One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: The Big Bad Wolf, Book 1
Rating: 3 Stars
Length: 3781 Locations
Formats: Kindle


Lily St. Claire has had the hots for Daniel Kane since high school, in fact has dreamed of him for years...odd dreams of man becoming a wolf with startling blue eyes, but upon returning to Baton Rouge after years away, the reality of seeing the man he's become rocks her to her core. But despite him working through the female population like it's his own personal smorgasbord of raunchy fun, he never seemed to notice her much.

Newly appointed Police Chief Daniel Kane noticed Lily St. Claire, all right. He's wanted her since they were both teens, but a promise to his sister kept him from making her his, despite how delicious she's always smelled to him. Seeing her upon her return to Baton Rouge, though, cleared up more than just a few things for him. While Lily smelled fantastic before, the allure of her scent now kicks all his instincts into high gear. She's a Dormant, a human with special abilities destined to be mate to a werewolf. To him. Had he known her nature, he never would have let her out of his sight all those years ago. Now that he knows, no promise to his sister - no force on earth, actually - will keep him from marking and claiming her. But there's another werewolf who knows who she is, what she is, and that wolf is a killer.

Before he gets a chance to do more than place an initial mark on her, she gives herself up to the killer to save her best friend, Daniel's sister, and the race against time and the war against Daniel's very nature begins.

Heather Killough-Walden has penned a couple of books I've thoroughly enjoyed in Hell Bent and The Third Kiss: Dorian's Dream, and there were aspects of The Heat (The Big Bad Wolf Series) that showed promise, but I had too many issues with it to appreciate it as much as I did those two titles.

I found the plot oddly disparate, two major plot threads that were developed and concluded independent of each other instead of being blended together to form a more balanced story arc. The main characters lacked much in the way of depth or dimension, their world was very sketchily built, and the relationship between Lily and Daniel had almost no development. The last was mostly due to the fact that it's almost impossible to develop a romance in a book if the lead characters only share a couple of scenes, as was the case here.

On top of that, through a combination of actions that lacked intelligence and some that were just bad luck, Lily spent the majority of the book captured or in danger, and I'm not a fan of books that portray the female lead as nothing more than a damsel in distress who the male lead has to save again and again. Every time I read her being referred to as a Dormant I kept seeing "doormat" and it just wasn't appealing to me. My reading preferences lie elsewhere. I would have preferred she be given a more proactive, independent role, and wish that the concept of a Dormant had been both better defined and more cohesively developed.

I was very pleased, though, with the character Malcom Cole and the plot arc surrounding him. I sincerely hope that the second book in the series deals with him, and in it we see a more balanced, comprehensive plot with a stronger female lead who is more involved in her own story. I found Cole to be the most fascinating of the characters in this book and his backstory showed the most depth and complexity. I'm looking forward to seeing how his story progresses.

The Heat isn't a bad book, per se. Killough-Walden has definite writing chops. I just wasn't totally thrilled with the way this one was pieced together and didn't think it was as well developed as others I've read by her. The second book in this series, The Strip, is due out sometime in the future, but I couldn't find any concrete information on a release date on the author's site. On the bright side, there are several other books by Killough-Walden that I've purchased but have yet to read. I'll be getting to them soon as I wait for the next in The Big Bad Wolf series.

Genre: Thriller/Suspense
Series: N/A
Length: Novel, 7304 Locations
Rating: 5 Stars
Formats: Kindle


If you're unfamiliar with Heather Killough-Walden, you may be missing some of the best reading available on Kindle. I stumbled across her paranormal romance The Third Kiss: Dorian's Dream and was so blown away by her style and imagination, that I quickly downloaded all her other available titles. And believe me when I say, it didn't break the bank, because The Third Kiss: Dorian's Dream was all of $1 and Hell Bent a whopping $1.99.

Seriously great reading combined with a stunningly low price...can I just say WOO HOO!

In Hell Bent, we meet Annabelle Drake. She works for a graphics design company and her boss, Max Anderson, is both a friend...and maybe more. He's finally asked her to dinner on a night when his teenage son wouldn't be home. As Annabelle heads to lunch with her friend Cassie, feeling a little glowy from the invitation, the glow turn to confusion and then fear when an odd text message from Max urges her back to the office - the locked and completely dark office.

