tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10708576033755407412024-02-06T21:16:00.260-05:00One Good Book Deserves AnotherTracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01257007454939897691noreply@blogger.comBlogger870125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1070857603375540741.post-18916684517722269452014-10-11T18:37:00.000-04:002014-10-11T18:39:09.916-04:00The Winter King by C.L. Wilson<i><b>Genre:</b> Fantasy Romance</i><br />
<i><b>Series:</b> Weathermages of Mystral, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 4 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 608 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062018973/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0062018973&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=XFH7I5D2MGZL464N" target="_blank">Paperback</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GFZODB6/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00GFZODB6&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=P6JUALIAEH2DL33Q" target="_blank">Kindle</a><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me through the Amazon Vine program. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Enchanting Fantasy Romance</b></div>
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Reviled and ignored by her father, punished for her very existence, Khamsin Coruscate, Princess of Summerlea, hasn't had an idyllic life. Up until Summerlea lost the war with Wintercraig, though, Khamsin thought there were some lines that her father would never cross, despite his loathing of her. Tragically, she was wrong.<br />
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The Winter King, Wynter Atrialan, is in Summerlea to dictate the terms of surrender and peace following the three year war he'd waged on the kingdom. In recompense for the murder of his brother and heir, Wynter intends to take to wife one of the three beloved and revered Summerlea princess.<br />
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Instead of marrying one of those favored daughters, however, Wynter finds himself wed to a princess he hadn't even known existed.<br />
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Perhaps Wynter should have taken umbrage with the Summer King for the double cross, but he can't help but be pleased with the switch. There's something about Khamsin Coruscate that stirs his blood and brings a heat that Wynter has long since given up on feeling. Perhaps the fiery Khamsin is the key to breaking the hold that an evil god has on his soul before that evil is unleashed on them all.<br />
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~*~</div>
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I usually prefer more <i>urban</i> in my <i>fantasy</i> romance, but every once in a great while I get a yen for the swords and horses variety. Wilson's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GFZODB6/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00GFZODB6&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=P6JUALIAEH2DL33Q" target="_blank">The Winter King</a> satisfied that yen nicely. It's exactly the sort of tale I most favor in the genre, a story that focuses heavily on or revolves around the trials and tribulations of a heroine who, through whatever circumstance, is forced to endure terrible things, but in so doing is forged into a strong, independent women who more than holds her own.<br />
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Toss in a tormented hero as an alpha-male love interest and at least one loveable sidekick to add a touch of comic relief and I'm a happy reader. Call it formula, but it's one that works for me every time.<br />
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Between Khamsin's wretched life with her family and the devastating magic she can't control, Khamsin was a sympathetic heroine from the start. She was also stubborn and willful, and there were a couple of times I wanted to give her a good shake, but she was genuinely honorable, noble and kind, with a quick wit and intrinsically fun nature that kept her likable, even when her behavior got a bit frustrating.<br />
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And I loved how Khamsin matures and her character evolves over the course of the book's events. <br />
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I can't say I was as fond of Wynter. I liked him <i>most </i>of the time, thought he had some excellent alpha-male moments, and the chemistry between him and Khamsin was off the charts, but his personal losses goaded him into taking some severely questionable actions to give him the power to wage a brutal war that lasted three years and caused the lives of many. And the magic he wields as a result has the sort of consequences that kill entire kingdoms. All of them. <br />
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Then again, if he wasn't trying to prevent those consequences, he wouldn't have had any cause to meet Khamsin, so I can at least appreciate the plot-driving of it all.<br />
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It would have been a true shame, too, because the two of them together was my favorite thing about the story. Beyond their excellent chemistry and all the yummy sexy times that led to, I loved almost everything about how their relationship starts, then develops and grows as they get to know one another a bit better. Their relationship is fraught with trust issues, which is not normally something I enjoy, but when it comes to Wynter and Khamsin, the absence of trust issues would have been far more glaring. Their romance was much more believable and realistic with them.<br />
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There's a flip side to that, though, and it caused the only significant disconnect I had with the book.<br />
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This is a very, very long book. I don't want to spoil anything about the climax, so I'll just say that I was disappointed that the trust issues I had loved so much throughout most of the book became such a serious impediment and source of intense aggravation for me during the climax. The misplaced trust just ended up feeling out of character for those concerned and it made the subsequent events doubly frustrating to read. <br />
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It sort of took the bloom off the rose for me at the worst possible time, and the end of the book came too quickly after that for me to gain back some of the enjoyment I had lost. Honestly, though, that was my only significant issue with the whole book. I did have a minor issue with the too-linear and simplistic world building, what with the king of the wintery kingdom of Wintercraig being named Wynter and all, but that's strictly a personal preference thing. I would have appreciated a more sophisticated backdrop for what was, truly, an enchanting read when all was said and done.
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<i><b>Series:</b> Angels of the Dark, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 3.5 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 416 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0373776985/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0373776985&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=4VJZULYOOYSXFCSM" target="_blank">Paperback</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007WRFVOO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007WRFVOO&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=XSFTONLQQAQNKUW5" target="_blank">Kindle</a><br />
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<b>Almost Wicked Enough</b></div>
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Turning eighteen wasn't quite the awesome good time Annabelle Miller thought it would be. She woke on that special day to searing, blinding pain, and before she could think straight, saw her parents slaughtered, cut down by a monster out of a nightmare. A creature spewed from the pits of hell.<br />
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Happy birthday to her. <br />
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Convicted of their murders, Annabelle has spent four years in a nuthouse for the criminally insane, fighting off pervert doctors, bullying orderlies, and a never-ending wave of monsters that, despite heavy narcotics or maybe because of them, only Annabelle can see. She is alone, desperate, and afraid she's just as insane as everyone thinks she is.<br />
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Seeing the huge guy with the gorgeous wings pop up in her room one night after a particularly bad attack doesn't exactly disabuse her of that notion, either.<br />
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Zacharel has once again drawn his boss's displeasure. In his zeal to dispatch demons, he's been less than conscientious about the safety of the human race. Humans have died. Zacharel doesn't much care about collateral damage. His boss, however, does. In punishment...and as a last chance to keep his wings...Zacharel has been given command of a squad of warriors just as close to their final fall as he is and is ordered to deal with a demon infestation at an institution for the criminally insane.<br />
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Investigation leads him to the room of a desperate human woman who is clearly the focus of the demons' interest. Not that Zacharel cares. In fact, he has no conscience, no feelings, no passions or desires. He's unmoved by her plight. So he really has no idea why rescuing her becomes so important to him. Or why he would ever, in a million years, entertain the ridiculous notion that she could somehow rescue him right back.<br />
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~*~</div>
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I'm a Showalter fan from way back, and consider myself a LotU fan even though the last couple of them didn't quite rock my world. Still, I was happy to hear about this spinoff series, and think there's much in this kick-starter to like. The world is comfortingly familiar, and the sometimes conflicted relationship between Zacharel and Annabelle had moments that were rife with humor and a lot of fun to read.<br />
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But there were rough spots for me, too.<br />
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As much as I love winged romance heroes, those that are angelic in nature are either loved or hated based on the level of Christianity-based mythology included in the story. I try to keep religion as far away from my reading entertainment as possible, and I'm leery of having those lines crossed whenever angels are included. Doesn't make for the most relaxing read, even when my lines aren't crossed.<br />
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I was fine with the angel warriors as seen in LotU, but here they're the main characters, so their mythos will get a much broader focus with greater detail in this series. Thankfully, in this book things were mostly okay, but it could go still go either way. There were a couple of things that didn't thrill me, especially the Zacharel-touted concept that faith defines reality, but I didn't feel like I was being proselytized at the whole time, or hit over the head with the religion stick.<br />
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I'm going with tentative acceptance at this point.<br />
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I was slightly...not disappointed, really, so much as underwhelmed by the plot of the book, though. I've been alternately amused and intrigued by the emotionally bereft Zacharel since his introduction in LotU, so I was hoping for a bit more depth of character and story than the plot provided. It wasn't bad, but it was a bit two dimensional, and I found myself paying more attention to some of Zacharel's warriors and their backstory than I was to his emotional thaw and the demon trouble with Annabelle.<br />
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I liked Annabelle as a character. She was a fighter, a survivor. I liked that about her very much. I just wasn't crazy about her as the romantic heroine for Zacharel. Anabelle was only eighteen when her world exploded, just twenty-two when Zacharel gets her out of the institution, and that seemed painfully young and inexperienced compared to Zacharel's long life and jaded demeanor. It sort of messed with my comfort level with the romance in places.<br />
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The conflict with the demon who killed Anabelle's parents was, again, not horrible but didn't really wow me, either. It did provide plenty of action in the story, which I liked, but I thought the Bad Guy's identity was painfully obvious from the very beginning. That robbed the big reveal in the climax of the book of a lot of the impact it could have had, and it completely stripped one pivotal scene of the intended emotional angst, making what should have been a gut-wrenching choice feel more like a dull no-brainer. <br />
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As a spinoff series debut, this book got the job done thanks to the continuity with the LotU world and some of its characters. My favorite parts of the read, though, introduced and featured the angels serving (grudgingly as that may be) under Zacharel. They are so fabulously flawed and deeply disturbed. I look forward to catching up with them again soon.
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<i><b>Series:</b> Alpha Ops, Book 0.5</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 4 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 112 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I30RC00/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00I30RC00&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=6VTR57UPUDSC3ZDB" target="_blank">Kindle</a><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by Forever Yours publisher Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Surprisingly Robust and Sexy Novella</b></div>
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Three years ago an anonymous night of passion with a sinfully sexy man served as both comfort and solace to journalist Grace Grainger. Memories from that night have helped her weather three, year-long tours with combat troops in Afghanistan, so when she gets separated from her patrol and caught behind enemy lines, she expects those memories will help her get through another night until she's rescued.<br />
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What she doesn't expect is her rescuer to be the same man who helped <i>make </i>those memories.<br />
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<i>That others may live.</i> That is the pararescuer creed, one Master Sergeant Josh Travers has lived by for years. Then the rescue mission he's on goes sideways and Josh finds himself cut off from his team and stuck behind enemy lines with the last person on the planet he thought he'd stumble across in Afghanistan. He hasn't seen that face, those eyes, or that body for three long, hot, sweat-and-danger soaked years, but he's never forgotten her. <br />
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Now Josh has to do his job to the absolute best of his abilities and get them both the hell out of there, or those memories are all that he and Grace will ever have of each other...for the too-brief time they'll survive.<br />
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~*~</div>
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While military-themed romance and romantic suspense aren't truly favorites of mine, there are a few series with that theme that I have and do enjoy. If this prequel novella by Curtis is any indication, I will be adding the <i>Alpha Ops</i> series to that short list.<br />
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I can't say I was crazy about the beginning of this story, though. The introduction of main characters Josh and Grace wasn't to my personal taste. I struggled with Grace's deception about her identity and Josh's evasions with his, as well as the deliberate intention of both of them to hit it and quit it. It was all just a bit too impersonal and calculated for me to fully enjoy, regardless of the personal demons riding them at the time.<br />
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Thankfully, that's all I disliked. Despite the setup, I actually liked both Josh and Grace as characters. They felt refreshingly realistic to me, with flaws and peccadilloes craftily woven together with personal strengths to bulk up their characterizations and add impetus to the romance arc of the story. Maybe there wasn't as much complexity as I would hope to see in characters in a full-length novel, but for a novella, I was well satisfied and quite pleased by both of them.<br />
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It didn't hurt that Josh and Grace do a lot more than get groiny in this novella, and are more then the sum of their sex scenes. There's quite a bit of story going on around them, with both a war and a hostile environment threatening their lives constantly. It made for a tense, suspenseful read, and I loved that Grace had just as important a hand in their survival as Josh did. This wasn't a story about an uber-alpha warrior riding to the fair maiden's rescue. Grace more than held her own, often gave as good as she got, and I loved her for it. <br />
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There was actually quite a lot to love about this novella. Too often stories of this length are a crap shoot for me. Either they're too light on characterization and story and end up feeling superficial and rushed or they focus too heavily on the relationship of the characters and don't offer nearly as comprehensive an external conflict. This one had a very nice balance of both that ended up leaving me just as satisfied by the story as I was by the sexy good times.<br />
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In fact, Curtis obviously did significant research to flesh out her story and her characters, and the care taken with the military elements of the story in particular were
a high point as a result. If she can write a novella that feels this authentic, robust, and complex, with characters who are more than cookie-cutter stereotypes, I honestly can't wait to find out what she can do with a full-length book. With the first of those, <a href="http://http//www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I829QD4?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B00I829QD4&linkCode=xm2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Over the Line</a>, set to release in early October, I'm happy to say I don't have to wait long.
