She's a mortal with dark powers...After a tragic accident scarred her body and destroyed her dreams, Leila never imagined that the worst was still to come: terrifying powers that let her channel electricity and learn a person's darkest secrets through a single touch. Leila is doomed to a life of solitude...until creatures of the night kidnap her, forcing her to reach out with a telepathic distress call to the world's most infamous vampire...He's the Prince of Night...Vlad Tepesh inspired the greatest vampire legend of all—but whatever you do, don't call him Dracula. Vlad's ability to control fire makes him one of the most feared vampires in existence, but his enemies have found a new weapon against him—a beautiful mortal with powers to match his own. When Vlad and Leila meet, however, passion ignites between them, threatening to consume them both. It will take everything that they are to stop an enemy intent on bringing them down in flames.Review:
Ah, Vlad, Vlad, Vlad. How I have longed for your book, to finally find out who the man behind the funny lines and fireballs really is, once and for all.
And the answer? Well, I'd say he's someone who's a lot sexier, with a much bigger propensity for impalement of all kinds, but who is also, unfortunately, not quite as funny.
Don't get me wrong he was still more or less true to character, and he still found much amusement in observing Leila, but when you think of some of his classic lines from the Night Huntress series, "Premature inflammulation" and "Nummy, nummy, nummy" being two of my all-time favourites, he's not anywhere near as funny as that in his own book, which I found a shame. Why can't he be sexy and funny at the same time? Especially with his mind-reading abilities, I expected him to be excruciatingly smug and relentless in his teasing, but he wasn't. Oh well.
I really liked Leila's character. The story is told in her first-person narrative and I loved her back story, her abilities- both supernatural and natural- and her strength and personality. I would have hoped her circus skills would have been put to better use, however, but maybe in the next book. Why create a character so agile and able and not use her more in the action scenes?
I also loved her powers of psychometry, which was a great addition and helped us keep in contact with more people. This was good because a lot of the book was stuck in the same setting (which I'm not usually a fan of) but the psychic glimpses we got of the villain elsewhere helped with that.
So, all in all, I enjoyed it, it got a solid 4 stars from me, but when I think back to how in love with Bones I was by the end of book one of Night Huntress, I'm afraid I don't have quite the same intensity of feelings towards Vlad yet, but that could be due to overly high expectations, perhaps. Still, I look forward to the next one as it ends with a little twist and I'm keen to see where it's going.
4 Flaming Stars! ★★★★
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Original TitleOnce Burned
ISBN006178320X (ISBN13: 9780061783203)
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesNight Prince #1
In a tale of strong ties and true love, Maya Banks' trilogy comes to its conclusion, as the youngest McCabe brother uses sword and seduction to save his clan - and seal his heart.
Caelen McCabe’s young, reckless heart nearly destroyed his clan. Now, putting family loyalty above all else, he steps up to marry his older brother’s jilted bride and salvage the uneasy alliance between two clans. While beautiful Rionna McDonald is a fit wife for any man, Caelen trusts no woman, especially not this sweet temptress who torments him with white-hot longing.
As the sacrificial lamb in her father’s power game, Rionna will do her duty but vows to protect her heart and her pride from humiliation. Despite everything, though, the heat in Caelen’s touch melts her defenses, and she craves the sensual delights of a husband who guards his emotions as fiercely as his clan. But when the ultimate battle for the McCabe legacy is upon them, Rionna’s true warrior spirit emerges. She will risk the wrath of her father, the fury of her enemies, and her life to prove to Caelen that his wife’s love is too precious to lose.
Review:
And finally it's Rionna's book! I was intrigued by Rionna's character right from book one when she stomped up to a group of warriors, in trousers and helm, and showed them just who was bitch with the pointy end of her sword. Oh, how that doth ticketh all my boxes. When she took her helmet off and they realized it was a lass? Hee hee! I love it!
And who has she been paired with but the surliest of the brothers, Caelen McCabe. And man who's convinced all women are treacherous wenches just waiting to strike after a betrayal when he was but a young lad. It's fair to say Caelen has a few issues to work through, and only someone as strong as Rionna could have possibly tamed this particular Highlander's heart.
“'Tis a universal truth that when a lass says she's been thinking, a man ought to be wary.”
It was another emotional book but I didn't cry quite as much as I did over book two (probably since that's impossible). And there was a lot more action than in the previous book too, which I like. I wouldn't have expected anything less from Rionna's book, really.
The overall story arc has been wrapped up nicely and I have to say this has been a really wonderful trilogy. Maya Banks will be an auto-buy author from here on out.
Highly recommended to all fans of Scottish romance.
