Dear Author » angels

REVIEW: The Darkest Seduction by Gena Showalter

DA_January — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 09:00:36 +0000

Dear Ms. Showalter,

I like some of your books more than others. I freely admit this. While The Darkest Surrender worked very well for me, and I really enjoyed the novella in The Heart of Darkness as well. The harpies as heroines just seem to work. I was going to pass on The Darkest Seduction as I really didn’t care much about Paris, but I was searching for something to read and this one had scores of gushing reviews. I’m sad to say that this book probably works best for fans that have followed the entire series, as I had no emotional investment in most of the plot and found the hero and heroine bland.

The Darkest Seduction is the story of Paris and Sienna, a pairing that has been teased for quite a few books. Paris is the keeper of promiscuity, aka sex. He must have sex with a different woman every night to appease his demon. He cannot sleep with the same woman twice. Sienna is a human woman who was previously a hunter. Now she is dead and has been bound with the demon of Wrath, and exists on the Realm of Blood and Shadows as a sort of ghost who can destroy when Wrath is upon her. Sienna has been held prisoner by Cronus, who is some bad guy that hates the Lords of the Underworld. For some reason, Paris is obsessed with finding Sienna and he must travel to the underworld to find her, because his demon wants her again.

My biggest problem with this book is that I had no idea what was going on for very large chunks of it. The books I’ve read in the series didn’t deal too much with this plot, or if they did, I’d forgotten a lot of it. I knew Paris was searching for Sienna but that was about it. Sadly, this book is for the fans that have followed the entire series. There wasn’t a lot of explaining. Why was Paris so in love with Sienna? Why was his demon interested in her after he’d already had sex with her before? Why was Cronus holding Sienna hostage? Who were the horsemen? What is the Realm of Blood and Shadows? Why can Sienna kill people when Wrath takes over but no one can see her? These things are not explained in the story. It’s assumed the reader has been following along and knows what is going on. That made getting through the first half of this book a huge chore. It picks up in the second half, but by that point, I had to just go with the flow and knew that things were not going to be spelled out.

Sienna and Paris have some good chemistry together, but I kept wishing more was explained. Why are they so in love? There’s no soulmate bond, but from the moment they reunite in this book, they’re crazy in love for each other.

He cupped her jaw, forcing her to peer up at him rather than scanning her surroundings for a hiding place. As if he would ever hide from an enemy and leave a female to fight for him. “What’s coming? Talk to me, baby.” He knew she wasn’t too ken on endearments from him – at least she hadn’t been before- but then, he’d never called another woman his baby. Only sweetheart and honey, meaningless words like that, and never with such a note of affection.

I don’t understand why ‘baby’ is more meaningful than sweetheart or honey. Any woman could be called baby. Any number of spouses call their husbands/wives ‘baby’. This moment fell flat for me, and it was one of several.

I kept waiting for the book to explain what made Sienna different from the thousands and thousands of women that Paris had bedded before, but it wasn’t truly explained to my satisfaction. Sienna’s personality is fairly weak compared to the harpies from the other books. She doesn’t know why Paris loves her, doesn’t have any special skills, and is described as plain. She’s not confident. She’s not strong or powerful. She’s not funny. She’s just sort of there. I kept hoping for some deeper emotional connection but it never truly struck me. I don’t know if it’s the fault of the book as much as me not being familiar with the entire series.

I did think the sex between them was sexy enough, and they had some sweet moments together. The methods that Paris takes to be able to see Sienna (who is a ghost) was very interesting to me, so I have to give kudos for a different spin on that.

While Paris was a moody hero and Sienna kind of bland, the supporting cast added a lot of amusing moments that made up for things. I found Viola, the keeper of Narcissism, rather entertaining. The storyline with Galen and Legion was interesting and I do wonder if they will have their own book. I found William irritating, but he did have some funny moments.

“Nice to know you’ve considered my sex life,” [Paris] grumbled.

“Hasn’t everyone?”

“Screw you.”

“Again, hasn’t everyone?”

The end of the book starts to pull all the plot pieces together and it felt decently big. Again, I feel like it would have been more epic if I had followed the other books, so I can’t fault the author for this. For fans of the other books, there’s a lot of visits from other Lords who have settled down with their women, and those characters play a part as well. The ending took me by surprise and I felt it was a big ending, and a big turn for the series, and I think it’ll be interesting to see what happens next.

You have some great ideas in your books, but I always feel as if the execution is not enough. Like the ideas are bigger than life, but they don’t come across that way on paper, and I end up disappointed. I do think you do a great, funny ensemble and when your writing is lighthearted, it’s great. I’m not sure ‘dark’ is one of the strengths of your repetoire, however. Overall, I think this is a book that fans of the series will really enjoy, but casual readers will probably want to read the other books in the series first. If I’d read more books in the series, I’d give this a B. As it is, I’m going to have to be cruel and give it a C. Readable, but not a favorite.

All best,

January

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REVIEW: Born of Ashes by Caris Roane

Jane — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:00:21 +0000

Dear Ms. Roane:

I have been a fan of your books since the first in the series. Yes, I do kind of make fun of the books but I’m really making fun of myself for being in thrall to the world that you are building and the idea of these world weary warriors that go out every night and battle demons and long for their breh hidden, their mate. Unfortunately, the world building based on a mate bond has its limitations and repetition is one of them. Born of Ashes is book four in the series and I wished for a greater advancement in the plot line, more focus on fleshing out the world, and perhaps just a little less on the maaate boohhhhnd (or the breh hedden as it is known in the Ascension series)

Fiona was a human slave who was used as a blood donor for death vampires. She would be brought to the point of death repeatedly in order to capture her blood at the most potent and then revived. In the last book Fiona was freed. In this book, she’s intent on seeking vengeance. I was incredibly disappointed that I didn’t get to experience Fiona’s healing from being a blood slave to a free woman. Instead, we are presented with a fully healed, both physically and mentally from her decades of torture and she is intent on wreaking vengeance on her oppressors. Fiona’s vengeance, however, is primarily conducted in some kind of command center. The hero is Jean Pierre, a French guy who wears bows in his hair. I could not tell you one specific, memorable trait of Jean Pierre’s other than he wears bows.

Whether it was obvious in other books in the series and I missed it, the portrayal of women and men was marked. This is a paranormal world and the idea is that the bond between two angels makes them stronger. Yet, there is not one female that battles the demons with the swords. The most that they do is logistical work from a control room. Sometimes they do clean up work. From the control room. There were only two angels that actually leave the compound. One was Parisia whose role is to fly over regions with her mate and spread peace. The other was the former commander, a female, and her job was given over to Marcus, in book two. Let me repeat. The only female in charge had her position taken away and given to a man because he was better at it.

So the female angels work as the support staff and in Born of Ashes plan a special public celebration. Basically its a group think tank of wedding planners. And all the men are uncomfortable and worried about their ladies being outside and subject to danger. I don’t know, how about training them to handle a sword so they can kick ass and still be able to walk outside?

What made me so uncomfortable is that I think I was supposed to read this series as some great elevation of the feminine; how integral they are to the future victory of the “good” side. Instead, it highlighted this idea that men are only capable warriors and that the women’s power comes through emotional strength only. But in a paranormal, why? When you can create any kind of world and you want to create one with equality in the sexes, why make the men so much more physically capable than women? Why make them better managers? Why make them better able to handle their emotions? Why show the one female leader as an unstable bitch who can’t handle her job?

The romantic conflict seemed about how well the warrior angels could protect their women (not terribly well as it turns out) which was really a retread of the conflict in the previous books to some extent. The most compelling part of the story was between Thorne, the leader of the warriors of the blood, and the heroine of the next book. Her family put Marguerite in a convent against her will because she was the lover of many men. She’s been in the convent for the last 100 years and is rooming with Thorne’s sister. He can trace into the convent, but because of an ankle bracelet she wears, he can’t get her out not to mention if he tried to, it would cause a great scandal and place their war in jeopardy. She’s been getting schtupped by Thorne regularly for the last 100 years and he loves her. She enjoys having sex with him and she cares for him, but she wants to be free, more than anything, to live and to have as many men as she wants.

Also, there are huge worldbuilding holes like the bad guy is able to stop time (stasis) and then steal one of the warriors of the blood and try to kill him. The bad guy is not allowed to kill anyone directly but apparently can put bonds on the WOB so that with every breath, the bonds get tighter, until he has suffocated himself. Why hasn’t the bad guy done this before? Like he can put a stadium of 20,000 people in stasis. So why wouldn’t he, during a front lines battle, put everyone in stasis and then wrap the WOBs in these special ties and kill them all?

The Thorne scenes were very poignant. He totally loves her. He’s been fighting for 2000 years and being able to go to her has kept him sane these last 100 years. He knows that when she is free, she will run away from him. He knows she doesn’t love him like he loves her so while he is helping set her free and he is begging her to stay and she is promising she will stay they both know she is lying. While I didn’t like this book, I’m reading Thorne’s book which is out this spring. I might be able to cut the cord then. (I hope)

For those keeping track, the smells of Fiona and Jean-Pierre of these two is coffee and donuts. D

Best regards,

Jane

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REVIEW: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Jane — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:00:49 +0000

Dear Ms. Ee:

I am pretty sure I bought that at the recommendation of has_bookpushers on September 6, 2011, (according to my Kindle records). But like many a book, it languished (or was lost) in my to be read pile. Internet chatter about this book rose up and I pulled it out to read. Okay, I actually went to buy it at $.99 but I was told by Amazon I had already purchased it. I started and read non stop until the last page.

Penryn lives in a post apocalyptic world brought on by the Angel Gabriel bringing war to the humans. Gabriel was destroyed in a flurry of return gunfire by the heavenly hosts are too much for the humans. His body wasn’t recovered but the televised fight played all over the world as evidence that angels were not invincible. Humans have turned into refugees and lawless gangs rule the cities while everyone afraid of the dark. In the dark, the angels come out or even worse – unknown terrors.

Penryn has made the decision that her insane mother and crippled little sister must move out of their condo because it has been marked for gang infiltration. They move out at night even though the night is so dangerous that even the gangs stay inside. It is their only chance, or so Pen believes. Pen makes a number of these decisions throughout the book. Some work out and some do not but each decision is backed by some thought so she never appears foolish, only not completely in possession of all of the facts.

In the midst of their escape. Pen sees a glorious angel with white wings attacked by other angels. The white winged angel’s wings are cut off but he still fights on. Spurred by some crazy compulsion, perhaps due to her own instinctive penchant for underdogs, Pen picks up his discarded sword and throws it at him. In the ensuing confusion, one of the angels takes Pen’s sister from the wheelchair Pen is pushing her in. Pen’s insane mother runs off.

Pen picks up the wings and demands the wounded Angel tell her where she can find her sister. The Angel, Raffe, tells her that this is basically a suicide mission but what does Pen have to live for in this wasteland if she doesn’t even try. Another calculated risk. They don’t always turn out in her favor, but I admired her courage and her swift decision making. Pen is not a ditherer.

There are some worldbuilding flaws. Only six weeks have passed since the Angel Gabriel’s attack and death. The post war seemed to be far too settled with its gangs and the established Angel aeries. Technology has been totally destroyed to the point that some are using computers to form a brick like wall. The complete hopelessness that seemed to have swept the land along with the abandonment of existing structures and technology came upon too quickly. I felt like the time that had passed from apocalyptic event to collapse was too quick but then again, how would Pen and Raffe be able forage for supplies in abandoned houses.

There is a mystery surrounding Pen’s mother that seems to be trotted out at only convenient times, providing strained coincidences. Raffe explains that the children of the angels and humans were unmentionable horrors yet there is not one nephilium that appears in the book. Why was Raffe even on the Earth? How did he get separated from the other Angels? Why wasn’t he leading his men? Some of those questions may be answered in a sequel, but I felt that they made the world building seem a little thin in areas.

Yet, these things are minor irritants in the larger captivating story. Pen reminded me of Katniss, only more determined, less reluctant. As for the romance, Raffie and Pen develop feelings for each other but it is low key and expressed in smart aleck exchanges.

We walk for about an hour before Raffe whispers, “Does moping actually help humans feel better?” We’ve been whispering since we saw the victims on the road.

“I’m not moping,” I whisper back.

“Of course you’re not. A girl like you, spending time with a warrior demigod like me. What’s to mope about? Leaving a wheelchair behind couldn’t possibly show up on the radar compared to that.”

I nearly stumble over a fallen branch. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“I never kid about my warrior demigod status.”

“Oh. My. God.” I lower my voice, having forgotten to whisper. “You are nothing but a bird with an attitude. Okay, so you have a few muscles, I’ll grant you that. But you know, a bird is nothing but a barely evolved lizard. That’s what you are.”

He chuckles. “Evolution.” He leans over as if telling me a secret. “I’ll have you know that I’ve been this perfect since the beginning of time.” He is so close that his breath caresses my ear.