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<i><b>Series:</b> London Steampunk, Book 3</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 4 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 425 Pages</i><br />
<b><i>Formats:</i></b> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/140227033X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=140227033X&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Paperback</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DDWIT64/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00DDWIT64&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by Sourcebooks Casablanca publisher Sourcebook via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Dark, Vibrant World with Great Characters</b></div>
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She is the power behind the mask, the leader of the humanist revolutionary group. To most of them, and to the aristocratic Echelon of blue bloods she is intent on destroying, she is known only as Mercury. Few know her real name or gender. Rosalind prefers it that way.<br />
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In fact, she would have kept her gender a closely guarded secret if her late-night smuggling operation hadn't been crashed by the bane of her existence, the Master of the Guild of Nighthawks himself, Sir Jasper Lynch. Unfortunately, Lynch, obviously just as much bloodhound as he is blue blood, gets the drop on her, and it's only that brief moment of surprise when he realizes she's a woman that gives her the opportunity to evade capture.<br />
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Lynch still manages to thwart - at least temporarily - Mercury's master plan to wage war on the Echelon, and that, combined with the stress from not knowing if her younger brother is dead or alive after the bombing a few months ago, realigns a few of Rosalind's priorities.<br />
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She decides its time to beard the lion in his den. Going undercover as Lynch's secretary is a mad, risky, maybe even foolish move, but she's as determined to find her brother as she is to protect her people. Whether Mercury's passion for the fight against the Echelon will survive the indomitable will and honorable nature of Sir Jasper Lynch, however, is a question that neither the woman, nor the revolutionary, can answer.<br />
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~*~ </div>
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I love the world McMaster has created for this series. It's a strong, vivid backdrop that serves each book as a fictional twelfth man. The steampunk elements have had, to date, a presence that trends more towards the subtle end of the spectrum, but that's never been a problem for me. In fact, I've enjoyed the broader emphasis on the unique paranormal elements, though this one did have more of a balance between the two given blue blood Jasper and mech Rosalind as protagonists on opposite sides of their sticky situation.<br />
<br />
The two of them were great characters, at their best when they were together. I wasn't thrilled with Lena and Will in the previous book. Lena was too weak and Will too much a martyr for too much page time in that one for me to be satisfied with either of them. There is nothing weak in Rosalind - she's exactly the sort of strong, keenly intelligent, occasionally bull-headed heroine with a heart I prefer for my leading ladies. Lord Jasper, her perfect complement, does have a bit of a self-sacrificing streak, but honestly, he has a damn good reason, one that is driven by his sense of honor, not frustrating (and ill-placed) feelings of unworthiness.<br />
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I liked Jasper so much. There was something about him, and about that strict control he maintains over every aspect of his life...a control that Rosalind blows through with delicious speed and ease, much to his consternation, that made him seem so unapproachable yet endearingly vulnerable. It was an appealing blend of humanizing contradictions, foibles and strengths, and a sense of honor in a world that has little respect for the word.<br />
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The chemistry he and Rosalind had together was swoon-worthy. Whichever incarnation of Rosalind crossed his path, the physical attraction between them was a conflagration eclipsed only by the brilliance of their sharply-matched wits and traded barbs. They were perfectly suited and I loved them together.<br />
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The plot of the story wasn't quite as heavily flavored with Echelon politicking as the previous book, thankfully. There was an interesting - and tragic - murder mystery that Jasper and Rosa were dealing with. It wasn't the focal point of the story, really, there was so much going on that there really wasn't one main plot thread, more several strong storylines woven together to the benefit of the whole. Those story threads were well-defined and highlighted the evolution of both Jasper and Rosa's characters throughout the arc of the story.<br />
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Rosalind's evolution was the most impressive element of this one for me. McMaster has a deft hand when creating wounded, troubled, and utterly unique characters, often thrusting them into the most untenable situations. Rosalind was no exception. As Mercury, she's a dangerous, revenge-driven revolutionary. As Rosa, she's a bright, world-wise woman, determined but satisfied with her lot. Her hatred of the Echelon forged her, but her ability to look beyond her prejudices when faced with contradicting evidence defined her and kept her likable.<br />
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She was far less noble a character than Jasper for a good portion of the story. That's rare, especially in stories with historical settings. It's usually the male lead who is the dangerous bad boy in romance, but that wasn't exactly the case here and I liked the switch up a lot.<br />
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I was a little troubled at the end of the book, though. The climax and resolution to both the external and romantic conflicts weren't as satisfying for me as I had hoped they would be. It got the job done well enough, I suppose, tying up several threads that needed closure, but the manner in which those threads were tied was a bit too reminiscent of the conflict resolutions in the first two books. Nothing so egregious that it felt like I was reading the same ending with different characters, but enough that I felt there was more than vague similarity there.<br />
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That bothered me, in large part because everything else about each book has been so fresh, original, and unique, that even the vaguest sense of similarity stood out to me like a flashing sign. Lets just say I'd be quite happy not to come across another Standoff at the Echelon Corral in the next few books in the series.<br />
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Frankly, this series is just too good for that sort of issue to crop up and tarnish the read. The world is darkly compelling and sophisticated, the characters as unique as they are dangerous, and their stories a complex tapestry of grim threat, fragile hope, and steely determination. I'm a big fan. I want to be able to continue to be for a long time coming.
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<i><b>Series:</b> McCormack Security Agency, Book 3</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 3 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 273 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EFPNV48/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00EFPNV48&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=4SJOO76BHCXWIGUP" target="_blank">Kindle</a><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by Carina Press via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Uneven Tone Hurts the Read</b></div>
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When the father of a good friend is murdered and her friend is viciously attacked, MSA operations manager Vicky Hastings is determined to have her first field assignment be the undercover investigation that will identify and catch the perpetrators. There's just one small problem. Her partner for the mission is Ryan Brennan.<br />
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Okay...the MSA agent and undercover specialist is not a <i>small</i> problem. Sinfully sexy problem, yes. Small, no. Unfortunately, the gorgeous but frustrating man sees her only as a friend and is completely dismissive of her talents and her contributions to the agency. He's none too thrilled with the idea of being her partner on this assignment, either.<br />
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Well he'll just have to suck it up and deal with it, because Vicky is determined to catch the killers and gain Ryan's respect as a valued member of the MSA team. She just hopes she doesn't die trying.<br />
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~*~</div>
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There were things I liked about this third installment of Curtis' <i>McCormack Security Agency</i> series. Despite a limited amount of exposition to set this book into the series and a perplexing setup for the plot conflict (why was a security agency doing what police are supposed to do?), the story starts with a vicious killing that sets the sort of dark, edgy tone that I like in romantic suspense, and there's no doubt that the killers are Bad Guys riding the Crazy Train. That worked for me, as did several crafty, well-conceived and executed plot points in the suspense thread. Overall, I was surprised and pleased by the big picture of the conflict when it's finally revealed late in the book as it reaches its climax.<br />
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There were also elements of the romance that amused and charmed, and the cute, sometimes goofy, sexy heat between Vicky and Ryan made up for some of the less favorable points in their relationship. Despite a hearty dose of emotional immaturity on both their parts, and the confusing, difficult-to-believe premise of friendship between them (I never bought that setup, no matter what they said), they sort of worked for me as a romantic couple. <br />
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Unfortunately, the lighter tone of their relationship was at such odds with the severity of the opening sequences and the seriousness of the suspense, that I found the two elements jarring when taken together in context. Instead of blending and weaving together cohesively, the suspense threads and the romance threads never came together for me and ended up feeling very disparate throughout the book.<br />
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And I'm sorry, but I have to vent. When you and your partner have just found a viciously assaulted young woman bleeding out and dangerously near death, then you have to toss the dying woman over your shoulder to race away from the scene before the bomb that was planted kills you all, the very last thing on your mind should be the fine bum of your friend/partner. <br />
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I think Ryan having to tell himself not to stare at Vic's ass mere moments after bearing witness to horrific brutality and nearly getting blown to bits was <i>supposed</i> to be cute, but to me, it was so completely inappropriate in the moment that it didn't give me much of a first impression of Ryan's character.<br />
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That situation wasn't helped by the borderline incompetence and lack of professionalism evidenced by Vicky and Ryan once they were undercover. The whole premise of them going undercover as a married couple was a pretty heavy-handed and overused romantic suspense trope to begin with. And once they've inserted into the scenario, they spent so much time bickering at each other and flagrantly one-upping each other with ridiculous cover story that the investigation got lost in the shuffle.<br />
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I was also a little unhappy with Vicky's naiveté, nerves, and discomfort with Ryan's proximity once they were under. For someone who fought so hard to get where she was, claiming over and over that she was ready and more than able to do the job, desperate to prove herself, she came off as a complete powder puff at crunch time, or worse, a very disappointing gender stereotype.<br />
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Truth is, though, for me it was really all about the tone. Because of how the story started, the lighter elements weren't as successful for me as they could have been. On their own and in a different setting, I could really have enjoyed the romance arc and would have had more patience for the characters and their quirks.<br />
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Had the lighter romance been more in line with the darker suspense threads, this could have been a very solid read for me. As it is, the disparate pieces just didn't quite fit right. There were good points for sure, just not enough of them to elevate the story as a whole.
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<i><b>Series:</b> Task Force Eagle, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 2 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 188 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Never-Surrender-Task-Force-Eagle/dp/1489560289/ref=tmm_pap_title_0" target="_blank">Paperback</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C9JUB2C/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00C9JUB2C&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=67L3JJSXOZXGQKOB" target="_blank">Kindle</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00C9JUB2C" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<i><b>Disclosure:</b> A copy of this book was provided to me by the author for review. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Struggled with the Romance</b></div>
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There is nothing Juliana Paris wouldn't do to protect her younger brother, even if it means withholding information from the sexiest man she's ever seen, DEA Agent Ricardo Cruz. Juliana doesn't trust cops and the DEA is just another type of cop agency as far as she's concerned. If her brother is in trouble, and it looks like he definitely is, Juliana will find him and she'll keep him safe. Keep him free. Fix whatever it is he's done wrong this time.<br />
<br />
Except this time, Juliana discovers, there are worse things than sexy DEA agents looking to imprison her brother on drug trafficking charges. There is a vicious drug cartel who think she's got something that would incriminate them, and they're coming for her hard. With her brother on the run and Agent Rick Cruz breathing down her neck, Juliana may need to rethink a few of her trust issues. Her life - and the life of her brother - may depend on it.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
~*~</div>
<br />
This book started out okay for me. It didn't break any new ground in the genre, the story as a whole is a bit too generic and lacking in complexity and the suspense plotline is a bit too predictable, but both Juliana and Rick had moments when they really shone as characters, and I enjoyed their contentious interplay in the first half of the book. They made that part of the ride worth the trip.<br />
<br />
I liked the solid foundation of personal history that shaped each of them as characters. Rick's loss of his brother was the source of his zeal to stop the cartel and take down its evil leader and Juliana's overprotective fervor for her brother and the desperation that drives most of her actions was born out of her own childhood traumas. Those were nice, organic touches that helped define the characters and added a layer of believability. <br />
<br />
That didn't necessarily make them consistently appealing, though. Rick was a bit of a dog, actually. He's a good looking guy who appreciates all women...especially the ones he can charm into bed. And he's very charming. Just ask him. I liked him most of the time, but have to admit, there were times when he came off rather shallow and manipulative with that charm of his.<br />
<br />
Juliana frustrated me. I can't say I disliked her, exactly, but she seemed to have a stubborn resistance to anything resembling sense in the first half of the book and it made her seem very immature. I understood, even sympathized at times with her desire to keep her brother safe, but I can't say she went about it in the best ways. Unfortunately, my biggest problem with her - and the book - came at just past the halfway mark, when out of nowhere she suddenly realizes she's in love with Rick - the same guy she's been openly distrustful of and withholding evidence from at every turn up to that point...and beyond.<br />
<br />
I'm all for a healthy bit of lusty good times, but her love for him at that point in the story was way too abrupt and lacking in necessary foundation for my taste. In fact, I think I got a little whiplash from the shocking about-face.<br />
<br />
Still, I think I could have accepted that shocker and still mostly enjoyed the second half of the book if the romance had been handled better from that point. Unfortunately, the chemistry between Juliana and Rick worked better for me before they got together than it ever did after. The relationship-centric scenes suffered from stilted, awkward dialogue that made me cringe in places and what little sexuality was included stayed closer to tepid, child-friendly levels of description. For fans of the more circumspect sex scene this might be a big plus for the book, but that's not where my preferences lie.<br />
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Too many other things went wrong for me from there, too. The brother Juliana is trying to protect comes off as selfish and a bit stupid, the thugs causing most of the trouble never really seemed all that threatening to me, and the plot threads surrounding the leak in the DEA office and the identity of the cartel's American partner were so anemic they offered nothing of substance to the plot. Between that and Rick's team, who lacked the definition necessary to give them any impact on the story at all, far too many of the golden opportunities to broaden the scope of the story or better layer the plot went unexplored and unrealized. <br />
<br />
Had the romance not put such a damper on the read for me, maybe I would have been more forgiving of the limited suspense plot. This isn't a long book, so I'm less of a stickler in that regard. I may not have loved it, but I wouldn't have ended up as dissatisfied as I was. Unfortunately, too much of my overall impression of the story is hampered by what was, to me, a sometimes painful and odd romance arc. There were good points to both the characters and the story in this book, but the bad outweighed them for me this time.
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<i><b>Series:</b> Dark Kings, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 3 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 384 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250041368/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1250041368&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=57N3AFH2AZ7ATJ6U" target="_blank">Paperback</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G1DN872/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00G1DN872&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=3ZMN6IDKLYCFTZYW" target="_blank">Kindle</a><br />
<i><b>Series Parts:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GQ607BE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00GQ607BE&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=HCBRGSN2D2D2RZUR" target="_blank">Darkest Flame: Part 1</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H0UT6N0/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00H0UT6N0&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=PIYZWJTLKEGP47SS" target="_blank">Part 2</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H0UT6O4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00H0UT6O4&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=C6NXGSF4T7CEKAE6" target="_blank">Part 3</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H0UT716/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00H0UT716&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=4ER6L4YHJXLWO6ZY" target="_blank">Part 4</a> <br />
<i><b>Note:</b> Though I read this book in its series parts (1-4), I couldn't figure out a way to review those parts individually without making myself nuts, so this review is for the book as a whole.</i><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of parts 1-3 of this book were provided to me by St. Martin's Press via Netgalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>More Flash than Substance</b></div>
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When MI5 agent Denae Lecroix was sent on a mission to infiltrate Draegan Industries, she knew something was off with the assignment. She just didn't know how off it was until her partner turned on her and tried to kill her after they'd pushed deep into Draegan's land. That betrayal cut almost as deeply as the knife wound she took before she...ended the partnership.<br />
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Waking up from a sleep that spanned over a thousand years to find two humans battling to the death in his cave, Dragon King Kellan was so surprised by their trespass that he was able to curb the instinct to kill the interlopers. <br />
<br />
And he remembered his responsibility. Good thing for the surviving female that he did, too. No matter how much he loathed humans, a race full of murderous, wretched betrayers, his word was a bond, obligating him to take the surviving human female to the King of Kings before he could wash his hands of the race and sleep once more.<br />
<br />
What Kellan learns when he takes Denae to his King changes everything. With old enemies allying with humans and the Dragon Kings being targeted in a way they have never been before, their fate could very well rest in the hands of one not-quite-dead MI5 spy and her willingness to embrace a world that she couldn't have ever dreamed existed alongside her own.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
~*~</div>
<br />
It was nice reading a spin-off series opener that truly didn't require me to have read the series from which it spun. Grant did a really nice job introducing the Dragon Kings and their world in such a way that gave a nod to what came before, but didn't depend on it too heavily. There were a few scenes that would probably have had more of an emotional impact on me if I'd been familiar with their backstory, but nothing that confused me or made me feel lost. <br />
<br />
There were several elements of Denae and Kellan's story that I liked quite a lot, and a couple of characters (Rhi especially) who endeared themselves quickly and deeply. I also thought the world and backstory were well-conceived, the history of the dragons tragic but, odd as it may sound, believable, and the dynamic between Dragon Kings, humans, and Fae - both Light and Dark - was fascinating. It all meshed together well and provided a solid framework for the story's foundation.<br />
<br />
Plus, dragon shifters. I'm a sucker for dragon shifters.<br />
<br />
Those were all lovely pieces of the story puzzle, but I can't say I was completely won over by the way it all came together. There wasn't quite enough focus on a cohesive plot for me and too much of the story got hung up on Denae and Kellan's attraction to one another to the exclusion of other necessary story elements.<br />
<br />
Instead of laying groundwork for the arc of the series, or offering a sophisticated evolution of characters and story, too much of the narrative was spent telling me again and again how smart, strong, independent, gorgeous, etc. Kellan found Denae (despite his hatred of humans) and how unimaginably sexy and fierce and amazing Denae found Kellan. Unfortunately, there wasn't a whole lot in the story that evidenced either of those things to me as a reader, so it came off as a repetitive Tell versus Show situation unsupported by the reality of the content. <br />
<br />
There were a few opportunities for plot progression, and scenes that made me think the book was getting into the nitty-gritty, especially during battle scenes or moments of suspense and tension. Instead of broadening and expanding on those points of conflict, though, the scenes tended to start and end quickly and were very sparse in description or definition. And far, far too many elements were introduced as teasers that never got anything even approaching explanation, let alone resolution.<br />
<br />
Rhi's former relationship with a Dragon King. Con's hatred of Ulrick. And Rhi. His questionable actions in the past and conflicted ones now. The Silvers. The identity of the Bad Guy. Why that Bad Guy wanted Kellan. The MI5/Dark Fae alliance. Tristan's transition into a Dark King. The impact of human mates on the dragons. The dissension in the Kings' ranks.<br />
<br />
And that's just off the top of my head. There were more things, sources of conflict or questions raised, that added to the pile of things that remained completely unresolved or unanswered by the end. The only thread that was resolved, in fact, was the relationship between Denae and Kellan.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, as characters, I couldn't quite garner much more than ambivalence for either of them. Their story just didn't give me enough reason to do so. Denae was too inconsistent. She kept reminding Kellan that she could handle herself and was a well-trained spy, but I don't recall many instances after the initial fight with her partner where she acquitted herself well in that regard. In fact, she had to rely almost exclusively and more than once on Kellan's help just to survive with both mind and body intact.<br />
<br />
Kellan, on the other hand, was perfectly consistent...a perfectly consistent jerk. Between his oft-mentioned hatred of the human race and his unmitigated sense of superiority, I found him hard to take in the first half of the book and only marginally more palatable in the second.<br />
<br />
There was a scene where he completely dismisses Denae's grievous personal losses because, as a dragon, his are so much more significant - then he jumps her for some wild monkey sex. That pretty much slammed the door closed on any lingering feelings of sympathy I had for him, and it severely damaged my respect for Denae's strength of character, because though she called him on his insensitivity, she sure doesn't hold him off or demand an apology for his galling opinions. He's apparently just too awesomely male to resist, regardless of his crappy attitude.<br />
<br />
Adding in my issue with the too-abrupt (for my tastes) relationship timeline, and the romance elements of the story didn't work so well for me. <br />
<br />
There were definitely parts of this book that shined brightly, but they just weren't given enough room to really gain a toehold in the narrative. Those good parts were fresh, original, and eminently entertaining, but neither the romance between Denae and Kellan nor either character individually worked well enough for me to convince me to stick around to see if all those teasers eventually get explained or all the unresolved issues eventually get their resolution. At best, this was an okay read for me overall, but not one I wish to follow up on with future books.
