Unholy Ghosts (Downside Ghosts #1) By Stacia Kane
21 Jun 2010 4 Comments
in Reviews, Urban Fantasy Tags: Ghosts, Magic, review, Urban Fantasy, Witches
From Goodreads.com: THE DEPARTED HAVE ARRIVED.
The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully tattooed witch and freewheeling ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for banishing the wicked dead. But Chess is keeping a dark secret: She owes a lot of money to a murderous drug lord named Bump, who wants immediate payback in the form of a dangerous job that involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust for a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.
Let me try to put this complicated, fantastical plot into words. Somehow, in 1997, the world’s dead broke back into the world of the living and almost wiped it out. Since everyone now knew what the afterlife was all about, there was no longer any need for religion or government, all the people needed was the Church of Real Truth. The Church protects the living from ghosts capable of murder (they did prevent total destruction in ’97 after all), but also regulates those who make false haunting claims. Chess works for the Church because she was born with magical abilities enabling her to banish ghosts back to the City of Eternity. Because she was born into this gritty, post-apocalyptic world, she has serious issues and has tuned to drugs like many others. Her pill habit is so bad; she owes her drug dealer, Bump, a ton of money. Bump wants to reopen a local airport to start flying his drugs out, but there are reports that ghosts are sabotaging planes. So he makes a deal with Chess to rid the place of ghosts and sends his head hit man Terrible out with her to investigate. Of course, rival drug lord Lex, does not want Bump to open said airport, so he also makes a deal with Chess. During the investigation, Chess discovers someone has unleashed a seriously powerful entity that could kill thousands. As the investigation goes on, Chess is pulled between Lex and Bump, while trying to survive vicious ghost attacks.
The Good: I loved this book. Seriously, I couldn’t put it down. Not once during my reading did I feel any familiarity with the plot or characters, which was so refreshing. I know that the post-apocalyptic setting is gaining popularity, but this is a huge twist on that concept. Apocalypse a-la ghost. My heart broke for Chess and what I am sure is a horrific past, and I appreciated how she hadn’t become a total a**hole, just a druggie. I loved how dry she was, but I hated her tragically low self-esteem. Terrible was a really intriguing character, and things got really interesting when he became a potential love interest. The Church was really fascinating, kind of like an eerie Church of Scientology or something, sans couch jumping. Admittedly, I was a little confused as to who the actual bad guys were and how they all met up, but I just reread a couple of pages and really liked the way it turned out. Honestly, the whole time I was reading, I had almost convinced myself to let my husband borrow my Kindle to read this book. That didn’t happen of course, but I thought it! More than once! Not sure I can pay an author a higher compliment.
The Bad: Nothing I am about to say is actually bad, it just slightly annoyed me. My only real complaint is the lack of detailed explanation for the events that took place in 1997. I tried not to let this bother me since I know there are more books coming out soon, but the curiosity is killing me! I was also left wondering why the Downsiders minus Chess speak differently from the Church members. And what odd language hybrid was that supposed to be anyway? To me it was like Cajuny Gangsta English with a bunch of Scottish ‘Aye’s. And what is the City of Eternity really like? And why did the Church replace the Government and not just mainstream religion? I realize that too much explanation can sometimes ruin a book, but I just had so many questions! Must. Be. Patient. Besides, I am sure Chess will end up in the City eventually and I will learn more than I ever wanted to know about it.
The Bumpin’ Uglies: Terrible….oh Terrible (the person, not adjective). The idea of Terrible makes my shallow little brain hurt. Terrible is big, muscular, sweet in his own brutish way, and…ugly. But not all the way ugly, just thuggish ugly. He reminds me of someone like Benicio Del Toro; from certain angles you are all “whoa! Thought he was kinda hot!” but then he talks and acts and you are all “well, I wouldn’t throw him out of bed or anything.” He is portrayed as a man who works with what he’s got, and this almost convinced me that not all leading men have to be hot. Almost. And then there was Lex, who becomes an actual love interest and I guess is supposed to be hot, but he did nothing for me. Lex in one word: Meh. Lex and Chess love scenes in two words: Where’s Terrible?Terrible stole every scene he was in, and I was actually disappointed when he wasn’t around. And I was REALLY disappointed with that bathroom scene!! That wasn’t very nice Ms. Kane. But I have very high hopes for the next book and this nice little love triangle we have developing. It’s not every day you get a peek inside a drug lord – pill popper – rival drug lord’s head henchman love triangle!
Rating: 9.5
Skin Game By Ava Gray
16 Jun 2010 3 Comments
in Paranormal Romance, Reviews Tags: Paranormal Romance, review
A beautiful fugitive—wanted dead or alive.
Kyra is a con woman and a particular kind of thief. She steals with a touch, but she only takes one thing: her target’s strongest skill. Which means she can be a fighter, an athlete, a musician, an artist—anything she wants… for a limited time. Heartbroken, she turns her gift toward avenging her father’s murder; with deadly patience, Kyra works her way into casino owner Gerard Serrano’s inner circle. After pulling off the ultimate con, she flees with his money and his pride.
A hit man who never misses the mark.