Pen is represented as a teen but she could have easily been early 20s. She was an old soul, having been forced into responsibility early as the result of the death of her father and her mother’s insanity. I will provide this warning. The ending is a cliffhanger that takes a shocking turn. Ordinarily, I hate cliffhangers, but with this? All I can say is when does book 2 come out? B+

Best regards,

Jane

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REVIEW: The Fallen Queen by Jane Kindred

Jia — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 18:00:40 +0000

Dear Ms. Kindred,

A few months ago, I read your Carina Press novella, The Devil’s Garden, and enjoyed it quite a bit. It reminded me somewhat of a cross between Storm Constantine and Jacqueline Carey, which I thought was a good and interesting mix. I also liked that your characters fell outside the usual gender binary and heteronormative boundaries so when I heard you had a full-length novel coming out, I made sure to put it on my list. And even though I was less than enthused when I saw the cover (to say the least), I decided to follow the old adage, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” This is definitely one of those cases.

The Fallen Queen tells the story of Anazakia Helisonova, the bored daughter of the ruling imperial family of heaven. As should come as no surprise, Anazakia finds the trappings and social airs of royalty boring. She’d rather spend her time in heaven’s equivalent to slums where she gambles away her riches. It’s here that she meets a demon named Belphagor who takes her for all she’s worth.

But the loss of her valuables takes an immediate backseat when disaster strikes. On that very night, her family’s rule over heaven is usurped. Even worse, her family is massacred by someone they trusted. It’s only through a bit of magic, and trickery that Anazakia is alive. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like she’ll stay that way for long, especially once her family’s assassins realize she’s still alive.

If readers are having some deja vu, there’s a reason for that. Anazakia’s story mirrors the story of Russia’s Anastasia Nikolaevna. And this isn’t some veiled reference; they’re explicitly linked in the novel. The Fallen Queen is essentially epic fantasy set in modern day Russia. I found this interesting because you normally don’t see fantasy that does this. There’s epic fantasy set in secondary fantasy worlds. There’s urban fantasy set on modern-day earth. We do occasionally see portal fantasies where people from modern day Earth go into a fantasy land or urban fantasies where the city setting is a secondary, constructed one, but I don’t think I’ve seen this particular mix in a long time. I found it refreshing and I suspect readers with a stronger background in Russian culture would get more out of it than I did. I don’t think a lack of knowledge will hinder comprehension, but I think some would enrich the reading experience.

I liked that Anazakia matures throughout the book. It is in many ways a coming of age story. She starts off as a clueless noble who had no idea of the turmoil surrounding her father’s rule. Yes, it’s true that ignorance is a sign of immense privilege but at the same time I do sympathize because if you’re wrapped in a coccoon, how could you possibly know what’s going on outside your immediate sphere? But as the story unfolds, she learns about the world and how both her own and her family’s actions lead to her current circumstances.

I’m pretty ambivalent about Anazakia’s relationship with the two demons, Belphagor and Vasily. I liked that it didn’t simplify the complicated nuances and that the relationship between Belphagor and Vasily didn’t get shunted aside once Anazakia came into the picture. Given The Devil’s Garden, I expected a varied presentation of sexualities and we got that, which was good. On the other hand, I did find the one character announcing that he was asexual to be somewhat out of the blue. Maybe if there’d been more build-up or actual on-page hints that he thought Anazakia was interested in him, I wouldn’t have that impression. It just seemed like it was thrown in there for the sake of including an asexual character.

On the other hand, despite Anazakia’s maturation as a character, I found her to be reactive rather than proactive for a good portion of the book. I realize that’s to be expected given that she’s on the run from assassins but I did find that her choices and actions to be overshadowed by Belphagor somewhat.

I normally don’t care for stories involving angels but I did like this take on it. The introductory notes on the worldbuilding were overwhelming and I quickly forgot them once I started reading, but the presentation was easy to pick up within context for me and I liked how some of the angels — particularly the ones sent after Anazaki and the guys — were depicted. They captured the idea of angels that were awesome and terrible in their beauty and power.

I do wish I’d gotten a better handle on the antagonist. Even at the end, she strikes me as being evil for the sake of being evil. That’s okay for some stories but since so much else of the novel has nuance, the villain definitely stands out as being two-dimensional by comparison. She’s power-hungry, murderous, and brainwashes people. I’m not asking for her to redeemed or anything, especially after everything she did, but maybe a little quality to make her less 2D.

In the end, I found The Fallen Queen to be an enjoyable read. It’s a fresh take on the hidden heir trying to recover the stolen throne despite all the references and historical events it bases itself on. I’m looking forward to the next installment. I just hope it gets a better cover. B

My regards,
Jia

REVIEW: Angel of Darkness by Cynthia Eden

Jane — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:00:53 +0000

Dear Ms. Eden:

The opening scene of the book is intriguing because it doomed a character to a horrible fate, or so he believes. Keenan is an angel of death and he has been dispatched to harvest the soul of Nicole St. James. He finds her suffering a horrific attack at the hands of a vampire and Keenan not only hesitates but transfers his death touch to the vampire thus violating his two thousand year charge. One mistake plummets Keenan into the ranks of the Fallen, his wings stripped and his entrance to the heavens barred.

Chapter One starts six months later. ”The rage began to heat his blood because it shouldn’t have been like this.” Keenan has been hunting Nicole for months. He has been told that she is the key to his redemption which he believes to be his path to grace and into the heavenly hosts. Chapter One also begins the path of confusion for me. Keenan’s motivations and actions are inconsistent and changeable. I suppose some of this could be chalked up to the uncertainty and newness of being fallen, but the mutability of his behavior, particularly toward Nicole, was unsettling and not in a good way.

Another problem is the way in which only parts of the entire world are shown in this book. Neither Nicole nor Keenan know much about the paranormal world but there are vampires, fallen angels with powers, shapeshifters, and higher powers with unknown motives. Each time they turn the corner, the body count gets higher and a new discovery about this strange world they’ve been thrust into arrives. But if Keenan has been alive for 2,000 years, why is everything such a mystery to him. Is he that myopic or obtuse?

Also unexplained is the heroine’s transformation from school teacher to vamp, as in scantily clad, high heeled, bar trolling vamp. Keenan describes her pre vampiric state as being staid and somewhat conservative. And in six months (which are not in the book but occur between the prologue and Chapter one) she turns from normal school teacher to angry vamp (in all meanings of the word). This seems so cliched and unnecessary. Like she all of a sudden has to look like Lara Croft complete with the belly baring leathers and tight shirt once she’s a blood sucker?

The strength of their feelings as written toward each other don’t match the overall story. They barely know each other. They are
running from demons, she’s learning he is an angel, she is scared of the vamps who had control of her. He has negative feelings toward her because she’s supposedly at fault for his fall (DUDE, YOU DECIDED TO SAVE HER) and yet they are all over each other. The whys of their attraction escaped me. The emotional character arcs seemed lost as well. The strength of the book lay within the suspense structure.

The plot, although with many parties, was fairly well constructed. Keenan, as a newly fallen angel, is unaware that he has any powers. Angels are the most powerful beings in the paranormal hierarchy. To get more powerful, you need only the pure blood of the angel. Keenan becomes a target. Nicole is one as well because of what she had to do to survive during her first six months as a vampire. Both are helped out by another fallen Angel, Sam, who is actually more interesting than both Keenan and Nicole. Sam’s motivations for helping Keenan are murky but without Sam, Keenan would be angel dust and Nicole would be dead. The focus of the book was on the action narrative and the lust/sex/love sections felt tacked on. I also didn’t feel like I left the story with a greater understanding of the world than when I entered it. A lot of the world building was in the existence of the characters rather than the setting which made it feel a bit more disjointed.

I think the whole story would have worked better if it was structured more like an urban fantasy and the romance between Nicole and Keenan involved slowly. The worldbuilding breaks no ground. It was the romance that I felt the book was tired and cliched whereas the action plot kept me turning the pages. C

Best regards,

Jane

REVIEW: Avenger’s Angel by Heather Killough-Walden

Jane — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 15:00:11 +0000

Dear Ms. Killough-Walden:

I was excited about this book because while I found your self published title compelling, it was rough. I hoped that a professionally edited and full length story would bring out the best in your writing. Unfortunately, the voice that I found so interesting in the short self published work seemed missing and the really crazy aspects of the story made me roll my eyes instead of laugh. The characters and plot lacked originality and details were missing consistency and believability.

First, the first chapter was in the point of view of neither the hero or the heroine, but some random sequel bait and it really had nothing to do with the story at all. The overarching series plot is that there are four angels that need to find their archesses (fated mates): Gabriel, Uriel, Azriel and Michael. Avenger’s Angel is about Uriel but we start out with Michael and Azriel fighting each other because their transformation from angel to human has changed them and only their archesses will save them. Why Michael and Azriel? Why not Michael and Uriel or Uriel and Azriel?

The heroine is some kind of special person with telekinesis and power over the weather. When she was young, their family would move around a lot:

“Her father was a professor, and professors went wherever universities were hiring, so it was easy for him to move around the country. Her mother was an attorney in her own practice, so she was mobile as well.”

Her family would get up and leave at the drop of a hat. She had an “escape bag” so that they could run off right away to get away from the strange cars and strange men. The parents are wealthy yet they are still able to pick up and resettle in new environs as a PROFESSOR and an ATTORNEY? First, in order to sit for the bar, you have to be fingerprinted and are subjected to an FBI background check. After being in practice for some time, you can waive the bar exam when moving from state to state, but not always and it requires an extensive application. You can’t just swan from one state to another. A professorship is also not so easy to come buy as say a job making subs at a fast food chain. I understand that these are throw away passages but they show the problem with the overall book. There is no internal consistency or thoughtfulness in the way that characters are constructed. (or actual knowledge of the real world). Let’s look at how the two characters meet:

The hero is a movie star who starred in a movie called “Comeuppance.” He is traveling around the country going to bookstores to sign the novelized version of the movie. What? I mean, have you ever seen Richard Pattison in Barnes and Noble signing Twilight? The heroine is a bookseller. Comeuppance clearly a Twilight ripoff. Witness the exchange between two characters. One named Angel (rolled eyes) and Eleanore, the heroine.

E: You wouldn’t believe who’s here right now, signing autographs in my store.

A: Okay—autographs? I’m officially on the edge of my seat!

E: Christopher Daniels.

There was a long pause while, on the other end of the connection, Angel obviously processed the news.

A: You’re shitting me.

E: lol Nope. I’ve been off work for two hours, but Mister Jonathan Brakes is probably still there, wondering which of his adoring fans he can sink his teeth into for dinner. Or would it be breakfast?

A: I have never been more jealous of you than I am right now.

E: I thought you hated that movie.

A: Oh, I do. With a passion. Am I the only one creeped out by the thought of someone several hundred years old going after someone who’s barely twenty?” Talk about robbing the cradle. But Christopher Daniels is freaking HOT. Did you get to talk to him at all? Get his autograph?

Uriel recognizes that Ellie is his mate and goes chasing after her. Ellie is used to being on the run but she can’t escape Uriel.

Their first sex scene is really rather awful. It reads almost like a rape or a rape fantasy. He throws her face down on the bed. rips off her clothes and “renders [her virginity] in two”:

Very slowly, he withdrew his fingers from her tight moistness and had to suppress a growl of mounting insanity when she actually moaned her disappointment. She was not herself, he realized. He had taken her over, body and mind, and she was a slender, wanton vessel of desire beneath him.

and then there is this:

He lowered himself until he could once more whisper in her ear. “I’m going to take you now the way I’ve wanted to take you since I saw you that night in the bookstore,” he told her, keeping his grip on her hair tight so that she couldn’t pull away. “I’m going to take you hard and fast,” he promised her. “Because you’re mine, Ellie.” He almost growled his ownership. “And you always will be.”

With that, he covered her mouth with one hand and thrust forward, holding her still as he did so. In one clean, driving shove, he ripped through her virginity and rendered it in two.

The worldbuilding is fairly silly. For example, the four archangels are sent to earth with a mansion. Yes, room and board comes with your position as archangel. But it is not just a living space, but it is a transportation device as well. The mansion serves as a portal travel. At one point the archangels describe their place as very modest and I’m thinking that they live in a camper. A superdimensional RV. In another scene, they take the heroine shopping for a dress. In Paris. And three of the Archangels are with her. There is nothing Archangels love better than shopping for dresses. Of course they got to Paris through their transformational RV. All you have to do is stand before a door. EVEN A REFRIGERATOR door will work.

Uriel had given them each a buzz on his cell as soon as he’d left the signing and, through the use of the mansion and its magical properties, they’d all managed to head home right away. Any of the archangels could call up a portal to the mansion from anywhere in the world, so long as they were standing before a door. It didn’t matter what kind of door it was. Even a car door or the door to a refrigerator would work.

Okay, maybe I should be laughing. Remember, though, how I said the story lacked internal consistency?

At the moment, the four brothers were gathered in a relatively small, utterly normal-looking kitchen that sat just off a likewise normal-looking living room. The archangels all preferred their living space on the more modest side these days. Having been around for as long as they had, they already felt as if they’d literally seen everything.