4 Stars! ★★★★
Original Title Never Love a Highlander by
Maya Banks ISBN 0345519515 (ISBN13: 9780345519511)
Edition Language English
Series McCabe Trilogy #3
Three signs that something is very different with your new man:
1. He sleeps all day . . . which would be annoying except he's so attentive at night.
2. He's attacked by sword-wielding assailants, yet insists he can handle it on his own.
3. He never seems to age.
Heather Westfield has always lived a quiet life, but that all changes when she helps a very handsome, very mysterious stranger. There's something not quite right about Jean-Luc, but still, she's never been with a man so charming, so attractive . . . so wonderful. Now if only a murderous villain wasn't after them, they might get their happily-ever-after.
Review:
I admit I came to this novel with less than enthusiastic expectations when I found out it was Jean-Luc's book. You see, the impression I'd got of him in the previous books had made me think he was only ever going to be a secondary character. He just didn't seem like leading man/hero material. I think it's because he's a French fashion designer and whenever I see that description, I get this in my head:
Franck Eggelhoffer - Father of the Bride
Of course, now that I've actually read the book, I get something more like this:
*sigh* Bonjour, Jean-Luc ♥
He made an adorable hero. I couldn't have been more wrong if I'd tried. And the heroine, a full-figured red-haired beauty, was also a breath of fresh air. I loved the fact that after working with wraith-thin models for 30 years, the sight of Heather (Or 'Hezzaire' as Jean-Luc would say) reminded him of the great Silver Screen beauties from back in the day like Marilyn Monroe or Diana Dors, and he was totally smitten at first sight. Their courtship was sweet and often humorous. Heather didn't seem to realise how many of the men in her small town drooled over her. She was totally oblivious. I think she just assumed that because she wasn't as obviously beautiful or outgoing as her model BFF, Sasha, that she was somehow beyond notice. She was wrong.
As well as new men wanting her attention, she also has a couple of old flames who can't seem to let her go. Such as her ex-husband, Cody, whose only redeeming feature seems to be that he gave her her cutie-pie daughter, Bethany. Bethany almost stole the show along with Heather's fortune-telling, gun-toting neighbour Fedelia. They both provided many cute and funny moments and were excellent secondary characters.
Again, the story followed the same pattern as the previous books, of the reader knowing right from the getgo that Jean-Luc is a vamp, but then having to watch Heather slowly but surely figure it out. I'm kinda waiting for this to start getting on my nerves because it is becoming quite formulaic, but somehow the author is managing not to irritate with it so far.
My only fault with it was that the Big Bad made very little impact and was hardly on page save for a very brief intro and a somewhat anticlimactic exit.
A great continuation of the series, highly recommended. Next up is Ian's book which I've been dying to get to!
4 Stars! ★★★★
Original Title The Undead Next Door by
Kerrelyn Sparks ISBN 0061118451 (ISBN13: 9780061118456)
Edition Language English
Series Love at Stake #4
I don't do dangerous.
Smart, über-careful, ordinary Samantha-that's me. But I just couldn't pass up a surprise kiss from my number-one unattainable crush. A kiss that did something to me...something strange. Now I feel hungry all the time, but not for food. It's like part of me is missing-and I don't know if I can get it back.
Then there's Bishop. At first I thought he was just a street kid, but the secrets he's keeping are as intense as his unearthly blue eyes. If he's what I think he is, he may be the only one who can help me. But something terrifying is closing in, and the one chance Bishop and I have to stop it means losing everything I ever wanted and embracing the darkness inside me....
NIGHTWATCHERS
When angels and demons must work together, something beyond evil is rising...
Review:
First of all, I cry foul! Where's the Elvis hair gone? I was promised Elvis hair!