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<i><b>Series:</b> N/A</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 4 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 360 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1937551253/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1937551253&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=XVNB4RYBFB7F57ZJ" target="_blank">Paperback</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0070O8QUK/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0070O8QUK&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=JLXCOSGTPT52LHF2" target="_blank">Kindle</a>
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<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by Riptide Publishing via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>A Better Book Than Its Cover</b></div>
<br />
Black knows all about the dark underbelly of life. He should. He lives it every night. He and his twin sister were little more than children when circumstances forced them to the streets. Now they're Nightwalkers, selling themselves to survive.<br />
<br />
Not sex...or blood, for that matter. Their vampire johns - Lyche, they call themselves - don't drink blood, and sex has never been one of the services the siblings offer. Besides, vampires have other needs. What Black and his sister sell is their chi, their life energy.<br />
<br />
Hey, it's a renewable resource, and vampires pay well for it. Not that the transaction is risk-free. Quite the contrary, especially as he and his sister don't just sell their chi. They steal vampire chi for themselves in the process.<br />
<br />
Turns out, their johns don't appreciate that much, a fact that becomes painfully clear when Black taps the very last vampire he should have anything to do with, Monsieur Garthelle. Not only is Garthelle the top vampire in the city and the law of the land, but the chi tap Black did on the guy goes wrong in a way that no other has.<br />
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Now he's got two choices. Either he lets Garthelle turn him and his sister into his two pet spies during some swanky party thing the vampire is holding for his nearest and dearest not-exactly-friends, or Garthelle will end them both.<br />
<br />
Which really isn't any choice at all, is it? <br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
~*~</div>
<br />
With a fresh and original twist on vampire mythos and a complex and intricate story, Etzweiler's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0070O8QUK/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0070O8QUK&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20&linkId=JLXCOSGTPT52LHF2">Blacker than Black</a> was a much more entertaining read than I was expecting based on the cover alone. No offense to the art designer, but wow - that cover does this book no favors at all. Fortunately, both the atmospheric world and Black's travails after biting off more of Garthelle's chi than he could handle made up for it nicely.<br />
<br />
I loved the mystery and investigation surrounding the murdered Lyche, and the world that Black and his sister are surviving in has just enough of a touch of slightly futuristic dystopian nightmare to give it a seedy, humans-are-second-class-citizens-at-best flavor but not so much that it turned me off (I'm not normally a fan). It was a nice balance, and all the meatiest plot threads were woven together in a way that slowly revealed more and more pertinent details about the characters and the Lyche culture.<br />
<br />
It wasn't love at first chapter for me, though. I have to admit, I had to work at it a bit in the beginning. Black is narrating his story in first person perspective. Nothing unusual about that; a good majority of urban fantasy fiction is the same. What was unique...and, for me, off-putting, was the present tense in the telling. It made the beginning of the book in particular feel a bit odd and jarring, and I was well into the story before I realized I was no longer getting jerked out of the read every few minutes by the style of the narration.<br />
<br />
The fact that Black wasn't my favorite character didn't help matters, either. I didn't dislike him. He had several good points. I just didn't think he was all that strong as the lead character - especially in comparison to his sister, who I loved. Black tended to focus too much on the fallout of his tap of Garthelle's chi for my taste, shortchanging the story's potential for more comprehensive world building and additional plot depth.<br />
<br />
And because the story is being told by Black, who is almost completely ignorant of Lyche culture and all the labyrinthian politics, obfuscated loyalties, and seemingly cross-purpose agendas, he didn't serve as a very good source of information about them as the story progressed. I was forced to learn what I could as Black did, around his obsession with fighting off the effect of Garthelle's chi. There just wasn't sufficient explanation for me to be able to fully immerse myself in the world, or be consistently solid on was going on in it.<br />
<br />
I liked what there was, don't get me wrong, and some of it I liked a whole lot. There just wasn't quite enough of it for me. <br />
<br />
Black's sister would have made a stronger protagonist, I think (though that would obviously have put the kibosh on the M/M leanings). She was brash, cagey, independent, and showed no fear, even when she felt it. And she loved the hell out of her brother, which softened her roughest edges nicely. I was saddened to see her so underutilized in the story, but every moment of page time she got improved whichever scene that included her.<br />
<br />
Garthelle was the other character that really worked for me. I can't say I feel like I knew him all that well by the end, and I still don't completely buy his motives or the wisdom of the decision to bring Black and his sister into his situation, but I loved his inscrutable, stoic exterior, especially when it was so clearly covering up a much more vulnerable side of himself. His machinations were deliciously Machiavellian, but those moments when he let his guard down around Black were some of my favorites of the book.<br />
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It all set a nice foundation for the personal conflict between him and Black, but as most of Black's best efforts were made with the hopes of getting out from under Garthelle's influence, it threw a monkey wrench into the arc of the romantic relationship between them. I just never felt they were ever on equal footing - neither in Lyche culture nor in the relationship that slowly develops between them. That put a serious crimp on the romance-flavored aspects and made some stuff at the end of the book not quite as satisfying as I would have preferred.<br />
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If this was a first book in a series, I think most of my other issues with parts of the story - an abrupt ending, the odd relationship jump between Black and Garthelle, and the myriad questions that lingered after the final page - would have been largely mitigated. Plus, I'm greedy. When I'm impressed by the originality of a book's world or the freshness of the plot, I can only want more.<br />
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This book begs a sequel. Or a series. As a stand alone it was entertaining, if not always consistently so, and I liked it. If it was the start of something bigger, it may have been love by the end. For now, I can only hope to see more of Black and Garthelle...and Red and Blue, for that matter...at some point in the future.
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<i><b>Series:</b> In the Zone, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 3.5 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 272 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GKBIQMW/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00GKBIQMW&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00GKBIQMW" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by both the author and Carina Press via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFnRzhX0pGT0CYdiRQhXufDxqMOL48r4LeG5EKsuGmBdTq-9LHQSX1uw5Q9Mtlkoidi2iBjUeK11hMF9WZIi58GM_sSeVrB0q3Uh97ebqYy_5h4xUbfWpjk-zNSNqJajYy_zY4sOpR7uLP/s1600/On+the+Surface.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFnRzhX0pGT0CYdiRQhXufDxqMOL48r4LeG5EKsuGmBdTq-9LHQSX1uw5Q9Mtlkoidi2iBjUeK11hMF9WZIi58GM_sSeVrB0q3Uh97ebqYy_5h4xUbfWpjk-zNSNqJajYy_zY4sOpR7uLP/s1600/On+the+Surface.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b>Slap Shot of Sweet and Sexy Fun</b></div>
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Being traded to a new team isn't fun, but it could be just what NHL player Tim Hollander needs for a fresh start in a new town, a town where he's not as haunted by the memories of the daughter he lost to a cruel disease at too young an age. Now he has to win over the fans of the San Diego Barracudas while he fights to prove himself on the ice to the team that's taking a chance on him. He has to be focused. Work harder than he ever has. Avoid distractions.<br />
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It's a good plan. A workable plan. And it's a plan that gets blown to hell the minute he meets the feisty, fiery Erin Collier at a publicity event.<br />
<br />
Erin doesn't know a thing about hockey, but she knows the doctor she's interested in catching is a big fan. Seeing the publicity event at a nearby restaurant when she stops to pick up lunch seems kismet. She can get an autograph from a famous player and turn that into the sexy doctor's appreciation.<br />
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When that quest for autograph turns into an altercation with a belligerent fan, it's Tim Hollander that comes to her rescue, and soon Erin is forgetting all about that sexy doctor. She's too busy learning all about hockey...and even sexier hockey players.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
~*~</div>
<br />
I love a good sports romance. Doesn't matter the sport, really, though I do favor football and hockey. Great news for me, then, that Kate Willoughby hits the ice with sexy, romance-y, hockey playing fun in this new series. I've had a fan girl crush on Willoughby since her <i>Be-Wished</i> series (paranormal romantica fans should check that out), so when I found out she was working on this, well...lets just say there was squeeing and happy wiggling and leave it at that. It was embarrassing, really. <br />
<br />
But I was so happy!<br />
<br />
It's a more mainstream romance with a tamer sexuality level than her <i>Be-Wished</i> series, but it has the same depth of emotion and story that got me hooked on Willoughby's writing to begin with. It also has a nice mix of sports and romance. The hockey elements never felt superfluous, or just a convenient backdrop for the romance. Instead, it was given enough attention, detail, and significance to the story and the characters that it became one of the defining factors. <br />
<br />
I would have liked more time spent with Tim's teammates and a closer look inside the team's locker room, though. Tim and Erin's story, while charming, cute, and brimming with emotion and sexy good times, was also fairly straightforward and didn't have many ancillary plot threads focusing on detailing Tim's life as a hockey player or his relationships with fellow players. There were a few ancillary characters and plot threads that were introduced early in the book, but the threads petered out and those characters didn't make much of an appearance once the relationship arc between Tim and Erin heated up and commanded the story's focus.<br />
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That's not really a complaint, because I liked the story as it is just fine. I just think a few more layers of could've propelled it into the love range for me.<br />
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The characters didn't have quite the same level of appeal to me as their story did, though. There was nothing wrong with them. I don't mean that. In fact, I can't imagine a more heartbreaking trauma to survive than the death of a child, so Tim in particular tugged at my heart strings from the beginning. I never begrudged him his completely understandable issues, even though they did telegraph a major wrinkle in the relationship with the husband-and-kids-wanting Erin.<br />
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My problem was that Tim was just slightly more in touch with his hearts-and-flowers emotional side than I prefer in my romantic heroes, and a bit too quick to fall wholeheartedly into love with Erin. And Erin, though feisty and determined, with a generous heart and giving nature, was just not the sort of woman I can easily relate to.<br />
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She was nice. Truly, there wasn't a single bad thing about her. It's just...the book introduces her while she's trying to catch Dr. O's romantic interest by baking for him until he loves her. That was way too Fifties Housewife for me to feel comfortable with her as the romantic lead and it left me with a less than favorable first impression that lingered well into the book. Even after that improved, I struggled to relate to her long term goals and desires. She was just a bit too much of a gender stereotype for me. <br />
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But there were great things in the book, too. Things that touched me, or made me grin, or even tear up a little. The story was great. The hockey was great. The writing was great. The characters just weren't quite up there for me. I still got a total feel-good buzz by the end, and I'm looking forward to Willoughby's next installment. It's sports romance. It's hockey. It's Willoughby. I'm so there.<br />
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<b>Quotable:</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #0b5394;">The cat was not only out of the bag, it was fucking running around knocking shit over.</span></blockquote>
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<i><b>Series:</b> N/A</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 4 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 265 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1627982159/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1627982159&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Paperback</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1627982159" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GD20VXA/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00GD20VXA&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00GD20VXA" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> A copy of this book was provided to me by the author for review. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>An Emotional Journey</b></div>
<br />
It started with a girl.<br />
<br />
Grad student Savannah Meyers seems exactly the sort of complex and beautiful young woman that most reliably catches the eye and holds the interest of contractor Robby Dalton, and Robby is thrilled when she agrees to meet him for coffee.<br />
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It turns out to be a really good date. Sort of. At least, he thinks so. Honestly, Savannah's a little hard to read, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Besides, she agrees to see him again, so Robby's very optimistic. And interested. Of course he's very interested.<br />
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He just wasn't expecting their next date to include another guy - one who obviously has a history...and a present...with the pretty Savannah. After that curve ball, a little confusion is perfectly understandable, right? Or a lot...given Robby's utterly stunned, mostly uncomfortable, yet undeniable physical reaction to the gorgeous and haunted Tristan.<br />
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After all, Robby's not gay. It's all about the girl. Really. Even if they're a package deal. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
~*~</div>
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My feelings are so conflicted about this book. It's definitely like nothing I've ever read before, and I liked both the uniqueness of story and the wealth of emotion Kerick stirs with the personal journeys of main characters Robby and Tristan, with Savi's unconventional assist. It was gripping in places, heart-rending and painful. Other parts were soothingly, gently hopeful or sweetly, charmingly romantic. A good part of it was tense and a little confusing - in that totally good way of reading a story that's drawn you so deeply into a character's life that his or her perplexed discomfort becomes your own.<br />
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Then there were the parts that infuriated and frustrated me, both on behalf of the trials Robby and Tristan face (a testament to how affected I was by them), and in a less positive way at the story itself, which had a few elements that didn't appeal.<br />
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For the first three quarters of the book I was totally hooked. I absolutely loved this unusual, touching, emotional story. I loved Robby, with his befuddlement and earnest social awkwardness in the face of his complex and confusing reactions to both Savannah and Tristan. His journey locked me into this book and refused to let me go. And Tristan, the sweet man-child with a gentle soul and horrific past, made my heart ache.<br />
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He is such a broken young man, our Tristan, so fragile in so many ways, and yet there's such a guileless innocence and decency in him that I just wanted everything to work out for him, because he desperately deserved happiness, peace, and unlimited love.<br />
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It didn't matter to me in the slightest that the unconventional relationship between Tristan, Robby, and Savannah wasn't to my taste for romance. Frankly, the dynamic between Robby and Tristan didn't work for me in that regard, anyway, so I just stopped expecting any sexy M/M romance from the story early in. That helped tremendously. <br />
<br />
In fact, this read much more to me like a coming of age story than anything else...except that all parties are already of age (despite the kid's card games and boyish nicknames). It was just far more effective for me as an emotional journey of self-discovery, acceptance, and healing than any sort of romance.<br />
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That's generally not something I like to read, but for the first three quarters of this book I was utterly and totally captivated by the characters and their lives. I loved everything about it. Well, okay, I loathed Robby's friend Mikey. From his introduction he did nothing but disgust me. That wouldn't have been too big a problem, though, if it didn't also draw Robby's strength of character into question for putting up with him for so long.<br />
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Still, I was dealing with that well enough right up until the incident between Mikey and Tristan. That's where the story started to stumble for me. The aftermath of that scene did more than draw Robby's strength of character into question. It obliterated it, as well as any respect I had for him as a human being for his response - or astounding lack thereof - to what Mikey had done. But it got worse, because there was also Robby's father.<br />
<br />
Again, the problem wasn't that Robby's father wouldn't be winning any Father (or Husband) of the Year awards. He's a controlling, close-minded homophobe, but I expect to encounter at least one in stories of this type, so while I detested him, he was not the issue. No, it was Robby's choices and actions after the inevitable face-to-face with the man that derailed the story for me and put another series of large dents into Robby's knight-in-tarnished armor.<br />
<br />
By that point in the story, I was hating on Robby almost as much as I was on his dad and Mikey. Fortunately, it was relatively near to the end of the book. Unfortunately, the too-abrupt resolution to everything didn't quite redeem Robby to me before the story ends, so in general the book ended in a less positive place for me than it was throughout the first three quarters of the story.<br />
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It also begs mentioning that the book's cover art, which practically oozes an implication of hot, sexy, mature content, utterly fails to reflect the New Adult tone of the story and the extremely tame (mostly glossed over) sexuality in the two brief scenes in which sex occurs. The cover is sexy and beautiful, no argument there, but that art shouldn't be on a book with a story that refers to a man's dangly bits as his "privates" during the only moderately descriptive sex scene in the whole book. Fortunately, it didn't affect my opinions of the story, but that's only because I didn't see it before I finished the book.
