Covet (Fallen Angels, #1) - J.R. Ward

Covet (Fallen Angels, #1) - J.R. Ward

Genre: Paranormal

Copyright: 2009

Pages: 474

Rating: 4/ 5

Blurb:
Redemption isn’t a word Jim Heron knows much about - his specialty is revenge, and to him, sin is all relative. But everything changes when he becomes a fallen angel and is charge with saving the souls of seven people from the seven deadly sins. And failure is not an option.

Vin DiPietro long ago sold his soul to his business, and he’s good with that
—until fate intervenes in the form of a tough-talking, Harley-riding, self-professed savior. But then he meets a woman who will make him question his destiny, his sanity, and his heart—and he has to work with a fallen angel to win her over and redeem his own soul.

Review:
Very very entertaining. If there’s one thing you can be sure of when you begin a Ward book, its that you will want to read it at one go and you will be thoroughly entertained. This book did not disappoint. Covet is set in the same world as Ward's famous Black Dagger Brotherhood (BDB) series, but it is a completely different story and you don’t need to read the BDB books to enjoy this one.

This is basically a battle of good vs. evil and the choices we make in life, all neatly packaged in Ward’s typical writing style of snarky urban slang dosed with lots of male bonding.

I'll try not to give away much of the plot, the blurb explains it all. Jim Heron is a carpenter with a past filled with violence and death - now he's dead and charged with saving the souls of seven people. The fate of all things good in this world and the next depend on him successfully completing this mission. Most of the story is from his point of view, and the stuff in Jim's head really makes interesting reading."You can do it. You're a carpenter. You build things and you rebuild things. Lives are constructions just the same."

This book is about the first soul Jim has to save - his boss from his construction site who Jim doesn't really like. Or in Jim's words: "..Was he going to have to get this silk-suited, M6-driving, misogynistic m******f****** to renounce everything material and turn his ass into a monk?" Vin diPietro, soul # 1, is guilty of avarice / greed. He's handsome, rich, self-centered, sexy and insanely driven towards all things materialistic. You'll enjoy his journey from anti-hero to realising the important things in his life with help from Jim and his friends. Vin has some horror-inducing 'gifts' which add to the books dark side. His salvation also comes by the way of Marie Terese - a woman on the run from her past and trying to make ends meet. We met Marie Terese in Lover Avenged - the 7th BDB book where she works as a prostitute at ZeroSum. Ward does a good job with explaining her life and tough choices, and you can't help feeling for this woman. The romance between these two is just beginning, but the sex is really hot - with special mention to a very hot shower scene.

The other characters in this book really enhance the story. I love the concept of the 'fallen angels', and the angels in this book are unlike any you've read before. I can't write this review without mentioning the guest appearances from the BDB characters - there's Trez, the moor from Lover Avenged who owns the club Marie Terese works at, detective de la Cruz, and appearances from 2 of the Brothers- a yellow-eyed beautiful-haired Brother on his way to an AA meeting and another with usually seen wearing a Boston red Sox cap.

So despite all the gushing, why the four stars and not five? Because Ward's unique writing style works against her at places. At times I felt that the angsty writing was a bit forced and it definitely got to be a bit too much in places. I felt that simple normal vocabulary would have worked better and enhanced the overall effect of her writing style. My other issue with this book was the easy acceptance by some of the characters of what they're being told no matter how weird. Yup, it is PNR, but Jim accepting so easily that he was dead and hardly asking any questions about this task he was given didn't sit well with me - its not like something like this happens every day. It seemed like the angels basically talk and guilt him into saving the world by reminding him of his mother (small spoiler, I know..but I didn't really spoil anything, I promise).

But don’t let my cribbing keep you from this book, it didn’t stop me from enjoying it. I read this book at one go - happily wondering where the story is going to lead and what's going to happen next. Pick this book up if you want a refreshing change from the normal paranormal stuff out there and also a satisfying good vs. evil story. Jim has six other souls to save, so you can be sure I'm definitely going to read the next one. Crave the second Fallen Angels book comes out next year.

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In the Blood - Adrian Phoenix

Series: The Maker's Song, Book 2
Genre: Urban Fantasy
352 pages
Published: 2008
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Review:
In the Blood picks up where A Rush of Wings ended. Dante the enigmatic rockstar vampire and Heather the FBI agent had tackled a serial killer and uncovered bits and pieces of Dante's childhood in the previous book.

Dante now knows a lot more about his past, the role of the Government branch and details about this real family (trying not to give away spoilers here) - he's much more than a vampire, and he doesn't yet know what it all entails. He's met up with Heather in Seattle, who has her own problems with her job, family and a cold case that's a touch too personal.
Meanwhile, the government guys are trying to clean up their experiment gone wrong and everyone involved in it - that includes Heather and Dante. Then there's one doctor still left from his childhood experiments who has some tricks up his sleeve to trigger Dante into sociopathic heaven, a pair of crazy twins with their own plan for world domination and an assortment of other psychos to add to the fun that make up the montage of villainous characters.

And that doesn't even include the Bold and the Beautiful drama going on in Gehenna with all the Fallen and their politics and ambition to control Dante.

There really are too many things going on in this book - not to many to confuse you after the first 20-odd pages, but i don't think I've ever read a series that has so many bad guys wanting a piece of the pie - specially when said pie is the guy and not the chick in the book.

Just like the previous book, In the Blood is intense and dark. There isn't much in terms of character development from book 1 and i had a lot of questions that were left unanswered and seem more like plot holes to me than 'coming soon in book 3'. There's a bunch of new characters in this book that will keep you occupied though - Annie, Heathers bipolar sister, her useless father, new set of villains, Dante's band members..they help keep it interesting. My favourite character is still Von, the nomad-turned vampire llygad

This book is definitely more gripping that A Rush of Wings. I read it at one go and couldn't put it down. Mostly because i really wanted to know what would happen next

Verdict: Read this one only if you liked a Rush of Wings and are comfortable with Adrian's writing style and jumble of characters because there's more of that in In the Blood. I liked both books and i look forward to book 3. Beneath the Skin releases December 29th this year.

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A Rush of Wings - Adrian Phoenix

Series: The Maker's Song, Book 1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
416 pages
Published: 2008

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a fairly dark and different paranormal. I say different because there's so many typical vampire novels out there. In a way, A Rush of Wings is one as well, but it has twists and its characters, for a change, aren't the goody vamps changed by a mortal woman or either only good or bad. There's shades of grey in this book, and it'll make you question the meaning of justice, and how different people interpret what is right or wrong, just like it made Heather think.


Dante is a rock star and almost a god to his goth followers. He's also a vampire surrounded by supernaturals who he cares for and care for him. Leather and latex clad, multiple rings, typical goth make up, Cajun French speaking heartthrob. Dante is a conflicted character that takes a while to figure out. At first, he seems like a rebelling kid out to defy everyone and kissing everyone in sight. But then you see him struggling against himself and his pain and his memories and a lot of things start making sense. Who is Dante and what are the painful memories that keep rising within him.? This story connects a serial killer with Dante's past.