The shock from the grimmest of discoveries rocks Annabelle's world and she desperately reaches out to her best friend, Jack Thane, a man she's known for ten years. Jack's not a normal friend. He's not a normal anything, really. He's also intensely in love with Annabelle and has been from the moment he laid eyes on her on her birthday almost ten years ago. He'd do anything for her - has done...everything for her. And as an assassin, he's well aware of everything he needs to keep doing. When the call from his Bella comes in on the phone that he keeps strictly for her to contact him, he knows something's wrong - she's never called it before. He drops everything and rushes to her side, quickly sweeping Annabelle away from the scene of a horrific crime, but he only starts to get the gist of just how bad things are when Annabelle tells him in no uncertain terms that Max didn't kill himself as the scene suggests. He was murdered.

Soon Jack is racing to keep the woman he loves safe from assassins just as deadly as he is while he shelters a growing number of people on the kill list with her. Annabelle's friend Cassie, Max's son Dylan, Jack's ex-wife and daughter...soon it's all Jack can do to keep everyone safe and keep Annabelle from the clutches of a very determined billionaire who is exceedingly intent on staying a billionaire - no matter how many people he needs to kill to keep his secrets safe.

Hell Bent is a roller coaster thrill ride and Annabelle and Jack are a fantastic pair of characters. Their relationship is complicated, complex, and difficult for both of them at times, but it's also immutable and intensely strong. Annabelle trusts Jack like no other, even knowing what he does for a living, but when Jack's secrets start to unravel as they're forced to evade danger again and again, so does their close friendship and soon their relationship is fraught with just as many perils as the situation they're in.

Killough-Walden has plotted this book perfectly, balancing the external danger and the plot of a brutal cover up with delicate emotional angst in a way that many authors can't even begin to comprehend, let along pull off. The characters struggle desperately to not get dead, racing across the country and then across the pond in a valiant effort while buildings are being blown up and bullets are flying and friendships are being tested. It's an exciting, dangerous thrill ride and an odd but utterly unique romance filled with genuine characters with human foils and foibles...and a bit of murder and mayhem.

Annabelle is a gem of a character, quirky, bright, dedicated, with a spine of steel and a core of determination that makes her a formidable heroine. Jack is fantastic as the lead male. A cold blooded killer by trade, it's clear his heart belongs to Annabelle, and the dichotomy, while perplexing, is also uniquely appealing and ultimately sympathetic. He's a bad guy...just not totally a bad guy...and some of his frets about keeping his Bella from hating him are actually cute and provide some humor to the situation.

The plot is fast-moving, the book long, and there's plenty of room given to develop the story and characters and do it well. Maybe just a wee bit too much room in one or two places that could have benefited from a bit of tightening and trimming. There were one or two times that I thought the constant attacks on Annabelle, Jack, and company felt a little like overkill, but they were passing thoughts, not true complaints, and the scope of the story never stopped developing alongside the action. There was only one part at just over halfway that I felt the action slowed a little and the story dragged a bit, but it was over before I got annoyed and another totally unexpected layer to the plot was added. From that point on, the book was right back at breakneck pace.

I loved it. I absolutely loved it. It was definitely one of the best action adventure books I've ever read, and I became so fond of the characters that I know they will stick with me. I would love a sequel or a series with Annabelle and Jack...even Sam, Cassie, or Dylan, and especially Adam - they're all unique enough and the relationships fresh and complex enough to support much more from any or all of them. Even if there's never a sequel, the impact that the story has guarantees that I'll be reading it again and again. Hell Bent is a story that quite literally has everything: rip-roaring action, bullets and bombs and beatings, a race against time, and danger, mystery, and suspense - and romance! It's fantastic!!

Other Titles by Heather Killough-Walden:
   

Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: N/A
Rating: 4 Stars
Formats: Kindle


There are few things in life I enjoy more than reading, and fewer still things I enjoy more than finding a book by a new (or new to me) author who can weave a truly compelling story. One of my ideas of Nirvana is a new (or new to me) author who can weave a truly compelling story that I can buy and read for a ridiculously low price. I have found my Nirvana in Heather Killough-Walden's gritty paranormal romance, The Third Kiss: Dorian's Dream.

A dollar? Seriously?? Oh, happy day!