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<i><b>Series:</b> London Undead, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 4.5 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 89 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BZPJRQM/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00BZPJRQM&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00BZPJRQM" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by Carina Press via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Lots to Devour in this Small Bite</b></div>
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The scream that rips through the night while Seth is on patrol is, sadly, not an uncommon sound for the werewolf shifter and London pack's Alpha. Not since the zombie outbreak turned London into a literal dead zone. As common as it may be, though, Seth has no intention of letting it go unheeded. Chasing the echoes of the scream into the nearby park, Seth is stunned to see a pretty human woman standing over a small family, fiercely protecting them, her guns blazing at the horde of walking dead attacking them.<br />
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Maisie knows she's in a world of trouble. Her ammo is running out, the people she's trying to save are so petrified they can't even help themselves, and the zombies attacking aren't acting like the zombies she's depressingly familiar with. These are faster, their attacks coordinated.<br />
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The huge, half-shifted werewolf that suddenly appears and starts tearing through the zombies with brutal efficiency startles her at first, but Maisie can hardly complain about the much-needed assist. Maybe she'll live through the night after all. But if these new, faster, more intelligent zombies are indicative of a shift in the zombie population, it's going to take more than a sexy alpha werewolf and a tough chick with guns and a limp to save what's left of London. It'll take a miracle.<br />
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~*~</div>
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Wow, this was such a fun read. Frankly, I wasn't expecting to like it nearly as much as I did. I'm not a fan of zombies, so I tend to avoid books that feature them, but I was curious about the mix of shifter romance and zombie apocalypse in this novella. I thought I'd give it a chance, but my expectations weren't high. By the end, every one of those expectations were greatly exceeded. <br />
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Despite the short length of this novella, there is an abundance of world building, plenty of action, and enough depth of character that both Seth and Maisie were more well-rounded than I'm used to reading in stories of this length. And the tale is written with a fast, engaging style and has a healthy serving of humor that appealed to me, despite the bleak post-apocalyptic London setting and the zombies that made it that way.<br />
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Both Seth and Maisie were quirky, completely likable characters, especially the indomitable Maisie, who I adored, and their chemistry was off the charts. <br />
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The relationship between them built up a lot faster than I normally prefer in my romance, as the entire story timeline takes place over a couple of days, but Seth and Maisie acknowledge that in the narrative, and that, along with the fact that Seth's werewolf nature allowed for a bit more leniency from me about that, served to mitigate any serious issue with how quick they get to their Happily Ever After. Or...well...potential HEA, as the Ever After in the story is fairly dependent on those zombies being dispatched sooner rather than later. <br />
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One of the things I liked most about this story was the wealth of emotional baggage each character is dragging around. Seth has the weight of his responsibilities as pack alpha and the lingering damage from his former lover's betrayal. Maisie is still struggling with the guilt from surviving the zombie attack that killed her family and has a damaged leg and a permanent limp as a daily reminder. Neither one of them were exactly normal and well-adjusted, but both of them were just three dimensional enough to keep from coming off as cardboard cutouts of real people.<br />
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There were a surprising number of twists and turns in the plot given the story's shorter length, but I do wish there had been a bit more attention given to fleshing out and better defining the external conflict of the story. That particular plot element was fairly thin, with so much of the story space having already been allotted to building up the foundation of the world and the characters themselves.<br />
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It actually took me awhile to recognize that there was a specific thread of external conflict going on in the unusual zombie attacks occurring around the city. There was just so much else to focus on that it didn't even occur to me that the tidbits of information about them were being woven into both this particular story's arc as well as the larger series arc until the story started cresting into its climax. Because of that, the end of the story seemed a bit rushed to me and didn't quite answer all the questions I had, nor resolve all the issues.<br />
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Some of that is understandable as part and parcel of being a series debut, but given how everything else was given such perfect attention, I felt the loss. But because everything else was given such perfect attention, and Seth and Maisie did such a good job stealing my heart, it was a loss I can easily live with. <br />
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I wish this had been a full-length novel. And not because I would have liked seeing one or two elements have a bit more room to really be explored in the story...though that is part of the reason. Mostly, though, I just wasn't ready to be finished with Seth and Maisie's story. I loved them so much as characters and a couple that I wanted to spend more time with them both. On the bright side, if Schnyder's goal, like P.T. Barnum's, was to leave them wanting more, Schnyder achieved the hell out of it. I want more from her as an author and more of this series.
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<i><b>Series:</b> Nickie Savage, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 3.5 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 300 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Savage-Deception-Nickie-Series-Book/dp/1614175136/ref=tmm_pap_title_0" target="_blank">Paperback</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H9FJDQ6/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00H9FJDQ6&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00H9FJDQ6" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<i><b>Disclosure:</b> A copy of this book was provided to me by the author for review. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Deception Needs Black Creek</b></div>
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Savage. It's more than a name, it's a way of life.<br />
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Police Detective Nickie Savage had that brutal truth carved into her skin and burned into her mind when she was a child stolen from her home and forced to do things no child should ever have to do. But that was fifteen years ago, her past a bloody, jagged-edged crucible that forged her into the cop she is today.<br />
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She knows that's the reason the Feds have approached her to consult on a case surrounding a child prostitution ring. As suspicious as that makes her, she's quick to fly out to the crime scene in Vegas with Duncan Reed, famous artist, former military explosives expert, sometimes-hacker boyfriend by her side. Walking through the crime scene stirs echoes from her own tragedy, but that's not the worst of it.<br />
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With Duncan providing an assist, Nickie discovers evidence that suggests the perps behind the case are the same sick bastards who stole her from her own bed when she was only fourteen. With the implications of that connection rocking Nickie to the core and dark, painful secrets slowly rising to the surface after over a decade of suppression, it will take everything Nickie has just to stay sane.<br />
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And every trick in Duncan's well-stocked arsenal to keep the woman he loves alive. <br />
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~*~</div>
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Lately it seems I'm plagued with series debuts that don't read like series debuts. It's frustrating. At least in this case, there's a clear reason for it. Main characters Nickie and Duncan are featured in both Wolfe's <i>Black Creek</i> series and in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GM9A238/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00GM9A238&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20">Savage Echoes</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00GM9A238" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, a prequel novella for this series. I'm certain I would have had an easier time with this book had I read those, because there just wasn't enough exposition in this one to sufficiently introduce the characters or explain important story elements before the meat of the plot got going.<br />
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That was a problem for me, as the majority of the plot conflict revolves around Nickie's past, and there are a plethora of references to events and situations that I could only assume took place in one of those other two stories. As a result, I spent most of the first half of the book (and in places in the second half) feeling a general sense of disconnect and varying levels of confused.<br />
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I think my understanding was hampered by the third person limited point of view in which it's written. Though the character focus in the narrative shifts back and forth between Nickie and Duncan, which helped me get better acquainted with each of them, the lack of an omniscient voice didn't allow for a broader picture of their world and their past, and neither character deigned to reminisce on previously established information in a way that would have helped me find and keep my footing with the story.<br />
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That's a shame, too, because I think if I'd had that previously laid groundwork to build on, I could have loved this book.<br />
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I know I loved Duncan and I enjoyed Nickie most of the time - which is saying a lot for me, as I'm very tough on my fictional heroines. There were times when Nickie totally shut down and seemed more the victimized damsel than was comfortable for me, but most of the time she was a tough-as-nails, gritty chick I admired.<br />
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The best parts of the book for me were the scenes that featured both Duncan and Nickie. I absolutely adored them as a couple. Between Duncan's stalwart and unflagging devotion to Nickie and her fierce love for him, despite her myriad issues and their very different personalities, their scenes together stole the show for me. Before I was even sure I liked either character, I loved them together. <br />
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I also liked that their relationship, while obviously new, was already established. I don't read a lot of romance fiction in which that's the case, but I think the romantic suspense genre is a good fit for that particular relationship dynamic. Too, both Duncan and Nickie are very damaged characters, another point that appeals. Characters just seem more realistic to me when they have damage or flaws that impact their lives. We are all, to a one of us, walking wounded.<br />
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The external conflict in the plot was solid and meaty, even though some of the context was lost on me, but a few elements left me perplexed. I couldn't quite get a handle on Nickie's roll on the police force, as she seemed to spend more time investigating the connection between the evidence recovered in Vegas and her own childhood trauma than working any current day-to-day cases.<br />
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Don't get me wrong, I liked the story elements in the book and thought the investigative/police procedural end was nicely done. I just wasn't clear on how she could spend so much time on it over her open, active cases and more recent local crimes. I ended up feeling a little perplexed but mostly entertained by it all.<br />
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Hell, any attempt to end what was going on with the Bad Guys in this book is considered a solid win for me, story-wise.<br />
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Now that I've spent time with Nickie and Duncan and gotten a feel for their personal histories and their relationship, I want to read more, but to be completely honest, it wasn't always easy getting here. I would recommend this book only to readers familiar with the third book in Wolfe's <i>Black Creek</i> series or that prequel novella I mentioned. I certainly wish I had read those, because <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H9FJDQ6/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00H9FJDQ6&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Savage Deception</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00H9FJDQ6" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> is listed as the first book in what has the potential to be a gangbusters romantic suspense series. It just doesn't read like it.
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<i><b>Series:</b> Solsti Prophecy, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 3 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 288 Pages</i><br />
<b><i>Formats:</i></b> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1490904034/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1490904034&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Paperback</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1490904034" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3CDUZS/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00E3CDUZS&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00E3CDUZS" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> A copy of this book was provided to me by the author for review. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Wickedly Nice World</b></div>
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Nicole Bonham knows she and her sisters aren't normal. She doesn't know why that's so any more than she knows where their unique talents come from, but with her ability to manipulate wind and her sisters' talents with fire and water, the three of them are definitely not like the rest of humanity.<br />
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She can accept that. Has accepted it. Never once in her life, though, did Nicole ever doubt she was human. It never crossed her mind that was even a possibility. Then she meets a gorgeous guy in a club. There's no arguing he's smoking hot and, man, he can dance like a demon. As far as Nicole is concerned, it's her lucky night...right up until the guy tells her he actually <i>is</i> a demon.<br />
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If that isn't freak-out-worthy enough, the guy, Gunnar, admits he saw her use her power to help someone earlier that night and he wants to know what sort of supernatural being she is. Yeah, that's pretty much when the freaking out started.<br />
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As a Lash demon, Gunnar is very good at hunting down dangerous demons and keeping them from making a deadly mess in the human realm. After more than two centuries of doing just that, he's gotten very good at identifying supernaturals by their power signature alone. Nicole's power, though, is like nothing he's ever felt before.<br />
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Knowing how the bad guys work leaves him no doubts, either. If any of them find out about Nicole and feel what she can do, they won't bother asking questions, they'll either take her to use her, or they'll destroy her. And that's not something Gunnar is going to let happen. Not when the proud, stubborn female makes him feel things he never knew he could feel and want things he's never wanted before.<br />
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~*~</div>
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This series debut has several really good things going for it. I liked the world quite a lot and appreciated the detailed world-building. There was a nice amount of the story dedicated to fleshing out not just a few of the demon races, but other supernaturals as well. And I loved Gunnar and Nicole's trip to the demon realm, Torth. That was a whole lot of fun.<br />
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There was also a lot of heat in the relationship between Gunnar and Nicole. The chemistry between them was strong from the moment they meet and I liked that a lot, and Kay can definitely right sizzling sex scenes. <br />
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Gunnar and his Lash demon cohorts were fairly typical for the genre and not unlike the main characters of several similar-type paranormal romance series, but that's never been downside to me. I happen to like that particular formula of a brotherhood of alpha-male warriors and they worked for me here. It helped, too, that we met several who intrigued me and kept me entertained beyond just the main characters.<br />
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I enjoyed Nicole through most of the book. Romantic heroines are very often the weak link in books for me, and truthfully, Nicole had her moments, too, most notably late in the book, but I loved her bond with her sisters and she was a strong, independent woman who definitely knew her own mind. I was enamored of her from the moment she decides to use her talent to help people, long before she even knew what she is.<br />
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What she and her sisters are is probably my favorite aspect of the book. I totally dug the idea that they're so rare, even other supernaturals don't believe they are anything but myth. That tickled me, especially when Nicole keeps meeting supernaturals who express their disbelief. That made me grin every time. It was great.<br />
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I have to admit, though, I wasn't sold on the plot of the external conflict. Part of the problem for me was the limited amount of time given to it in the story. The Big Bag doesn't show up until the 67% mark and that was just too late in the book for his plot threads to really offer significant contribution to the story as a whole. It didn't help at all that Nicole had a few TSTL moments that led, in a painfully obvious manner, to a climax that seemed both predictable and abrupt.<br />
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There were also a few too many breakaway scenes for my tastes, scenes that focused on secondary and ancillary characters. I didn't mind Kai's. I liked him a lot and I loved the acrimony between him and Nicole's sister Brooke. It may be easy to see where that's headed, but I adore that sort of conflict, so I'm totally on board with their impending tale and loved how it was set up in this book. And as his story is up next in the series, it made sense that he and Brooke had some groundwork laid here.<br />
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Raniero's, on the other hand, was a problem for me on several different levels.<br />
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I would much rather have had the story offer more depth and definition to the bad guy and his plans instead of pages of excessively detailed information about Raniero's past. And that's not even touching the issue I had with his supposed endless love and relentless search for Ashina - given that he's spent all his free time since he last saw her, and I quote, "buried between the willing thighs of beautiful females." Made it hard to feel anything at all for the pages of tragic history that preceded that little gem and it didn't exactly endear me to Raniero as a character.<br />
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Plus, he wasn't a significant enough character for any of that to be necessary in this book to begin with, so all of it just completely turned me off.<br />
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The meat of the overall story seemed to focus more on the sexual and emotional relationship between Gunnar and Nicole than on the bad guy doing bad things, and that was really my biggest issue. There was a lot of sex in the story. It was very hot sex, for sure, but for me to really enjoy that much in a book I need other story elements to be given equal attention, and that didn't quite happen. My preferences lie with a more robust external conflict and a more plot-driven narrative. To me, the relationship between the main characters overpowered everything else and the romance itself got a little too schmaltzy for me by the end.<br />
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The good points in the story didn't quite outweigh my issues, but to be fair, the majority of those issues are a personal preference thing. For fans of paranormal romance with more attention on the R than the PN, the very things that didn't work so well for me would totally appeal. And because of those good points, not to mention the delicious teasers for Kai and Brooke's story, I'm looking forward to revisiting the world and seeing how Kay deals with a different character dynamic.