Yet, later the house is described as :

Uriel paced to the landing and peered over the railing. Max Gillihan was just shutting the front door behind him, three stories below. With a blast of superhuman strength, Uriel leapt over the balcony railing, dropped the three stories to the marble foyer below, and crouched to absorb the impact as his boots slammed down.

Three story home with a marble foyer. Yeah, that’s normal looking and modest.

The end game for the Archangels is to find their mates and thus be saved from madness and turning into monsters.

The blend of reality and fantasy didn’t work here. The riffs on pop culture fell flat and the world building sounded more ridiculous than fun. If the story went all out and was entirely crazy all the time (aka Caris Roane books), I would have nodded along in agreement.

At times I felt Ellie was more placeholder than anything. Ellie played whatever role that the scene needed her to play. Resisting heroine here. Smart mouthed friend there. Shy and innocent in other places (girl hasn’t even been kissed before). Anyone could have been Uriel’s mate. Uriel, too, has little dimension. He’s straight out of paranormal romance casting. The paranormal who has searched for love for 2000 years and finds it only to be confronted by the fact that his archess might not love him back. Uriel doesn’t have any personality. We are told he is rich, gorgeous and powerful but there isn’t anything that sets him apart from any other character. They are even described the same:

As with all of the archangels, his chin was strong,

Killough-Walden, Heather (2011-11-01). Avenger’s Angel: A Novel of the Lost Angels (Kindle Location 623). Penguin Group. Kindle Edition.

Further, Uriel and his posse seemed to have very little agency. Their encounters with the women, the outcomes, seemed to be orchestrated by powers above them.

The most interesting character was the villain or at least the man who appeared to be attempting to prevent Uriel and his brothers from consummating the bonds with their archesses. Samael was both good and bad and his duality provided more substance than either Uriel or Ellie. C-

Best regards,

Jane

REVIEW: Angels of Darkness by Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, Sharon Shinn, and Nalini Singh

Jaclyn — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:32:30 +0000

Dear Mss. Andrews, Brook, Shinn, and Singh,

Are angels the new vampires in romance novels? It seems like the number of books starring angels continues to expand exponentially. When choosing to write about angels (or winged beings, in the case of the Guardians), authors invite introspection from readers about the nature of good and evil and the balance of power.

Vampires are predators and humans their prey. When pairing a vampire and human in a romance the power imbalance that writes must address is one of prey and predator. With angels the power imbalance is fundamentally different. Angels inspire awe but their otherness isn’t necessarily predatory so much as inhuman and powerful. An angel-human relationship isn’t about resolving the prey-predator dynamic but rather about protector and powerless. Angels are a like Knight-protectors (though without the horse and armor) and they are often portrayed as protectors of humanity (think guardian angel, the arch angel protector of women and children, etc.). How does this affect how we approach books starring these mysterious not-human beings?

These were the thoughts swirling in my head as I picked up the ARC of Angels of Darkness. I had read books and short stories by Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook, and Nalini Singh; Sharon Shinn was a new-to-me writer.

Angel’s Wolf by Nalini Singh

The anthology opens with Nalini Singh’s story, Angel’s Wolf set the world of Raphael and Elena where all-powerful angels rule the world, create vampires to serve them, and humans live their brief lives much like we do. The angel Nimra serves Raphael and oversees New Orleans and its environs. Noel, a vampire recently healed from vicious attack that left him as little more than pulped flesh, is sent by Raphael to work for her. In Singh’s world angels are cold, uncanny beings of power beyond the comprehension of most humans.

Nimra is the most interesting angel I’ve encountered in Singh’s world. She has a horrific power that can take the violence and badness inside of a person and morph it into that individual’s own suffering and anguish. The meaner you are, the more Nimra can hurt you, which means the most powerful angels—all of whom commit acts of violence, have the most to fear from her. But Nimra herself isn’t mean-spirited or vengeful. Underneath her powerful crust she has a deep compassion which is seen through her love of her pet cats and her affection for her elderly human steward, Fen.

Throughout the story Nimra and Noel are on opposite trajectories. Nimra is slowly revealed to the reader as kinder and more compassionate than her merciless reputation and Noel is revealed as more powerful and capable than his broken victim status. They arrive at an equilibrium where Nimra remains the feared ruler of this territory and Noel rises to become her fear-inducing enforcer.

Alphas: Origins by Ilona Andrews

Ilona Andrews’ story, Alphas: Origins is set in the world of the Alphas. This was my first foray into this world that feels post-apocalyptic though it’s not. This is an alien story. Or more accurately, we are all subspecies created by aliens and left to battle until only one remains. At least I think that’s what going on. Most of the story is set in a parallel dimension that has portals into our dimension. I read this Alphas slowly and closely because the world is very complex and I kept trying sort out if I’d missed something. A lot of the time I did not understand what was going on. I was at least as clue-less as the heroine and this confusion created an empathy with her character. (Since finishing the story I’ve wondered if this was a deliberate construct by Ms. Andrews.)

So here’s what I think I know about the story: there is a battle between two factions of mixed subspecies. The “good” side—the one with our hero and heroine—are fighting to get to another dimension in their world while the other faction is trying to kill them. Some beings have more power than others, and fighting, pain, and death are commonplace.

I wouldn’t really call this story a romance. The “hero”, Lucas, is a shifter who turns into a fur covered monster that needs to drink Karina’s blood. Karina is a human who has some genetic link to the original subspecies making her blood food to fuel the hero

I find Ms. Andrews’ world building intriguing, but this such a complex world to introduce in a short story and I became focused on trying to piece together the world-building which distracted me from the character development. The romance, such as it is between Lucas and Katrina isn’t very romantic. They come together out of mutual need—he for her blood, she for her life—and an emotional bond begins to develop. But it the bond stems from the Katrina’s lack of other options—did I mention the leader of Lucas’ faction is holding Katrina’s daughter hostage? I would like to read more about this Alpha world, but as a stand-alone story this one was a tough read.

I should add that when I first saw this anthology was coming and that it was about angels, I hoped that Ms. Andrews was going to write a story about Thanatos, the angel in the Kate Daniels series. I was a disappointed when I found out this wasn’t a story about him and this may have contributed to my dissatisfaction with this story—I wanted one thing and got another.

Nocturne by Sharon Shinn

Sharon Shinn’s story, Nocturne, is set in the world of the Samaria series. This is a story of redemption, forgiveness and hope. Moriah has been running from events in her past and the angel Corban is mired in depression and refuses to face his future after an accident blinded him.

Moriah is abrasive and canny, hardened by a tough life and hiding from events in her past. It’s her skeptical attitude and lack of awe for angels that are what Corban needs to shake off the mantel of depression and hopelessness that cling to him two years after his accident. In each other they each find their paths to redemption and the hope for a happy future.

This story is told in the first person and it took me a while to begin to appreciate Moriah; during the first half of Nocturne I had to force myself to keep reading. Shinn peaked my curiosity about the monster (Corban) in the forbidden house, but that was the only thing that kept me reading. I wonder if readers of the Samaria series will feel differently. Would knowing this world have made the story more compelling to me from the start? I’m glad I finished it, but I don’t know if I’ll seek out the other Samaria books.

Ascension by Meljean Brook

Meljean Brook’s story, Ascension, is set in her Guardian world. Marc is a Guardian trying to identify and remove a demon who is spreading malice and discontent in his territory. Radha a fellow Guardian and Marc’s former lover, has arrived under the pretense of taking a vacation and offers to help Marc in his search.

As they investigate several murders and follow the trail of clues they rehash their past. More than 100 years ago, while in Guardian training, Marc took a vow of celibacy, but he couldn’t resist his powerful attraction to Radha and he broke that vow. She heard him beg God for forgiveness for sleeping with an unclean woman and took offense (Imagine getting out of bed after a hot and steamy night and finding your partner praying for fornicating with your slutty self. Ugh.).

I think Ms. Brook is a particularly fine short story writer. She deftly delivers subtle character development and emotional arc while weaving the investigative elements that reveal, layer by layer, information about the town and its inhabitants. The evil in this story was sown by a demon, but it was enacted by humans. I found the happy ending to the romance was more poignant after learning the identity of the murderer. The years lost between Marc and Radha as they each battled their inner demons were reflected in the choices of the murder. All of them made choices that led to unhappiness. Marc and Radha got a chance at redemption (and love) all these years later. Who knows, maybe the murder will receive the same, in time.

Each story in this anthology complicated my ideas about angels and reinforced my belief that good and evil are on a continuum with no clear lines demarking where you are on that continuum. As philosophical ideas I found each story offered something compelling; as entertainment I found the stories uneven and on that basis I give the collection a B-.

Cheers,

Jaclyn

REVIEW: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Jia — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 09:00:03 +0000

Dear Ms. Taylor,

Your novels have been on my peripheral awareness for a couple years now. I keep meaning to give them a try, but you know how it is. So many books, so little time. Then I heard the buzz surrounding Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I thought it was a great title so ever curious, I looked it up on Amazon. I read the book description but it seemed kind of vague to me. I can’t say that without the interesting title to spur me on I would have picked up this book. The cover copy was so uninformative. While not inaccurate, I don’t think it does the book justice.

Karou is an art student in Prague known for her magnificent, fantastical sketchbooks. But what people don’t realize is that the monsters populating her drawings actually exist. The reason why Karou doesn’t appear to have a family except for a never-seen grandmother is because she doesn’t actually have one. At least not a human family. Karou was raised by chimaerae, what most people would call demons.

But now something has come that threatens her world: seraphs (aka angels). First, they leave scorched handprints on the doorway portals that link our world with that of the other realm inhabited by Karou’s chimaerae family. Then Karou comes face to face with a seraph intent on killing her. Except the seraph, Akiva, doesn’t and even though they are enemies, Karou finds herself inexplicably drawn to him. And as they get to know each other, she finally learns the answer to the mystery of her heritage.

Put like that, Daughter of Smoke and Bone sounds like every other YA paranormal out there on the market right now. But it’s the execution and details that set this novel apart. Having finished the book, I now understand why the book description was so vague and bland. It’s hard to encapsulate this novel without dropping spoiler bombs left and right. So much of the tension depends on the mystery and how Karou reacts to the bits and pieces of information she discovers.

The biggest strength of this novel, for me, was the worldbuilding. It was presented with verve and very little time was spent explaining each and every rule. It wasn’t necessary and in fact, would have been unbelievable. Karou grew up in this fantastical world. Running distasteful errands for a demonic tooth fairy and walking through doors to another world was everyday and mundane to her. It would make no sense for her to talk about how the chimaerae were monsters. They were her family and she loved them just as much as they loved her.

But as I mentioned before, it is a very fantastical world. It features demons and angels waging a neverending war. There’s a magic system that extracts a horrible price. For readers who believe that magic should always have a cost, this system is for you. It’s simultaneously gruesome and elegant. There’s an otherworldly dimension populated by these demons and angels which can only be accessed from ours by a system of doorways. It’s an interesting approach more akin to Neil Gaiman and Charles de Lint than the more popular paranormals that fill the current YA genre.

I also enjoyed the approach to the romance. In so many YA paranormals, we have the girl and guy meet and they’re instantly attracted even though they come from two different worlds. We get a different take on that here. Sure, it proceeds as we’ve seen so often before: they fight because they’re enemies and they can’t kill each other due to some inexplicable attraction. But where Daughter of Smoke and Bone diverges is that it deals with what happens after the girl discovers her world has been altered. I can’t go into too much detail without spoiling but this novel definitely shows that sometimes love is not enough and that some things cannot be easily forgiven.

Tangentially related to the romantic subplot, I thought the novel excelled at showing how love can change your entire world — for good and for bad. We saw how love could have changed the path of the chimaerae and seraph war but it failed. Then later, the survivor of that great love, Akiva, went on to do a horrible, terrible thing that essentially destroyed Karou’s life.

I thought Daughter of Smoke and Bone straddled the line between the familiar tropes and conventions of current YA paranormals and the more otherworldly approaches of the traditionally executed contemporary fantasy genre. What made it stand out for me was the execution of the coming of age story. It is the start of a series (trilogy?) so readers should be aware it ends on a heartwrenching note. I wouldn’t call it cliffhanger myself, but I can see how it’d be viewed that way. B+

My regards,
Jia

REVIEW: Touch of Crimson by Sylvia Day

Jane — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:00:15 +0000

Dear Ms. Day:

I felt like that there was a kernel of a really great story here but the story I wanted to read and the story I read were at such odds with each other. The story that I felt was trying to be told was of a man who had an enduring love which he pursued despite all of the rules of his world and despite the fact that it might bring about his ruin. Unfortunately, the story I read was about a man who had strong feelings for someone for which he broke all the rules while he ruined the lives of others around him for breaking those same rules he refused to live by. The story I wanted to read was about a man who was struggling with the edicts that had formed the basis of all his actions in the past, the rules which demanded he hunt down his fellow angels, rip off their wings, and strip them of their souls. The story I read was about a man who shrugged off the hypocrisy of his actions and enforced a cruel rule upon his fellow angels without any real thought to why. My take away was that this story was about a raging hypocrite who was more villain than hero. But, unfortunately, that was only the beginning of my challenges with this book.