And enter lady love. Heather Wallace is a FBI agent chasing said serial killer who ends up being sucked into Dante's world while trying to find the connection between the killer and Dante, and protect him from all and sundry including an internal cover-up that could put him in danger. Heather doesn't have as many facets to her personality as the other characters in this book have. She's a competent FBI agent with her own nightmares and that's about it. The attraction between them isn't really explained very well, but then there's not much romance in this book, its Urban Fantasy more than Paranormal.


I loved the other characters in this book a lot. Lucien, the Fallen, who guards Dante and has his own secrets is one of the more interesting characters who will you reluctantly warm up to; or atleast understand. Then there's Von, and the other vampires who live with Dante. The serial killer and other villainy characters (there's quite a few, but at no point does it get confusing) are pretty villainy in their behaviour, and you'll enjoy them too. There's new concepts in this book i haven't read before - about angels and god and psycho killers.


This is my first Adrian Phoenix book, and i like her writing style. I hope its only this first book that suffers from mini-first book syndrome. I do love her Cajun French and lyrics thrown in. Give this book a chance. And give it time to suck you in as well. At the end, it might not be what you're used to reading, but you won't regret the time spent reading it. I'm off to read the next book, In the Blood

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Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater

Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls, Book 1
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
392 pages
Published: 2009
My Rating: 5++ / 5 stars

Blurb:  For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Review:
Shiver is a beautiful, poignant that did give me the shivers at times. The nice kind of shivers.

Grace lives in Mercy Falls with her parents who missed their classes to parental school and are more like hippies who bunk with Grace in the same house. Despite the lack of any parental support, she's independent and confident.

"I’m raising myself" she says…"It seemed like you ought to pick the sort of person you would be, no matter what your parents were like."

Grace has a thing for the wolves in Mercy Falls. She was mauled by wolves when she was younger, and saved by one yellow eyed wolf who she now thinks of as her own wolf. For six years now she's seen the wolf watch her from the shadows, there every winter and gone every summer. Until suddenly things change when a local boy is killed and a strange boy turns up at her porch.

The yellow-eyed cute boy is none other than her wolf. But its September and getting colder every day, and Sam shouldn’t be a human but in wolf form as the cold gets nearer. He knows he will change soon, but he doesn’t want to, now that he knows Grace. He also knows this may be his last year as a human, and he wants a lot more time with the girl he's watched over for so long and is in love with.

At times Sam seems from a generation gone by, with his polite ways, shy smiles and quiet words. And his poetry.

"A boy stuffed so full of words that they spilled out of me."

One thing different that worked well in this book was Sam's vulnerability and sensitivity. Almost emo for a werewolf, while Grace the human in the relationship was almost too independent. Two different people shaped into characters by their upbringing and surroundings, and yet joined by a delicate emotion - kinship and love. The scenes in Grace's bedroom, Beck's room the first time they go there and also the candy store will have you feeling like you're really there, experiencing the moment with Sam and Grace.

Maggie Stiefvater werewolves aren't the all powerful, long lived, moon changing variety that every other PNR book on werewolves depicts. Sam explains what happens to them not in a paranormal but more a scientific way, and rather than the qualities you read in other books, reading about the lives of these wolves will make you mourn for them and their loss of humanity. I wont say more, go read to find out what I mean.

The writing is beautiful and heartbreaking. Every chapter begins with the temperature of the day since this story is tied in with the seasons and the weather.
I went through a series of emotions while reading this book. Terror for the wolves, joy for Grace and Sam, sorrow for Sam and his future with Grace, touched by the sensitivity these two show for each other and specially by Sam trying to do the right thing for Grace. But mostly from somewhere in the middle of the book, I felt real scared about how this book was going to end. But it was all worth it. This one leaves you with a warm feeling inside and one reading wont be enough.

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On the Edge - Ilona Andrews

Series: The Edge, Book 1
Genre: Urban Fantasy
309 pages
Published: 2009
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Blurb: 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 the beasts will devour the Edge and everyone in it . . .

Review:

You know what you'd see if Rose 'flashed' you?

Erm, no. Not what you're thinking.

For a second, all you'd see is white light - magic. See, in the world she lives in...flashing is a means of releasing your magic, and the brighter/whiter your flash, the stronger your magic. Rose has very strong magic. Too strong for someone who lives in the Edge. And that's where the problems began

Ok, now that I'm done with the intended-to-be-but-wasn’t dramatic beginning, I'll start the proper review:

On the Edge is a fantasy tale with a formula I haven't read before. Rose Drayton lives on the Edge, the place in between the world of the Broken and the Weird; surviving on the job and the facilities from the Broken - where there's no magic and life is as we know it, and the Weird - where magic is might. The Edge is the in-between place and the Edgers who live there have their magic but also are a part of the non-magical world of the Broken. Unlike the inhabitants of either world, the Edgers can easily pass between these two worlds with little or no unease. However, living an in-between kind of life comes with its own issues for the Edgers. Their magic isn't as great as of those from the Weird. Theres no semblance of organisation and law, and things are resolved in their own way in the Edge.

Rose lives in the Edge with her two brothers while eking out an existence on a cheap cleaning job in the Broken. She carries a rifle around, which she seems to need to use quite a bit to defend herself from those wanting to exploit her for her magic. Her mother's dead, her father's out on some harebrained treasure hunt, her grandmother thinks she knows best, and her grandfather's now a Zombie raised by her brother. Aah, the brothers - they're as naughty and cute as any young boys you've seen, but their hearts are in the right place. Jack is a changeling, and Georgie doesn’t like it when things die - so he raises them from the dead, like her did Grandpa. Add the eccentric family background with no support and people trying to either marry her or enslave her, and there's not much Rose has to rely on but her magic and herself. That’s when Lord Declan comes along. A blueblood from the Weird, he's here to claim Rose as his - something Rose isn't all that keen on. Things heat up when people start disappearing in the Edge and strange hounds with weird magic and even scarier appearances pop up.

The beginning of this book was a bit confusing for me - for 2 or 3 pages only - but even then I instantly felt for Rose. She appears resigned to life as she knows it, but at the same time confident in her abilities and that she can handle everything thrown at her. The best part is that Rose does have the ability to handle it - be it the magic or taking care of her brothers who are more than a handful. This strength of character is what'll make you like Rose. The other characters in the book are sketched pretty well too. Declan is ...well, exactly as you'd imagine a blueblood to be - the I know best, I command you obey mentality. Atleast in the beginning, but he grows on you (lustfully, and otherwise) and you see him thaw that icy outlook for Rose. Yummy really. And all those swords and knives he carries only adds to the yumminess.