Reyes has nothing but his work. Pity for Kyra, he’s the best and mercy never sways him once he takes a job. He’s been hired to find out where Kyra hid the cash—and bring her back to face Serrano’s “justice.” Dead will do, if he can’t locate the loot. He’s never failed to complete a contract, but Kyra tempts him with her fierce heat and her outlaw heart. So Reyes has a hell of a choice: forsake his word or kill the woman he might love.
The Drama: When we first meet Kyra, she is working a con at some trashy bar. Reyes has already tracked her down, and they have a seriously explosive encounter within 15 minutes of meeting. Kyra ditches Reyes the next morning, and carries on with her life. Little does she know, Reyes intends on finding her again to carry out the contract on her life. Of course, nothing goes as planned and before they know it, Kyra and Reyes are on the run from angry meth-heads. Texas-sized sparks fly between the two, and in keeping with standard romance protocol, they are madly in love within days. But as secrets are revealed, Kyra realizes a relationship with Reyes can never work. Unfortunately, she needs his help to end Serrano and save her friend Mia, so they head back to Vegas where the real drama unfolds.
The Rant: This book was an odd one for me. This is one of few books I have read where I like the main duo little more than the villain. I mean, this is the love story of a hitman and con-artist, I get it, but still, I thought they would be more likeable. I had a hard time with both of them being life-long criminals, but justifying it by only hurting people who ‘deserved’ it. The only supernatural element to the book is Kyra’s ability to steal other people’s talents with touch. Everyone else is just…human. Well, let me rephrase, most everyone in the book is a scummy human (with the exception of Serrano’s assistant Foster, who has his own secrets). They encounter rapists, other hit men, meth-heads, modern-day gangsters…you get the picture. For some reason, when an entire supernatural world is created around the story, I don’t mind the scum so much, because they are demons and the like. It’s still an escape even if they are awful creatures. But parts of this book just remind you of all the creeps that actually exist…I just wanted to bathe or something. On the other hand, I found the whole concept of these two people with no one else in the world but each other intriguing. I enjoyed the details of Kyra’s cons, and her gift was a fresh idea. I felt like both the cons and the action sequences were so well thought out they could actually happen. I honestly can’t say anything bad about the book other than I didn’t really love the main characters, but I did love their interactions with each other. Does that make sense? Probably not.
The Smut: There is something to be said for a book where using a HOT one-night stand that occurs in the first 10% (kindle-speak) as a plot device actually works. I was really shocked by the early smut arrival, and even more shocked by the fiery chemistry of two people who just met. Of course then you have to wait 200 years for the encore, but it’s pretty worth it. Reyes and Kyra are intense, morally-flawed characters, so you can expect few inhibitions when it comes to the smut. My only complaint is all the condom talk. I know, I know, safe sex, blah blah. But our girl can become a black-belt by touching a sensei, should we be so concerned with the realistic portrayal of condom use every time? Especially when the absence of said condoms actually interferes with the smut? I guess the realistic use of condoms in fantasy novels is a whole other discussion, so I will just say, I was over it. But otherwise, this book has some well-written, extremely steamy scenes that get even better as Kyra and Reyes’ feelings deepen. After I successfully blocked out the cover’s questionable hotness, I found both Reyes and Foster (and his pin-stripe suits) to be oozing with yumminess and I look forward to learning more about Foster in the next book.
Rating: 8
Pride series by Shelly Laurenston
14 Jun 2010 3 Comments
in Paranormal Romance, Reviews Tags: Paranormal Romance, review, Shifters
The Beast in Him
Some things are so worth waiting for. Like the moment when Jessica Ward “accidentally” bumps into Bobby Ray Smith and shows him just how far she’s come since high school. Back then, Jess’s gangly limbs and bruised heart turn to jelly any time Smitty’s “all the better to ravish you with” body came near her. So, some things haven’t changed. Except now Jess is a success on her own terms. And she can enjoy a romp-or twenty-with a big, bad wolf and walk away. Easy.