“Touch of Crimson” has confusing world building. There is a huge cast of paranormal beings. This is epitome of the “No Paranormal Left Behind.” The book opens with a glossary and contains these two definitions (among others):

FALLEN—the Watchers after the fall from grace. They have been stripped of their wings and their souls, leaving them as immortal blood drinkers who cannot procreate.

WATCHERS—two hundred seraphim angels sent to earth at the beginning of time to observe mortals. They violated the laws by taking mortals as mates and were punished with an eternity on earth as vampires with no possibility of forgiveness.

The Fallen and Watchers are the same group of people but it took me 8 chapters to figure this out because in this book you have good angels, bad angels, vampires (which are angels), human vampires, lycans, reincarnated humans, demons, and dragons, werewolves that are demons but different than lycans although both were made from demon blood, and zombies.

The “hero” is Adrian, the head of the Sentinels who are angels sent to Earth to watch the Fallen/Watcher group and ensure that they …. don’t do anything? And to make sure that the other Sentinels who are sent to watch also don’t fall in love with humans and mate with them. The punishment, meted out by Adrian, is to hunt down the fallen Sentinels (who are a different bunch of angels than the Watchers but who then become the Fallen) and rip off their wings and strip them of their souls. These angels then become the Fallen, vampires who cannot procreate and have no souls. What the “no soul” means is not articulated in the text. It sounds ominous but the Fallen seemed like a group no different than the Sentinels other than the fact that they drank blood and liked to have sex with mortals. They could still feel and they didn’t act amoral. If there was any villain in the story, it was Adrian.

Adrian falls in love with the daughter of the head dude of the Fallen, soulless vampires. Adrian has sex with her which should mean Adrian is hunted down and stripped of his wings. The head “bad” tries to turn his daughter, Shadoe, into a vampire so she will be immortal but Adrian prevents it by killing her. Unfortunately, he killed her too late and her soul became immortal. She reincarnates at intermittent periods. Adrian lives for those moments that he has with her, sometimes it is 20 minutes, sometimes it is 20 years. She never remembers, but he always finds her. Destiny brings them together. I’m not sure if he kills her every time, but she dies every time although it’s not explained why. Or it was and I totally missed it.

I want to emphasize this. ADRIAN LIVES FOR THE MOMENTS SHE IS REINCARNATED. Everything he does between the periods of dormancy is await her return.

Two hundred damned years. She’d been gone long enough to make him dangerous. A seraph whose heart was encased in ice was a hazard to everyone and everything around him. He was a danger to her, because his hunger for her was so voracious he questioned his ability to restrain it. When she was gone, the world was dead to him. The silence within was deafening. Then she returned, and the rush of sensation exploded around him—the pounding of his heart, the heat of her touch, the force of his need. Life. Which was lost to him when she was.

Unfortunately, her soul is gaining dominance and this time, she is exhibiting very real supernatural abilities. In her latest incarnation, Shadoe is sharing a soul with a red haired, fair skinned woman named Lauren. She senses “otherness” about people. She has been killing vamps and demons for 10 years. She senses that this guy named Adrien she meets at an airport is an “other” and Adrien recognizes immediately it is “Shadoe”. She agrees to go with this ”other” to his highly reclusive compound and eat dinner with him. She doesn’t drive herself. She leaves the airport to go with someone she recognizes as “other” (and thus ordinarily will kill) to their private compound in his car. This is not classic TSTL behavior?

When she gets to his compound she is amazed by its beauty and wealth:

She kept her bag close to her side and faced him. “What’s not to like?”

“Good.” He gave a regal nod. “You’ll be staying here indefinitely.”

His imperiousness was stunning. “Excuse me?”

“I need to keep you where I know you’ll be safe.”

I need to keep you . . . As if he had the right. “Maybe I don’t want to be kept.”

Where’s her fear, outrage? Why this meh acceptance of being held captive in some strange “other” compound?

Adrien can’t wait to have sex with Lindsey/Shadoe despite the fact that he was CREATED to administer punishment to those angels who decide to mate with humans. When questioned about this he responds:

“They are responsible for what they are. They made the choices that led to their fall.” He studied her with those fathomless eyes. “Yes, I administered the punishment. I stripped the Watchers of their wings. Wings and souls are connected, and the loss of their souls led to their blood drinking. But I’m not accountable for their mistakes, any more than a police officer is responsible for the crimes committed by offenders.”

At one point in the book, one of the sentinels came to him, confesses she loves her lycan guard and asks for mercy. Adrian gives her one hour lead before he hunts her down and kills her lycan and if she has had smex with him, he will rip off her wings and she will become a watcher. This is, of course, minutes after he has had smex with the heroine. He regrets his hypocrisy but this is his charge. Agghhh!

If an author sets up two factions and has one faction standing on the neck of the other “for the good of the world”, the author is asking the reader to make a qualitative judgment about who is standing on the right side of the line. When the head guy standing on the right side of the line is doing everything he can to violate the line but still maintains the need for the suppression of an entire set of beings, how can you make that qualitative judgment?

I’m not saying that a book needs to be all black and white, but if the author is exploring gray areas, then that exposition should be in the book. Why is Adrian not grappling with this? Why is it okay for him to fuck the brains out of the heroine but he’ll ruin any one else who takes the same liberties? Why doesn’t he question the rightness of his position? Instead, this is what he says:

“You and Helena can’t be the only ones to form attachments,” Jason said.

“No.” Everything seemed to be coming to a head at once. Or maybe it felt that way because he was still reeling from Lindsay’s decision to leave him. She was being selfless for him. He had to try to be the same for her, which might mean letting her go.

“You can’t be surprised,” Jason went on. “We’ve been on this mission forever.”

“I’m only surprised it took this long.” Adrian looked at Damien, who lifted both shoulders in an offhand shrug that neither confirmed nor denied whether his opinion aligned. “But what are the alternatives? Dereliction of duty? The forfeiture of our wings? Preying on the mortals we were created to protect? Who the fuck wants to live that life?”

But but but. He is living that life. He is engaged in doing exactly what he despises in others and has so little remorse for it. Why does he have anyone who obeys him? Who follows him?

What possibly makes this book even more wall banging is the resolution of the reincarnated soul issue. I’ll say obliquely that if an author chooses to end the story in this fashion, then why the hell is there a reincarnated storyline in the first place. Why make such a huge friggin’ deal about how Adrien cannot live during the periods Shadoe is not reincarnated?

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Toward the end of the book, there appears to be a fracturing of the world that has been in existence for thousands and thousands of years. The lycan, who are under control of the Sentinels are rebelling. There are groups who do not want to be under the thumb of the Sentinels (and frankly who can blame them?). There is a discovery about the Sentinel blood that will turn them into hunted instead of the hunters. That this discovery has just now occurred makes me think that these are the dumbest paranormal beings ever.

Finally, I’m going to talk about the racial depictions in this book. I want to state at the outset that I don’t think that what was shown in this book was in any way intentional but the way in which race was portrayed made me uncomfortable. I also want to note that I believe that you are half Japanese and I only state that because I suspect someone in the comments will say “Day can’t be racist, she’s half Japanese”. And I am not making a claim that you are racist, only that the depictions of race in this book seemed to elevate blue eyed, classically featured characters over “exotic” or people of color.

Let’s start with the heroine. She was once the spitting image of her Asian mommy. Now she has red hair blue eyes and fair skin. This is an authorial choice. The reincarnated soul has no rules in this world. She did not need to start out Asian and then, through reincarnation, become more and more Western in coloring. This is a paranormal story. These characters could be anything, any color, any race. But for some reason the heroine started out as Asian and when she became the true and forever love of Adrien, she was red haired and fair skinned.

Now his daughter was stripped of her genes along with her memories. Once the spitting image of her mother, her incarnations bore the trademarks of someone else’s lineage.

All the Sentinels and I believe the original Watchers are blue eyed although the hero has “olive toned” skin. When the Seraph “fall”, they change from blue eyed gods to “amber” (I’m not sure whether this is a result of blood drinking or not as it is never expressed).

Sentinel descriptions:

Jason: ”Despite the roar of the aircraft’s engines, Jason didn’t need to raise his voice to be heard. He also didn’t cover his seraph blue eyes, despite the pair of designer shades perched atop his golden head.”

Adrian: ”His eyes were the most unusual shade of blue. Like the vivid cerulean at the heart of a flame. Set within olive skin and framed by thick dark lashes, they were mesmerizing.”

Damien: ”Damien’s seraph blue eyes returned to her. He was gorgeous: long and sculpted, with his dark brown hair cut short, and sleek, framing eyes nearly as blue as Adrian’s.”

Helena: “He knew what the hostess saw—a stunning, statuesque, radiantly beautiful woman with waist-length blond hair and seraph blue eyes.

Salem: “He’s young,” Salem said beside her, momentarily distracting her with his latest blinding hair color of primary blue. It was fortunate for him that he possessed classical bone structure; there was a regal quality to his handsome face that transcended whatever crayon hue adorned his head.”

All the Sentinels had the same flame blue eyes, although only Adrian’s ever gave off heat. The Sentinels were works of art, really. It was rather intimidating being surrounded by dozens of perfect, gorgeous beings.

Fallen (who were all Angels at one point):

Vashti: “Hello, Adrian,” she muttered, her lips curved in a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Sunlight fell over her pale bare arms and chocolate-colored hair. Her amber eyes glittered like tiger’s-eye, but he remembered when they’d been blue like his own.

Shadoe, the daughter of a fallen angel and a human: An exotic and breathtaking woman.

Shadoe’s brother, Torque: ”His brutally short hair stuck straight up in opposing directions, the thick Asian locks bleached nearly white at the tips. It was a style that suited both the exotic features he’d inherited from his mother and his sharp-edged lifestyle.”

Another guy but with questionable alliances, not a Sentinel:

Raguel: “The archangel hesitated a moment, then dipped his head with the expected deference. His smile was dazzlingly white within the framework of skin as smooth and rich as the finest milk chocolate. There was a smattering of tight gray curls at Raguel’s temples, but that telltale sign of aging was an affectation to disguise his immortality.”

Lycan (set up to be a bad guy although may be a good guy in future books):

“It was a quiet surety inside her. She knew the fallen angel who stood across the room from her, looking far too young to be her father. He was gorgeous. Tall and elegant, like a Sentinel, but much darker. Definitely dangerous. Not just in his looks, although those were dark and dangerous, too. His black hair and caramel-hued skin were paired with eyes the color of toffee, making him stunning in a wholly exotic way.”

So why is it that all the “good” angels have blue eyes, classical features and most have golden hair? Why not a huge variation of racial features on the “good” angels. Why are the “good” angels and the “bad” guys in the stories differentiated by phenotype? It’s noteable that the only time skin color is mentioned is when it references a non white person. The default then is that the characters are white if not “olive skinned, caramel hued, milk chocolate” colored. Maybe individually, these things wouldn’t have rung my bell, but with the heroine’s ethnicity “stripped away” through reincarnation (not to mention what happens in the spoiler) along with how all the Sentinels are blue eyed, classically featured, then yes, it all becomes very uncomfortable for me. If they are of different skin color, different races, why wasn’t that described? Why was the heroine’s ethnicity erased so that by the time she gets her HEA she is no longer an “exotic” beauty (as she was described in the book). Overall, this book disappointed me on many levels but having the heroine’s ethnicity erased was the topper. D

Best regards,

Jane

REVIEW: Falling Hard by J. K. Coi

Jane — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 09:00:24 +0000

Dear Ms. Coi:

I’ve been interested in reading your work since I selected your short, Caged, to appear in the Agony / Ecstasy anthology. I tried one of your previous works (the name of which escapes me) and it didn’t work for me. I can’t remember the title or if I even finished it so unfortunately I can’t help the readership out here. “Falling Hard” did work, with some provisos. I found the paranormal world to be slightly different than ones I had read in the past.

Amelia is an angel and she has watched over Gabriel Gunn for years. When Gabriel’s life is seriously endangered, Amelia must leave her angelic plane and enter the mortal one. As an angel, she has no feelings and her life force is renewed regularly by the angel songs of those around her. As a mortal, however, she is inundated with feelings and her life force slowly seeps away.

Gabriel is a recovering drug addict who has no idea why his manager is dead and he has narrowly escaped mortal wounding himself. Gabriel has Lucifer, the leader of the fallen angels, inside of him. A set of rogue angels is desirous of setting Lucifer free and if this should be a possibility, Amelia must kill Gabriel because Lucifer desires to gain access to the heavens and wrest control from the Father.

The lines between good and bad begin to get blurred for Amelia as her blind faith in the orders from the Father and his Archangels are questioned on Earth. Does Gabriel have to be killed? Can Lucifer be contained? Should angels have free will or is it right for them to be bound by duty to the Father?