The other characters in the book have their own quirks as well. And none more so than our villain extraordinaire, although quirk is not the word I'd use. The man is insane and so damn polite and reasonable as he tells you he wants to kill you and eat you that if it weren't for the words you'd think he was discussing his favourite niece. It’s a bit hard to connect with all the secondary characters in this book, and I get that they have their own quirks cause its fantasyland, but the parts where they're acting as humans balances it out. Like when Rose's grandmother has a talk with Declan. There was a possibility for a tear and some sniffing there.

This is my first Ilona Andrews book and I quite like her style of writing. It's simple and the story flows along so well that you don’t realise you've been sucked in until you look up and realise its 3 in the morning, you've been sitting there since 9 and the dinner you made hours ago is sitting next to you cold. The world building was done so well, that you don’t even realise you're learning more about it as it forms part of the story - something many authors fail to do well, specially in a first book.

The humour and conversations make this a joy to read. You'll be giggling, and appreciating the good lines as well:

"Sometimes two people meet and there is a connection of sorts. An instant attraction. You look at somebody and wonder what it would be like. I don’t wonder that about you. You’re a nice handsome guy. And I want to like you in that way, honestly I do, but there’s just nothing there.”

“Life is so precious because it’s short,” she said. “Even the most resilient people are fragile. Life isn’t about dying or not dying. It’s about living well, George. Living so you can be proud and happy.”

You know, no matter how many times they mentioned it, I still kept getting a completely different image in my head when someone in the book talks about flashing. But that’s just me and the lack of said dinner which never got eaten. No reason to keep you from reading this one. Its not a masterpiece, but it’s a good story to get lost in.

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Touch the Dark - Karen Chance

Series: Cassandra Palmer, Book 1
Genre: Paranormal
307 pages
Published: 2006
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Blurb: Cassandra Palmer can see the future and communicate with spirits;talents that make her attractive to the dead and the undead. The ghosts of the dead aren't usually dangerous; they just like to talk; a lot. The undead are another matter.

Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires. But when the bloodsucking Mafioso she escaped three years ago finds Cassie again with vengeance on his mind, she's forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection. The undead senators won't help her for nothing, and Cassie finds herself working with one of their most powerful members, a dangerously seductive master vampire—and the price he demands may be more than Cassie is willing to pay.
 
Review:  Touch the dark suffers from what can only be described as First Book Syndrome - there's so much of world building and explanations of the past put in here that it really bogs you down and leaves you wondering whether you want to go on. But once you get past, say, the first 50 odd pages, you will get sucked right into the story.

Cassandra Palmer is a clairvoyant on the run from the vampire who raised her. Her life takes a turn when she receives an email with her obituary with the exact time of her death. Trying to escape her fate, Cassie instead ends up at the Vampire Senate and suddenly learns a whole lotta things about herself - she may make chief clairvoyant, there's more about her parents she didn’t know, her old Vampire boss is now keeping dangerous company, there's a war beginning, her childhood crush vampire is out to seduce her, oh and she keeps getting transported to the past.

This is a pretty neat story with a lot of action to keep you engrossed..whats keeping it from being great is that in many places it lacks better execution and narration. The story is told from Cassie's point of view, and sometimes she's just to ditzy to be appealing as a speaker. I liked the other characters a lot though- they're all fascinating. The world Chance has build is pretty interesting - the vampire order is based on their degree of power, there's good and dark fae & mages, and the older vamps are all figures you might recognise from history. Mircea, the sexy vamp senate member who I'm drooling over is the Dracula's brother. The others I'll let you read about - Kit, Louis-Cesar & Ralf. I also liked Tomas and Billy the Ghost. And then there's Pritkin, the mage who is quite a pain in the arse. Not giving much info on them here, but you'll love them when you read about them.

I thought all these characters had their personalities sketched a lot more than Cassie herself. But again, I think that’s because its her doing the narration and she's describing things to the reader - the parts where she does talk about herself don’t reveal much about her as a person enough. This is still a good book. I must admit though that I'm saying that mostly cause I've read book 2, Claimed By Shadow , which is a BIG step up from this one and this really is a very interesting series that you will love and get engrossed in. Just those first 60 pages to slog through in the beginning.. Its all good from there.

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Dime Store Magic (Women of the Otherworld, #3) - Kelley Armstrong

416 pages
Series: Women of the Otherworld, book 3
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Paige Winterbourne needs to be slapped...I don't know any other way i can start this review. Maybe she was just such a big pain in Stolen, the second book, that I’ve carried that prejudice into this book. No wait, no maybe about that. I definitely did.

The only saving grace this woman had for the first quarter or more of this book was that she did everything she could do defend Savannah from everyone else.

Ok, let me start at the beginning. In Stolen, Paige's mother is killed at the facility where Savannah and Elena are also kept captive. Savannah is the teenage daughter of a now-deceased witch and a powerful sorcerer. After rescuing and gutting the facility, Paige now has custody of Savannah, and she's also the new head of the American Coven of witches. But Leah, the demon who helped capture people for the facility, wants Savannah back and gets Savannah's father involved in the claim as well.
See, Savannah hasn’t yet matured into witch-hood yet, so there's potential to lure her over to the dark side.

Paige now has to fight for custody of Savannah, against the wishes of the other witches in her coven. The only hope she has is in the form of Lucas Cortez, a sorcerer-lawyer who comes to her rescue
Can they save the day and keep Savannah with Paige?

Paige in the beginning is irritating. She's one of those I let my temper rule and don’t see what I don’t want to see kind of people. On the other hand, i found Savannah to be pretty mature and perceptive at most times, specially for her age. Lucas is a bit of a geeky type, also the son of the CEO of the biggest sorcerer Cabal and reluctant heir-in-waiting, with nothing else much going for him except his willingness to help Paige.

This best described Lucas, and was also when i really began to like him:
"The Caped Crusader is Batman, whose alter ego would be Bruce Wayne. Clark Kent is Superman. Neither analogy, I'm afraid, is quite accurate. I lack the tormented brooding sexiness of the Dark Knight and, sadly, I've not yet learned to fly, though I did manage to sail a few yards when Leah threw me this afternoon."

There wasn’t much of romance in this book. And not the best of plots, although there’s quite a bit of situations they get into. But it still made a good read. I liked watching both Paige and Savannah growing stronger as individuals and with each other.

It also had some pretty LOL moments when I was in tears:

Witch: "We are as the Goddess requires."
Paige: "The Goddess requires you to be naked on my lawn?"
Witch: "We aren't naked, child. We're skyclad. Clothing impedes mental vibrations."

See my review of the previous books from this series here

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Stolen (Women of the Otherworld, #2) - Kelley Armstrong

468 pages
Series: Women of the Otherworld, book 2
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


Stolen is the second book in the Women of the Otherworld series.
While Bitten laid the foundation of Armstrong’s world, it did seem pretty stand-alone. It is Stolen that seems like the first book in a series. We expand from only werewolves to a whole new world with more supernaturals added – witches, shamans, half-demons, vampires and I’m sure more to come.

