The Werewolf Upstairs by Ashlyn Chase (Book Review)

Title: The Werewolf Upstairs
Author: Ashlyn Chase
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

My synopsis: This is the second book by Ashlyn Chase involving the residents of a Boston apartment building inhabited by mostly paranormals.  I first met them in Strange Neighbors.  In this book, Roz Wells (cute pun), a lawyer, moves into the building to be close to her best friend Merry.  She knows that Merry's husband is a shapeshifter, but doesn't know about the other residents.  She meets Konrad Wolfensen waiting for her moving truck and sparks fly.

Before long Konrad and Roz are an item, but Konrad has yet to confess to Roz that he is a werewolf.  He knows that Roz is supposed to be his mate, as they have a weird telepathic link, but doesn't know how she will react to his true identity.  Together they decide that they both would like new careers, so they set off to try to find their "bliss" in a new job.  They share some hilarious as well as harrowing mishaps together on this journey. 

Morgaine, one of their neighbors, trying to pump up her income as well, has accepted a job with the police department, trying to get information out of a ghost at a local museum that had a theft 20 years earlier. She has the ability to communicate with ghosts. Konrad goes along as a witness and for some reason the ghost takes a dislike to him.  He tries to set Konrad up for the theft.  Will Roz be able to prove him innocent? Or will he have to figure out a way to "change" while in jail?

This was another humorous book and while you don't have to read Strange Neighbors first, I found it helpful to know some of the other characters before reading this one.  Warning though - there are some pretty explicit sex scenes.

~I received a complimentary copy of this book from Sourcebooks in exchange for my review.~

The Werewolf Upstairs

Publisher/Publication Date: Sourcebooks Casablanca, Feb 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4022-3662-4
352 pages

Strange Neighbors by Ashlyn Chase (Book Review)

Title: Strange Neighbors
Author: Ashlyn Chase
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
My synopsis/thoughts: After years of taking care of her father and brother after her mother died, Merry is finally moving out on her own and into the city.  Little does she know how unusual her new neighbors are going to be.  Her landlord, the handsome baseball player Jason Falco, is not just her landlord, but quickly becomes her boyfriend.  But he has a rather large secret that might send Merry 'flying' in the other direction.  Then there is the vampire in the basement who seems to be keeping an unusually close eye on Merry's business.  Combine that with the ghost that lives in the vacant apartment and his quest to discover who killed him and the 2 attractive 'witch' cousins who have there own phone sex business and you can bet that there is usually something unusual afoot. 

When I first started reading this book, to be honest, I thought it was a little juvenile in it's references to the attraction building between Merry and Jason (like Jason thinking with his little head or the ghost being horny), but it started to grow on me.  I sort of took it to be a tongue-in-cheek paranormal romance so all the little cliches started to bother me less.  When you have shapeshifters, witches, vampires and ghosts all living together in the same apartment building, there has to be some humor.  It was a quick book to read and I started to get invested in the characters, in that I would like to learn more about their back stories and how they all arrived at this apartment building.  I am not sure that I would ever re-read this book, but I would read other books about these characters.  It looks like she has one coming out in 2011 called Strange Confessions or The Werewolf Upstairs about Roz, Merry's girlfriend who is a lawyer and moves into the building. . .

~I received this book in exchange for my review from Sourcebooks.~

Strange Neighbors
Publisher/Publication Date: Sourcebooks, June 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4022-3661-7
354 pages