When the cover for this was first released the guy on the cover had this massive Elvis quiff that brought me no end of amusement. Seriously, you could have done a Half Pipe off the thing.Don't believe me? Check it out, here's the original:Elvis hair:
And here's the new one:No Elvis hair:
Now where's the fun in that? It's all, like, normal and stuff. B. O. R. I. N. G.As for the contents inside the book? Eh. It was okay. It was a decent enough story, but it had a lot of cliches, incredibly 2D cardboard cut-out characters, and a rather unlikable protagonist.The worst part for me was the characterisation of the main character, Samantha, which consisted of TELLING me (as opposed to showing me), that she was a bookish, nerdy type that incongruously, for reasons unknown to the world at large, kept banging on about how she'd once shoplifted and ran away from home and spent three nights sleeping rough on the streets. #troubled #introvertedShe was also quite bitchy and snarky, which was another thing she kept TELLING us about; that she had this incredible wit and had learned to fight people with her sharp tongue. Not once did I find any of her comebacks funny or cool in any way, but whatevs. #ohsnap #noyoudi'n'tShe was also a bit TSTL. Like, "Hee, hee! Let's follow the weird, clearly mental, homeless dude into a dark alley. 'Cause he's like, super hot!". #inspired #tinygeniusAnd that's really all the characterisation you get. #theendOh, but then there were the boys: One good but tormented. One bad but redeemable. One really sweet, the token friend. One bad as bad can be...I'm pretty sure the YAers will lap it all up, but I've read far too many books, including recently two brilliant YA books (Wilde's Fire by Krystal Wade and Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa), to accept this mediocre writing. It's all been done before so much better.Having said all that, I did read it all the way through and in pretty short order. Like I said, the story itself was not too terrible and could have been so much better if it had some decent characters to carry it. But alas, it did not.To sum up, it entertained me for a few hours, but I didn't like the characters enough to want more. I won't be reading the next one.3 stars ★★★Original Title Dark Kiss by
Michelle Rowen ISBN 0373210477 (ISBN13: 9780373210473)
Edition Language English
Series Nightwatchers #1
Fifteenth century Venice is a safe haven for the masterless dregs of the vampire world, a city where they can live without the fear of retribution for violating another’s territory.
Still, there are plenty of ways for a young vampire to die in the glittering city, a lesson that prince turned pauper Mircea Basarab must learn quickly. But there are opportunities, too—in the service of a secretive courtesan, in the bed of a beautiful senator, and in the hunt for an ancient assassin.As a vendetta older than Venice itself comes to a climax, Mircea struggles to evade the dangers of his current life, to come to terms with his past, and to uncover the truth hidden behind a city of masks…
Review:
The Masks We Wear
A whole book from Mircea's POV? *le sigh* Is there a more dignified, refined, sophisticated man on the face of the fictional planet? I think not. And even here, in his humble vampiric beginnings, during the rags phase of his riches-to-rags-and-back-to-riches-again story, he was still the Mircea we know and love. Yay!
MASKS is kind of everything you're thinking it's going to be, and a bit more besides. Yes, I missed the mad-cap narration of my girl Cassie. Yes, I missed all the regular Cassandra Palmer World peeps. But Mircea is, in my opinion, Chance's most well-crafted creation. I would never accuse an author of playing favourites - I mean, my goodness, it would be like picking your favourite kid, surely - but if the time and effort spent establishing a character is any indication of favour, then... he's totally hers!
So what is MASKS about? Well, it's set 2 years after Mircea was cursed with vampirism. Long enough for him to get a grip on his initial uncontrolable urges, but not long enough to establish any kind of position within the vampire world. As a masterless vampire, Mircea is easy pickings for anyone in search of a new plaything. So he, and his trusty, still-currently-human tutor, Horatiu, head to Venice, a supposedly "free" area and haven for masterless or abandoned young vamps. Or that's what it said on the brochure, anyway. Unfortunately for Mircea, it seems they used a fair bit of poetic license with that word "free"...
You may notice the page count here. 400-some pages. This is most certainly not novella length or novella-like in its plotting. It's well-crafted and exciting, just like all KC's other books. It does have a completely different tone, thanks to it being from Mircea's POV, but I really feel like, having read, it, I understand his character, and also his relationship with the consul, a whole lot better. So it's absolutely worth a read for that sneak peak alone. And aside from that, it's just a good read. I suppose it could be read as a stand-alone, but I'm not sure I would recommend it. Better for fans of the series to use it to meet the "real Mircea", than for new readers to try and sample the Cassandra Palmer series via this entry, because, like I said, the tone is so completely different from all the other books, it wouldn't be a good indicator of what's to come.
A suave and elegant 4 Stars ★★★★
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Original Title
Rose Drayton lives on the Edge, between the world of the Broken (where people drive cars, shop at Wal-Mart, and magic is a fairy tale) and the Weird (where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny). Only Edgers like Rose can easily travel from one world to the next, but they never truly belong in either.Rose thought if she practiced her magic, she could build a better life for herself. But things didn’t turn out how she planned, and now she works a minimum wage, off the books job in the Broken just to survive. Then Declan Camarine, a blueblood noble straight out of the deepest part of the Weird, comes into her life, determined to have her (and her power).But when a terrible danger invades the Edge from the Weird, a flood of creatures hungry for magic, Declan and Rose must work together to destroy them—or they’ll devour the Edge and everyone in it.Review:
Oh, I do love Ilona Andrews. I love her (their) Kate Daniels series and now I love these too.