It seemed odd that someone who has a dangerous and evil being inside of him is so unrelentingly good in the story. I mean, yes, he has a temper but I felt like his poor attitude toward Amelia was understandable given that he had lost his closest friend and was falling in love with someone who refuses to explain all the weird stuff that swirls around her. He’s incredibly patient, to the point of unbelievability at times as he accepts that explanations will come later, even when later arrives and explanations aren’t forthcoming.

Amelia’s acceptance of emotion seem too quick. If she truly was unfeeling on her angel plane, then one would think the onslaught of emotions would have had a more serious effect yet she accepts these changes with aplomb and almost eagerness, particularly the near instantaneous attraction to Gabriel. Yet, at another time, she is confused about how a man looks at Gabriel as unsavory. (She has watched over Gabriel for almost thirty years and should have been aware of this by now)

“I don’t understand.”

He sighed. “He didn’t like the way I look and made assumptions about my character because of it.”

“And do you experience such a reaction often because of the way you…look?” She studied him with that focused regard he was coming to recognize as her curious look—although she would, of course, deny feeling anything so base as curiosity.

Despite this, the use of music in this book to create foundations for the worldbuilding was different.* Both Gabriel and Amelia have found surcease in music. It was his escape and release. It is her life force. Gabriel is a sweet hero who has tried to save and protect those that he loved and when he failed, he sought oblivion in drugs and alcohol and then he turned his life around again. Amelia’s angel characterization may not have been wholly consistent but it was nice to see a woman in the warrior mode. Amelia “The Avenger” is a nice and welcome twist. The two shared great sexual chemistry. The outcome of the story was different than I had expected but not in a negative way. I’ll be reading the next in the series. C+

Best regards,

Jane

*Yes, I have read the Archangel series by Sharon Shinn but while they both have angels and music, the feel of the stories and the worldbuilding is completely different.

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REVIEW: Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh

Janine — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:00:03 +0000

Dear Ms. Singh,

Archangel’s Blade opens with a flashback in the vampire Dmitri’s POV, one that takes us back to Dmitri’s human life. In the flashback, dark, ruthless Dmitri is revealed to have once, a thousand years ago, been a loving and tender hearted man devoted to his two children and to his wife.

Smiling at his son’s joy, he looked up and saw her in the doorway. His wife. With their new daughter in her arms. His heart twisted into a knot that was almost painful.

Sometimes, he thought he should be ashamed to love his wife and children so much, until the days when he went away to the markets were a rare anguish…but he could not bring himself to believe it.

This picture of domestic bliss is almost shocking in contrast with the Dmitri we know from the three previous Guild Hunter books. As the Archangel Raphael’s second-in-command, Dmitri could not be more loyal – and ruthlessly cold. He is said to love no one, and to like his pleasure twined with pain.

Though she has never met Dmitri, Guild Hunter and ancient languages expert Honor St. Nicholas is well aware of his reputation. She has spent years observing him on television and from afar due to an inexplicable obsession, but the thought of a close encounter with him or any other vampire now terrifies her.

Ten months ago Honor was kidnapped by vampires and raped and tortured for eight weeks. While two of her attackers were killed during her rescue and two more captured alive, no information about the rest of her tormentors has been uncovered. Honor has been hiding in one of the Guild Academy buildings since the assault, so when Sara, the Guild director, calls her and informs her that she is needed to consult with Dmitri on a case, Honor feels shattered.

Nevertheless, she manages to scrape enough strength to pull herself together and meet with Dmitri at The Tower where he oversees Raphael’s empire. The encounter is anything but soothing – Dmitri presents Honor with a young vampire’s severed head whose tattoo he wants her to decipher.

Moreover, Dmitri is attracted to Honor, though she is far from his usual type. When he puts his hands on the back of her neck and she slices his face in instinctive self-defense, he promises her private, intimate retribution at his hands. But things begin to change when Dmitri learns what Honor suffered, and vows to bring all the remaining perpetrators to justice.

As he takes Honor along on his excursions to find her attackers and to mete out punishment to them, a bond develops between Honor, who slowly gains confidence and begins to trust this one vampire, and Dmitri, who persistently denies that he can have a lasting or meaningful relationship with any woman – but finds it difficult to deny Honor whatever she needs.

Archangel’s Blade is a melding of more than one genre, with elements of mystery, thriller, horror, urban fantasy and romance. From these disparate genres you craft a nearly seamless, powerful, riveting novel. I found myself wholly absorbed in Dmitri and Honor’s story as I watched both characters transform – Honor into a courageous survivor, Dmitri into a more human, tender, loving badass than he’d been before.

Archangel’s Blade reminded me of a bit of Time Without End by Linda Lael Miller, a book I remember loving back in the 1990s, and one that had a very similar premise. I thought Time Without End was pretty dark but Archangel’s Blade makes it look like a sweet and gentle story.

I appreciated that it was acknowledged multiple times how thin is the line that separates Dmitri from the villains he takes down. There’s a cruel streak in him at times (especially in the beginning of this book), and in the earlier books, I hated the way he forced his seductive scent on Elena.

One of the reasons I was able to love Dmitri despite this is that the vampire Dmitri was contrasted with the human he had once been, sweet, caring and loyal above all to his beloved wife and children. You do a great job of showing what a lovely person that human Dmitri had been, how much he had lost, and showing also, that some remnants of that man were still in Dmitri.

Honor is also haunted, not just by the events of her recent past and her foster home upbringing, but also by an inexplicable sense of loss she has always lived with. I felt that past and present weren’t quite as well-integrated in her as they had been in Dmitri’s character. Surprisingly, it was easier to see the human Dmitri in him than it was to see the woman she’d once been in Honor.

But despite this, Dmitri and Honor’s journey gripped my guts and my heart. Seeing these two lost souls find love and acceptance with one another wasn’t just compelling, but also deeply moving.

Each time I read one of your books, I’m of two minds about the prose style. On the one hand, it feels a little choppy and repetitive at times, but on the other hand it’s also vivid, powerful and distinctive, and when I enjoy a book this much, it is difficult to complain.

A bigger problem for me, especially with this series, is the violence. This book is not for the squeamish or the faint of heart. Still, although the violence disturbed me, it also worked better for me than it has in the previous Guild Hunter books. I was quickly plunged into the dark places Dmitri and Honor inhabited and from there, followed their struggle toward a ray of light.

It was brave of you to tackle this much darkness and emotional baggage in one book. I was so touched when, at the end of the book, Honor and Dmitri fully understood and embraced the love they had found in each other, and yet, they had both lived through so much heartbreak and pain that the book left me a bit melancholy despite the happy ending.

Nonetheless, for its intense emotional quality and its romantic and redemptive feel, this is my favorite installment of the Guild Hunter series so far. B+/A-.

~Janine

REVIEW: Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly

Jia — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:00:34 +0000

Dear Ms. Weatherly,

I’ve become rather selective when it comes to urban fantasy, even in the young adult genre. It’s just that there’s so much of it these days that if I don’t, I’d end up buried under a pile of books until well into the next decade. I’m also a little lukewarm on angels. Even after being introduced to Caris Roane’s brand of crack. I know angels were one of those trends people used to tout as “the next vampire,” but they never caught my interest. But despite these things, I decided to give your book a try and I’m glad I did.

Willow is her high school’s resident social outcast, but there are actual legitimate reasons for this. She lives with her aunt because her mother is mentally ill and unable to care for her. In fact, Willow has been practically looking after her mother for as long as she can remember. Her father’s been a nonexistent presence in her life and according to her aunt, is the cause of her mother’s current mental state. She also gives psychic readings. I find this aspect of her character fascinating because it both ostracizes her from her peers (who label her a freak because of it) but also makes her an object of interest because those same peers who scorn her have no problems coming to her on the down low for a look into their futures.

And it’s one of these readings that sends Willow’s life into chaos. When she gives a fellow classmate a reading, she discovers that angels are real. However, Willow senses something is terribly wrong with this angel and wonders what exactly he’s doing to her classmate. Even worse, she inadvertently reveals her existence to the angels. This is bad because Willow is the key to their destruction.

In the world of Angel Burn, angels are not kind, benevolent beings. They want you to think that but in reality, angels are parasites. The dimension from which they come from has begun to collapse, which means they need to find a new home, one with an energy source to nourish them. In their home dimension, that energy source was ether. On Earth, that energy source is humans. To make matters worse, humans find the euphoria resulting from an angel’s feeding addictive and want nothing more than to experience that sensation again. This persistent desire to commune with angels usually leads to their own demise as prolonged contact results in any number of ailments and disease.

For the most part, this was a refreshing change from other paranormal YAs. While there was a romantic plot, it was balanced by an action thriller plot. After Willow’s existence is discovered, an angel assassin named Alex is sent to kill her but they team up when they realize that her hybrid nature might be the key to saving humanity from the angelic threat.

In many ways, this is a road trip story and I’m fond of those kinds of narratives. Willow and Alex don’t particularly trust each other — Alex was sent to kill her and Willow is the result of everything he hates — but they have no choice but to rely on one another. I enjoy that kind of tension, with or without the added layer of physical attraction. (That is present here, of course.)

Both Willow and Alex are independent, self-reliant people but this doesn’t necessarily translate into their being loners with no networks or friends. Willow has her mother and aunt, as well as her best friend. Alex has his fellow angel killers. They were both separated from them due to circumstances beyond their control, but the forced break doesn’t mean they forget about them. Willow constantly worries about her mother and fears for her best friend, who doesn’t believe the lie concocted to explain her disappearance. When the chips are down, Alex falls back onto his old connections. These reactions are normal and believable to me, and I’m glad they were presented here.

The one thing I didn’t care for was that stretch in the second half of the book where Willow and Alex holed up in the cabin and didn’t do anything. I understand that was part of the romantic plot but the majority of the book spends its time telling the reader that angels are bad, angels will destroy humanity simply because we’re viewed as food, and angels are coming to invade our dimension. While it’s believable that people would get overwhelmed and want to run away from their destiny, I had a hard time believing Willow and Alex would drop everything and do exactly this based on what we’d seen of them beforehand.

I also thought the identity of Willow’s father was so obvious. Talk about cliche. Why does the protagonist always have to be

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

Part of me wonders if this book was originally intended to be a standalone but had to be altered in order to fit the (now-traditional and almost-expected) trilogy structure. I felt like the climax and resolution was choppy and an obvious set-up for future books. That said, I thought the ending was refreshing because for once, not everything goes the protagonist’s way.

While I doubt I’ll ever be enamoured of angels, I am interested in seeing what’s next for Willow and Alex. Not so much the development of Willow and her father because I feel like I’ve seen that storyline a million times before, but to see how the war between humanity and angels plays out. B-

My regards,
Jia

REVIEW: Burning Skies by Caris Roane

Jane — Mon, 09 May 2011 19:00:35 +0000

Dear Ms. Roane:

I read and totally enjoyed the first book in this series, Ascension, but I admit I did it with a lot of guilt. There were so many themes and tropes in the book that echoed previous paranormal romance series that “fresh and new” just wasn’t a description I could give. But compelling and addictive? Yep, I can go there.

Book 2 doesn’t disappoint and in fact, maybe because I have bought into the world building no matter how derivative it may be, I liked Burning Skies even more than Ascension. The basic worldbuilding might be commonly known to readers of vampire series. There are two sets of vampires: the good ones and the bad ones. Death vamps are known by their blue tinge and are being created by the Commander, the leader of the evil. Endelle heads up the good guys which is comprised primarily of seven Warriors of the Blood and juiced up humans.

Marcus left Second Earth and his Warrior brothers 200 years ago. His sister had died and with it every desire to continue the battle he saw as fruitless and neverending. But the breh heddren, a mythical mate bond has caught up with him and slowly his world starts revolving around his desire, quest, need for Havily Morgan.

What prevents Marcus and Havily from fully embracing the breh heddren is loss and fear. Marcus tried to excise himself from the Brotherhood and create a new life. Being immortal at war means seeing your loved ones die repeatedly. Havily suffers from the same. She is over one hundred years old and has loved and lost two husbands. She doesn’t think she’s up for opening her heart again. She particularly doesn’t want to get involved with Marcus, whom she labels a quitter.

She lifted a brow. “I’m scared. You’re … you’re an awe-inspiring man, a warrior of excellence—”

“A deserter—”

“Yes. That disturbs me most of all. What if I fall for you, I mean really fall for you, and then you disappear because life gets a little too hard?

I just wish the deserter issue had been hit harder. I wondered if you intentionally held back, worried that painting Marcus too heavily with the quitter brush would have marred him too great for a reader.

The book also falters with the inability to really explain the boundaries of the world. In other words, why do the Commander and Endelle agree to the terms set forth by the Committee? This is a question I had in book one and it still remains unanswered today. Marcus’ leap from being the sullen deserter to fully embracing a return to the Brotherhood is made very easily, prompted by his feelings for Havily. Her acceptance of him was also brought about easily despite her previous disgust. Those two areas were ripe for conflict but neither of them were explored like I felt they could have been, taking a backseat, instead, to the overarching plot of good against evil.

I did appreciate that there was effort to show how Marcus and Havily would have gone for each other, regardless, but the mate bond draws these two together.