Stolen is narrated by Elena again. It beings with Elena investigating someone selling information about werewolves, only to have her view of the supernatural world expanded with two witches telling her about supernaturals of all types disappearing and warning her the werewolves may be next. There’s an interracial council that’s trying to get to the bottom of this situation while ensuring no-one else disappears, and the werewolves are asked to join back in..but the human mastermind behind this kidnapping finally gets his hands on Elena – and learns what happens when you deal with a werewolf.

This book doesn’t have the punch from Bitten, but it was pretty good in itself. Elena is her usual sarcastic, strong woman who has decided to settle with the werewolf pack but still thinks with her human mind. We have more of Elena and Clay – they left off in Bitten deciding to be together, and Stolen has them working towards their relationship and getting closer towards the end when it finally dawns that they could have lost each other. Witches, vampires and other supes are added – some more noteable than the others. Paige, a young witch who is completely annoying and Cassandra, the vampire who doesn’t seem to care about whats happening.

I wish there were more interactions among the werewolf pack – that’s what made Bitten such so wonderful. You’ll love the times Clay and Elena have together, specially the parts towards the end. This book also sets up the next one – Dime Store Magic – which I’m guessing with be narrated by Paige. Wondering how that’ll work seeing as Paige completely got on my nerves in this book, even if she was good at her stuff. Go read this.
See my review of Bitten here

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Caressed by Ice - Nalini Singh

361 pages
Series: Psy-Changeling, Book #3

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Caressed by Ice is the story of Brenna and Judd.
Brenna was the SnowDancer wolf who had been taken by the killer psy from the first book and brutalised before being rescued. She's still healing, and the remnants the killer Psy left behind in her head along with the protective cocoon her brothers have wrapped her in isn't helping her. Her only hope at sanity comes in the form of Judd, a psy living with the wolves, and the only one she thinks understands her.

Judd is one of the Arrows - the elite assassins of the Psy. Judd has seen into Brenna's mind while healing her and is intrigued with the woman. However, being Psy, he is still governed by Silence and believes his Psy designation and chosen profession don’t give him the option of ever giving reign to his emotions.

But someone wants Brenna dead. And Brenna needs his help to keep her alive as well as find out what was done to her. And there’s growing attraction between these two. What’s a couple to do? (hehe, sorry got carried away a bit)

I liked this book a lot. These were both very strong characters, and so far my favourite couple. Brenna got annoying at bits sometimes, but overall she was a strong - willed character who just needed the right words and i guess the right man to get her out of the fear induced and broken state she was in after the attack.

Judd was the voice of reason. He also plays a crucial role in what I think will be the direction of the coming books – there’s a Ghost in the Psy-Net who’s working against the Psy and Judd is helping him.

Singh is still adding to her world-building but she makes it interesting to read rather than a heap of boring knowledge. There are brief insights into the beginning of the Psy race and also lil tidbits about the Arrows. This is one of the few series that also has bits and pieces about the couples from the previous books. I didn’t know who the killer was till the end, and that made me like this book all the more. I’m definitely hooked on this series
See my reviews of the previous books here

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Wild Rain - Christine Feehan

384 pages
Series: Leopard People, book #2

Blurb: What has she done? With a new identity, a staged death, and a chance to flee the treachery that stalks her, Rachael has escaped from a faceless assassin. Now, thousands of miles from home, under the lush canopy of the rain forest, she's found sanctuary.
Where can she hide? In this world teaming with unusual creatures walks the most exotic of them all. His name is Rio. A native of the forest imbued with a fierce prowess, he is something to be desired. Possessed of secrets of his own, he is something to be feared.
Whom can she trust? But as Rachael's past looms as oppressively as the heat of the forest, and as Rio unleashes the secret animal instincts that course through his blood, Rachael fears that her isolated haven has become an inescapable hell…

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Very interesting story this
After the meh first book The Awakening, Wild Rain was a great read. Rachael has come to the Borneo rain forest on the run from her past. Trying to stage her own death and begin a new life in the forest, she ends up in Rio's home, thinking its only a dwelling for travellers

Rio is one of the leopard people and has 2 clouded leopards as his companions. He thinks she’s one of the poachers and in the scuffle that follows his snow leopard hurts Rachael. Rio then takes care of her and they both feel they know each other from another time and place.

Both of them have a price on their heads and as Rachael recovers from her injury, these two try to make sense of their feelings of familiarity with one another and their attraction in the present.
I love the easy banter between these two. They're both alone because they realise the lives they live are dangerous, but they also realise they have something special and don't want to lose that.

Fav lines:
Racheal: “You’re obviously one of those he-men seen only on film who can take forty-seven kicks in the ribs and keep on fighting. Don’t mind me for being human.”

Rio: “And I always take it personally when someone tries to remove my head from my shoulders.”

Sometimes lying was the better part of valor and the only way to save a man’s butt.

I kept smiling to myself while reading this book. Good writing, great lines, lovely couple. And good suspense, cause I kept wondering what Rachael was running from, and until the words were out of her mouth, I never would have guessed.
In short, whats not to love.

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According To Jane - Marilyn Brant

352 pages
Blurb: It begins one day in sophomore English class, just as Ellie Barnett's teacher is assigning Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". From nowhere comes a quiet 'tsk' of displeasure. The target: Sam Blaine, the cute bad boy who's teasing Ellie mercilessly, just as he has since kindergarten. Entirely unbidden, as Jane might say, the author's ghost has taken up residence in Ellie's mind, and seems determined to stay there. Jane's wise and witty advice guides Ellie through the hell of adolescence and beyond, serving as the voice she trusts, usually far more than her own. Years and boyfriends come and go - sometimes a little too quickly, sometimes not nearly fast enough. But Jane's counsel is constant, and on the subject of Sam, quite insistent. Stay away, Jane demands. He is your Mr. Wickham. Still, everyone has something to learn about love - perhaps even Jane herself. And lately, the voice in Ellie's head is being drowned out by another, urging her to look beyond everything she thought she knew and seek out her very own, very unexpected, happy ending.

Rating: 5++ / 5

You need to read this book, it is absolutely delightful. I'm still a bit stunned and not quite sure where to start with this review.

The Book blurb really says it all perfectly in this one case.

Ellie is handed a copy of Pride and Prejudice in school, and behind her Sam is busy teasing her. And suddenly there's a voice in Ellie's head telling her to stay away from him. He is your Mr. Wickham says the voice of Jane Austen in her head.

And there it begins. Ellie's journey through life with Jane Austen as friend and counsellor for the next 20 odd years of her life - through her trials as a teenager, fitting in with her family, school and the years beyond, her hopes and dreams for the future and more importantly in her interactions with the men in her life.

Its hard to tell you what i felt for the other characters in this book without giving away any spoilers.