It seems that the concept of a world that has part-time magic is something that has really captured the imagination of the writing duo. Because as in the Kate Daniels series where magic comes and goes in unpredictable waves, here we have another world (or worlds, to be more precise) that's partly magic-filled (The Weird), part magical dud (The Broken, aka our world) and then something else in between called the Edge which has elements of both.
The magic of the people from the Edge is only a trickle compared to that of someone from the Weird. Someone like Declan, for instance. I LOVED his character! He is a blueblood noble from the Weird and he's so very arrogant and pompous, particularly at the beginning of the book, and such a contrast to the hard-working country bumpkin that was Rose's character, that they just sizzled on the pages. They seemed so opposite at first, and Rose has such a difficult time trusting anyone, especially a noble (and with good reason), so their interactions throughout the first part of the story made for some very grin-worthy scenes.
This was one of my favourites, and is a good example of their differences:
"Eat slowly," the blueblood said. "Don't cut your food with the fork. Cut it with the knife, and make the pieces small enough so you can answer a question without having to swallow first."
Why me? "Right. Any other tips?" Her sarcasm whistled right over his head.
"Yes. Look at me and not at your plate. If you have to look at your plate, glance at it occasionally."
Rose put down her fork. "Lord Submarine..."
"Camarine."
"Whatever."
"You can call me Declan." He said it as if granting her a knighthood. The nerve.
"Declan, then. How did you spend your day?"
He frowned.
"It's a simple question: How did you spend your day? What did you do prior to the fight and the pancake making?"
"I rested from my journey," he said with a sudden regal air.
"You took a nap"
"Possibly."
"I spent my day scrubbing, vacuuming and dusting ten offices in the Broken. I got there at seven thirty in the morning and left at six. My back hurts, I can still smell bleach on my fingers, and my feet feel as flat as these pancakes. Tomorrow, I have to go back to work, and I want to eat my food in peace and quiet. I have good table manners. They may not be good enough for you, but they're definitely good enough for the Edge, and they are the height of social graces in this house. So please keep your critique to yourself."
The look on his face was worth having him under her roof. As if he had gotten slapped.
She smiled at him. "Oh and thank you for the pancakes. They are delicious."
Hee hee! She called him Lord Submarine.....*snicker*
What's that saying about simple minds and simple pleasures?...
Moving on. Rose's character was someone you kinda wish you were half as cool as. She has this...neat trick, shall we say? And I love the fact that she developed the neat trick by hard work and not just by being "special" or being "the chosen one" or "right place right time". No, she got it like she gets everything else in her life: by trying her damnedest no matter how impossible it may seem.
She has two younger brothers that she is raising by herself, and they were excellent secondary characters. One is a necromancer that can't seem to get his head around the fact that...you know...people die. And the other one is a cat! Or a changeling cat shapeshifter, at any rate, that is very easily distracted by pretty shinies.
The family unit is hard on its luck financially with only Rose's rubbish job to feed and clothe them all, but she would rather starve than let her brothers go without anything. That's how awesome and altruistic she is. Did I mention Rose was cool?
And finally, as anyone that's read any of their other stuff would expect, the writing was superb: witty, humorous, meaningful and thought-provoking. The characters were very enjoyable and the world wonderfully creative. My only slight complaint was the overly descriptive sections whenever anyone went into a new part of the forest. We got descriptions of every flower, plant and vine and what colours they all were until my eyes were glazing. Those were a bit overdone, but that's about all I can think of in terms of negatives. And it's Ilona Andrews so I forgave them and gave it 5 stars anyway!
I highly recommend this book to all Urban Fantasy/ Fantasy Romance/ or heck, even Fairy Tale fans. I don't know why I put off reading it for so long.
5 Stars! ★★★★★
Original Title
On the Edge
ISBN
0441017800 (ISBN13: 9780441017805)
Edition Language
English
Series
The Edge #1
There is no pain in this death, only peace, knowing I am going to die with the one I love the most.Katriona Wilde has never wondered what it would feel like to have everything she's ever known and loved ripped away, but she is about to find out. When she inadvertently leads her sister and best friend through a portal into a world she's dreamed of for six years, she finds herself faced with more than just the frightening creatures in front of her. Kate's forced to accept a new truth: her entire life has been a lie, and those closest to her have betrayed her. What's worse, she has no control over her new future, and it's full of magic and horrors from which nightmares are made. Will Kate discover and learn to control who she really is in time to save the ones she loves, or will all be lost?Review:
What? No, no, no, no, no, that's not the end! It's doesn't end there! *Shakes eReader furiously* Ah man! That sucks!