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<i><b>Series:</b> Razor Bay, Book 2</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 4 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 334 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0373777760/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0373777760&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Paperback</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0373777760" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Some-Like-Hot-Susan-Andersen-ebook/dp/B00C3U9T98/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=" target="_blank">Kindle</a><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by Harlequin HQN via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b><span id="goog_825234424">Nice Bite of Sexy Fun</span></b></div>
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<span id="goog_825234424">Quintessential rolling stone Harper Summerville </span>loves her job. She travels the globe, staying in a place just long enough to investigate the charities that have submitted a request for financial assistance from her family's Sundays Child foundation. It's Harper's job to determine the requesting organization's needs and the quality of care they provide, to make sure foundation funds are going to the best candidates.<br />
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It's the sort of job that fits her right down to her toes, because Harper's never been - and never will be - one to let any sort of moss grow under her feet. At least, that's what she keeps telling herself. Now that she's in the Washington town of Razor Bay and has met the delectable sheriff deputy Max Bradshaw, Harper has started to wonder about some of her wanderlust ways.<br />
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It's never been hard to move on before, in fact, she gets downright itchy if she stays in one place for too long, but there's something about the gorgeous, kind, but wounded Max. Harper's feeling an itch all right, but it has nothing at all to do with getting out of town and everything to do with one tall, dark, and oh-so-handsome lawman. <br />
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~*~</div>
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If you haven't read the first book in Andersen's <i>Razor Bay</i> series, don't worry. I haven't either, and it didn't cause me any problems with this book, though it was clear that all the characters and some of the underlying issues were previously introduced. Frankly, I'm okay with not reading that first book, because while I liked Jenny and Jake well enough as secondary characters in this book, I don't know that they would've appealed to me as much in the primary roles as did Harper and Max.<br />
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Well...okay...mostly Max.<br />
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Not that there was anything wrong with Harper. There wasn't at all. She's a smart, independent woman with a big heart and caring nature. I wasn't totally able to relate to her rolling-stone ways, and I didn't like that the relationship between her and Max got physical before she got honest with him about her true purpose in Razor Bay, but watching her reach out and form deeper connections with friends and coworkers as her character grows in the story was a part of the fun of the read.<br />
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The lies and secrecy did make the inevitable relationship conflict too predictable and the buildup to the conflict climax more than a little formulaic, but in this sort of light, sexy romance, predictability and formula aren't huge detractors. In fact, this book is just the sort of reasonably uncomplicated brain candy that I was hoping it would be. There isn't a huge morass of angst or a lot of emotional melodrama, just two good looking characters with varying degrees of personal baggage and a few external complications.<br />
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And I loved the heck out Max. He was quite the full package in romantic heroes. Despite the troubled childhood and an adulthood shadowed by elements of darkness, he was still a truly nice guy - but with just the right amount of sexy edge and a dash of social awkwardness that warmed my heart even as it heated my blood. He was so, so yummy. <br />
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I liked the slow build in the relationship between him and Harper, too. They fit nicely together from the start, their initial run-ins flavored with sizzling sexual chemistry and the sweetest taste of earnest uncertainty. I was also pleased that the narrative didn't rush to throw them together romantically for the sheer purpose of getting them naked and horizontal. The majority of the first half of the book showed them mostly dancing around one another while each dealt with their own various internal and external issues.<br />
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Of course, them getting together didn't suck either. There were plenty of hot times in Razor Bay.<br />
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This was just an all around fun read for me, good for a few solid hours of light reading enjoyment. Basically what I expect from an Andersen romance, really. There was even a few teasers for what's to come in the next book in the series. Luc's introduction was a little heavy-handed in the last bit of this book, but there's an interesting dynamic between him and Harper's friend Tasha that's hinted at here and I'll keep my eye out for their book when it comes out.
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<i><b>Series:</b> The Belladonna Agency, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating: </b>2 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 384 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345542452/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0345542452&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Paperback</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0345542452" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FO5YGCY/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00FO5YGCY&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00FO5YGCY" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by Bantam Dell publisher Random House Publishing Group via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Too Many Issues</b></div>
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Ty Duncan is a Special Agent with the FBI...on paper, anyway...but since being tortured and turned into a vampire against his will six months ago, he - and a small group of specialized agents - work for the covert group called the Belladonna Agency. Belladonna has a specific purpose: stop Rogue vampires at any cost.<br />
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To that end, Ty has been sent to Seattle to recruit a new Belladonna member. Seven years ago, Ana Martin was known as Eliana Garcia, street-wise gang member and a favorite of the gang leader. Those gang ties are why Balladonna needs her. They need access to a place run by Ana's former gang leader, a place that may be a front for a Rogue blood slave market.<br />
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Now all Ty has to do is convince a very wary Ana to return to the life she's worked so hard to forget while fighting a desire for the feisty woman that stirs all his darkest yearnings - for her body, her blood, and most dangerous of all, her heart.<br />
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~*~</div>
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I had a lot of problems with this series debut by DePaul. The world building is pretty sparse, and what few details are provided stick to the broadest of broad strokes. I would have liked to have had a clearer idea of just how long the FBI have known about vampires (the book says "years" but not how many), how they found out about them, how long before they gave up on the born vampires and decided on trusting Rogues for their turning program (which, as far as I'm concerned, puts the FBI fully in the TSTL category, because really - there was no way that was going to end any way but badly), how many recruits have been turned, and what roles those turned recruits had in the FBI.<br />
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Not that having answers to any of those questions would have improved my opinion of the FBI's callous disregard for life or their general idiocy, but it may have given me a better handle on the world and the reason for Belladonna's existence.<br />
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Its supposed purpose is to quietly clean up the Rogue problem so the FBI could get back to making their turned vamps. That never struck me as the noblest mission statement, given the FBI's duplicitous and suspect actions, but maybe a clearer picture of their history with vampires and their beneficial utilization of turned recruits would have helped.<br />
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And not for nothing, but it seemed odd to me that neither the FBI nor anyone in Belladonna seemed to know all that much about vampires. Not even Ty, who was one. I'd think that at least knowing how to kill one would be one of the first things the FBI would want to learn about deadly creatures they're stockpiling.<br />
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There were too many problems and troubling elements with the world, the vampires, the FBI, and Belladonna in general for my comfort, but one point in particular stripped away my ability to willingly suspend disbelief. According to the mythos, the act of turning a vampire is fatal to the maker. At face value that's not a problem, but when I thought about Ty's brutal turning and certain other story elements, that detail created way more trouble than it was worth, making several plot points seem highly implausible. <br />
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But my problems with the book extended beyond those weighty issues. As characters, I thought Ty and Ana were the strongest part of the book. I liked them both as individuals. Ty's issues with his vampirism and Ana's ties to her sister gave them each depth and helped shape their definition. Unfortunately, I wasn't nearly as fond of them together as a couple.<br />
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Their initial chemistry was strong, and I liked the level of heat between them, but as their relationship progressed it started to sputter under conflicts that were inconsistent and hard to follow. Some of that was a reflection of the two characters who were, themselves, inconsistent at times. I had a hard time figuring out exactly what was bothering each of them with the relationship, or determining from one chapter to the next which one was martyring themselves for the greater good. And when I was able to follow the twists, I didn't like what I found. <br />
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Ana, in particular, committed what I consider an ultimate sin for a romantic heroine. At one point she pushes Ty away in a completely unequivocal...and rather hurtful manner, completely repudiating any significance in their relationship, then gets all wounded and insecure when as a result, Ty pulls back and treats her strictly professionally. I hate that sort of hypocrisy. <br />
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Secondary and ancillary characters, like the other women recruited to Belladonna, had potential to add positives to the story, but they ended up getting little definition and had almost no impact on me one way or the other. They were just too underutilized. Though I do think the reason they were tapped for Belladonna, once revealed, was incredibly weak considering the importance of the jobs they have been recruited to do and the training that would be necessary to do it effectively without getting themselves killed.<br />
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Altogether, there were just too many things stacked against this book for me. Too many elements didn't appeal; too many questions left unanswered. Far too many things that just didn't make sense. As a series debut, it posed too many problems for me to feel any desire to follow the Belladonna Agency into the next book.
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<i><b>Series:</b> Shakespearean Suspense, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 4.5 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 394 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615910661/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0615910661&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Paperback</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0615910661" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G76ORX2/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00G76ORX2&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00G76ORX2" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by the author for review. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Totally Righteous Read</b></div>
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They call him John the Baptist, the serial killer who likes to nail young women to a cross and stab them in the side before dumping them into one of Portland's rivers. FBI Special Agent Luca Ramirez has been hunting him for months, driven to stop a madman before he can kill again.<br />
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He is just coming off a fourteen hour shift when he gets the call. Another body has been found at the river. She's been crucified like the others. Stabbed like the others. But unlike those poor lost girls, John the Baptist's latest victim is still alive.<br />
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Hero Katrova-Connor survived a nightmarish hell against all odds, but survival and safety are two different things, and the Baptist isn't done with her yet. Going undercover to keep her alive is just another part of Luca's job, but the longer the investigation goes on, his growing feelings for the woman get harder and harder to ignore. She becomes more than just a job to him. She's the woman he'll die to protect. <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
~*~</div>
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This series debut by new-to-me author Byrne hit so many of my Happy Reader buttons I was practically vibrating with book-crack bliss. The wealth of solid plot-driven suspense kept me on the edge of my seat, the humor that peppered the narrative was right up my alley, and Luca and Hero had so much sexual chemistry sizzling between them that I was glad I was reading on my Kindle. No worry about the pages going up in flames that way.<br />
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Hey, it was a legitimate concern. Yowza.<br />
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The <i>uber</i>-alpha male Luca stole this show. He was rockin' the personal demons and aggression management disorder. Often grim, sometimes broody, with a fairly bleak self image, he thought himself little better than the monsters he is so good at catching. That would have been more than enough to appeal to me, but in Luca's case, there was this whole other level to him that completely stole my heart. <br />
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He was just so completely and obviously butt over brains for Hero from the moment they met, fighting it every step of the way (of course) out of a mix of professionalism (or, you know, fear) and male stupidity, and was utterly endearing for all of it. Well...if a gun-toting, foul-mouthed, hot-tempered, four-hundred-dollar-shoes-wearing alpha male can be called endearing. His struggle with his desire for Hero was the source of many humorous moments in the book and I savored them all.<br />
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Then there's Hero. Artist. Yoga instructor. A little bit of a hippy. She celebrates her individuality and embraces her sexuality. Strong, independent, spirited, maybe a little sheltered, she is the best thing to ever happen to Luca and she knocks him for a loop, tickling me pink in the process. Her personality was a breath of fresh air and I loved how she acts and reacts to things in the story.<br />
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And there was nothing I loved more than the fact that while Hero may have been victimized by a serial killer, at no point in the book was she ever a victim.<br />
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Serial killers are my favorite type of Bad Guy in romantic suspense fiction and there was a very solid plot arc surrounding John the Baptist in the book. It could have been given a bit more prevalence in the story at times. There were a few places I thought the story was focusing a bit too much on the evolving relationship of the main characters and not quite enough on the murder investigation. To be honest, though, that's not really a complaint. I loved Luca and Hero so much that it didn't really bother me their relationship arc got more of the story's focus, but I would have liked just a bit more balance in places.<br />
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That said, if it came down to choosing between better balance and giving up a single moment of the several stellar scenes with Hero's family, then I'm happy to live with the imbalance, because the Katrova-Connor clan stole every scene in which they were included. Admittedly, the book's prologue threw me a little at first, but when Bryne ties that scene to Hero's family dynamic further into the book, I was totally sold and seriously crushing on every single person in the Katrova-Connor clan.<br />
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Frankly, there just wasn't anything in the book that I didn't like. It was a fun, sometimes serious, suspenseful, dangerous, smoking hot read with characters that explode across the pages with vibrant intensity. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for the next book in the series, anxious to get those Happy Reader buttons pushed yet again.<br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>Quotables:</b></span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Okay, now she was just being a bitch, but at least she could fortify the moral high ground by avoiding being childish. Because he started it.</span></blockquote>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
~*~<br />
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #0b5394;">"I thought you were a vegetarian."</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">"I am." Hero closed her eyes to savor the smell. "Thus the Tofurkey."</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">"But there's bacon in it."</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">She shrugged. "Well yeah, but it's bacon."</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">Knox nodded his agreement.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">"Bacon is meat. It comes from a pig," Luca said.</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">"It doesn't <i>count </i>as meat because it's bacon." She was looking at him as though <i>he</i> was the one who'd lost his mind. </span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">"That makes no sense."</span><br />
<span style="color: #0b5394;">"It doesn't have to make sense, bro," Knox said sagely. "It's bacon."</span></blockquote>
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<i><b>Series:</b> The Shadow Guild, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 4 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 384 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by Forever Yours publisher Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
<b><i>Want it?:</i> </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1455550523/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1455550523&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Gilded Hearts</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1455550523" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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<b>Jack the Ripper, Steampunk, and Romance, Oh My!!</b></div>
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A vicious killer is slashing his way through the soot-slicked streets of New London's Whitechapel district, leaving the broken, bloody bodies of prostitutes in his wake. <br />
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King's Sentry Sergeant Samuel Hawkins has, in the course of his police work, had the occasional dealing with an Archivist in the five years since he fled their Guild, but Piper Smith isn't just any Archivist. Her arrival at his crime scene affects him more deeply than he was expecting. Once both best friend and deepest desire, Piper was little more than a girl when he'd begged her to leave the Guild with him all those years ago.<br />
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She stayed. He couldn't. But he never got over her.<br />
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Now both a fully grown woman and a full-fledged Archivist, Piper embraces her role as a memory retrieval agent for the Guild, though the shock of seeing Sam again almost ruins her first job. She's at the scene to take the memories of his murder victim, not to rehash their relationship, and focus is paramount. What she sees in the memories of the murdered woman, however, will shake more than Piper's focus, it will shake the very foundation on which she's built her life. <br />
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As more bodies are found and a deadly finger of accusation points towards the Archivists' Guild, Sam and Piper will have to take a hard look at their own past and the secrets buried there. And just hope like hell they survive it.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
~*~</div>
<br />
Sometimes you just know, ya know? <br />
<br />
I wasn't even a tenth of the way into this book before I knew it was going to really work for me. Between initial impressions of the dark, complex Steampunk world, the grim sense of danger and mystery in the opening murder scene, and the intriguing history and emotional detritus between the main characters, the story snatched me up from the start and kept me captivated throughout.<br />
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What a world. What a dark, dangerous, well-conceived and deftly-written world. I enjoy Steampunk for the imaginative, mechanically-enhanced alternative history inherent in the genre, but have to admit, the stories themselves are hit or miss for me. D'Abo struck just the right cord for my tastes, weaving a wealth of clever Steampunk elements together with a creative twist on Jack the Ripper, and did it in such a way that it enriched the various dramatic conflicts in the story without extraneous over-description or too much superfluous detail. Everything blended together nicely to provide a robust tapestry of story and substance.<br />
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The characters themselves were as carefully and intently created, and they acquitted themselves very well in the story. I think I preferred Samuel over Piper by a slim margin, though that had more to do with my sympathy for his traumatic childhood, as well as greater understanding of the choices he made and actions he took (as opposed to Piper's) both in his past and during the murder investigations. The guy is definitely dragging around a few demons, and D'Abo was deliciously cagey about disclosing those demons to her readers, but it painted a very solid and three dimensional picture of him as a slightly flawed, definitely damaged romantic hero.<br />
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Not that I didn't like Piper. I completely did. I found her wonderfully independent, feisty, stubborn, and fiercely loyal. I just also happened to be as disturbed by the Archivists' Guild purpose and presence in the world as Sam was, so the fact that Piper was a very determined Archivist, willfully and knowingly putting holes in her mind for an alleged greater good, was a bit harder to relate to than the guy who had escaped them and went on to make a career for himself in law enforcement.<br />
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They did fit together nicely as a romantic couple, though, with a chemistry that extended far beyond sexual and included an obvious and genuine childhood friendship. I loved the snippets of their past that get revealed in well-timed flashes throughout the book. Frequent flashbacks in a story rarely work for me and tend to jar me out of the flow of the current-timeline plot, but D'Abo mastered the transitions smoothly and had a judicious eye for how and when to incorporate them to add depth to the story and the relationship between Sam and his Pip. <br />
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I enjoyed the hell out of the Jack the Ripper investigation, too, but have to admit, I got a little lost when it came to a political element in the investigation. That aspect of the world hadn't been explained quite enough for me to really understand everywhere the leads in the case took Sam and Piper. I didn't have trouble following the action, but I definitely felt an emotional disconnect with the story when it came to a few scenes.<br />
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And honestly, the resolution to the climax of the book left me feeling...disturbed and a bit unsatisfied.<br />
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Don't get me wrong, I loved the culmination of the Ripper investigation, and thought the evolution of Sam and Pip's relationship was nicely done. D'Abo built plot and relationship conflict from the first page of this book, adding layers of horror and dread, dastardly motivation and sick psychosis, and connected it all Sam's murky past in such a way that I was left impressed by the complexities and entertained by it all. I heartily enjoyed that very much.<br />
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How it resolved, though, and what it all means in the big picture, disturbed me. And it's virtually impossible to be any more specific without some huge spoilers and I don't want to do that. I will say this: I don't think there is anything right or good about the Archivists' Guild. Not one thing. That may pose a problem for me in future books depending on its role in the series. It definitely posed a problem for me at the end of this book.<br />
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It took a bit of the bloom off what was otherwise a passionate and perilous, wildly imaginative, darkly entertaining, bloody-red rose.