Ellie is a typical geek looking for a happy ending with prince charming. Along the way, you learn life lessons through Ellie's experiences and trial and error. And later through looking at past events with the fresh eyes of an adult

In school, Ellie likes Sam. She's attracted to him inspite of all Jane's warnings to pay him no attention - he's her first love. At the same time she hates Sam for his arrogant ways and confidence. And thus begins the boy trouble. And it continues for quite a while with a motley crew of men (who she tries to classify into her 6 categories of men)

Then there's Di - Ellie's elder sister who's a pain in her ass growing up. You want to hate her, and at the same time you want them to be close sisters.

As much as i wanted to hit Ellie on her head when it came to her choices in men specially when some weren't kicked out sooner - the girl is improving when it comes to who she picks. But i still wanted to hit her when it came to Sam. And hit Jane as well. Sam was too hot and too good to be blindsided for being confident.

Sam. I loved him. From the first time he was featured in page two where he called out Ellieeee

Whats bestest in this book is the writing. Its simple. Yet it has many layers. And it gives you that warm cosy feeling.  The characters are all very well written, you identify with Ellie. You want Sam. And you wish you had someone like Jane to lean on during the horrible times.

The only problem i had with this book was the ending wasnt as strong as i would have liked it to be. But it was a happy one and in its own way, a perfect one

A lil snippet of the beautiful writing:
On her failed relationships because of bad choices in men:

Ellie: Humans are complicated Jane. Really complicated. And I've made mistakes because I've repeatedly chosen not to see that.
Jane: It is more likely a result of the philosophy you persist in holding dear. Romanticism encourages an abandonment of restraint and, as you've so often wished to fall in love without regard to rationality, this invites the absurd. Your mistakes in judgement are not due to the complexity in humanity Ellie. They are due to the lens with which you view love
Ellie: You mean, i need to change the fairy take and not the man?
Jane: Precisely

This book is currently available for free at the sony e-book store

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Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, #1) - Kelley Armstrong

453 pages

Rating: 5 + + / 5

This book has the distinction of getting me hooked from the first line itself. I didn’t need to wait a few pages for the story to pick up and get absorbed into it, Bitten did it from the get go.

I have to.
I've been fighting it all night. I'm going to lose.My battle is as futile as a woman feeling the first pangs of labor and deciding it's an inconvenient time to give birth. Nature wins out. It always does.


Bitten is about Elena - the only female werewolf in the world. Not by her choice - she was bitten by her lover and forced into this world. That’s one of the reasons she's so determined to live as a normal human away from it all. That’s where this story beings - with Elena and her experience undergoing the Change into a werewolf late night in the streets of Toronto - not an ideal place to change. She's living with Philip, a nice patient human guy and another attempt to integrate into the normal world.

Elena is no ditzy character. She's sarcastic but strong-willed and determined. She tries to be grounded in reality- as much as a bitten werewolf who's rebelling against the werewolf lifestyle can be. I liked her sense of independence - she didn't need someone else to come save her. As much as she rebels, eventually, when they need her help, she returns to the Pack, and to the man who bit her.

I kept looking at the number of pages and gleefully anticipating what would happen next and how the troubles facing the werewolves would eventually end - because what this book is filled with is one action packed situation after another.

What it is also filled with is Clay.
Oh Clay. When Elena kept fighting with him I really wanted to tell her to settle for Phillip and leave Clay for me.
He figures up there with Bones from the Night Huntress world and Adam and Charles from Mercy Thompson world for swoonworthy heroes for me. Must I say any more?
I think I should
I've never liked reading a man calling a woman darling as many times as Clay did in this book. I loved all his conversations with Elena. He has a single minded-determination to get what he wants; and also say what he wants - which is Elena.

"What the hell do you want?" I said.
His smile turned to a grin, white teeth flashing. "You. What else?"
"Where? Right here? On the floor?"
"Nah. Not that. Not yet. Just the same old thing I always want. You. Here. For good...I'm glad you're home, darling. I missed you."

And i won't even begin to talk about all the romping-around-the-jungle sex these two had..they're always ripping each others clothes out and while I don’t usually like reading such 'frenzy' cause the authors never makes it believable, I wished I was Elena many times in this book.

Then there's Jeremy - the Alpha of the pack - with his amazing self control and quiet strength of character. Another character so full of awesomeness. The world building in this book is brilliant. The characters are well-drawn out so you feel like you've know all of them for a long time and you want to be their friends. (well, I did and I'm sure you will too)

This one is definitely up there among my favourite reads. I read it more than thrice already and each time I tried writing a review I'd go back to check some part I liked and end up reading it all over again. What that should translate into for you is to stop reading my rantings here now and go find yourself a copy to keep. Don’t borrow. Buy

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A Tall Dark Cowboy - Mackenzie McKade

226 pages
Contemporary-romance?
Rating: 3.5 / 5
This isn't really a proper review. Just a summary of all the funny parts..This is my first Mackenzie McKade book, and the only reason i picked the e-book up last night was because it was only 139 pages.
This book doesn't really fall into erotica for me, although there is quite a bit of mattress tango in here, its written pretty well. There's a pretty good story actually. So for all of you who want to know more..presenting the parts that made this book ...umm..memorable?

First the book blurb so you know what the book is about:
Just looking for a good time...
Waiting tables in a bar full of no-good cowboys isn't Lacy Mason's idea of fun. But between her daughter's illness (daughter needs a heart transplant and is in hospital), endless doctor bills, and her college tuition, she needs the money.
What she could really use is a night of no-holds-barred passion and no-strings-attached sex. Too bad she has sworn off cowboys for life
A guy walks into a bar...
Full-time executive and retired cowboy Wyatt Anderson is drawn to Lacy from the moment he sees her. But she's an enigma. Daring and assured one moment and hesitant the next, it's as if something haunts her. Only willing to give him one night, Lacy clings tightly to her secrets.
Unfortunately for her, what Wyatt wants, Wyatt gets. And he definitely wants Lacy...

Now the fun parts:

This one while in bed - I'll add a couple of lines before it as well, so you know the whole story:
“You’re a devil,” she muttered, wanting, needing more of the sweet, sweet pain.
A lethal grin flashed for just a second. “Uh-huh,” he replied, before adding, “Can I poke you with my pitchfork?”

They fit together like a baseball in a catcher’s mitt. Like a golf ball in the eighteenth hole. Briefly, he considered sharing his analogies with her, then hesitated. Most women didn’t appreciate the analogies men made between them and sports.

“Every time I look at you I’m bewitched.” Now what guy talks like this? Ofcourse i immediately thought of the television program … and all the buildup between the two of them fizzled out with images of the Samantha twitching her nose in my mind

After unprotected sex (because stories like these need to have atleast one scenario of it):
Wyatt: "From now on my sword will wear the shield of death."

He wasn’t someone who fell in love quickly. Shit, he was an engineer. There was a process, procedures to follow. Time was required. – This was funny when I was reading it. Don't usually find internal monologue like this.