Well, aside from the book ending VERY abruptly, and without any warning. (Usually you can tell you are being prepared for the end, even for a cliffhanger ending. This one kind of just stops. And I REALLY didn't want it to because I was enjoying it tremendously). So aside from THAT, I loved it!
I always know when my interest has been peaked by a book a bit more than usual because all other activities cease and desist. Normally, I might read for an hour, then maybe go online, listen to some tunes, then go back to my book.
Eeeeeyyyyeah. I don't think this book has left my hands since I picked it up 2 days ago except for maybe working and sleeping.
I can't honestly say the book was perfection; hence the four stars not five. But in terms of enjoyment it was way up there. My main negatives were some slightly stiff and formal dialogue sections. A bit of repetition in the narrative (lots of hand holding, hand grabbing) and just a couple of teensy weensy niggly things like that, that as a reviewer I'm supposed to notice and comment on. Well there you go, I commented on them and they didn't really lessen my enjoyment much at all.
It's always nice to be shown something different and this book and the world(s) it's set in are very creative and unusual, which I just love. It's written in first person, present tense, which seems to be becoming an increasingly popular way of writing at the moment. I remember the first book I read in present tense felt very weird and jarring, but now I'm pretty much used to it and even prefer it in certain circumstances where you don't want your main character to have any clue what's coming. And that fits this book perfectly, because the main character, Katriona (Kate) Wilde, is literally thrown in at the deep end (and then shoved through a magical portal) and it's nice to have to figure things out right along with her.
The main themes of the book deal with prophecies, destinies, chosen ones, fated love etc. I know a few people have issues if their lead character comes across as too "special" and there are certainly elements of that in evidence here. But I don't mind it so much.
The world that she encounters on the other side of the portal I'm reluctant to say too much about as I want people to discover it for themselves. But, suffice it to say, they are having a hard time of it, and Katriona may be their only hope.
“This might be difficult for you to accept, but please know I will never lie to you. You are Encardia's only hope of surviving this war.”
If I could wish for one thing, it would be that the ending was more suspenseful and climactic, rather than just being a surprise because it came out of nowhere. I realise the author will be saving a lot of the fighting/battles to come for future instalments, and judging by the dreams and visions Kate has been having, these should be pretty epic. But it might have been an idea to have some sort of mini battle to close out this book.
Anyhoodle. I will definitely be reading the next one, and I'm now off to stalk the author about when exactly I'll be getting it!
4 Stars! ★★★★
Original Title
Wilde's Fire
Review Copy:
Received from the publisher for an honest review
ISBN
162007057X (ISBN13: 9781620070574)
Edition Language
English
Series
Darkness Falls #1
When a minority race of telepaths is suspected of causing a near-devastating tidal wave, Private Kaylin Neya is summoned to Court—and into a PR nightmare. To ease racial tensions, the emperor has commissioned a play, and the playwright has his own ideas about who should be the focus.…
But Kaylin works her best magic behind the scenes, and though she tries to stay neutral, she is again drawn into a world of politics—and murder. To make matters worse, Marcus, her trusted sergeant, gets stripped of his command, leaving Kaylin vulnerable. Now she's juggling two troubling cases, and even magic's looking good by comparison. But then nobody ever said life in the theater was easy.…
Review:
The plot for this one was a lot clearer and easier to follow than all of the previous three thus far. It was more or less a straightforward police investigation involving Marcus, Kaylin's Leontine Sergeant and friend. And a subplot about putting on a play to help relations between the humans and the Tha'alani.
That was about it, and if you ask me, it was not enough content to justify nearly 500 pages of book.
Perhaps if in the world of Elantra they conducted regular police work; following clues and interviewing suspects and such, it might have worked better as a police procedural novel, but they don't. They already had most of the answers before they even started and it was just a case of playing it out. Hell, they could have just asked Marcus since he would have been able to tell them all everything he knew and saved everyone a lot of trouble, and us as readers, a lot of filler.
I'm also getting annoyed by the lack of character development. Surely we could have used a few of those 500 pages of text to do something, anything, with the two "potential" love interests in the series? I need for something to happen; a conversation, a lingering look. I will accept ANYTHING at this point that indicates Kaylin isn't 100% asexual.
Moan, moan, whinge, whinge. Hey, it wasn't all bad. I enjoyed learning about the Leontines and how Marcus lives with his wives. I enjoyed getting Marrin's back story...but I'm just really ready for something BIG to happen . And soon!
3 Stars! ★★★
Original TitleCast in FuryISBN0373802692 (ISBN13: 9780373802692)
Edition LanguageEnglish
URLhttp://michellesagara.com/books/cast-in-fury/SeriesChronicles of Elantra #4