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<i><b>Series:</b> Brown and De Luca, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 4 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 384 Pages</i><br />
<i><b>Formats:</b></i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0778315541/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0778315541&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Paperback</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0778315541" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CN0N7LO/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00CN0N7LO&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00CN0N7LO" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by Harlequin MIRA via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Great Psychological Thriller with Paranormal Elements</b></div>
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Homicide detective Mason Brown broke the very law he's worked his entire adult life to uphold. In his defense, he had a very good reason. There was no way he could let his mother, his sister-in-law, or his two nephews find out that the man they knew as a beloved son, husband, and father, the man Mason himself knew as a big brother, was, in fact, a cold-blooded serial killer.<br />
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When his brother suicides in Mason's apartment, leaving a self-pitying note of confession and a horrific mess to deal with, Mason does the best he can. He hides the evidence, and given the chance to make some sort of amends, donates his brother's organs. He hopes that saving some lives will balance out, just a little, what his brother took from so many.<br />
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After twenty years of blindness, the corneal transplant that restores
Rachel de Luca's sight is like a miracle. Like something the famous
self-help guru spouts in one of her own books, not that she's ever believed her own drivel, as wildly successful as it may be.
As it turns out, Rachel's miracle is not without a few...glitches.<br />
<br />
The nightmares of blood and gore and visions of murder start
on her first night home from the hospital. Seeing and feeling the actions of a vicious killer is as confusing as it is terrifying, and as another victim falls, it makes Rachel wonder just what sort of person her donor had been. And how much the cop responsible for her transplant really knows. <br />
<br />
Mason is absolutely certain that the serial killer dubbed The Wraith is dead. But when another victim is taken, and the woman who got his brother's corneas shows up, knowing things she shouldn't know about the crime, he doesn't know what to think. He just knows Rachel De Luca holds the key to figuring it out. If she doesn't end up being targeted by a dead killer first.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
~*~</div>
<br />
I'm so anal about series reading order that it's virtually unheard of for me to go back to read an earlier book in a series after I've read a latter one, but I literally couldn't help myself with this series debut by Shayne. I so enjoyed the characters in this series' second book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DPAN5O0/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00DPAN5O0&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Wake to Darkness</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=onego-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00DPAN5O0" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, I wanted to read Mason and Rachel's introduction, even though the second book tipped me off to several points in the first. And I was pleasantly surprised at how much of this book was still a mystery even after reading that one.<br />
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With a point of view that shifts between Rachel's first person perspective and a third person omniscient when focusing on Mason and glimpses of the killer, this series works for me in both style and substance. The concept isn't a new one. Heroine gets a corneal transplant and starts seeing death and mayhem because of the donor. Books and movies have tread that ground before. It was Rachel who set this book apart.<br />
<br />
She was awesome. Sarcastic, often bitchy, and not exactly the most patient person on the planet, she's not your typical helpless, blind-then-newly sighted heroine. And she's no one's damsel in distress. Plus, she's a self-proclaimed fraud who writes writes wildly popular self-help books full of touchy-feely crap and disdains the very people who buy into them. I loved her.<br />
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As tough and independent as she was, she was a total softie with Myrtle (love Myrt!). She took no prisoners when faced with some pretty horrific images and definite woo-woo stuff, but took such gentle care of the old, blind dog. She was stubbornly self-sufficient and intelligent, but she also had a heart that lent warmth to her character. It didn't hurt she had such a biting and sarcastic sense of humor, either. That's one of my favorite things in a character.<br />
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I liked Mason, too. Maybe not quite as much as I did Rachel, but beyond being a gorgeous bit of man candy, I felt bad for the guy. He did the best he could for his family when it came to the fact his brother had been killing people for years. And the chemistry between him and Rachel pleased my romance-loving heart even though it never really becoming a focus in the narrative.<br />
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The plot of the book appealed to me, too. I'm a big fan of serial killer psychological suspense, an even bigger fan of paranormal romance, so the blending of the two in the story worked really well for me.<br />
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I do wish there had been a bit more explanation or backstory to better explain Eric's psychosis both before and after he died. I like having reasons for things, so there were elements that could have had a bit more definition in that regard. Too, the book went a little off the rails for me during the climax. Due to the nature of the tale, it skirts plausibility from the start, which I'm perfectly fine with, but there was a scene in the climax that went so far beyond plausible that it pretty effectively crushed my willing suspension of disbelief at a crucial moment.<br />
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Sound travels on a lake, man, that's all I'm saying. <br />
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All-in-all, though, there was a nice blend of character-driven psychological thriller and paranormal mystery with a thread of romance and it kept me entertained throughout.<br />
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I already know what comes next in the series, and highly recommend it if you liked this one. I think I prefer the external conflict in this one a little better than in that one, but for me, the storyline isn't the most appealing element of either read. The characters are. I love Rachel so much, and like Mason too, that I'll be following along with their antics for as long as I can. Heck, I must love them, I went back and read a series out of order for them. That's a huge deal for me.
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<i><b>Series:</b> The MoonBound Clan Vampires, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 4 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 400 Pages</i><br />
<b><i>Formats:</i></b> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1476700176/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1476700176&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Paperback</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bound-Night-Moonbound-Clan-Vampires-ebook/dp/B00A2819G4/ref=tmm_kin_title_0" target="_blank"> Kindle</a><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by Pocket Books publisher Simon & Schuster via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Dark and Edgy Series Debut</b></div>
<br />
Nicole Martin has feared and hated vampires for every one of the twenty years that have passed since the vampire slave revolt that slaughtered her parents and almost cost her her life. Now CEO of Daedalus, her parents' multinational corporation, and a respected researcher specializing in vampire physiology, Nicole has returned to her childhood home in Seattle to deal with some corporate issues, issues that have the Vampire Humane Society and their ilk up in arms. Before she can even meet with the board, however, her home is broken into and Nicole comes face to fangs with her worst nightmare.<br />
<br />
The vampire she witnessed kill his own mate and unborn child when Nicole was a child.<br />
<br />
Riker's clan MoonBound is facing a brutal war they cannot win. If they don't return a gifted visiting female to her clan, they will exact revenge. The larger and more unscrupulous clan will wipe MoonBound off the planet. Problem is, the female has been captured by Daedalus, a company that has made billions enslaving his kind, torturing them, or treating them like disposable lab rats. A company run by the family responsible for the death of his mate and unborn child.<br />
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Riker's plan is simple: break into the Martin home and get Dr. Nicole Martin to give him the missing female...by whatever means necessary. Unfortunately for both Nicole and Riker, things don't go even close to according to plan, and soon the two mortal enemies are going to have to put their animosity aside just to survive.<br />
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~*~</div>
<br />
Larissa Ione proves yet again she's at the top of her game with this dark, edgy series debut. I've long been a fan of Ione's complex world building, damaged characters, and sexy-as-sin romance, and was delighted to see her kicking off a new series outside the world of her <i>Demonica</i> and <i>Lords of Deliverance</i> series. She definitely delivered on this one.<br />
<br />
This book has everything I need in a series debut and then some. The world building and mythos were complex and layered, providing a rock-solid foundation for the plot, one that tantalized and teased, revealing itself gradually as the story progresses. Nicole and Riker were great lead characters, each with their own demons and damage, and their chemistry burned up the pages, even when they hated each other. Maybe especially when they hated each other. The sexual and emotional tension they generated from the start set a perfect tone for the slow-boil of their relationship arc.<br />
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Another Ione standard, a diverse cast of likable secondary characters, was also in evidence. They provided a perfect blend of friction, support, and even humor as they were introduced, acquitting themselves well in the story. I'm dying to find out about Myne's past, see what Hunter got himself into at the end, spend more time with the weird but brilliant Grant. And Bastian. And Lucy. And...well, I could definitely go on. Ione doesn't skimp on her secondary characters, and they all feel deliciously three-dimensional and real.<br />
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The book has a lot going on for it story-wise, too. There's quite a journey between Nicole and Riker's initial introduction and the story's conclusion. A lot of conflict. A lot of danger and deadly consequence. A lot of blood and pain. Between Nicole and Riker, between the vamps and the humans, between the different vampire clans...the story is overflowing with conflict. They are many and varied, providing action, danger, and deadly threat, often laying waste to the characters' lives. It was a very meaty and full-flavored plot in that regard.<br />
<br />
Maybe there was even a little too much going on against Nicole and Riker. It didn't leave quite enough room for me to really believe the relative speed with which they went from bitter enemies to lusty co-conspirators. There were a lot of cards stacked against them, especially in the beginning, and I'm not sure I bought how quickly their attitudes changed. It wasn't a deal breaker for me - frankly, I was enjoying the hell out of the world so much that I was able to mostly forgive it - but I did notice it.<br />
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I think my favorite elements were the world and the mythos. It's a dark, often ugly, very dangerous world where the slavery, rape, and torture of vampires are <i>de rigueur</i> and even the "good" guys are unapologetic - if justified - killers. Including the main and secondary characters. But the humans are so very much worse. As twisted as it makes me, I liked that aspect in particular very much.<br />
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This book just worked for me. For its originality of premise, (relative) plausibility, great characters, wealth of story, and future story potential it left me hungry for more. The smoking hot sex wasn't exactly a turn-off, either; Ione's no slouch in that department. I can't wait to find out what happens next.