Two hundred years ago a gypsy woman sought out the Romanian vampire king to tell him of a future that would change the course of the lives of the vampire race. She foretold of dreams and the existence of a special few women who could carry the seed of a vampire king and give birth to a new race of half-human, half-vampire children who would bear all of their race's strengths and gifts and none of their weaknesses. She foretold the potential for new armies and an evolution to the immortals' existence. As the vampire kings spread across the globe to increase the likelihood of dreaming of, and then finding their queens, financial empires were amassed and kingdoms secured.

In Baton Rouge, two hundred years later, the prince of the French vampires and the only halfling vampire in existence, Dorian Adalard, is haunted by dreams of a woman with long blond hair and almond eyes. The vision of this captivating woman smiling, laughing, and then large with child - possibly Dorian's child - shakes Dorian to his knees. And then, as he haunted the streets of New Orleans an hour away, Dorian's path crosses with one Emma Rose Nekoda, the woman of his dream, and his body and mind are stirred in ways that he'd never experienced before. Before he even knows her name, he's drawn to her, follows her from the shadows of the Big Easy as she spends time with her art gallery owner brother and his life partner. He learns her by reading her mind and listening to her conversation, and finds out this captivating woman is a photographic artist in town for the art gallery showing her brother is sponsoring.

When he learns her name, Dorian's stomach drops, his heart nearly seizes, and he knows his life will never be the same, for his half-brother, the sadistic and powerful French vampire king Julian Adalard had also had his fated dream and the woman he has already commanded his day walking half-brother to retrieve...by kidnapping, if absolutely necessary...is one Emma Rose Nekoda of Lubbock, Texas, visiting New Orleans for an art gallery exhibition the next night.

His Emma!

While he can't ignore his attraction to the genuinely kindhearted Emma as he maneuvers his way into her company, he knows the lengths his half-brother will go to to amass the army of halfling nightmares so Dorian is left with no choice than to turn Emma over to the evil bastard and try to protect her as much as possible, even knowing Julian intends to strip Emma's humanity from her and give her the third kiss, turning her into a changling vampire and making her ultimately his queen for all time. Dorian's...and Emma's...feelings for each other be damned.

The Third Kiss: Dorian's Dream is a dark, gritty, and totally compelling story with a wonderfully unique take on vampire political and sociological structure. I was thrilled to stumble across the book. It has a southern-smooth narrative with rich, flavored, and textured world building surrounding New Orleans and Baton Rouge, and enough character development to really breathe life into Dorian and Emma and bring into taut, stomach-clenching detail their fates and the threat the malicious king poses. Killough-Walden tightens the plot and slowly ratchets up the danger and the sense of impending doom as the story progresses, culminating in a stunning climax and a few events that took me by surprise. The concept and plot of this book is worthy of Machiavelli. I was totally engrossed and invested in the characters and their story throughout. What a find!!

It's not perfect, though. The world building was strong but there were some inconsistencies in the mythos and a few timeline discrepancies and continuity errors. There were a few unanswered questions and plot threads that went unexplained and unresolved - which would be less of a problem if this book is the start of a series, but I don't know that it is. A plot hole or two also could've been an issue if I'd focused too closely on them. I know from experience that there are readers out there who are sticklers for pinpoint accuracy in all of these areas. I wouldn't recommend this title for those for whom details like this ruin the enjoyment of the read. On a personal note, I noticed them but they didn't significantly draw my attention away from the emotional impact of the story.

On the other hand, and while I'm desperately trying to be comprehensive and informative without adding spoilers, I do have to say I can't fully understand why Dorian didn't deal with his evil brother long before suffering under his fangs to the point of death, considering the abilities Dorian had. A direct attack may have been fruitless, but you can't tell me that a bright man who was as adept at business as Dorian couldn't figure out some other way free of his half-brother's treacherous magical slavery, or that the idea of revolution had only occurred during the course of this book and even then only after someone mentioned it. That stretched my willing suspension of disbelief. So, too, did a couple of Emma's too-quick emotional turnarounds during the course of the story.

Still, The Third Kiss: Dorian's Dream is one of those books that impressed me beyond the issues I had with it, and it's a book that will stick with me for its originality and sense of uniqueness. I'm thrilled to have stumbled across Heather Killough-Walden's stories - this one in particular - and have purchased all her other titles currently available on Kindle. I'm very excited to see what other tales this strong storyteller has to tell.