fiasco, which is hilarious, only to  be saved by Jack. Slowly and steadily Jack makes her move for her, which she feels to be very irritating because he is certainly not her type. But Jack loves challenges and he is sure to get Daisy by any means. In the mean time there are some deaths of very young girls by date rape drugs and overdoses of them too. One of the guy who OD’d a girl apparently tries to be friendly with Daisy during her first visit to the club and offers to buy her a drink but before he can get back to her the fiasco happened. The second time she ends up in the same bar, she witnesses an incident involving the same guy who offered her to buy her a drink but doesn’t give much thought to it. But again there begins a fight in the club and Jack rescues her again. His instincts tells him that something is wrong and he takes measures to have a look out for Daisy. But one of the guys who was part of the incident sees her going to the bar and assumes that she might have seen them killing that guy and doesn’t want to take any risk. So he has her followed. Daisy finally falls for Jack and they end up being together and when Daisy tells Jack that Todd is gay, his suspicions become very strong, because he, for one, knows very well that Todd is not gay. So he confronts Todd and is surprised to hear what they have been up to and how they have been trying to use Daisy as their bait. In the mean while, the mayor calls Jack to run a ID of a car which turns out to be Daisy’s. Jack wonders why the mayor wants to know about his girl but tries not to pry for now. They also find out that guy’s dead body and things get heated up pretty fast. How Jack saves Daisy and how they catch up the culprits and how they end up being together is the rest of the story.

It was a quick read, but it was interesting from start to end. It talks about Daisy’s uneventful years and how she tries to turn a new leaf. She is naive, strong, intelligent, funny, smart and practical too. She knows a lot of stuff but when it comes to worldly activities she fesses up and those events are real funny. No wonder Jack finds it hilarious to get on her nerves. She does some stupid things when she is worked up 🙂 You don’t have a big high end fast track thriller going on here. Its obvious as and when the story goes what these culprits are up to. But how it unfolds finally with all parties opening up one by one is surprising. You don’t have the kidnapping and taking hostage kind of stuff. Its more of a romantic comedy along with some thrilling elements to it. Jack and Daisy’s chemistry is very nice.

A very good Sunday relaxed read.

Song associated 

When I think of Daisy, I think of this song “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys.