Book Review: Chaos Burning by Lauren Dane

Chaos Burning
by Lauren Dane

This was an interesting novel to get into because even though it was a stand alone, the books printed prior to the novel probably would have provided more information about the world the novel was set in, Lauren did an great job providing explanations for items that new readers wouldn't understand with out bogging down the storyline.

This novel starts out with Lark Jaansen, a witch arriving in Seattle in order to meet up with the Seattle coven of witches. She is picked up by Simon Liathan, a lycan, as a favor to one of his friends. Sparks immediately fly and the attraction continues to deepen the longer they are together. By Lark isn't up in Seattle for pleasure, she's there for business. The continued disappearances of the 'other ' community by mages, or as I like to call them evil magic users, who are killing their victims at an increasing alarming rate. They soon find out that the mages aren't what they should be worried about, it's the entity that sucks the life out of every world it manifests in, that is trying to enter theirs.

Lark, Simon, the coven in Seattle and all the 'others' must fight together to keep this thing from killing them all. That's easier said then done.

What I liked about this novel:
Lark was an awesome female character, she kicked but, has a soft side and wears bright funky clothes.
Simon was a sexy beast of a man who apparently could charm the underwear off anyone.
The relationship between Simon and Lark was entertaining.

What I didn't like:
There was no real character growth. Don't get me wrong, personal issues were resolved but the characters themselves really didn't have to change in order to Simon and Lark to be together or to resolve the issue of the Magister.
I didn't really feel emotionally connected to any of the characters. There was a lot of information provided but the emotional depth of the conversation was overshadowed by the way she explained every action the characters were doing or planning on doing.
Even though the storyline was a complex interesting tail, I had a hard time feeling afraid for any of the characters.

I give this novel a 3 out of 5 for storyline/romance and a 3 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess.

If you'd like to read more about Lauren Dane and her novels, please click here.

Book Review: Kiss of the Vampire by Cynthia Garner

Kiss of the Vampire
by: Cynthia Garner

This book is about a half-demon, half-human Nix de la Fuente, who works as the human-preternatural liaison with the Council that is supposed to maintain the peace between the perternaturals and the humans. When Nix is assigned to work a work a case of a bloody massacre, vampire Tobias Caine is assigned to work with her. With a past between them that Nix hasn't been able to get over, can she keep her hands and eyes off of the vampire long enough to solve the case?

When I first started reading this novel, I was really excited to see how it would play out. This is a new take on the classic vampire/shifter/demon theme, involving a temporal rift and the unwanted 'people' who get tossed through it and have to take up residence on earth.

Nix was initially a really strong female character that seemed to be able to hold her own against Tobias. As the story went along, she became less of a female worth saving to someone who was becoming more of a victim that Tobias had to continue to rescue.

Tobais' character didn't really have any grow either. The most he came to the realization of was that he shouldn't have left Nix all those years ago.

Also, the storyline included exact descriptions of the actions of the characters when the got into the car. I found this a bit distracting and it slowed the flow of the story down.

I give this a 3 out of 5 for storyline/romance and a 31/2 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess.

If you'd like to find out more about Cynthia Garner and the other novels, click here.

Book Review: Warrior by Kristina Douglas

Warrior
by Kristina Douglas

This was an interesting book to read. It can be a bit hard at times to get into a book where the hero originally doesn't really care if the heroine survives or is even willing to kill her himself. That is how the Fallen stories tend to start out and Warrior was no different.

The reincarnation of a Greek Goddess, Troy has been held in a tower for the majority of her life. Trained in the art of warfare and strategy, if Archangel Michael hadn't shown up to collect his bride, she would have been killed and another re-incarnation goddess would have been born and trained again (can't have a goddess growing old) until they were called upon to serve.

When Michael actually arrives to claim his unwanted bride, Troy is forced to chose between marring him or dieing in her prison. With few choices available, Troy decides to try her luck with Michael and is brought to the Fallen's home. Except she finds that her new found freedom is a double edges sword. Danger is coming again to the Fallen and she is the only one who can turn the tide and when the next battle.

With her desire for Michael increasing with each hour and his determined attitude to stay away from her, how can she fight for the man she's come to love with the battle looming near.

When plot lines swing from indifference to true love in 373 pages, it can be hard to correctly navigate the emotional twists and turns and Kristina does an awesome job. I've read a few books where the characters suddenly just all of a sudden love each other and  everything has magically worked its self out.

This is not the chase. Kristine has a wonderful way of drawing the characters out of their shells and exposing the centers of their very characters and in doing so allows their counterpart an opportunity to squash that small hope and when they can't, the emotions continue to build until you have a worth while and believable storyline and  awesome character growth.

What I enjoyed:
Michael at first seemed like such a one dimensional character, and she was able to unravel the layers that consisted of his personality to show to the readers that he was a worth while male to read about
I love Michael's wings and the tattoos that covered his body
Troys strategic personality, although she was in a horrible position, she knew how to pick her fights and how to end them
The growth of Troy's character

What I didn't like
I wish that she had provided more information on the tattoos that covered Michael's body and how he got about getting them
Michael's initial willingness to let Troy die
When the storyline traveled away from Michael and Troy (it wasn't that often), but I felt broke up the novel's pace
I felt like the pair of 'unique' people who birth/trained/killed a goddess a bit hard to get into as they seemed as if they were a bit out of the natural order of things, she also didn't explain how long this has been going on or why they knew that Michael was the one who needed to marry her

I give Warrior by Kristina Douglas a 3 out of 5 for storyline/romance and a 4 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess.