The sexy, polished CEO who hires Smitty’s security firm might be a million miles from the loveable geek he knew, but her kiss, her touch, is every bit as hot as he imagined. Jess was never the kind to ask for help, and she doesn’t want it now, not even with someone targeting her Pack. But Smitty’s not going to turn tail and run. Not before proving that their sheet-scorching animal lust is only the start of something even wilder…
The Mane Attraction
Weddings have the strangest effect on people. How else to explain the fact that Sissy Mae Smith woke up in Mitch Shaw’s bed the morning after her brother Bobby Ray tied the knot? Or that gunmen are trying to kill Mitch, and Sissy Mae now has to escort a bleeding, stubborn, yet still incredibly sexy lion shifter to her Tennessee Pack’s turf to keep him safe? It doesn’t help that Mitch’s appraising gaze makes her feel like the most desirable creature on earth, or that the ultimate stray cat is suddenly acting all kinds of possessive…Mitch is an undercover cop who’s about to testify against some dangerous ex-associates. Even more worrisome, he’s harboring hot, X-rated fantasies about the fast – talking little canine – and he has to deal with every male in Sissy Mae’s Pack sniffing around her in a way that makes his hackles rise. Mitch has his pride, and he intends to show Sissy Mae that when a lion sets out to make you his mate, the only thing to do is purr, roll over, and enjoy one hell of a ride…
Okay, I have resurfaced. I just couldn’t put these books down! These books have been on my list for a while because I ADORED the dragon kin series by Shelly Laurenston’s alter ego, G.A. Aiken. I was so happy to find that everything I loved about those silly dragons was here as well. The books follow the usual PNR formula, minus the crazed serial killer stalking our lovers or some similar sort of horrific situation. They are more about friends, family and love. Don’t get me wrong, there were villains, but more of the loser baby-daddy/extortionist variety, not Satan’s spawn or anything. In the Pride series, we are introduced to a hillbilly wolf pack, a crazy wild dog pack, a super hot Lion pride and the cutest bear shifters ever! All of them are hilarious and there are just so many great characters in these books. The books are so great actually, that I will not even rant about the ridiculous Southern stereotypes. Well okay maybe a little, tiny rant. But seriously, who actually says hoss?? Sigh…it was bad, but I just told myself they were in some isolated area in Appalachia where everyone has two names and that helped the cringe factor (Disclaimerlicious: Only The Mane Attraction takes place in Tennessee.) I realize I started with the 2nd book in the series (which was an accident), but I didn’t feel like I missed a lot, so it worked out. Here is the series list:
The Mane Event: Dez and Mace & Brendon and Ronnie Lee
The Beast in Him: Smitty and Jess
The Mane Attraction: Mitch and Sissy Mae
The Mane Squeeze: Gwen and Lock
Beast Behaving Badly: Blayne and Bo
In terms of hotness, I think Lock was my favorite. Especially when the wild dog pack forced him into that Braveheart costume on Halloween…yummm! My favorite book was The Beast in Him. Jess is just so dorky and awesome, and the wild dog pack is hilarious! But you get to see most of the characters in every book, so I didn’t have to miss them too much. In my opinion, Smitty and Jess had great chemistry and the hottest scenes…I mean, cherry cobbler was involved, need I say more? If you are looking for some light, seriously funny PNR, check out this series (or Dragon Kin). If you require a level of drama on par with Nalini Singh, might want to skip this one.
Favorite quote (one of them anyway): Smitty smiled up at the male lion standing behind the couch–seething. “Hey Shaw. Nice house you’ve got here.” Arms crossed over that massive chest, the lion looked down his nose at Smitty as only a cat could. “What else have you taught my son? How to chase his tail? Lick his ass?”
“Nah, I stuck with the cat basics. Park lazy ass under tree, sleep twenty hours, eat all the food after the females do all the hunting, take a few minutes to roar, the sleep another twenty hours.”
And another quote: “Don’t go,” he mumbled, already falling asleep.
“Mitch, Mitch, Mitch. If I stay, you’ll only fall madly in love with me like so many men before you.”
“It’s you we have to worry about,” he sighed out. “You’ve already been trapped in my erotic web of lust. Might as well give it up to the daddy of all cats.”
Grinning, Sissy stretched out next to Mitch, her arm thrown over his waist. “You keep on dreamin’ that dream kitty.”
“I will. I own poines in that dream, too.”
Series rating: 9
Happy Hour of the Damned by Mark Henry
03 Jun 2010 2 Comments
in Reviews, Urban Fantasy Tags: Demons, review, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Werewolves, Zombies
From Goodreads.com: Seattle. One minute you’re drinking a vanilla breve, the next, some creepy old dude is breathing on you, turning you into a zombie. And that’s just for starters. Now, the recently deceased Amanda Feral is trying to make her way through Seattle’s undead scene with style (mortuary-grade makeup, six-inch stilettos, Balenciaga handbag on sale) while satisfying her craving for human flesh (Don’t judge. And no, not like chicken.) and decent vodkatinis.
Making her way through a dangerous world of cloud-doped bloodsuckers, reapers, horny and horned devils, werewolves, celebrities, and PR-obsessed shapeshifters–not to mention an extremely hot bartender named Ricardo–isn’t easy. And the minute one of Amanda’s undead friends disappears after texting the word, “help” (The undead–so dramatic!) she knows the afterlife is about to get really ugly.
Something sinister is at hand. Someone or something is hellbent on turning Seattle‘s undead underworld into a place of true terror. And this time, Amanda may meet a fate a lot worse than death…
Can you write a review comprised of all quotes? Because there is no way anything I say will compare to the magic that spews from Amanda Feral’s mouth. You know how when you see a stand up comic and they say something extremely racist but hilarious and the crowd goes “Ooooooooooooooh!” That’s how I felt reading most of this book. It took me forever to finish because I stopped about a million times to read aloud to my husband, who just smiled and shook his head. The plot is really basic: Amanda’s succubus friend goes missing, Amanda finally gets around to finding her, uncovers a secret zombie plague conspiracy while sleuthing, hijinks ensue. There is a lot of background on how Amanda and her friends became supernatural, which drags a little. But none of that really matters because it’s when Amanda interacts with others that the real magic happens. My God she is awful in the most hilarious way possible. The only other character I can think of that has the same wonderful awfulness thing going on is Frank (Danny Devito) from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. 99% of the words out of her mouth are cringeworthy, but brilliant!
For example: “A binge is a sincerely personal thing; no two are alike, at least that’s what my therapist says, and he should know, eating disorders are his specialty, not that he’s particularly good at treating them. That is not why I saw him anyway; well it was initially. Okay, I’ll admit, I was fucking him.”
And another: “’So let me get this straight, we feed on welfare recipients?’ Gross, right? Where do you find one, the Dollar Store? Jesus!”
See? Awesome. So, if you are looking for a truly hilarious yet soul-soiling experience, check out this book. Just be sure to remove your moral compass first.
Rating: 8
Kindle rant: Amanda likes footnotes…A LOT. They are absolutely hysterical, but after the first 50 or so, you get sick of positioning the little Kindle cursor over them. You have been warned.
Disclaimerlicious: If you are looking for romance, this is not the book for you. Two words: Zombie Sex. Ick.
The Darkest Passion
02 Jun 2010 Leave a Comment
in Paranormal Romance, Reviews Tags: Angels, Demons, Greek Mythology, Harpies
From Goodreads.com: New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Gena Showalter returns with another sizzling installment of the Lords of the Underworld series as Aeron, keeper of the demon of wrath, finally meets his match…
For weeks, the immortal warrior Aeron has sensed an invisible female presence. An angel–demon-assassin–has been sent to kill him. Or has she? Olivia claims she fell from the heavens, giving up immortality because she couldn’t bear to harm him. But trusting–and falling for–Olivia will endanger them all. So how has this “mortal” with the huge blue eyes already unleashed Aeron’s darkest passion?
Now, with an enemy hot on his trail and his faithful demon companion determined to remove Olivia from his life, Aeron is trapped between duty and consuming desire. Worse still, a new executioner has been sent to do the job Olivia wouldn’t….
Spoiler Free Review:
I feel like the blurb above does a good job of summarizing the plot, and since I am trying really hard not to reveal spoilers for this book, I will not elaborate any more. Instead, we will briefly give the history of Kindlelicious and The Lords of the Underworld. It all started with Kresley Cole and a little Valkyrie named Nix. I had just finished reading the Immortals after Dark (IAD) series, and I read somewhere in cyberland that Kresley and Gena would be doing an IAD-Lords crossover with Nix. After my happy dance (I have major IAD withdrawal issues), I hurried to buy the Lords series. Sadly, I was underwhelmed. I liked the books, don’t get me wrong, but after coming off IAD, nothing was really working for me. But I kept going, because I needed to see my Nixie (which was sorta disappointing but I digress). Luckily, it wasn’t long before Anya and William came along and rocked my world. Then you throw in some crazy harpy sisters, and suddenly I love this series. Now, if you read my blog or tweets, you know I am obsessed with angels (Blame Nalini Singh), so I was really excited about hottie Aeron and angel Olivia and revisiting those harpies and minor Gods. So without spoiling anything, let me tell you all this book has going on: lots of William, lots of angely goodness (Olivia, Lysander, Galen and Aeron), lots of Gideon including a BIG plot twist I did not see coming, and major plot developments involving the war with the Hunters and Galen. I apologize for how vague I am being, but there was so much set up for future books, that I feel like talking about anything will give something away. That being said, here are my vague thoughts about the book: I loved the Olivia and Aeron story, Olivia is HILAIROUS, but doesn’t mean to be. I wanted to jump through my Kindle and bitch-slap Legion. I also have some choice words for Lysander and his fine self. I am slightly uncomfortable with where William’s story is headed, but I am sure Gena will work it out. I am SUPER excited to read more about Gideon, but I admit deciphering his sentences gives me a slight headache. I am excited there are going to be 2 Lady…Lady Lords (?)…chicks possessed by demon other than Cameo, because she bores me. And I really want to see what will happen with Galen and his…hook-up in the future. Okay, this might be the worst review ever, so just know, this book was awesome. It was funny, sexy, infuriating and exciting all at the same time. AND it is officially the first Kindlelicious 10!!
Favorite quote: “But I offered you a place in my bed,” William whined to the Harpy.
“You suck at Guitar Hero, therefore I figure you’re bad with your hands. Besides, someone we all know and love has staked prior claim on you. …”Therefore I picked Paris to keep me warm the other night. And I can’t wait to give Bianka the down-and-dirty details.”
Rating: 10
Moon Sworn By Keri Arthur (Riley Jenson, Guardian #9)
26 May 2010 6 Comments
in Reviews, Urban Fantasy Tags: Shifters, Urban Fantasy, Vampires, Werewolves
From Barnesandnoble.com:
Some nights never end.
Some desires never die. . . .
Shape-shifting werewolf and vampire Riley Jenson is through with death—causing it, solving it, surviving it. Her soul mate, Kye Murphy, is dead—and at Riley’s own hands. Not even the seductive embrace of her vampire lover, Quinn, can fully ease her mind, for she has begun questioning everything that makes her Riley—including her job at the Directorate.
Now, the ritualistically slain bodies of ex-cons have started turning up. Reluctantly, Riley takes the case, but something even worse is waiting in the wings. A vicious enemy from her past is determined to strip Riley of everything that gives her life any meaning: her lover, her brother—and even her own identity. Can Riley survive this ultimate assault? All she knows is, she must fight one last time to find answers, before everything goes dark forever.
Warning: Spoilers from previous books are unavoidable.
Since Riley Jenson is one of my favorite heroines ever and this concludes the series, I’m abandoning my normal review format to discuss Moon Sworn, but I will do my best to avoid spoilers. Moon Sworn picks up weeks after the death of Riley’s friend Kade and her soul mate Kye. While she survived his death, she is deeply depressed and battling the emptiness of his loss despite her love for Quinn. Riley, Rhoan, Liander and Quinn are still awaiting the child Liander’s sister is carrying for them, which gives Riley the will to live. Shortly after saying good bye to Kade, Riley’s boss Jack calls in her help on a murder case. Because of the experimental drugs given to Riley in a previous book, she has developed the ability to speak with the souls of the recently deceased. The soul gives her enough information to figure out this murder was motivated by revenge. As with all the other cases Riley works, she quickly gets the details she needs and solves the case. However, Blake Jenson is still seeking revenge. Blake has developed an elaborate plot to make Riley suffer from memory loss and adjust to a new life before he kills her. Of course, Riley is not going down without a fight, even if she doesn’t know who she is. When she finds herself lost in a small town with a new identity, she somehow keeps being Riley…and being Riley means finding all trouble possible. Luckily another murder case pops up and has so many similarities to the vengeance murders she was investigating, her memory is jogged. Before Blake’s plan comes to an end, Riley must figure out who she really is and take care of the Jenson pack once and for all. That’s all I can really say without giving away the ending so I will move on.
My thoughts on Moon Sworn and Riley Jenson’s journey:
I am literally wincing as I type this, but I did not love this book. Over the past 8 books Riley Jenson has been through some serious stuff. SERIOUS stuff. She has been beaten (a lot), shot (even more), kidnapped, drugged, raped while drugged, genetically altered and forced to kill her own soul mate. So, as far as I’m concerned, being dumped in a small town with no memory was like child’s play for Riley. She also happens to have a crazy lethal twin brother and the most bad-ass vamp boyfriend on Earth who can tear a small town apart. And the case she was working didn’t even have layer upon layer of messed up Aussies to peel away. She solved it with only like 2 gun shot wounds and a dead hooker! So seriously? This was the send off she got? Sigh…I guess it depends on how you look at it. If you were sick of fate kicking the crap out of Riley, then maybe you were relieved that things finally got easy for her. But the reason I love Riley Jenson is how she always gets herself out of trouble on her own, without even relying on all the back-up she has available. She is one of the smartest, sexiest, most kick-ass heroines I have ever read, and I loved every minute of her journey up until this point. But this book felt almost formulaic to me. I was really hoping for something even more over the top than the multi-species fighting ring from Tempting Evil (which is my fav book in the series and has one of the most awesome climactic battles ever!), but maybe it was time for things to calm down for Riley. I am sure lots of people will love this final piece of Riley’s story. And I really did love the ending; it was nice to see Riley finally at peace with herself and her past. I think I was just ready to go on one more insane adventure with my favorite werewolf\vamp\seagull shifter and I don’t feel that I got it. But don’t let my semi-negative review take away from this series. I loved these books. They are so much fun. I will miss Quinn’s hotness, Rhoan and Liander’s sweetness, and Jack and Sal being super annoying. I will miss Riley being that ridiculous seagull then shifting in midair to break someone’s jaw. I will miss (actually have been missing for a few books now) the horny wolfie full-moon sex clubs and Riley’s unapologetic promiscuity (why the hell couldn’t she hook up with Cole just once?!?). And finally I will miss getting to read all about Australia, which made these books unique for me. Okay, gushing is complete. It feels weird to actually have closure from one of these series though. Especially since book 8 left us with Riley on death’s door, its kind if nice to know everything is good now. So if I can give no other reason to read this series, read it because IT’S DONE.
Rating: 7.5 (-1.5 for lack of kick-assery)
The Scent of Shadows By Vicki Pettersson
17 May 2010 4 Comments
in Kindle Freebie or Cheapie, Reviews, Urban Fantasy Tags: review, Urban Fantasy, Zodiac
From Amazon.com: When she was sixteen, Joanna Archer was brutally assaulted and left to die in the Nevada desert.
By rights, she should be dead.
Now a photographer by day, she prowls a different Las Vegas after sunset—a grim, secret Sin City where Light battles Shadow—seeking answers to whom or what she really is . . . and revenge for the horrors she was forced to endure.
But the nightmare is just beginning-for the demons are hunting Joanna, and the powerful shadows want her for their own . . .
Okay, that description is not good. Let me try to do better with some mild, but necessary spoilers. Joanna Archer: twenty-something, photographer, martial arts expert, survivor of a brutal attack, victim of a mother’s abandonment, and daughter of uber rich casino owner Xavier Archer…or is she? For years since her attack Joanna has been hiding behind her camera lens, not letting anyone close, just existing. Her beautiful, successful, sister Olivia convinces Joanna to go on a blind date…that will eventually end life as she knows it. Not that she had much of a life to speak of. Ajax, the Shadow and super creepy blind date, recognizes something special inside of Joanna and immediately tries to kidnap her. Joanna is having no part of this and with the help of her long-lost love Ben the cop, she escapes Ajax. Ben and Joanna tragically parted ways after her attack when they were both teens and didn’t know how to deal. Seeing each other again brings back all of those lost feelings, but Warren of the Vegas Zodiac troop has other plans for Joanna. Warren, like Ajax, treats Joanna like she is something different. He is the de facto leader of the Zodiac, basically the good guy super-heros that have been losing members at the hands of the Shadows. Before long Joanna learns not only is she different but thanks to her mom and real dad, she is extraordinary. Unfortunately Ajax and the leader of the Shadows, the Tulpa, cannot allow Joanna to become a threat. Their attacks result in tragedy and force Joanna to abandon the world she knows and assume an entirely new identity. After joining the other Zodiac agents, Joanna must help them fight to regain control of Vegas from the Shadows, ensure light wins over darkness, and confront the past she never really recovered from.
The Good: Thank God! A heroine I can get into! I have been in such a heroine rut lately! Too many personality-less lady Cops/Detectives had me seriously thinking about taking a break from Urban Fantasy, but then Joanna Archer came along and warmed my heart with her scathing sarcasm and unemployed reluctant heiressness…kinda the anti-Paris Hilton. Joanna has it rough in this book though, terrible things keep happening to her, and I found myself really getting pissed about it. But then she springs into action and kicks so much ass, I just really fell in love with her. Actually, several of the characters, especially the other star signs of the Zodiac, were a breath of fresh air for me as I didn’t get that feeling that I knew exactly what they were about after their first line of dialogue. And I absolutely love it when the bad guy is revealed and I didn’t see it coming AT ALL. So awesome. I admit, I loved the whole super-heroish group based on signs of the zodiac concept, it was fresh and original, but there were parts that I didn’t really get. Which leads me to…
The Bad: So there is this group of super-heroes, right? And they are all affiliated with a star sign? So if hottie Zodiac Hunter is a (fire sign) Aries, then he has neat ‘flame-on’ powers and an affinity for rams and stuff? No? Okay then. So what are their powers and how do they relate to the signs? Oh, you aren’t going to explain that to me? Oh. Okay. Will I get to see these powers? No? Just weapons? Oh. Humph. This was my basic thought process while reading Scent of Shadows. I had so many questions about what exactly makes these people humans++ but the details were vague and hard to follow. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed spending so much time watching Joanna’s life unfold, but I was SO ready for her to blast people with magical arrows and such after all that build up. I have no doubt we will learn more details on what the Zodiac and the Shadows can actually do in the next books, so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much…I was just ready to see some ass-kicking of the magical variety!
The Bumpin Uglies: I have got to get away from these books that have incredibly steamy sex scenes up front and then leave us high and dry for the rest! Teases! All of them! Joanna is way too fiery to not be seeing some serious action! Poor thing gets crapped on the entire book and only has a few hours of intimacy with her high school sweetheart. But towards the end of the book, a nice little love triangle (I do enjoy a love triangle, have I mentioned?) is set up between Joanna, sweet cutie Ben, and SUPREME hotness Hunter. Too bad I can’t convince myself that we will have a m/m/f situation on our hands in book 2. Since this is UF, I know better. Sigh…A girl can dream though. *wink* Oh and I would like to file a complaint with the author that not once did she exploit the pick up line hall-of-famer: “Soooo, what’s your sign?” Missed opportunity for cheesy glory. Unforgivable.
Rating: 8.5
Favorite Joanna quote: [Joanna hits some security guard]…he rebounded quickly and snapped [his head] back to level me with a look of pure hatred. “Bitch!”
He still didn’t hit me though.
“I’m a bitch?” I asked innocently.
“Fucking bitch,” he snarled.
I smiled sweetly. “Then why are you the one who just got bitch-slapped?”
Disclaimerlicious: I have no idea what that gargoylesque thing on the cover is supposed to be, so don’t be expecting either gargoyles or demons. This is a super-hero tale.
Night Keepers By Jessica Andersen (Final Prophecy #1)
11 May 2010 1 Comment
in Paranormal Romance, Reviews, Urban Fantasy Tags: Magic, Mayans, Paranormal Romance, review, Urban Fantasy
From B&N.com: The exciting debut of a new paranormal romance series
As a Miami narcotics detective, Leah Daniels never knows how her day will turn out. But she certainly never expected to be strapped to a stone altar, the human sacrifice in an ancient Mayan ritual meant to coax up a demon from the underworld. Or that she’d be saved by a handsome warrior-priest king who claims to recognize her from his visions…
Jaguar Strike wishes he hadn’t made the mistake of reuniting his fellow warrior priests, or broken the law by saving their chosen human sacrifice. Now, he has no choice but to join forces with Leah and invoke dangerous magic in a death-defying race against the end of time.
Kindlelicious Disclaimer: This book has a very complicated plot with about a millionty characters, so I will try to keep this short.
The Drama: Leah Daniels is convinced that the leader of the a local cult that believes the end of the world will happen in 2012 (as predicted by the Mayans) is responsible for the ritualistic killings of late, including the murder of her brother. While investigating a lead, she is kidnapped by the cult and nearly sacrificed, until she is rescued by the man of her dreams (literally), Strike. Strike is the last King of Night keepers, a race of beings with special powers that aim to prevent the end date from taking place. Their last attempt 24 years ago ended with the brutal slaughter of most of his race by demons. While rescuing Leah, Strike realizes the 2012 cult is responsible for allowing demons to possess humans. The actions of the 2012 cult lead Strike and his keeper, the winikin Jox, to assemble any remaining Night keepers to fight the demons being released on Earth. However, Strike continues to be distracted by Leah, who was meant to be a Godkeeper along with her brother, before he was murdered. Now one of the few Gods that can fight the demons on Earth is trapped between planes and the only way to release it is to murder Leah. Strike’s feelings for Leah won’t allow him to harm her, but he also knows if he doesn’t release the God and become the leader of the Night keepers, the world will indeed end in 2012.
The Smut: Night keepers is yet another example of a UF-PNR hybrid that is a dirty, dirty tease. Strike and Leah go at it when they first meet! They don’t even know each other’s names! So awesome. But then, Strike gets all “If we sleep together again I will like you more and then I won’t murder you” wah wah wah. And Leah is all like “Whatever! We are around each other all day dumbass; we’ll like each other more anyway!!” Leah is a smart girl, but unfortunately, Strike is stupid and we have to wait til near the end of the book to see any more serious action. But the good news is that since Strike is all Mayan and stuff, he has big stone altars in his bedroom (cause that’s how all Mayan’s were, right?), and…well they get used. The bad news is: I didn’t love Strike. He was kinda whiny about being King and just not as bad-ass as I wanted him to be. All of the other Night keepers were sort of unofficially coupled up though, so the series is set-up to feature the new Night keeper or Nightkeeper\Winikin couples in future books. Really hoping we will get to see more of those stone altars!
The Ranty Rave: The Night keepers reminded me of X-men. I know, X-men are mutants and Night keepers are…magical (?), but I couldn’t help the comparison. Reading the part where Strike is assembling the remaining Night keepers was like being in a movie montage or something. All of these people from different backgrounds, thrust together to figure out what magical abilities they have and how they can unify to save the world…definite movie material. Well…you would have to cut the number of characters in half so the audience’s heads wouldn’t explode, but it would still be great! I really like the potential of this series, and I LOVED all the Mayan culture and mythology. You can tell Jessica Andersen really did her homework in this area. And though I felt like I was watching the History channel at some points, it never really got boring, just interesting. Night keepers was really different than your usual vampy UF, don’t expect any of the standard supernatural beings. (Except demons, but they aren’t hot Larissa Ione demons, so who cares?) Like I said before, the central romance stalled several times, but I think introducing all the characters and history took up a lot of time and was pretty important for the series. I expect the future books to do better in the romance department. One last note, I can usually finish a book in a day, but this one took me a few days, mainly because I had to keep flipping back to the movie montage to keep track of everyone. This didn’t really bother me though, if anything I felt more invested.
Rating: 8.5
Mini-review: A Rush of Wings By Adrian Phoenix
04 May 2010 2 Comments
in Reviews, Urban Fantasy Tags: Angels, Vampires
From Amazon.com: Set in the brooding New Orleans area long established as the best location for all things vampiric, Phoenix’s lively debut has it all: Rogue [FBI] agents, Bureau-ordered hits, mad-scientist experiments in psychopathology, vampires and fallen angels and a slicing-dicing serial killer. Smart, sexy FBI Special Agent Heather Wallace has been trying to catch the Cross-Country Killer for three years when the trail leads to New Orleans and Club Hell, where Dante Prejean performs with the Inferno, an industrial/goth rock band. Dante is a Cajun and a born vampire whose memories of his terrible past have been erased, leaving him vulnerable to the psychopathic killer, E, who knows all that Dante has forgotten. As E begins targeting Dante’s loved ones, Heather must swallow her skepticism and work with Dante’s vampiric friends and family to save him. Phoenix alternates romantic homages to gothdom and steamy blood-drinking threesomes with enough terse, fast-paced thriller scenes to satisfy even the most jaded fan.