There were a lot more..some i didn't copy because this blog doesn't intend to be that trashy, and other because i forgot to note down.
This really was a lovely story though. These are two very strong, passionate and caring characters. Worth reading actually.

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The Smoke Thief (Drakon, #1) - Shana Abé

324 pages
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"Imagine a place so ripe and thick with the promise of magic that the very air breathes in plumes of pearl and gray and smoky blue; that the trees bow with the weight of their heavy branches, dipping low to the ground, dropping needles and leaves into beds of perfume" - Thus begin the first lines of The Smoke Thief, the story of the mysterious race of half-human half-dragon, and from there it only gets better.

This book is about Clarissa Rue Hawthorne, who as a half breed Drakon child is pretty much looked down upon in her Drakon Shire of Darkfrith. The only thing going for her is her loving mother and Christoff, the Drakon next in line to be Alpha, who she can only afford to look at from afar.

Then she decides to make something of her life.

Fast forward a couple of years and Clarissa (who goes by the name Rue) has made a name and a life for herself in London, far away from the other Drakon and living by her own rules. She's the famous smoke thief, only no one knows this other than a little street urchin, Zane, who she rescued one day.

The Drakon know it is one of them who is the thief. Christoff, all grown up and hotness personified (my words, not from the book) is now the Alpha. He's got a plan for catching the thief - The Langford Diamond - one no Drakon can resist. Only the plan goes kaput when Christoff (or Kit) sees a previously-presumed-dead Clarissa at the showing for the diamond and is smitten.
And then the diamond is stolen.
To make matter worse, Clarissa escapes from Kit.
By Turning to smoke.
The first female Drakon to do so in I forgot how long.
Now the Drakon need their diamond back, and they need Rue..as does Kit.

I loved this book. Shana Abe is being added to my favourite authors based on only this one book, which really should tell you all you need to know. You can picture the words that flow in this book - imagine the events as they happen. Get completely immersed in the mystery and wonder that are the Drakon. I loved the history and legend of the Drakon that the author weaves into this beautiful story.
This is a story where you want to read the next page simply because it is a joy to read, to know what these two characters will do next.

Clarissa Rue is a strong character - lacking in ego but confident in her own abilities and her own skin. A woman/Drakon who decided she wanted better than life had to offer her and went ahead and created that life for herself. The smart witty dialogue, and the effect she has on Kit and the other Drakon only adds to her appeal. And when she tells you the reason why she left her previous life, you'll only respect and admire her more.

Christoff / Kit, now Marquess of Langford, is an Alpha through and through. He's ruthless, knows his mind, also extremely confident in himself and uses his charm shamelessly. He's also a Drakon besotten (is that even a word?) with Rue from the moment he sees her in London - No, not love at first sight. Atleast he doesn't show it if it is. He'll do anything to get what he wants..and he does..but you can see as the story progresses how he softens his stand for Rue.

The romance is..intense. Kit is charming, and he uses all of it on Rue. This is sweet seduction at its best - and its all sincere, which is the bestest part.The kissing scenes are lovely..and the conversations..oh well -

"I've wanted you from the moment I first saw you in the museum. Before that. I wanted every part of you from the first time I felt you, your presence. I want you in the sky, and against the earth. I want to kiss you again, I want to touch you, I want to feel you in my arms and I want to hear you gasping my name when I'm inside you. I want all that, and I want it badly. Every time I look at you, I want it. So you're going to have to become used to that, Rue. It won't change."

Now tell me you don't want Christoff for yourself.

And now on to the next book, The Dream Thief which has more my favourite street - urchin Zane...
In case I didn't mention it, this one goes up there on my Favourite shelf - way up there with Bitten, Daughter of the Forest, Graceling...oh well - GO READ!!

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Shadow Game (GhostWalkers, #1) - Christine Feehan

323 pages

Blurb: The classified experiment is the brainchild of renowned scientist Peter Whitney and his brilliant daughter. Lily. Created to enhance the psychic abilities of an elite squadron, it can transform their natural mental powers into a unique military weapon. But something has gone wrong. In the isolated underground labs, the men have been dying--victims of bizarre accidents. Captain Ryland Miller knows he is next. When Dr. Whitney himself is murdered, Ryland has only one person left to trust: the beautiful Lily. Possessed of an uncanny sixth sense herself, Lily shares Ryland's every new fear every betrayal, every growing suspicion, and every passionate beat of the heart. Together, they will be drawn deeper into the labyrinth of her father's past...and closer to a secret that someone would kill to keep hidden


My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've always wondered how your breath can slam out of your lungs. After reading some 20+ books by Feehan, this is still a question that remains unanswered for me. I tried being surprised or excited and no breath slamming out of lungs happened. I even thought of asking The Boyfriend if this happens to him but he already looks at me funny after my last similar experimental question. So this regular feature in Feehan's books where the girl/guy kisses the guy/girl and "His breath slammed out of his lungs" - still unexplained phenomenon.

That mystery aside, this book was very entertaining to me. It helped while away a boring Wednesday at work, and it was short enough that I went home and finished it right before another episode of CSI Miami. While this does fall into the paranormal category thanks to all the psychic fun going on, this was more a comedy for me. I laughed a lot. I don't think that was what Feehan intended. But more on that later.

Some good stuff first. There's a lot of scientific mumbo jumbo in this book. I say mumbo jumbo cause despite all my crime/paranormal TV education and that stuff they tried to teach me in college, not all of it made sense to me. But fascinating it most certainly was. See the blurb for more info. A scientist who manages to expand your mental powers into the psychic realm, and a daughter who serves as his inspiration and herself is an expert in the field. Aah Lily. As a woman you were mostly silly. As a scientist, you were awesome. This fact alone made me read the book faster than usual.

What Peter Whitney, Lily's father and scientist extraordinaire does may be morally wrong, but it made real good reading. He is experimenting on a bunch of special forces men to make them the ultimate military team, but things seem to be going awry (I could have said wrong, but I wanted to use awry. No one uses that word anymore). So he calls Lily for a second opinion. And thus her life changes - she's insanely attracted to the leader of the special forces team (who is kept in a cage, btw), she psychically sees her father being murdered, and other forces are at play who wants the secrets that her father died for. Oh and she herself is psychic.

Now a lil on the Hero of the hour, and this is the comedy part people. Explain to me who on earth talks like this in this day and age. A lot of the book had him speaking like this - either to himself or to her. I cannot picture this man being a ruthless killer with the special forces:

"I'm losing my sanity, Lily. I burn for you, day and night." The words were whispered against her open mouth. "It's not comfortable or pleasant, it hurts like hell. Put me out of my misery, honey. Help me, Lily. I can't think with wanting you."

