Monday, February 11, 2013

[Blog Tour Review]: "I Kissed a Dog"


I Kissed a Dog by Carol Van Atta
Publisher: Cambridge Press US (November 21, 2012)
Series: Werewolves of the West, 1
Genre: Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy

Chloe Carpenter isn't like other women. She can communicate with animals. A gift she unwrapped following one of her frequent dances with death. In her otherwise wacky life, she's finally found a semblance of sanity working at the Plum Beach Wildlife Park, where her unique talents can make life or death differences for the animals in her care. That semblance is shattered when a new veterinarian roars into the park in his spiffed up sports car and sets his golden gaze on her. If she had her way, he'd roar right back out. Problem: He's her new coworker and he's saved her life twice - in the past twenty-four hours.

Zane Marshall, Enforcer for the Pacific Pack of purebred werewolves, has a job to do - figure out who or what is mutilating the young men of Plum Beach.

With orders to find the woman who talks to animals, he accepts a position working alongside the fiery Chloe Carpenter, a female who ignites his interest far more than he ever expected. Remarkably, she's the one elusive female with potential to bring meaning and passion to his empty existence. Problem: She despises him.

Together, they're forced to unravel a mystery of supernatural proportions, a murderous mystery with eternal implications for everyone. In the process, they discover opposites really do attract. Major Problem: Zane is pledged to another woman, and she'll do anything to keep him from Chloe.

 

 
 
Where to Buy*:
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My Review:


I can honestly say that there wasn't a boring moment while reading this book. Danger, secrets, mysteries, all combined to create an attention-grabbing story. Just when I thought I knew who was good and who was bad, as well as what was going to happen next, Carol Van Atta threw a new twist into the mix. And I enjoyed every moment of it!

I'll admit that at times Chloe mildly annoyed me. Why couldn't she stop keeping secrets from Zane? Didn't she learn the first few times? And why, oh why, did she continue to trust the wrong people?


I wish we could have seen some of the book from Zane's POV; that, I think, is the one downfall to 1st person POV books: it often makes it hard to like/understand the other characters when their side is never told.

4 STARS! I Kissed a Dog was a fun and exciting read, and one that I truly enjoyed. I'll definitely be looking forward to future books in this series, not only to see how Chloe gets out of her current troubles, but to meet some of the other characters again, too.


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I received an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Like most authors, Carol Van Atta is no stranger to the written word. She penned a short novel at age 12 (somewhat frightening illustrations included, and lots of bunnies were involved), and had a creative writing piece published in her high school newspaper (about David Bowie's Diamond Dogs LP). Yes, she's an ex-80's chick.
Devouring books from numerous genres, Carol developed a deep thirst/hunger for more reading material, and could almost always be found with her nose in a book.
She has contributed to several popular inspirational anthologies and devotional books, and lives in the rainy wetland of Oregon with a terrifying teen (another in college) and a small zoo of animals. She is taking an undetermined hiatus away from inspirational writing to delve into her darker side. (Though you can check out her latest spiritual suspense novel, Soul Defenders). It is rumored that this genre-jumping occurred after Carol discovered too suspicious red marks on her neck, and experienced an unquenchable urge to howl at the moon.
 
 

Where to Find Carol:








Enjoy!   



Until Next Time,

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*TBQ's Book Palace is a member of both the Amazon and Barnes and Nobles affiliates program. By using the links provided to buy products from either website, I receive a very small percentage of the order. To read my full disclosure on the matter, please see this post!

2 comments :

Carol Van Atta said...

Thank you for hosting a stop on my book blog tour. I'm so pleased (thrilled) that you enjoyed reading I Kissed a Dog. Great point about multiple POV's vs. first person. My other series is written from numerous viewpoints. There are things I like about each. I love talking writing/reading; I can tell you do too. I think I've found yet another new blog buddy!

The_Book_Queen said...

I thought you did a wonderful job writing this one in 1st person! But you know, no matter how great it is, a reader always wants more from the story and the characters--usually a good sign, because it means we're interested, right? :)
Enjoy!
TBQ