Mini-review: Agent Heather Wallace has been tracking a serial killer for years, and his trail lands her at Club Hell (I know, what a shocking name for a club). Dante (supervamp) is the tortured lead singer of a popular Goth band while his friend/father-figure Lucien (fallen angel) runs Club Hell and fiercely protects him. The serial killer appears to have focused on Dante, and Heather needs to work with Lucien to protect him, not that he needs protecting or anything. While I thought the whole French vamps living in New Orleans was very unoriginal, the rest of the plot was unlike anything I had read before. To be honest, I read this book about a week ago, and since then it has grown on me. After I finished, I felt that there was just too much blood, too much angst, too much crazy. Sometimes, you just need a little humor or romance to lighten things up a bit, ya know? But I have to give the author credit for coming up with so many fresh ideas and creating such a dark, twisty atmosphere. I was bummed the story focused on Dante and not Lucien, because I have been on this huge fallen angel kick lately (I blame Nalini Singh), but Dante proved to be an extremely interesting character, with his Maker’s song powers that I didn’t even fully understand. His powers go way past the usual vampire speed and night vision. Heather was your run-of-the-mill female cop (I feel like I have read a ton of those lately) who didn’t come across as very likable. The serial killer’s storyline was nuts, like nightmare-inducing crazy, but I thought his history was fresh and original. And then the true (bigger) bad guy! Whew…that was really crazy, but again, a cool plot twist. There wasn’t a whole lot of lovin’ in this book, and what little was there, I didn’t really enjoy cause I didn’t care for Heather. ::wistful sigh:: The lack of romance was a shame cause I pictured Dante as a dark, brooding Jared Leto (rawr!), but after you learn more about Dante’s horrific past, it’s sorta hard to think about anything else. (Disclaimer: I realize that the book description above talks about hot threesomes and such, but that is pretty misleading…you only see the tail end of it) If you enjoy very dark UF, and don’t really care about a romantic element, you will enjoy this book. I didn’t love it, but not because it wasn’t a good book, just more of a personal preference thing.
Rating: 6.5
Guest Review: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter
28 Apr 2010 1 Comment
in Fantasy, Reviews Tags: fantasy, review, Vampires
I would like to give a very special thanks to my friend and illustrious lab partner BanjoBrainEater for the following review. I’m sure you are thinking, BanjoBrainEater…wtf??” Let me explain, BBE is my Southern, Persian, Vegetarian, Liberal, Banjo and Viola playing, walking contradiction of a friend who loves all things zombie. He dabbles in urban fantasy, so I asked him to write me a few reviews of books that I just haven’t gotten to yet. So enjoy the musings of BanjoBrainEater! Oh, and if you know any single, vegetarian massage therapists with a thing for banjos, please let me know!
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is one of several novels written by Seth Grahame Smith. You are hopefully more familiar with some of his other works including Sense and Sensibilities and Sea Monsters (http://www.amazon.com/Sense-Sensibility-Monsters-Jane-Austen/dp/1594744424/ref=pd_sim_b_1) and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (http://www.amazon.com/Pride-Prejudice-Zombies-Classic-Ultraviolent/dp/1594743347).
Seth (I’ve read enough of his books to feel that I can be on a first name basis with him) takes a break from his earlier farcical takes on the classics and instead turns his eye on the true dark history of the United States of America.
Having obtained through somewhat mysterious circumstances, the journal of Abraham Lincoln, Seth begins to read at first with baffling astonishment turning to fear and respect of the man who grew up to be the 16th President of this fair nation (for International readers, I am writing this from an American perspective, but I digress). Given the trials and tribulations that face anyone who turns their eye on the presidency, it can be safely stated that no one goes down that road by choice, and that was certainly true of our hero. Growing up in poverty, and having lost his mother to a vampire, Abraham at a young age was forced to grow up quickly in a world in which the shadows could and would kill the unwary. But truly it was those who were less fortunate who had more to fear from the plague of vampires that descended on this nation, and young Abraham came to realize that slavery was not only a bane on the American spirit, but was but a stepping stone for Vampires of this country to eventually control the entire population of this country, and eventually the world.
A prescient Abraham Lincoln came to write in his journal in 1828: “So long as this country is cursed with slavery, so too will it be cursed with vampires.” Whether he knew then that those fateful words would drive him onwards to the White House, or that it would ultimately lead to a Civil War is a matter for only historians who need grant money to speculate and write about. Certainly he wasn’t aware of the full impact those words would have on his life, or on this nation when he wrote them.
The Skinny: In all seriousness (as if the above words weren’t serious enough), the book is a fun and light read. In terms of the premise, it still makes me smile and is well formulated. In terms of implementation, he walks a fine line. Certainly there were action scenes (to put it in movie terms) to break up the progression of the plot, and those were well-written. As I am a history nut, I think he could have really gone further and put even more events with a vampire slant on the book, but I could see how that could bog the book down as well. There are several pictures scattered throughout the book with rather humorous interpretations and I would have been happy if there had been many more of them, too.
Hotness: (Kindlelicious made me include this) From what I’ve seen of the readership of this blog, I can safely say that seduction is a turn-on. More importantly, if major historical figures getting it on with their first ladies (or any ladies for that matter) is something that gets you hot and bothered, them you might want to look elsewhere. While Abraham Lincoln was certainly distinctive, I don’t believe that even in his day he was considered a hottie. Seth does a good job preserving our sanity and our fantasies by not exploring that side of our famous vampire slayer.
Ultimate review: I do recommend this as a read for when you want something fun and light. But if you want something a little more meaty to sink your teeth into (ha!), you may want to look elsewhere.
Rating: 6