Thankfully the “cried” dialogue tag which permeated the first book in the most inappropriate of places seems to have been used more sparingly but it is still a frequently used term. There is also repetitiveness in the use of “dream but not a dream” phrase used to describe Havily’s abilities to navigate the space in between worlds. I could do with a lot less repetition.

Much attention is focused on how difficult the battle, how emotionally wearying it is, and how having a mate can ease the pain and make the sacrifice worthwhile. The agnst is built up around this concept. It is smart to build this up because it is the hook, I believe, that keeps readers coming back for me. We feel sad for these other tragic mateless warriors and want to see their happiness achieved in later books.

I liked this book and I know that I will want to re-read it but it’s not a book I can recommend without reservation. The reliance on the mate bond will be a barrier some readers won’t want to overcome. For me, I can overlook the mate bond and enjoy the story for the humor and sexy paranormal pairing. B-

Best regards,

Jane

P.S. There is a strange subtext to the book that I’m not sure what to make of.

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

REVIEW: Raziel by Kristina Douglas

Jia — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 20:00:01 +0000

Dear Ms. Douglas,

Vampire angels must be a trend now in paranormal romance. Who knew? Much like Jane with that selection, I’m not sure why I picked up this book and read it. Angels don’t do it for me. And yet, I managed to finish it despite my ambivalence. Maybe I have a previously unknown-to-me fondness for vampire angels!

Allie Watson is a writer of snarky Biblical murder mysteries. Not the most common occupation but not the most unusual either. On her way to a meeting with her editor, she has a close encounter with a bus. So close, in fact, that she ends up a bloody pancake on the street. If she happened to have been helped along by the very attractive man in front of her in the hot dog line, well, that would be the lead-in our plot.

Raziel is a fallen angel. Cursed by God, he must partake of blood and can no longer bear the touch of fire. Raziel and his fellow fallen angels live in a sort of sanctuary, away from their age-old enemies, the Nephilim. Originally, the Nephilim were heavenly warriors sent after the angels when they fell. But the Nephilim also fell and instead of being cursed with a thirst for blood, they ended up with an incessant hunger for flesh. It was after the Nephilim’s fall that God grew fed up with everything and abandoned mankind, leaving Uriel — the last remaining unfallen angel — to administer in his absence. The problem is that Uriel hates the Fallen and constantly schemes to find a way to destroy them forever.

Despite this preference, Uriel has given the Fallen the task of ushering the recently departed to the afterlife. Raziel is Allie’s escort but instead of heaven as previously expected, he finds that he’s taken her to hell. But for some reason unknown even to himself, Raziel literally saves her from the fiery pits and finds himself saddled with a woman he wants nothing to do with. After all, he’s sworn never to take another mate again — they make too convenient a target for Uriel’s attacks — and he finds Allie far too tempting for his own good. The question, though, is why Allie was slated to go to hell in the first place. Surely writing snarky Biblical murder mysteries wouldn’t warrant such a fate. Uriel may be humorless but it’s too minor an infraction, even for him. The answer to that question is a plot that will change the Fallen forever and usher in a new age for them.

It’s interesting to read this book shortly after Caris Roane’s Ascension. There are many similarities in terms of elements: angels with a penchant for blood, a mysterious woman tossed into their midst by fate, and a soulbond. But while Ascension‘s worldbuilding is very haphazard and nonsensical, Raziel takes a more methodical approach. I find I prefer the latter since I come from a fantasy reading background. I like it when worldbuilding holds up to scrutiny, especially in non-fantasy genre books. So I did ultimately appreciate the worldbuilding in Raziel but it took a few chapters for me to readjust and accept that while there were similarities, this was not a 100% transfer of angelic canon. I definitely can see how some readers might find it confusing because it does take a while for things to become clear.

What I found strange about this book is that there’s not a lot of plot when you stop to think about it. Allie is introduced to the world of the Fallen. The other angels want to get rid of her. Raziel and Sarah, the Source (a woman who donates blood to the fallen angels without mates), are the only people who argue in her favor. The barrier to their sanctuary is weakening and the Nephilim have found them. There’s a cursory mention of the Fallen looking for Lucifer, the original fallen angel, in order to free him and have him lead them in the war against Uriel. Except for the initial plot point in which Allie is killed and sent to hell, she actually doesn’t have a lot of impact on the plot until the end.

In fact, I’d argue that neither Allie nor Raziel affected the plot in any major way. A lot of it was instead driven by external factors, in which the couple would then have to react. I think I would have preferred a little more action on their part but I also realize that might be difficult to do when they spend the bulk of the novel in a house located in some other-dimensional sanctuary.

Despite the paranormal trappings, this is a story where the conflict rests between Allie and Raziel. Allie is trying to accept that she is dead and that she cannot return to her previous life. Raziel is struggling to keep his vow of not taking another mate even while he suspects Allie of being Uriel’s spy. But even then, I thought that the emotional conflict between them was not as immediate and intense as I’d expect. The book had an odd detached tone to it, which is doubly strange because the bulk of it is told in first person POV.

Speaking of which, I feel that I must warn readers that the book is told in alternating first person POV between Allie and Raziel, interspersed with third person narratives from a couple other characters. I personally don’t mind these sorts of narrative choices but I know they can be a major turn-off for some readers so I wanted to give a heads up.

There is, of course, the obligatory sequel-bait. I am not sure I actually liked how that subplot unfolded and concluded, even though the resolution tied into Allie’s storyline. It felt a little rammed in, so the characters involved were a bit too superficial for me. Of course, I also dislike the trope that was used, so perhaps that’s just my bias speaking.

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

That said, most of the supporting characters were superficial and never really came to life, so maybe that’s not a fair criticism to level at this one particular subplot. Something happens at the end that should have hit me hard as a reader but failed to do so because I was not invested at all in the characters.

I wish I could say I enjoyed this book more. I did finish it and again, that says a lot considering my disinterest towards angels. But while all the pieces were there, it read so methodical to me that I felt like it was going down a list, checking off various points as the book progressed. I wouldn’t mind reading the next book in the series, but it’s not something I’d rush out and get. C

My regards,
Jia

REVIEW: Ascension by Caris Roane

Jane — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 10:00:00 +0000

Dear Ms. Roane:

I’m not sure why I picked this book to read. It’s not like I am a big fan of angel stories. The cover is okay but not great. The blurb isn’t all that catching and frankly, when I started the story, it seemed like I had read it before, only with a different cover and different names on the front.

The story is derivative and full of all the things I hate like the mate bond (make the Bahhhnd, Jake for those Avatar fans), sequel bait ALL OVER THE PLACE, a heroine with so many powers no one can even fathom her, Matrix like time bendings, mind bending, channeling (at one point, they have to teach the heroine to fight within 24 hours and so she mind melds with her mate and he downloads into her mind his fighting techniques). YET, I could not stop reading it. There is some strange alchemy here.

The set up is that there is different dimensions of Earth. The first dimension is Mortal Earth, the next level up is Second Earth, etc. The upper levels are closed off until you are called for ascension and then it appears that you can move freely between the levels. (Kind of like a video game, I guess? Except instead of defeating a boss to get to the next level you have to await to be called by a higher power. No wait, this is more like high school and cliques. The higher up you are on the social scale, the more mobile you are. Okay, this is probably not the equivalence you were aiming for).

This book is concentrated on Mortal Earth and Second Earth. Future books seem to focus on upper levels (or at least that is what is hinted).

Alison Wells is a therapist, six feet tall, who has sworn off dating because whenever she has sex with someone, they get injured. Her last bout ended with the guy in the emergency room. She’s giving up her counseling practice to return to school to get her Ph.D. But during her counseling career, she had been counseling a guy named Draven Graeves. It turns out that Graeves is the Commander, a leader of an army of death vampires and other bad guys who want to rule both Mortal Earth and Second Earth.

On the other side, you have Endelle, the most powerful ascendant in 9 centuries (I could be wrong about the number of centuries) and counterpart to Graeves. Endelle’s rule is bolstered by the Warriors of the Blood, a band of 7 Guardians of the Ascendants, all males, who protect Mortal Earth by killing death vamps. Death vamps are created by sucking humans to death. You know a death vamp by their coloring; they take on a blue tinge (better than smelling like baby powder). Endelle and the Warriors also have the help of the Militia Warriors, basically super humans but not as strong as Warriors. Grunts, essentially, or maybe Pawns on the chessboard.

When a being is called to ascend (move up the dimensional ladder), there is a battle between Endelle and Commander to gain that asset. Both want Alison because she is the most powerful mortal to be called to ascend since they can remember. She can do pockets of time reversal, dematerialize. She can speak telepathically and has empathy skills. Bla bla bla. I’m sure in her spare time, she turns water into wine.

In order to prevent the Commander from capturing the asset by turning her into a death vamp or just getting killed, the Guardian Kerrik is sent to Alison.

The book is essentially about the breh heddren, a mythical mate bond that none of the Warriors of the Blood have ever experienced. UNTIL NOW. Cue music. Kerrick, who has lost two wives and three children to this ongoing battled between Endelle and Commander, has vowed never to take another mate. But the mate bond is SO STRONG that despite their mutual resistance, the two cannot keep their hands off each other.

The breh heddren is sealed by mind diving, sharing of blood and coitus – all at the same time. So Kerrick and Alison resist doing all three but dabble in the others. They are everything but breh heddren virgins. One recognizes the mate bond through scents. Kerrik gives off a cardamon smell and the Alison gives off a lavender smell. And these two smells drive each other mad for one another. (as an aside, how many guys are really turned on by lavender?) Will these two crazy agnst-ridden love birds make special transcendental music together? I guess readers will just have to learn that for themselves.

Oh and there is some committee that makes rules that govern the war between Endelle and Commander. I never really understood why these rules exist or why the two abide by them but these rules create the bounds of the plot and the world. Both sides have electronic grids or something and can detect the power signals of all the peeps with “Second” power on Mortal Earth.

I wrote to a friend of mine that the story is a bit whackadoo. There is head hopping, info dumps and an entire romance built around the mate bond. These two don’t fall in love. It’s destiny. Or something. It’s like paranormal soup but it is really readable paranormal soup. Sexy paranormal soup. Like there is a little of Ward. The Band of Brothers who have never experienced the mythical breh heddren will now, in the space of several books published one after the other, all of a sudden fall victim to it. While they don’t speak in slang, they ALL use the term EOS (end of story) to shut the door on certain topics. It was like a Guardian requirement: live without a mate, kill death vamps and use “EOS” at least once per day.

And the word “cried” was used as a dialogue tag non stop even in, what I termed, inappropriate places. “I don’t want to guard her”, he cried. (this is a made up example but I’m just trying to convey a point here).

Weirdly I could not stop reading even though I was frowning at myself the entire time. I knew it was derivative. I knew it was info dumpy. I knew that there was no delicately layered love relationship because the bond was some mythical destiny but not only did I enjoy this book but I stayed up late reading it. AND I’m pretty stoked for the next one. There were hints dropped here and there about some really interesting future characters and possibly some inter Guardian fighting over a woman. No Kumbaya here. Some of the Guardians do not like each other, thank god. Truly, if I had to live with the same seven people for a 100 years or more in a high stress environment, I would want to kick the crap out of at least one of the seven.

John said the other day in the Smart Bitches chat that he would grade Scandal by Amanda Quick a B for the book but an A for personal enjoyment. I have to give this a C but a B for personal enjoyment.

Best regards,

Jane

REVIEW: My Fair Succubi by Jill Myles

Shuzluva — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:41:32 +0000

Dear Ms. Myles,

You are another author whose books have caught my eye, but I haven’t managed to pick up. I’ve realized I need a lot more free time for loafing on the couch and reading. Does anyone want to give me that as a belated Hannukah or surprise Christmas gift please? Anyways, I’ve seen the (HOT) covers of the previous books in your Succubus Diaries series and thought My Fair Succubi would appeal. If that isn’t the epitome of judging a book by it’s cover, I don’t know what is.

Being a n00b didn’t deter me from jumping into the third book in the series, and I am absolutely sure that I’m lacking understanding of the nuances of what’s going on in the world of Jackie Brighton. This is both good and bad. The good: I didn’t have to deal with page after page of info dump boredom. The bad: I’m still a bit confused as to some of the aspects of worldbuilding, but it didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. My understanding is that Jackie Brighton is a super-hot succubus with two masters, Zane, a gorgeous 4,000 year old vampire (fallen angel) and Noah Gideon a gorgeous 4,000 year old Serim (also fallen angel). Jackie loves them both, but the devil (har-de-har) is in the details.