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<i><b>Series:</b> Country Roads, Book 2</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 1 Star</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 400 Pages</i><br />
<b><i>Formats:</i></b> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Undeniable-A-Country-Roads-Novel/dp/1455547425/ref=tmm_pap_title_0">Paperback</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BAXFZTC/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00BAXFZTC&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20">Kindle</a><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by Forever publisher Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>I <i>Wanted</i> to Like It</b></div>
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Small town baker Grace King has loved her big brother's best friend Jaxson Anderson since she was a kid. Problem is, Jax has always treated her like a younger sister, protective and caring. That's great and all, but Grace is no longer a child and her feelings for Jax are anything but immature. He's her one and only. He just doesn't know it. Yet.<br />
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As a sheriff in the small Gulf Coast town of Mirabelle, Florida, Jax Anderson sees a broad spectrum of the worst in human nature. It's nothing he hasn't seen before, though, considering his violently abusive, drunken father and utterly disinterested mother. If it weren't for the King family, he probably wouldn't have made it as far as he has. And that's why he's always known he's not good enough for his best friend's little sister, Grace, no matter that he can't remember a time when he didn't want her.<br />
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He was doing an admirable job of ignoring the want until that accident that almost cost her her life. Since then Jax has been struggling with his control, haunted by what-ifs. Surely that's the only reason he totally snaps his chain with the woman when she pushes his buttons, wrenching the last shred of control out of his hands with a maelstrom of passion. He still knows he doesn't deserve Grace. Still has no doubt she will realize that eventually and leave him. But maybe, just maybe, he can have a little grace in his life before she does.<br />
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~*~</div>
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I really enjoyed Richard's first book in this series, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B73T1YA/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00B73T1YA&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20">Undone</a>, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on Jax and Grace's story. That's why it kills me to say that so many things went wrong for me in this one that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BAXFZTC/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00BAXFZTC&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20">Undeniable</a> left me...well...undone. From the characters, who I found largely intolerable, to the story, which wavered between boring and extremely frustrating, to the writing, which made me a little nuts in several places, there were just too many things that pushed all the wrong buttons.<br />
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The long-suffering, self-sacrificing martyr character type never works for me, and Jax rode the, "We can't be together because I'm not good enough for you," horse until it keeled over dead. It was a refrain that popped up so many times I lost patience with him even before I reached the halfway point of the book.<br />
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Honestly, I could never figure out why he was so down on himself. Sure, he has a horrible set of parents and his childhood was traumatic, but only parts of it, because the King family and others took care of him and showed him what love was all about - a fact that is also stressed several times throughout the narrative. He's now a well respected member of the community, has good friends, a good life, and money enough in his pockets to buy his own home. So...not really seeing any real motivation for the I'm-no-good self image. It didn't endear me to him at all. Mostly I just wanted to kick him.<br />
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I wish I could say I liked Grace more, but I didn't. Her desperation for Jax and the subsequent heartbroken angst after every single time he pulled the push-me-pull-you act on her was very off-putting. And really, more than once would have been too much, but the number of times she went back to him in a blink after his demons reared their oft-seen heads and he treated her like Kleenex yet <i>again</i> was ridiculous.<br />
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Not for nothing, but any man alludes to me as a whore - in public no less - and I don't care how much I love him, he's not going to be climbing back into my bed with just a weak-ass apology. Not without missing a few of his favorite appendages first, anyways. The fact that Grace just accepted his apologies with very little confrontation every time and cozied right back up to the guy didn't make me think too highly of her level of self respect.<br />
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Had I liked the main characters more maybe I wouldn't have been so disappointed with the plot of the story, but I was bored through most of it. There were a couple of threads of interest, however. I liked Grace's friend Preston. He had a nice ancillary storyline that added poignancy to the read. I also liked seeing Paige and Brendan again. I love them.<br />
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On the other hand, the town biddy was up to her old tricks. I just wish someone would make her a victim of a tragic underwater basket-weaving accident or something, because that bat has to go. She's more than a source of conflict, she's an utterly reprehensible, barely human being and I can't for the life of me figure out why someone hasn't at least sued her for slander. The fact that her behavior continues unchecked is really rubbing me the wrong way. As do the town's bad apples, the trio of terror. They're so over the top ugly that I struggle to believe that their behavior has gone unchecked for so long.<br />
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There was an anemic mystery thread surrounding a rash of robberies in town that could have been better developed and incorporated into the storyline, as well. It wasn't a bad idea, but as it was written, it just seemed contrived to put the characters in the position they were in at the climax of the book, and that bothered me. For that matter, I couldn't figure out why what happened in the climax suddenly wakes Jax up when what happened at the end of the previous book didn't seem to.<br />
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I wasn't thrilled with the narrative itself, either. It was over-burdened by way too much superfluous information and description. It seemed at times that every single element of a scene was described in minute and unnecessary detail and every ancillary character who was given so much as a mention had their life story and connection to the town detailed to the extreme. And there are a lot of characters mentioned. After a while it all became white noise, and it drowned out the stuff that could have really added to the narrative and the storyline.<br />
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There are just too many things about this book that either fell short or didn't work for me. I really enjoyed the first book, so I'm hoping that this was just not a good fit for my reading preferences. I'm not ready to give up on this series just yet. There's obviously something brewing between Grace's friend Mel and Jax's friend Bennett, who caught my eye in the first book. I'm sincerely hoping, though, that Bennett acquits himself better than Jax did here.Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01257007454939897691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1070857603375540741.post-86828430788412775292013-12-08T14:10:00.001-05:002013-12-08T14:10:27.475-05:00The Darkest Craving by Gena Showalter<i><b>Genre:</b> Paranormal Romance</i><br />
<i><b>Series:</b> Lords of the Underwold, Book 10</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 3 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 466 Pages</i><br />
<b><i>Formats:</i></b> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0373777752/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0373777752&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Paperback</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C3U9T8E/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00C3U9T8E&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> A copy of this book was provided to me by the Amazon Vine program. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Wasn't Completely Satisfied</b></div>
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Kane has always been a walking disaster. Literally. The Lord houses Disaster, a particularly vile demon that revels in making Kane's life hell. Then Kane actually ended up in hell, suffering horrible torture and rape for weeks on end until he was rescued by a strange female with one particularly odd request for her assistance. She wants him to kill her.<br />
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Still lost in darkness from his ordeal, wrecked in a way he's having a hard time dealing with, one thing is absolutely clear to Kane. He's not killing the feisty, adorable half-fae Josephina Aisling. He's going to rescue her instead.<br />
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Then he's going to finally kill the demon inside him. Even if he has to die to do it.<br />
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~*~</div>
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I feel oddly ambivalent about this tenth installment of the <i>Lords of the Underworld</i> series. After Paris' book, which gave readers some much-needed resolution to the nagging problems of the Hunters and Cronus and Rhea, I figured this one would have to be a transitional book. Transitional books tend to not be my favorite books in a series for a lot of reasons, but I've always felt they were a necessary evil and dealt accordingly.<br />
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Had this book actually offered some transitional series arc plot development or given any attention to the lingering issues generated by the big battle that ended the previous book, I think I would have been fine with this one in that role. My problem is that it really didn't. In fact, Kane and Josephina's story didn't do much of anything to establish a new, Hunter/Cronus-free direction for the Lords and their allies for the series, nor did it do much to progress the plot line about the hunt for Pandora's box - though that did receive a bit of attention with the kick off of Cameo's story threads and the return of a character I was really hoping to see again in this series.<br />
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As for the romance, that didn't really wow me with character or relationship evolution, either.<br />
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I like Kane. I've always felt bad for the guy (pretty much the standard for the pre-mated Lords), even when he served as little more than comic relief at the start of the series. It was nice getting a closer look at how he deals with Disaster. I also enjoyed Disaster being given a far more sinister presence than the demons of the other Lords have been given. Disaster just seemed more actively evil than some of the others have been. Not a bad thing, either. I liked it.<br />
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We've had a couple of books now, seeing Kane's story unfold, and much of that was pretty horrifying, so I also liked that he got some happiness. What he didn't get, what none of the characters in this series get much of lately, is character depth and complexity or realistic character evolution, and that, along with my issues with the stories themselves, is bothering me a lot in this series.<br />
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Yes, Kane is tormented by his time in hell, and rightly so, but that seems to be the sole defining element of his character, and that's just not enough to make him well-rounded and realistic to me. Josephina, maybe because she's new to the series, got a bit more character definition, and I liked her more for that, but again, her role in her family was her defining characteristic and there wasn't a huge amount of depth to her beyond that.<br />
<br />
But depth of character and complexity of internal and external conflict have never really been something this series has really offered, and I'm just now starting to remember that. Hellaciously sexy times, yes. Action and adventure, even breath-stealing emotion, yes. Summer-blockbuster-movie amounts of fierce battles and wicked villains, sure. And like those summer blockbusters, not a whole lot of coherent, well-written story surrounding it all.<br />
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On a brighter note, I thought the beginning of this book was awesome. I loved when Josephina tried to get Kane to keep his end of the bargain, then turned to Lucien and Sabin when they showed up. I love the idea that the fae were huge fans of the Lords, whose antics they follow as rabidly as the paparazzi dog the Kardashians. I loved Cameo's cameos and Torin's plague-filled drama. And there was other stuff that I truly enjoyed as well.<br />
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Kane and Josephina's extended time in the fae world didn't add to the fun. It bored me. And they seemed to spend an awfully long time there, because this was an awfully long book. That's a lot of boredom. Boredom mixed with perplexity, because for the two previous books in this series, several critical things were brewing relating to Kane's fate and the fate of the world, and those threads were just butchered in this book, with no justification or supporting development.<br />
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Kane was supposed to start an apocalypse...marry one of the Horseman or the woman who housed Irresponsibility. Or both. Josephina had nothing at all to do with one of those fateful threads and Irresponsiblity had almost nothing to do with the other. Not in anything but a completely transitory way. So what was the point of even having those threads in the previous two books if you're just going to pull in some extremely tenuous threads of suspect connection to go around all of it?<br />
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Not deal with it, mind you, completely go around it. Two very different things.<br />
<br />
None of that worked for me at all, and all of it, including several threads of resolution, seemed way too convenient and contrived. And the end of the book, with the resolution, was all too typical of Showalter in this series. Completely unsupported by previous development and utterly abrupt. Not to mention repetitive. Seriously, how many books (out of 10) have had an angel (who I guess we're calling Sent Ones now) step in at the critical moment in the climax to flick his wings (or, you know...fiery sword...whatever) to solve all the problems for the main characters and expedite the HEA? More than once is too many. Three times is appalling.<br />
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And one other thing: I loathe the, "Oops, I was wrong," explanation to force feed a conflict resolution and fast track an HEA and Showalter uses it All. The. Time. Call it a <i>deus ex machina</i>, a plot contrivance, or whatever, it's that moment when you're reading a story that's been written into a very clearly defined corner only to have the author decide the room is really round so the problem is solved. Argh! Drives me absolutely bat-shit crazy.<br />
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The one at the end of this book was particularly heinous, too.<br />
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There are just too many things going wrong for me with this series lately, so many that I'm starting to wonder if the two year hiatus I took from the series between Amun's and Strider's books was, in fact, long enough. I'm starting to think it wasn't.Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01257007454939897691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1070857603375540741.post-9960071235993203872013-12-06T01:47:00.001-05:002013-12-08T00:37:16.488-05:00Blaze of Secrets by Jessie Donovan<i><b>Genre:</b> Paranormal Romance</i><br />
<i><b>Series:</b> Asylums for Magical Threats, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 3.5 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 356 Pages</i><br />
<b><i>Formats:</i></b> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/061585219X/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=061585219X&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Paperback</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EXB8GA8/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00EXB8GA8&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> A copy of this book was provided to me by the author for review. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>The AMT is Terrifying</b></div>
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She is the first-born child of a <i>Feiru</i> mother in a world that hides her kind away in asylums out of a sick paranoia, fear, and prejudice. They call her elemental magic a threat to the unsuspecting human public. They keep her kind secret.<br />
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In those asylums they are stripped of their humanity and their dignity, used as lab rats, abused, and suffer torturous "medical" testing that often drives them insane, all for that nebulous Greater Good.<br />
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Now Kiarra Melini is left with a horrific choice: sacrifice herself to save her first-born brethren or sit idly by while the researchers at the asylum use her blood to strip the elemental magic from every other first-born they have interred in asylums around the world.<br />
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A tragic choice. A heartbreaking choice. But an easy one for the young woman who has been a prisoner of the Asylums for Magical Threats for fifteen years of her life.<br />
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She hadn't counted on Jaxton Ward swooping into her cell as she was attempting to end her life. She'd long since given up hope of ever being free from the AMT. Being kidnapped doesn't exactly instill in Kiarra a sense of peace and well being, though, even though Jaxton claims he's rescued her. After all, the AMT is the devil she knows. Jaxton and his anti-AMT group may prove themselves to be just a different sort of devil entirely.<br />
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Jaxton knew breaking into the AMT to get his brother and Kiarra out wasn't going to be easy, but he never figured Kiarra would rather suicide than be free. Now he's got to convince the woman he means her no harm and the rebel group he works with needs her elemental magic to fight against the very people who held her captive for most of her life. Training her is going to be a study in frustration, though, given the powerful attraction he has for the brave woman willing to die for her race.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
~*~</div>
<br />
Unique and original, this series debut by Donovan has a lot going for it, especially in the first half of the book. Kiarra was fiery, cagey, and keenly intelligent, and Jaxton was intense and sexy...and I'm a total sucker for heroes with a British accent. I enjoyed both of their characters very much, and the story was rich with solid world-building, action, and suspense.<br />
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I loved Kiarra's whole attitude and personality from the moment she's introduced as an AMT inmate through her dubious rescue and subsequent struggle to adapt to her new freedom. I think she was maybe a bit more balanced and sane than a person would be given what she's been through in her life, but I can't say I minded that for the purposes of the story. I liked her, and I was very pleased with the direction her character took following her rescue. That all worked for me nicely.<br />
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And full credit to Donovan for the creep factor and utter horror that was the AMT. I couldn't help but make comparisons to concentration camps in Nazi Germany and it was truly chilling. I find the sort of subversive, subjugating mentality that went into the creation and use of AMTs to be far more effective as a source of external conflict than an individual Big Bad because it's so damn easy to imagine something exactly like that happening, as it's happened before in humanity's darkest times.<br />
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I wish I could say I found the second half of the book as entertaining as the first. While the first half provided a solid foundation for the book, was well-conceived and written with a solid focus on fleshing out the world, defining the various factions and introducing the characters, the story took a turn for me at the halfway mark. As soon as Jaxton and Kiarra made it to Scotland and the external conflict became more significant in the plot, I felt like the book started to lose a lot of the cohesion it had established early.<br />
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There's a lot going on and it's happening to and with several different characters and their individual points of view. Between the evolution of the main characters, their relationship and all that entailed, their struggles to evade the AMT, the sinister- and almost ridiculously obscure - machinations of Bad Guy Sinclair, and the addition of Kiarra's brother Gio, who was a pretty big question mark to me and seemed an unnecessary source of ancillary conflict, there was too much to focus on. Too much was attempted and not enough of it had payoff. The plot's pacing bogged down and the story got a bit unwieldy and cumbersome.<br />
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At times I found myself getting bored - with Kiarra and Jaxton's relationship, with Sinclair's super secret and oh-so-nefarious plans, and with...whatever it was that Gio was trying to do. There were just too many sources of conflict, big reveals, and murky motivations, so many it all became white noise after awhile. It's a shame, because really, there didn't need to be anything beyond the AMT. The reality of those places and the driving force behind their existence is completely horrifying enough on its own to support an entire series of external conflict without needing all the other story detritus that cluttered the back half of this book.<br />
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I do think the series has a ton of potential, though, and there are more than enough interesting characters introduced here to provide fodder for many juicy stories to come. This one just didn't quite keep me consistently engaged beyond the story setup and the world-building, and a general sort of appreciation for the romance between Kiarra and Jaxton. Still, I can't say enough about how nice it is to read something that felt truly fresh and original. That alone is worth a lot in a genre glutted on same old same old.Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01257007454939897691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1070857603375540741.post-92181432252109340692013-12-03T00:43:00.000-05:002013-12-03T00:43:42.844-05:00Twilight Hunter by Kait Ballenger<i><b>Genre:</b> Paranormal Romance</i><br />