The man is a leader of men and well, I don't think they knit scarves in the special forces. Yet all his mind was centered on was how she was way out of his class (Physically and financially. This thought came one page after he meets her for the first time and kept popping up for a while), whether she had something going on with Roger the guard, if he could hold her in his arms, if she had underwear on - most of this during what would otherwise be called life and death situations. Well, yeah, he was sweet as hell, and really good in bed, and a pretty good leader - you know all round alpha. But all this stupidity in his head was too funny for me.

All my silliness in this review aside, this was a real neat book. I liked all the scientific stuff, the H/H only wanted to get in each others pants but they were cute together, I liked their conversations, the supporting characters were developed enough that I could picture each of them and I'm eagerly waiting to read the next books on Kaden and Nico. You'll love Lily's extended family of Arly, Rosa and John. You'll also love the villains - in that they play their roles right and you want to slap them as all villains are intended to make you feel. There isn't much of a mystery in this book, you can tell from the beginning who's gonna be in the good and bad guy camps, but it makes fun reading anyway. Oh, also - the psychic stuff these guys can do is pretty neat too. I think I was supposed to mention that in the beginning. But I got sidetracked. I'm giving this one 4/5 for the entertainment it provided.

You know, I don’t think this review is gonna help anyone. But I typed it, so I'll post it

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Dark Slayer (Carpathians, #20) - Christine Feehan

416 pages

A rumor has persisted in the vampire world of a dark slayer—a woman—who travels with a wolf pack and any among the vampires who meets her is slain. Mysterious, elusive and seemingly impossible to kill, she is the one hunter who strikes terror into the hearts of the vampires.
Ivory Malinov is that woman, betrayed by her own people, by her family, by everyone she held dear and she hunts during the night with only her pack to sustain her sanity. She has not spoken to or been with any other person for a hundred years other than to feed from or slay. She stumbles across a body on her way back to her lair and discovers—her lifemate.
He is Razvan, branded a hated criminal, detested, feared and loathed by all Carpathians—he is also a dragonseeker of one of the greatest lineages of all Carpathians Held captive nearly his entire life by his grandfather, the Carpathians bitterest enemy, he is seeking the dawn to end his terrible existence.
This is a story of two people, horribly betrayed, wounded in spirit, fighters to the death, who must struggle to unite against a common enemy.
 
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think I've said this for the past 3 Carpathian books I reviewed, but this really is the best Carpathian book so far. Or close to it atleast. Dark Slayer is about Ivory Manilov and Razvan.

Ivory is the sister of the 5 Manilov brothers who purposely turned Vampire because they thought they could rule the world that way. Ivory was tortured and hacked and left for dead by the Mikhail's brother Draven and the vampires under Xavier's direction. However mother earth and the wolves saved her and now she slays the undead along with her wolf pack - with no allegiances to the undead, Xavier or the Carpathian race that left her for dead.

The grandson of the evil mage Xavier, Razvan has been in his grandfather's clutches since he was fourteen and has had his body and mind used for crimes against Xavier's enemies. He's lived only with his honour and endured to save those he loves, but now he's giving up.

Many things are thankfully different in this book. The two meet and don't want to be tied to each other because they're both being hunted, but cant abandon the other nonetheless. Ivory is the warrior in this book, while Razvan is more the calming influence with tremendous inner strength (that just sounds corny now, but you know what I mean)
He had learned long ago that he couldn’t control others or events, only his own reaction to what happened...“I do not control others, Ivory, only myself. I do what I must, no matter the cost.”

I can honestly say these are the strongest characters I've come across in anything I've read so far - both mentally and physically these two have endured and have been honed in the fires of hell. They have a single minded determination to accomplish whatever they set their sights on - be it Xavier or ravishing each other. Despite their strengths, they both have vulnerabilities - and it is lovely how they are there for the other at their times of need. At time I thought there was too much of the inner dialogue - with how they didn't deserve each other and how they had found joy and happiness. But considering both their tortured pasts, the gratitude and joy they found in each other did make sense, and it wasn’t so bad to read.

Razvan's lack of ego is refreshing after all the previous Carpathian men and their i'm-the-best-thing-that-ever-happend-to-you attitude. He's happy following Ivory's lead in areas that are her forte, and they support each other as partners. The part where they Razvan uses his skill at strategy along with Ivory's abilities and tricks the ancient Carpathians had me laughing for quite a while.

A lot of the old characters are back in this book along with some new ones. We catch up with what's been happening in the other lives and how they're fighting the undead, Xavier and they're own extinction with the inability to keep their babies alive. There's also sad re-unions with Razvan meeting his sister Natalya (who I wanted to slap in this book a lot of times) and his daughter Lara and coming to terms with the new knowledge of what Xavier had been using his body for.

Lovely story this. I wondered how the two would meet, how they would reconcile with the Carpathians and whether they would defeat Xavier and where the series will go from this book onwards. Feehan does a almost perfect job on all counts. A lot of things are wrapped up in this book, with enough to keep you waiting for the next book.

Really, this isn't an adequate review. It'll make you laugh, it might make you cry. It'll keep you invested in the lives of these two. So go read the book. (But read some of the previous books first so it makes a lot more sense)
See my reviews on some of the previous Carpathian books here

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Fractured (Will Trent, #2) - Karin Slaughter

416 pages
Blurb: The #1 internationally bestselling author returns to the damaged landscape she knows so well in a bold new novel—at once a powder keg of suspense, a gritty portrait of a cop’s life, and a searing exploration of a shocking crime and its aftermath…

With its gracious homes and tree-lined streets, Ansley Park is one of Atlanta’s most desirable neighborhoods. But in one gleaming mansion, in a teenager’s lavish bedroom, a girl has been savagely murdered. And in the hallway, her horrified mother stands amid shattered glass, having killed her daughter’s attacker with her bare hands.
Detective Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is here only to do a political favor; the murder site belongs to the Atlanta police. But Trent soon sees something that the cops are missing, something in the trail of blood, in a matrix of forensic evidence, and in the eyes of the shell-shocked mother. Within minutes, Trent is taking over the case—and adding another one to it. He is sure that another teenage girl is missing, and that a killer is on the loose.
Armed with only fleeting clues, teamed with a female cop who has her own personal reasons for hating him, Trent has enemies all around him—and a gnawing feeling that this case, which started in the best of homes, is cutting quick and deep through the ruins of perfect lives broken wide-open: where human demons emerge with a vengeance

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a amazing novel. When I say amazing I mean go-pick-up-a-copy-to-read-amazing. Triptych was the first Karin Slaughter book I read last year and I was hooked. I loved Will Trent - the detective with undiagnosed dyslexia who cannot read, is socially awkward, looks at everything with different eyes, is extremely intelligent and makes one hell of a detective.
In Fractured, Slaughter brings Will's past and his disability to the forefront - he excels because of what he is and is held back because of his dyslexia too. But enough about Will.
What this story really is about is Emma and getting her back.

"This time yesterday morning, Kayla and Emma had probably been getting ready for school. Maybe Adam Humphrey had slept in because he had a later class. Abigail Campano had been getting ready for her day of tennis and spa treatments. Paul had been on his way to work. None of them had known how little time they had left before their lives were forever changed or—worse—stolen."