Jackie and Noah are in the jungles of Mexico on the verge of a big find at an archaeological dig. It’s clear that Noah is in love with Jackie, and she’s…not quite there. Jackie isn’t able to sort out her feelings for both Noah and Zane and can’t figure out where she stands on being attached to a four thousand year old angel after living for 20-something years. Before she’s able to ruminate on it for any amount of time the two of them are unceremoniously dragged off to face the Serim council (a group of Earth-bound angels) for crimes they have apparently committed. Luc, an Incubus that must’ve had a starring villainous role in a prior book, manages to convince the Serim that a buncha shit that went down is all Jackie’s fault and he’s been wronged by her. Jackie is held in solitary, her watchman a Nephilim council enforcer named Ethan (his description makes me think of Dwayne Johnson with long hair…I do love me some of The Rock). Ethan, along with the Archangel Gabriel, are to bear witness to her punishment, which I’m not going to describe here because it’s horrible and hilarious at the same time. Jackie manages to get the drop on a Serim and wrangles a deal with Gabriel to retrieve the halo of the former archangel Joachim. Conveniently, Joachim is busy possessing the body of Jackie’s SuccuBFF Remy. The halo of an archangel holds an unimaginable amount of power, and Jackie wants to free Remy from Joachim’s possession, free Noah from the Serim and have the charges against her dropped, so she’s willing to go up against the odds to make it happen.

Jackie goes from one seemingly impossible situation to another, and while her actions in the face of danger may seem Marysuetastic, it wasn’t hard to remember that she’s Immortal (yes, she CANNOT be killed…she’s actually immortal) unless she’s deprived of sex for more than a certain amount of time. She’s navigating the supernatural world without a map, no one has bothered to take the time to give her the stereo instructions on being a Succubus. While this could be seen as a trope used to spring things on her, I felt this easily put the reader squarely into Jackie’s perspective without feeling like something was missing. The book is written in first person from Jackies POV, and Ms. Myles has done something that I consider amazing: Jackie’s thoughts and feelings are clear as a bell, but the first person doesn’t dampen the heat during the sex scenes or fail to convey the feelings of the other characters. And trust me, the sex scenes? I was surprised that the book and my eyeballs didn’t spontaneously combust while reading them.

I mentioned in a recent review that I don’t look for stories with love triangles, but hot damn, I think I may have a thing for them. It’s weird, because I really thought I didn’t like them. The ‘good lover/bad lover why is this woman so damn confused when the choice should be obvious’ can make a wall look like a pretty appealing target at times. However, the relationship between Jackie, Noah and Zane is totally plausible and not book-toss inducing. Jackie’s confused feelings read as completely genuine, as do Noah and Zane’s actions and reactions. I guess when a love triangle is done well, it just may be my cuppa. I hate describing books as quick, fun reads because it makes them seem disposable. This book happened to be an extremely quick (a day and a half for me, and I have three kids, a job, general insanity and I’m not the world’s fastest reader), super fun (I laughed, I got turned on, I was dying to read what happened next) read. But definitely not disposable. I’m going to pick up the Succubus Diaries backlist and get myself totally up to speed in the sexy, supernatural, mixed-up world of Jackie Brighton. B+

~Shuzluva

REVIEW: Archangel’s Kiss by Nalini Singh

Jane — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:00:33 +0000

SPOILER ALERT: If you have not read Angel’s Blood, the cover and this entire review will be a spoiler. LOOK AWAY! LOOK AWAY!!

Dear Ms. Singh:

I’m not certain that I’ll be able to adequately articulate why I enjoyed this book so much but I did. Since the time that I received the book up in its pre-published form I have read it five times. I was forced (ha ha) to read it one more time to polish up this review.

This story is a continuation of Angel’s Blood where Raphael and Elena first meet. Elena is a Guild Hunter who ordinarily tracks and hunts vampires for the Guild. Elena has scent discrimination skills and tracks vampires by their unique and individual scent. Raphael hired Elena to track an archangel who had gone mad and was killing a number women across the city of New York. During their time together, Raphael and Elena fell in love and when Elena was mortally wounded, Raphael’s body produced ambrosia, a once in a lifetime event, that turned Elena from human to angel.

Archangel’s Kiss starts up a little after Angel’s Blood. A full year plus has passed. Elena had been in a healing coma and she is newly angelic. In this story, we see Elena struggle in her transition from human to angel. She doesn’t know the first thing about being an angel and I do mean the first thing, such as extending her wings from her body. Raphael takes her to the Refuge, a place that only angels can reach (although vampire servants are brought there by angels). At the Refuge, Elena at 10 school with all the angel children to learn about the history of Angels and how to hold her wings off the ground and eventually she’ll learn how to fly.

Elena must learn quickly however because Raphael has received an invitation for the two of them to attend a ball in Elena’s honor by Lijuan, the oldest of the archangels. This is no social event but rather a measure of Raphael’s power and a display of Lijuan’s. Rumors abound that Lijuan is making the dead walk as the living.

So while Elena must learn to execute the most rudimentary angelic tasks such as flying she must also learn how to fight in her new body. Raphael asks members of his protective cadre, the Seven, to train her in combat.

The Refuge becomes tainted when one of Raphael’s angels is taken and tortured. Another angelic family is targeted when their child is kidnapped. Other angelic factions are being set against one another. Initially the events seem random, or at worst, pointed toward implicating Elena. As events escalate, Raphael sees this as a power play. There is a power void left when Raphael killed the mad archangel in Angel’s Blood, and someone is positioning to fill that void. Angels recognize nothing but power.

Amongst this interesting mystery plot is the continuation of the romance of Raphael and Elena. Both are learning to navigate the parameters of their new relationship. Elena is struggling to find her new identity and not be overwhelmed by Raphael. Raphael is afraid of Elena’s fragility and contemplates his own mortality because Elena’s humanity has weakened him in some ways and strengthened him in others.

We learn more about both Raphael and Elena’s past. What fears Raphael has for his own sanity and what demons have haunted Elena. The worldbuilding is detailed. Angelic houses are built to accommodate angels with wide doorways and complete drop offs. The Refuge is a place that is only accessible to those with wings. When you take us to China, I can almost smell the scent of the cherry blossoms. And the book is full of beautiful people of all shades and ethnicities.

There’s some interesting and almost chilling foreshadowing when it comes to Ilium, one of Raphael’s Seven. Elena and Ilium get along quite well and one of the other Seven suggests that Elena and Ilium’s friendship might end in Ilium’s death if he falls in love with her. There’s a very sexy exchange between Raphael and Elena when Raphael refuses to allow Ilium to gift Elena with knives:

Teeth grazed over her lips. "Know this Elena-’you'll never wear another man's knife."

She blinked. "He wanted to give me a blade? What's wrong with that?"

"Blades," he whispered, "and sheaths go together. And your sheath will only ever hold my blade."

There is a hum of sexual tension that glides just under the text. Raphael is waiting for Elena to fly because then she will be truly strong enough for them to mate as equals. Before, when Elena was human, Raphael had to hold back or he would have killed her with his strength, but now that she is angel like him, he can let go. And so Raphael waits. The non consummation is sometimes exponentially more sexy than the act itself.

This is a full book. I was surprised that we were given a resolution to the Lijuan issue. It almost seemed like the story had a bonus with by tackling the issue of Lijuan and her fetish with the dead. I’m so intrigued by this world, so captivated by Raphael and Elena, and Raphael’s Seven, that I simply cannot wait until the next Angel book. I think your series may do for Angels what Feehan did for vampires. A-

Best regards,

Jane

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REVIEW: Seduced by Shadows by Jessa Slade

Jane — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:00:17 +0000

Dear Ms. Slade:

I confess to being reluctant to start this book. I’m not sure why. I think because there wasn’t anything about the description of the book or the cover that really stood out. It was a paranormal story about good demons and bad demons. Given that it was a free book, however, it didn’t hurt to at least read the first chapter. I was intrigued enough by the first chapter to continue given that the writing style appealed to me.

Ferris Archer is a former southern gentleman who is now one of the demon possessed. He and others like him have banded together to fight in the war against other demon possessed individuals and malices that populate the earth. Archer views himself not so much as a warrior, but a trash collector . Malices can be drained but they cannot be returned to hell and over time, just regenerate. To say that Archer is weary would be an understatement. He went from fighting in the Civil War to a non stop, centuries long battle against entities simply cannot be defeated. When others warn him that the battle is being tipped toward the evil, Archer doesn’t believe it. The battle has always be tilted against them. Their numbers are few and seem to be getting fewer all the time. Archer plays the ennui inflicted rebel quite well.

Sara Littlejohn is a thanatologist who suffers a terrible car accident, leaving her maimed and in pain for possibly the rest of her life. She is tempted by a demon in the form of Archer who promises her a pain free life. She invites him into her body in some strange dream sequence. (Archer previously appeared to her telling her, cryptically, to refuse the demon).

Sara’s demon is a rare and powerful kind and she is desirous because, well, I wasn’t quite sure. I think it is because she represents some rare connection to the other side of the Veil which separates Earth from hell. Sara is being hunted by a djinn who wants to harness that connection.

Sara’s possession is different and there is little explanation why. It just is. There hasn’t been a female possessed in centuries. There’s some whisper of mated-talyan bond but again, no explanation why she is the first in the long line of many demon possessed individuals to be a) female and b) teshuva versus djinn. Teshuva’s are good demon possessions (if there can be good demon possessions). Teshuva demons are those who are repentant. Djinn are those demons who are not. Teshuva demons and their possessed gain redemption by dying in battle against the djinn. The demons appear to be written as male in gender although it is referred to as “it” in pronoun form. The demons, even though they are sentient beings inside the body, have little impact on the characters in the book except through violence.

The extent of the demon possession is not fully explained for me. Does the teshuva merely lie dormant until called upon? This wouldn’t be accurate since at one point Sara’s powerful demon cowers in the face of a djinn. But while Sara and Archer have sex, there appears to be no connection or involvement by the demons.

There’s no rhyme or reason for why someone gets a teshuva or djinn, it seems. Is it because the soul is qualitatively good in some fashion? It seems awfully convenient that the good guys get the teshuva’s. Would a truly repentant demon possess a serial killer? Does the demon change their soul?

The style of the prose is engaging but the overall story was confusing and difficult to follow. There was a tendency toward repetition (I don’t know how many times that Archer referred to himself as taking out the trash but it was too many). I kind of felt like the romance between Archer and Sara was a default one. Sara saw Archer first, became physically attracted to him, he helped her through possession and then they were a pair. I am intrigued and will read the next book in the series, but I left this book with many an unanswered question. C

Best regards,

Jane

This book can be purchased at Amazon or in ebook format from Sony or other etailers.

REVIEW: Demon Forged by Meljean Brook

Janet — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:00:09 +0000

Dear Ms Brook:

I participated in a debate the other day on Twitter about whether Romance keeps women in a traditional social position by linking love and the nuclear family to a woman’s ultimate happiness. The Guardians series is one of those I would recommend as an example of how powerfully Romance can subvert traditional social structures and expectations while still celebrating love as a liberating force. And in Demon Forged, these themes are in play on several levels, not only between romantic protagonists Irena and Alejandro, but also in the world of the novel more generally. The nature of love, the nature of sacrifice, fate v. free will, the purpose of being – all are at issue in Demon Forged, a novel that, like the rest of the Guardians series, is dense, multi-layered, richly textured, and slightly flawed.

Irena has been a Guardian for sixteen centuries now, making her one of the oldest of their kind, and one of the most awe and fear inspiring. Her gift is that she can shape metal, and from her Siberian forge she favors making weaponry to be utilized against demons and nosferatu. Guardians, who are bound to protect human free will and keep them safe from the creatures of Hell and Chaos, are not necessarily mild and angelic, either in appearance or demeanor. Irena is particularly intimidating, her outward beauty a mask over a tumultuous personal history, one shaped and sharpened by a bargain she once made with a demon in order to save the man she loved.

Alejandro (Olek, to Irena, "the silk-tongued swordsman whose idea of honor was to die for nothing"), had the Gift of fire, and fittingly, he burns for Irena over centuries, not only in lust, but also in shame because he could not save her from the demon’s torture, could never even know fully what the demon did to her in that iron-walled room Alejandro had not managed to melt through by the time Michael teleported in to slay the demon and save Irena. Irena, who had robbed Alejandro of an honorable death by sacrificing herself, and who had walked away from him for more than two centuries right after Michael killed her torturer. Alejandro had no more understanding of what drove Irena away than he did of what the demon took from her in exchange for his life.

So when Irena and Alejandro meet again in Rome, the unresolved attraction and questions have intensified for both to the point of pain. They have been brought together to assist in hunting the nosferatu and the nephilim, an even more menacing race of creatures led by Anaria, Michael’s demonic sister, and intent on killing vampires and humans. But when the Guardians encounter the vampire Deacon in Rome, who arrives with a tale of expulsion from his nest, revelations of a larger problem are not far behind. Indeed, they begin when the group encounters a nest of nosferatu living beneath an ancient church, and in their custody is the Guardian Rosalia, who has been held to the wall with an iron spike through her head for who knows how many centuries, serving as nothing more than a feeding font for the nosferatu. Rosalia’s rescue allows her to heal physically, but it does not answer any questions about what is happening with the nosferatu and nephilim. Nor does it provide clarity about why the human wife of the demon Rael, aka Congressman Thomas Stafford, is shot and killed during a public speech in San Francisco, despite Stafford being the more obvious target.