<i><b>Series:</b> Execution Underground, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 2 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 376 Pages</i><br />
<b><i>Formats:</i></b> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0373777388/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0373777388&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Paperback</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C84GCTO/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00C84GCTO&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by HQN Books publisher Harlequin via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Left Me In the Dark</b></div>
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When it comes to werewolves, no one hunts them better than Execution Underground operative Jace McCannon. He is relentless and unforgiving, a hunter with a fierce intensity and dedication to his job. Problem is, if the organization knew exactly why he was as proficient a hunter as he is, it would be Jace who would be hunted to extinction.<br />
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As it is, he's already in enough trouble with his boss. There's a vicious rogue werewolf on the loose and the carnage he's leaving in his wake is enough to make even a seasoned hunter like Jace shudder at what is done to the female victims. For three weeks he has tracked the frustratingly elusive fiend and time is running out - for Jace and for the monster's next victim.<br />
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The latest crime scene turns up his first big break, a werewolf crouched in the shadows watching him examine the fresh kill. If Jace were human, running a werewolf to ground would be impossible, but he isn't human. Not completely. He's half werewolf, and highly motivated to catch the monster who left another woman's brutalized body in a gutter.<br />
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Being chased by a hunter is not Frankie Amato's idea of a good time, especially when the hunter on her tail is so much faster and stronger than she expected. Cornered and forced to shift into her human form to plead her case, the pack alpha has no one to blame but herself when Jace takes her into custody. Now she's got to figure out a way to convince the hunter that she can help him track down the killer before she ends up as his throw rug.<br />
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As he's made no bones about his loathing of her kind, she has no idea how to do that exactly, but if she and Jace don't work together, more innocent women will die.<br />
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~*~</div>
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This book did not work for me at all. I liked the idea of it but the actual read gave me a lot of trouble. I pretty much hated Jace throughout the book. I found nothing even remotely heroic or noble about the man. He's an alcoholic, self-loathing prick who treats everyone around him like crap because of some deep-seeded daddy issues. I just wanted him to get the hell over it already and look at the bigger picture, but no.<br />
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He was also horribly inconsistent, especially when it came to the relationship he has with Frankie. It was as if he had a bad case of emotional ADD, wavering back and forth between disdaining everything about Frankie to getting all wounded when she holds back her feelings from him...often from one page to the next. And I have very little tolerance for lack of communication being the source of relationship conflict in my romance. Their relationship was littered with it.<br />
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Frankie wasn't as bad. I can't really say I liked her throughout, but at least she didn't make me mental. There were moments when I liked her, and I very much appreciated the fact that she's her pack's alpha, but I wish she had been a little stronger in both power and personality to better reflect that position. She was just a little too submissive to Jace, and too willing to take all the bad stuff he dished out at her and love him anyway, for me to take her seriously as an apex predator and competent leader of her people. Didn't help that my first impression of her included her running and hiding from her responsibility.<br />
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The story did have its good points, but I struggled there, as well. The world didn't seem all that fleshed out to me. The mythos surrounding skinwalkers was original in theory but I thought the backstory and explanation was an unclear muddle (and in reference to how a skinwalker transitions into a berserker, just flat-out disturbing in context). I also never felt I had a firm handle on the Extermination Underground itself, and given that the series is titled after the organization (so I assume it's important) that was a problem for me.<br />
<br />
In fact, every time the EU or its members had impact in the story, there was little more offered than a poorly defined but explosive conflict between Jace and the local EU director Damon. That conflict was too all-encompassing to allow me to get a feel for any of the other characters or the organization as a whole. And I was sincerely disappointed that there was no resolution for their absurd and over-the-top dick-swinging contest.<br />
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That actually smacks at the core of my issues with the book, though. For all that the ideas were sound, the story as a whole seemed bereft of nuance and subtlety. If there was an emotion expressed, it was sweeping and dramatic, if there was an action taken, it was balls-to-the-wall, no holds barred. Conflict was furious and deadly, sex was intense and often angry, characters were tortured, romance was angsty. It was all just...so much noise that the sum total just struck me not as a tapestry of plot, character, and world, but as a brute force cacophony: chaotic, hard-hitting, and lacking sophistication.<br />
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I wouldn't say I'm sorry I read this one, but I also can't say I'd be interested in continuing the series.Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01257007454939897691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1070857603375540741.post-58070352006078642722013-11-23T14:23:00.000-05:002013-11-23T14:24:06.921-05:00Realm Walker by Kathleen Collins<i><b>Genre:</b> Urban Fantasy</i><br />
<i><b>Series:</b> Realm Walker, Book 1</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 3 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 189 Pages</i><br />
<b><i>Formats:</i></b> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E1V5S3S/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00E1V5S3S&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><br />
<i><b>Disclosure:</b> An ARC of this book was provided to me by Carina Press via NetGalley. This rating, review, and all included thoughts and comments are my own.</i><br />
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<b>Problems and Potential Both</b></div>
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In a world that's been knowingly coping and coexisting with magic and magical creatures since the Rending, half-dark fae, half-mage Juliana Norris is a Realm Walker, an officer of the International Law Enforcement Agency that polices the Altered. She is most often assigned to tracking and, when necessary, hunting those nonhuman creatures who are causing trouble with their human neighbors.<br />
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Given as she can see the signature that every being leaves as it travels along its way, sort of like a magical scent trail, and identify them by their colors, she is uniquely qualified for the job. The only creatures she can't see, that leave no signature behind in their wake, are demons. That does, however, make more than a little problematic the fact that someone has summoned one and set it on a course of death and destruction straight at Juliana.<br />
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Then there's the vampire she once loved, Thomas Kendrick. Seven years ago he took her as his mate, then disappeared from her life before the blood was even dry. Losing him nearly destroyed her. The aftermath of his leaving changed her irrevocably. Now he's returned and is of the opinion that it would be the perfect time to force his way back into her life. Because she obviously doesn't have enough to worry about.<br />
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With a demon slaughtering everything in its path and Thomas dogging her every step, Juliana is running out of time to save the city and is in serious danger of losing her heart. The vampire has already proven he is just as capable of ripping it out of her chest as the demon is, and while the demon may provide a bloodier and more deadly sort of evisceration, it may not be the most devastating in the long run.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
~*~</div>
<br />
This series debut by Collins marks the second time in a handful of months where I had to stop a few chapters into a book and make sure there wasn't a preceding book or novella, or even a main series from which this one spun, because I felt like I was missing a lot of previously laid groundwork almost from the very beginning. There's plenty of tidbits of information about things that happened in the past to set up the story, but the characters, their backstory, and significant elements of the world-building are disclosed in a way that seemed far better suited as reminders than introductions.<br />
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Julianna and Thomas have a lot of personal history, that much is plain, but I never felt like I was given a good grasp of it. Details about their past were either glossed over or doled out in drips and drabs throughout the tale and I couldn't shake the feeling that I was supposed to have already known the whole story before I started the book. Though I'm not really sure how.<br />
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That problem wasn't limited to Thomas, either. All of Julianna's friends and acquaintances suffer similarly. There are several who have obvious history with her, but without the all-important context to let me know how and why they were as valuable to her as we're told they are, I never really felt any of those connections. That put a big crimp in the emotional impact of several crucial scenes as the conflict with the Big Bad heated up, and it confused me in general when it came to characters like Raoul and Michael.<br />
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And not for nothing, but I'm still not sure how I feel about Thomas. I was completely thrown by the weird way he showed up and inserted himself into Juliana's life, offering sketchy detail on what he does and doesn't know about her origins and her life since he left and making some pretty high-handed demands with all kinds of attitude. My first impression of him was of an overbearing, utterly egotistical asshat, and while that did improve the longer I read, it didn't completely go away.<br />
<br />
Maybe it would have if he hadn't kept referring to Juliana as "his bride." Ugh. Not only did that bug me with its repetition, it seemed pretty offensively objectifying to me. Like he didn't see her as her own person with her own identity, she was just his bride. It was weird. Not sexy. Weird.<br />
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On the other hand, it quickly becomes clear that Juliana is absolutely everything to him and he would do anything for her. I would have preferred seeing a bit more of that in application, though, and a smidge of honest communication wouldn't have been remiss, either. I'm starting to wonder if there is just no other way to breed conflict between two stubborn, self-sacrificing characters, as often as that has been the sole source of major relationship conflict in stories I've read lately. Still, his devotion to her did temper my negative opinion of the guy and kept him from being utterly unlikable, but he was definitely not to my personal taste in romantic hero types.<br />
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There were, however, some very nice things going on, too. It was nice reading an urban fantasy series debut that didn't make me want to poke the heroine with something sharp. First time that's happened in a while. And no inklings of a love triangle, either, which is virtually unheard of in the genre of late. Those were two big positives in a book with a well-conceived (if not perfectly defined) world and solid story, and that's what kept my feelings generally positive overall as I dealt with some of the less favorable elements.<br />
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I actually liked Juliana. She's not the most original character, is in fact fairly typical for the genre. In Juliana's case, thankfully, her emotional maturity seemed slightly higher than that of an average twelve year old (a welcome change), and she's more palatable than most I've read recently. She's certainly the sort of smart-mouthed, kick-ass rule breaker I seem to gravitate towards most in the genre. You know the sort: she would sacrifice herself to save anyone she considers "hers" but guards her heart and her secrets like a jealous lover and doesn't actually let anyone in very far.<br />
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It's a common malady in urban fantasy heroines, but one I've always sort of enjoyed, or at the very least, never minded.<br />
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I did enjoy the glimpses of the world I got in this book, and there were several secondary and ancillary characters with nice page presence, though Michael in particular needed a hell of a lot more explanation. There is also a solid plot conflict going on around and in addition to Juliana's personal crisis with Thomas. It lacked sufficient setup and didn't come close to answering all my questions, especially after that rather odd but revealing climax, but on the surface it provided plenty of action and certainly a high body count.<br />
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Without the sufficient framework for everything that went on in this book, though, it just wasn't quite executed well enough for me to feel completely satisfied with the story as a whole. And did anyone figure out how Juliana knows who her father is if she can't remember anything from her first twelve years? I think I missed something there.<br />
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Well...I missed something in a lot of places, but that one still niggles me.<br />
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The plot execution may have been a bit odd, and it had some pacing issues and abrupt transitions, inconsistent progression and a general lack of the sort of detail found in the more complex urban fantasy series, but it still managed to keep me entertained. With more fleshing out in some crucial areas and another fifty or so more pages this could have really built into a gripping, multi-layered, complex tale with memorable characters. It didn't quite reach that level this time, but the potential is definitely there for the series.Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01257007454939897691noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1070857603375540741.post-78954704017622290612013-11-17T21:00:00.002-05:002013-11-17T21:00:50.594-05:00Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews<i><b>Genre:</b> Urban Fantasy Romance</i><br />
<i><b>Series:</b> Kate Daniels, Book 5.5</i><br />
<i><b>Rating:</b> 4 Stars</i><br />
<i><b>Length:</b> 448 Pages</i><br />
<b><i>Formats:</i></b> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425256138/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0425256138&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Paperback</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0072NWKP6/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0072NWKP6&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20" target="_blank">Kindle</a><br />
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<b>Andrea Walks on the Wild Side</b></div>
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Andrea Nash has lived through horrors that would have killed lesser women. Her childhood was a nightmare that left her emotionally scarred, living in the human world doing everything she could to distance herself from her shapeshifter lineage. For good reason. She was a Knight of the Order of Merciful Aid, highly decorated and deadly, but the Order doesn't have any room for shifters, let alone beastkin like Andrea.<br />
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The Order found out she's a shapeshifter when a recent battle with a big nasty put her in the hospital, thus ending her career, but not before she'd already sacrificed her relationship with Raphael, beloved son of the bouda clan's alpha, and snubbed the whole shapeshifter population of Atlanta.<br />
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Hey, when your life explodes around you, it may as well be completely obliterated.<br />
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Now Andrea is just trying to get settled into a life without the Order, working with her best friend Kate at their new investigation agency. Not that work has been all that busy lately. But that sort of thing really is a mixed blessing, because when things pick up and Jim, the Pack's chief of security, calls Andrea with a problem, being bored out of her mind starts to sound pretty good in comparison.<br />
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Four shifters have been killed and Jim wants Andrea to investigate. And the victims were on a job, working for Raphael's reclamation company when they were killed.<br />
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Now Angela has to investigate the deaths of the employees of her ex. Fabulous. Because life wasn't nearly painful, complicated, or uncomfortable enough. At this point the only thing missing is some Big Bad threatening world-ending destruction.<br />
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Oh...wait...<br />
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~*~</div>
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I've been a fan of the <i>Kate Daniels</i> series since its inception, but because I'm weird (or dumb...your pick), I was hesitant to try Andrea's story when it came out. I bought it because I love the world and the characters, but I didn't read it...for exactly the same reason. See, spin-off books in beloved series tend not to go so well for me, and it took me a long, long time to finally work up the nerve to give Andrea's book a chance.<br />
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Of course I'm glad I did and of course I'm kicking myself for waiting so long. Of course. It's Ilona Andrews, after all.<br />
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I've always liked Andrea's character and appreciated her contributions in Kate's books, and I'm happy to say I think she acquitted herself nicely as a main character in her own. My biggest worry was that she would come off a little like Carbon Copy Kate, but that was certainly not the case. She was the gun-toting, arrow-shooting, bad-ass Andrea I know and like. Maybe a little older, darker, and more serious than the vibe I got from her in Kate's books, but still Andrea.<br />
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And man, her backstory definitely gave Kate's childhood a run for the money on level of horror and damage inflicted. Andrea's personality and life choices make so much more sense now. Andrews did a great job bringing that all together and weaving it into a compelling, sympathetic personal history of a character with whom readers were already familiar.<br />
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I have to admit, I was expecting more of a paranormal romance feel to the story than I got. Like the <i>Kate Daniels</i> books, this one read more like an urban fantasy with a strong thread of romance secondary to the main plot of the book. It's a more robustly traditional romance thread than that of the Kate and Curran saga, and I think it worked as it was supposed to, but it wasn't the focus of the narrative.<br />
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Andrea's investigation into the murders and the subsequent revelations about the crime, the concerned parties, and the potential for badness was a meaty, solid story that kept me engaged throughout. I don't know that it was as intrinsically intense as any of the books in Kate's series, and it lacked a bit of the personal connection that's so prevalent between Kate and her investigations/catastrophes <i>du jour</i>, but it was well-developed, layered, and provided a broad array of danger and life-threatening situations for Andrea and her friends.<br />
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I loved spending more time with Roman, who was introduced in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0441020429/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0441020429&linkCode=as2&tag=onego-20">Magic Slays</a>, the book preceding this one. I'm still not completely sure how such a nice, decent-seeming guy such as Roman can be an evil Volhv and a source of darkness, but hey, the contradictions in his character make him interesting. I just like the guy.<br />
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Raphael, on the other hand, was a surprisingly big douche bag throughout a good portion of this book, and was responsible for one of my biggest sources of disappointment in the story. When he had the unmitigated gall to show up in Andrea's office with that human bimbo and was so hideous to Andrea during her interrogation, I wanted to kill him. And I was shocked Andrea didn't ever really nail him on it.<br />
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I will say the whole scene served as a nice catalyst to get Andrea to embrace her inner beast and let her fur flag fly, providing the impetuous for some much-appreciated character evolution, but the whole messed up situation was begging for a more visceral confrontation before resolution and there just wasn't anything beyond a tepid (well, seemed tepid to me) apology on Raphael's part. I wasn't nearly satisfied considering the insult he paid Andrea by doing what he did. Not. Enough. Groveling.<br />
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The other elements of their relationship evolution provided a nice level of heat and some humor to the read, but didn't quite wow me in the same way that Kate and Curran's evolving relationship has. I liked it well enough, but it never really captivated me. Personally, I was more moved by Andrea's long-awaited decision about joining the bouda clan and the scene in which she took control of her destiny in that regard. I kinda loved that.<br />
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In part because the <i>Kate Daniels</i> series has provided such a rich tapestry of world building, story, and character, and in part because the writing duo that is Ilona Andrews is all sorts of awesome, this book really shouldn't be missed if you're a fan of the series. It may not have been quite as fun for me as the Kate and Curran show, but it was was a solidly entertaining, fantastic visit into a world I've come to love and admire and it provided a bit of a different perspective on characters who have been around since the beginning. I liked it a lot.Tracyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01257007454939897691noreply@blogger.com2