If you'd like to find out more about Kristina Douglas and her novels, click here.

Book Review- All Things Wicked

All Things Wicked
by Karina Cooper

Juliet Carpenter, witch and survivor of a coo that killed members of her coven, she is struggling to find a reason for the treatment she received at the hands of Caleb Leigh. Hiding from those who wish to harm him, Caleb is surprised when Juliet manages to hunt him down when no one else has been able to. With enemies surrounding them, they work to get over their past and survive the attacks against them.

This is the forth book in this series and the most emotionally rending as it deals with deeply rooted psychological issues as well as dangers from old enemies which kept me on edge the entire story. I could not put this book down and was not disappointed with the characters or the plot line.

I highly recommend this book and give it a 5 out of 5 for storyline/romance and a 4 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess.

If you'd like to find out more information on Karina Cooper and her other novels, click here.

Book Review- Whispers In The Dark

Whispers In The Dark
by: Maya Banks

I believe that this is the first novel of hers that I've read. The premise was interesting and I've picked up this particular novel on several occasions but never purchased it until recently as I wasn't sure if I would like the book. This is a KGI Novel and is the 4th in the series.

This story involves a psychic named Shea and the man she connects with, Nathan. She is thrown into his world as he is being tortured by his captors and is his only bright light in the days/weeks that follow. She brings comfort and helps him cope with the pain, but when he's rescued she all but disappears from his mind. It isn't until she's captured herself, that she reaches out and connects with Nathan again. He drops everything to help her and reunite with the angle that he's only spoken to in his mind.

This was a very interesting story. I enjoyed the banter of Nathan's family and the scope in which their military backgrounds were represented. There also was enough information provided in the story that I wasn't totally lost in who was who, although the three separate squadrons tended to fall into the wayside as I wasn't sure who belong where or how they got together, but the family and closed friends were easily identifiable.

I really enjoyed Shea's voice and the way she provides strong men who are realistic with their emotions and their faults. I also enjoyed that this story was intricate and deep but realistic in its plot.

I felt like there was a lag in the portions of the plot where information was repeated because it was being explained to a new character. I also felt that Shea and Nathan's internal dialog could at time drag on and distracted from the storyline. Shea at times also displayed an emotional closeness to characters that I felt hadn't been established strongly enough prior to elicit certain reactions. And although the characters went through quite a bit in this story, there really wasn't a lot of overall character growth.

This story involved realistic emotional ups and downs and showcased strong family ties. I give this book a 3 out of 5 stars for storyline/romance and a 2 out of 5 stars for bedroom steaminess.

You can visit the Maya Banks website and find out more about her books here.

Book Review- Dead Girls are Easy

Dead Girls are Easy
By Terri Garey
















Nicki Styx is a vintage store co-owner who has a near death experience that enables her to see dead people, and not every ghost is nice. Upon waking she finds herself inexplicably drawn to her handsome doctor, Joe Bascombe, who was the attending physician during attempted resuscitation. While struggling to overcome the fact that she can see dead people, Nicki is also attempting to workout her budding romance with the doctor. When she finds out her friend has been murdered, things head south as Nicki discovers that her deceased friend had sold her soul to the devil and the devil wants its due.

This book was an interesting read as I haven’t read a lot into voodoo. I was unsure how accurate her descriptions where in regards to the voodoo aspect, as a food reference earlier in the book was not correct and leads me to believe that although she might have researched her work, perhaps the material she used was not correct. Terri provides interesting secondary characters, which at times almost seem to overpower the main character. The romance storyline in this book was unusual in the fact that the male interest, Joe, character doesn’t really evolve or change in any way. He doesn’t have any real problems to overcome in order to grow as a character in this story which, to me, puts him in a secondary character place. He is also frequently overshadowed by Nicki’s friend, the storyline and her dead friend’s parent/grandma.

The main character also doesn’t really seem to emotionally evolve nor does it seem in the end that she’s really gotten over or accepted her current ‘I can see dead people’ issues. There are some evolving points thrown in the way, like a cheating ex that ruined her for love and commitment issues, but the characters displayed emotional involvement in those issues is negligent and doesn’t provide a strong feeling of ‘these are serious issues’ to the reader. This negates the hurtle of getting over an emotional problem if the character doesn’t really feel like it’s too big of a difficulty to begin with.

This book was interesting to read and the story flowed nicely from one scene to the next. I’d recommend this book for some light reading. I give this book a 3 out of 5 for storyline and a 1 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess as everything was behind closed doors, except for a few kisses.

Please click here if you’d like to visit the author’s website.

Book Review- The Undead Next Door

The Undead Next Door
By: Kerrelyn Sparks













This is the fourth book in her vampire series that deals with Jean-Luc who is a sword welding Paris fashion designer who is being hunted by his arch enemy Lui who does everything in his power to destroy everything Jean-Luc holds dear including killing his current love interest Heather.

I've enjoyed reading the first four books in her series. The stories are interesting and each one is different then the other. She does a good job providing different male characters, mostly by providing them with different backgrounds. I have a hard time with her female characters as I feel that for the most part, they are the same base character.

Her storylines, not necessarily the action side, but the romance, also feels as if it changes little from each book. I will say that their wasn't any 'vampire sex' in this story (you'll have to read the story to find out what juicy little act it is, and its not what you think). I would recommend reading this book for some easy reading.

I give this book 3 out of 5 for bedroom steaminess and 3 out of 5 for storyline/romance.

Click here to visit Kerrelyn Sparks website.