Summarizing the plot of Demon Forged beyond this point would require the revelation of spoilers essential to the story, spoilers that reveal the revolutionary nature of this book and its role in the Guardian series (here is a link to a summary of characters and previous books, though, for anyone who needs to catch up or refresh the memory). Readers have already received quite a shock about Michael, and some of those implications are playing out in Demon Forged, such that the worlds we have seen existing in difficult but steady tension are suddenly challenged and restructured in ways that have devastating, horrifying consequences. Make no mistake: this book is dark and the pall it casts over certain characters and thematic developments will not, I expect, be dissolved anytime soon. Suffice it to say that when powerful species have drastically different views of what the world should be, power can, at least in the short run, determine the shape of a good life and an ideal world view.

Without indulging a political allegory that might be read into the book (and the series as a whole), I will say that one of my favorite things about the Guardians series is that every book has philosophical weight – there are real questions of what it means to have free will, of the nature of good and evil, and of what it means to live in accordance with one’s nature and convictions. Demon Forged is no exception, and many of these thematic threads are woven through Irena and Alejandro’s relationship, which is itself driven by the complementarity and conflict of two powerful personalities. The very first time they meet, they fight, and

Before ten seconds had passed, she’d had him laid out on the marble pavers with blood filling his mouth and his vision floating in and out of focus.

Until she’d straddled his waist and kissed him – then everything had become sharp and pointed, and devastatingly clear.

He’d still been reeling when she lifted her head and said, "When I am satisfied that your training is complete, I will take your body as I have just taken your mouth. Until that time, young Olek, there is only this. Only the fight."

Then she’d driven her dagger into his side, and chided him for letting his guard down.

It was fitting, Alejandro thought, that their only kiss had been flavored by blood and followed by pain.

Too much pain, because she’d been wrong: There hadn’t just been the fight. There had been her laugh and her temper. Her unrelenting schedule, her unexpected moments of tenderness.

And there had been the days spent in her forge, where he discovered his Gift of fire complemented her affinity with metal. Where they’d created weapons, where firelight had danced across her pale skin. Where he’d pretended to study manuscripts, but watched over the pages as Irena shaped her intricate sculptures – where he’d posed for her more than once. And he’d trained tirelessly, waiting for the moment she was satisfied.

But then the demon intervenes, and the growing trust between them is shattered, because of Alejandro’s shame that he could not save Irena or die honorably, and Irena’s shame that the demon could use her feelings for Alejandro against her so effectively. Thus, even the fighting becomes tainted:

"No." He straightened. His eyes shuttered. "I will not fight. I do not like the man I become with you."

The words stabbed her chest. Reflexively, her hands fisted. Irena held them at her sides, struggling against the fury and hurt that urged her to batter them into his face. He stared down at her, and she thought, prayed, that he might take the words back.

Olek shook his head and turned. "Your vampire friend has gone into the city."

He walked away. Irena watched, her heart hammering.

I do not like the man I become with you.

He should have hit her. She’d have known how to respond to that. But this pain, she did not.

Everything about Irena and Alejandro’s connection is intense and passionate, and the only thing holding them in check is their lack of physical proximity from each other. So when the Stafford investigation and the increased nephilim activity force them to work together directly, they cannot resist their physical and emotional draw to one another. And ironically, as the destruction around them – the threat to human security, as well as vampire and Guardian safety – increases, Irena and Alejandro grow more solid in their interdependence.

Consequently, their relationship works on the level of romantic attachment and development (as well as an incredibly sexy passion), but also thematically in service of the overarching concerns of the series. Irena, for example, is firey of nature, but Alejandro cannot completely control her, as he can the literal element. Irena can shape the hardest metals, but she cannot bend Alejandro to her will without his fully informed consent. And in the same way that the Guardians must protect human free will, each of these two must respect the will (and sometimes willfulness) of the other. And their love, even as it abides across centuries and separations, is not always a source or state of peace and comfort. As well as they understand each other, there can still be a surprise or two.

All of these are lessons not only for Irena and Alejandro, but also for the reader, as we pursue these characters through the series. The world created in these books is dynamic, challenging, imperfect, sometimes euphorically beautiful and harmonious, sometimes unforgiving and distressing. We must constantly adapt and adjust our own expectations, so that we are not simply looking forward to the romantic resolution of the main protagonists, but understanding that every relationship is a new dynamic within a complex system of competing forces and powers. As "perfect" as love may be in the ideal, it does not prevail without sacrifice, and it does not always exist in a way we might identify as good. But rather than outright demonize and idealize the her characters, Brook forces us to regard them within a multi-dimensional space where some things must work themselves out in crooked, complicated ways. It is a deeply engaging, and sometimes heartbreaking challenge for the reader.

But when it works, it’s truly amazing. The subtlety, the detail, the humor, the humanity in the writing is sometimes astonishing, just like San Francisco Police Detective Taylor’s perception of Michael:

She hadn’t expected anyone – but she really hadn’t expected him. Not the Doyen. And he was the last one she’d have wanted here. Irena might give off mob enforcer vibes, but Michael was the one who scared the crap out of her. Part of it was that he seemed to try to appear nonthreatening, like some kind of guru, but underneath that tunic were ropes of muscle and the chest of a gladiator. Did he think he could hide that? And his bare feet – they were fine, as feet went – but the point was, he obviously didn’t have to go all out with the steel-toed boots or even the soft leather stockings that Irena wore. His bare feet screamed: I could rip apart a demon and I’m not even wearing shoes.

And yet it does always work perfectly, and it’s those moments that create a certain dissonance in the reading experience, sort of like Irena’s awareness of her weapons after Michael has infused them with his own power:

Irena’s fingers wrapped around the weapons; they looked no different than before, but she felt the heat within. She vanished them, and felt their presence in her cache like a gentle burn against her tongue.

There is just so much going on in Demon Forged that sometimes I felt like I was missing things or had to re-read sections to make sure I understood what was going on at certain points in the story. I actually had to read the book twice to undertake a review, and while I feel relatively certain that I understand the main issues, the pacing seemed uneven throughout the novel, with the beginning moving quite slowly, the end galloping too quickly, and the middle shifting back and forth. For example, the pace of Alejandro and Irena’s relationship accelerates at a point in the novel where they clearly need to have a certain emotional closeness because of another plot development. But how they get there felt somewhat rushed to me. By contrast, the Deacon subplot seemed to play itself out quite slowly, even when we suspect what the truth behind his appearance is. And finally, I felt that the set up for the nephilim’s assertiveness in the story was somewhat chaotically established (and that’s not intended to be a pun on the realm), with so many interwoven sections being laid out to support that development that I could not track the novel’s logic in placing all those sections in that particular order until my second read through. None of this detracts from the novel’s complexity and the shock that it delivers to the faithful Guardians series reader, but it did interfere with the novel’s readability in ways that kept it from being a perfect read for me. Still, I have no problem giving Demon Forged a solid recommendation and a strong B.

~Janet aka Robin

This book can be purchased at Amazon or in ebook format from Sony or other etailers.

REVIEW: Covet by J.R. Ward

Jia — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:00:11 +0000

Dear Ms. Ward,

I don’t even know where to begin. While it’s true I’m a fan of your Black Dagger Brotherhood series, I stopped making any claims about its purported quality many books back. Romance? Unlike most readers who thought the first books were romance, only for later ones to shift into the urban fantasy category, I never believed the series belonged in the romance genre in the first place. So I took it with a very large, very heavy bucket of salt when I heard that your new series, starting with Covet, would be more romantic. Sorry, but it’s true.

Jim Heron is an ex-military assassin, jaded and cynical about life. He drifts from one place to the next, putting down no roots and trying to stay out of trouble. He’s currently employed as a construction worker but when the mansion he’s currently helping to build is completed, he intends to move on. Then on the eve of his fortieth birthday, he hooks up with a woman at the club, Iron Mask.

What he thought would only be a pleasant memory unfortunately leads to more, just not in the usual way. The next morning, the woman shows up at the construction site on the arm of his boss, Vincent DiPietro, who will one day live in the mansion Jim’s helping build. As expected, this is awkward but Jim takes graceless reactions to a new level: he gets into an accident on-site and electrocutes himself.

This sends Jim into the afterlife, sort of, where he meets four angels who tell him the score. This is the final end game between heaven and hell. Jim, because of the balanced amount of light and dark in his soul, is a sort of neutral player whose role is to save (or damn) seven souls. Best out of seven wins. If he saves more souls, the world and the people who live in it can continue on as we know it. But he fails and loses more souls instead, the world as we know it will cease to exist at all.

At any rate, Jim is sent back to earth with his new mission and his first assignment is none other than Vincent. And if the novel’s title is descriptive of anyone, it’s Vin. Growing up from virtually nothing, as an adult, Vin likes surrounding himself with the very best money can offer — furniture, cars, real estate, and women. One woman, in particular — his girlfriend, Devina, and yes, I am not joking; that is indeed her name. Vin plans to make things official and ask her to be his wife but even though he’s bought an expensive diamond engagement ring, he finds himself unable to pop the question. Something is holding him back. And he soon discovers what when he reluctantly goes to the Iron Mask with Jim and meets the head prostitute who works there, Marie-Terese.

A few years ago, Marie-Terese escaped a bad situation. She’s free of a controlling, abusive husband who lives on the wrong side of the law and now has complete custody of her son. There’s only one catch. She has to live under an assumed name to avoid the notice of her ex-husband’s former associates, and she has massive debt due to lawyer and private investigator fees. She’s managed to whittle down the debt but to do so, she’s had to work as a prostitute, a profession which is killing her slowly inside day after day. She swore she’d never get involved with men and especially not with anyone who reminds her of her ex, but then she meets Vin.

Jim thinks the way to save Vin’s soul is to matchmake him with his long-suffering girlfriend, Devina. But Vin finds himself falling in love with Marie-Terese and vice versa. To complicate matters even more, Devina is not at all who she seems, someone is killing people who get involved with Marie-Terese, and Vin’s long dormant psychic abilities have reawakened. And what those abilities are telling him is that Marie-Terese’s life is in danger.

If you find yourself thinking my summary of the book sounds convoluted, you’d be correct. But in my defense, I also happen to think it’s reflective of the novel itself. This book meanders. I can’t think of any other way to put it. We hop from one storyline to the next, and unlike the Black Dagger Brotherhood novels, I wasn’t invested in any of them. Or even one of them. Jim, Vin, or Marie-Terese? I couldn’t have cared less about anyone.

To be honest, however, I was most disappointed by Marie-Terese. I liked the brief glimpse we’d had of her in Lover Avenged but in that book, my impression of her was that of a no-nonsense, tough woman who has to do what she does to survive. In Covet, I find her tedious and annoying in her constant emo whining. I think I’m simply done with prostitute characters who feel sorry for themselves and self-flagellate every five minutes. In Marie-Terese’s case, it was made even more trying by the fact that for all she complained about her situation, she was in no way trapped by it. She had a standing offer from a good man who’d help her, no strings attached. It’s too difficult for me to feel sympathy for a character who chooses to martyr herself on the altar of the sex trade. Oh, and as an aside? Her real name? I must have different standards but with the way she went on about it, that wasn’t at all what I expected her “beautiful” real name to be.

For those readers who want to know, I wouldn’t consider this novel a romance. I think it’s even less of a romance than the Black Dagger Brotherhood books and I didn’t even think that was possible. But unlike the BDB series, this novel lacks the multi-layered background storytelling that keeps me reading despite a lack of interest in the main storyline. It’s trying to, I think, with the framework of Jim’s work to save seven souls and the “romance” storyline between Vin and Marie-Terese and the implication of Devina’s true loyalties, but it all reads as cursory and shallow. When I finished the novel, I’d be lying if my immediate reaction wasn’t, “…what did I just read?” Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t the dreaded WTF reaction. It was merely a slight sense of bewilderment. I asked part-time reviewer, Nonny, what she thought and she had much the same reaction. I wish I could articulate what exactly it was about the book that left me so unenthused but it’s fairly accurate.

I also have to get this off my chest. What was up with the Black Dagger Brotherhood cameos? Even though I had advanced warning this would be happening, I still found myself thinking it was self-indulgent. Trez, I could understand, because he owns the Iron Mask and Marie-Terese works there, but Phury? Butch? I know it was intended as an authorial wink of sorts, but they kept tossing me out of the book. It’s hard to suspend disbelief if I keep coming across passages in which the author might as well be yelling, “Hey, I write this other series too and this conspicuous character here is in it!”

As you can probably surmise by all this, I wasn’t too impressed. I’m still having difficulty reconciling the vampire cosmology and the Christian cosmology co-existing but that’s not too surprising. I’ve been having that problem since the introduction of Lassiter in Lover Enshrined. But despite all that, I already know I’m still going to end up picking up your next book, whether it’s a Black Dagger Brotherhood installment or the next novel in this angel series. There’s no denying that your novels are compulsively readable, and you’re still a habit I can’t break. C

My regards,
Jia

This book can be purchased at Amazon or in ebook format from Sony or other etailers starting tomorrow.