When the Atlanta police are called in to a crime where a mother has just killed her murdered daughter's attacker, they peg it as a murder-and home invasion gone wrong. Only Will sees the clues, and realises there is more than meets the eye (see blurb for more)

Partnered with a female cop who hates him and blames him for her mothers retirement from the Atlanta Police, Will has to piece the clues together to find Emma, his old nemesis' kidnapped daughter, before her time runs out and even the cops on the case give her up for dead.

If you've read any Karin Slaughter, you'll know why you need to pick up this book. Its only my second by her, but I know I'll be reading a whole lot more of her as soon as I can get my hands on em. This book grips you from the get go, makes you feel what each of the characters are going through (and not just the main ones), their hopes and frustrations, it makes you cheer for every breakthrough they make and gets you emotionally invested in saving Emma and praying for hope of a happy ending for all these guys.

Slaughter's depiction of situations is real and at times heartbreaking. See, I don't cry. No matter how emotional the book or movie. But when Will was trying to break their suspect into telling him where Emma was, and he used his own experiences to connect with the suspect and get him to talk and everything that happened thereafter - well, that was pretty heady stuff.
I hope she writes more Will Trent books. Go read this one people.

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Visions of Heat (Psy-Changeling, #2) - Nalini Singh

Used to cold silence, Faith NightStar is suddenly being tormented by dark visions of blood and murder. A bad sign for anyone, but worse for Faith, an F-Psy with the highly sought after ability to predict the future. Then the visions show her something even more dangerous - aching need... exquisite pleasure. But so powerful is her sight, so fragile the state of her mind, that the very emotions she yearns to embrace could be the end of her.

Changeling Vaughn D'Angelo can take either man or jaguar form, but it is his animal side that is overwhelmingly drawn to Faith. The jaguar's instinct is to claim this woman it finds so utterly fascinating, and the man has no argument. But while Vaughn craves sensation and hungers to pleasure Faith in every way, desire is a danger that could snap the last threads of her sanity. And there are Psy who need Faith's sight for their own purposes. They must keep her silenced - and keep her from Vaughn...
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book 2 in the Psy Changeling series features Vaughn - who is a jaguar living with the DarkRiver leopards.
Like Lucas from book 1, Vaughn also has demons in his past and the cat in him is more on the surface than the others.

Lucas finds Faiths house near the forest and then finds out the red headed Psy is looking for Sascha for answers to her own problems. Despite his attraction to Faith he still has trust issues with her and pushes her to her limit.

Faith is a F-Psy - a foreseer and she's now seeing strange dark violent visions instead of the business forecasts she usually makes. Thinking she is losing her mind, she turns to Sascha, the only Psy who wont report her to the Council. On the way she meets Vaughn, who her Psy mind finds intriguing and who is constantly touching her- a Psy who is not used to physical contact. I liked the character development of these two. Faith takes her own life in her own hands - Vaughn learns to share his life with someone else. I also liked Faiths predictions for the other changelings.

Well written book this. Although there wasn't the same connection between these two that Lucas and Sascha shared, it still made good reading. The interesting twists Faith brings to the book with her connection to the Psy-Net means the coming books are going to be interesting to read.

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The Awakening (Leopard Series, #1) - Christine Feehan

A beautiful naturalist's dream comes true-to live among the feral jungle creatures. But an untamed, irresistible beast of another sort inspires her to explore her own wild side.

Rating: 2.5 / 5
This short book was more world building for Feehan's Leopard Series than anything else. There wasn't much romance - a slight bit of erotica (mangoes and ice in the hot rain forests in Borneo...interesting) - a lot of ink spent on environmentalism, and no character depth or anything else in the book.

Brandt is the leader of the leopard pack that lives in the Borneo rain forest in Indonesia. Maggie is supposed to be his mate - he tracks her down, manipulates the situation so that she comes to the rain forest and when they meet promptly tells her she cant leave.
They're attracted to each other. A lot. Maggie puts up some token resistance at appropriate times, but mostly she wants him and thats that.
I didn't like the story much, everything was handled too weirdly for me. The actions of the characters lacked something. As if it was all happening to someone else. The pro-environment message was pretty good though.

Maybe I wasn't in the best frame of mind to read this. This wasn't Feehan's best book for me.

For a good review of this book, click here for Alaine's thoughts.

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Hunting Ground (Alpha & Omega, #2) - Patricia Briggs

286 pages

Mated to werewolf Charles Cornick, the son—and enforcer—of the leader of the North American werewolves, Anna Latham now knows how dangerous being a werewolf is, especially when a werewolf who opposes Charles and his father is struck down. Charles’s reputation makes him the prime suspect, and the penalty for the crime is execution. Now Anna and Charles must combine their talents to hunt down the real killer—or Charles will take the fall

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My first thought when i finished reading this was there is so much more to this book than what the stupid blurb states. This is a pretty good book – although not as good as the first one Cry Wolf – but then pretty good from Patricia Briggs is better then the best by most authors.

Charles and Anna have been together for a month now. Anna still has problems with dominant alphas and all the horror of her past, but she and Charles are in love, and they're getting to know each other.

The timeline of this books coincides with book 3 of the Mercy Thompson Series Iron Kissed - Bran, the Marrok of the North American werewolves has decided to bring the werewolves out in the open, and has planned a meeting with the European alphas to address their issues first. Charles feels something will do wrong and so Charles and Anna go to meet the European wolves instead.

Trouble starts with vampires trying to kidnap Anna. The talks are at an impasse with Jean Chastel, the French alpha also known as Beast of Gévaudan, not agreeing to the suggestions Charles offers. Then, the death of the British alpha's mate. Matters get worse when one of the wolves Charles fights with is later found dead with Charles' scent all over him (won’t say who, gives away the plot then).

Anna & Charles now have to figure who the real killer is before an execution order is made out for Charles..and Anna will need all her Omega abilities to save Charles' life

There was something missing in this book, but i can't put my finger on it. The real villian and the motives were definitely a surprise, i didn't guess who it was till the end. But for most of the book I felt like the situations kept getting cut off, the story changed to different peoples points of view too quickly and most of the time i would have liked to have known more from the previous person's viewpoint. Other than that, this was a pretty good story, my only other complaint being it was too quick a read.

Theres new characters in this book that you'll love. Arthur, the British alpha who thinks he's the re-incarnation of The Arthur, Chastile who they call the Beast, the other older alpha's who've been around a while, Dana the fae who oversees the meetings. A bit of legend and folklore added in as well - which always interests me. Plus there's a bit of Bran - i find him very enigmatic.

I love Briggs werewolves series. The world building is amazing. The third book comes out only next August, so rereads will have to do until then.

Favourite line:
His grandfather had often told him that he tried too hard to move trees when a wiser man would walk around them.

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