I tell everyone I know about your books. I even shared the story of Parisia and Micah’s with some random taxi cab driver in Chicage because the tangerine craziness is something that I can’t keep to myself (although in searching the DA archives it appears that I have not reviewed this masterpiece. Trust me, I will rectify that nonsense forthwith).

In the last book I felt a bit morose at how the females were portrayed. I noticed how each one of the women in power, particularly the crazy head woman in charge, was replaced by a man. This book was much more empowering for the women. Oh, Marcus is still in charge and Thorne, the hero, is taking a new position of leadership but I did feel that there was a lot of appreciation poured out for the women, particularly for Endelle.

The main love story is quite provocative and I wonder how readers will respond. The foreseeing heroine, Marguerite,was kept prisoner for more than a century in a religious institution where other seers were housed. At some point, Marguerite began to room with Grace and when Grace’s brother, Thorne visited, Marguerite brazenly came on to Thorne. Thorne responded and for a century, the two engaged in a secret physical affair. This relationship kept both of them sane during Marguerite’s imprisonment and Thorne’s endless fight on Second Earth against the death vampires.

When Marguerite is released, however, she leaves Thorne and runs away to earth. Marguerite wants to live and for Marguerite that means she wants to drink heavily and chase men. Thorne loves Marguerite, though, and abandons his position as the head of the Warrior Brothers, to follow her.

Marguerite feels a fondness for Thorne but she doesn’t think she loves him or at least doesn’t love him enough to want to abandon her plans to sleep her way around Earth. She begins by picking up a hot guy in a bar, Jose. Thorne watches her. Marguerite proceeds to have sex (good sex) with Jose but what she doesn’t realize is that Thorne has taken over Jose’s mind. (This happens in the first chapter and thus I don’t think it is much of a spoiler).

You crazy mofo. You went there. BRAVO. Seriously, bravo. Because having the heroine a) sleep with someone other than the hero and b) enjoy it is genre breaking. Plus, Maguerite’s sexual experience with Jose isn’t gratuitous. Maguerite is some nympho in name only. The barriers between her and Thorne’s expected HEA aren’t just for show.

I dn’t know if I’ve ever read a story like this before and it worked for me. Maguerite was desparate to have experiences. She loved men. In fact, it was her love of men that got her imprisoned in the convent in the first place. Her family was embarrassed and ashamed of her behavior. They beat her and then stashed her in a convent where she was beaten more. Her survival was based on her time with Thorne and her dreams of escape.

Thorne’s response to Maguerite is one of frustration and resigned acceptance. He loves Maguerite and part of what makes her amazing to him is her brazenness and lustiness. Thorne has to balance his love and lust for Maguerite with his possessiveness. Thorne is also increasingly disenchanted with the war. He’s done nothing but fight but his side hasn’t gained any ground. If anything, they were perilously close to losing the war. He isn’t sure what he is fighting for. But Thorne’s gift is to train and lead men and even though he’s battle weary, he can’t shut away those instincts.

In some ways, I found this to be a marriage in trouble story. The two had been together for a long time and while Maguerite had not gotten bored with Thorne, she was definitely curious about men other than Thorne. It takes her much of the book to come to appreciate Thorne’s worthiness as a mate for her; that mating with Thorne won’t tie her down; that whatever adventures she wants to explore, Thorne will be there to make sure they are enjoyed to the fullest.

Thorne’s response to Maguerite was always “yes, I want to do that too”. It wasn’t a resigned response nor did I feel Thorne was put upon (after all he was a grown man, several centuries old, and a leader of a powerful band of warriors. He could walk away if he wanted to) Nor did I feel like Thorne was settling for half a measure of Maguerite’s affections. Instead, I felt like Thorne was excited by Maguerite’s adventurism. His willing response was full throated.

Let’s be clear, though, this book is full of the crazy. There are weird foreseer dreams and a host of conveniences like stumbling upon a secret commune filled with warriors in training and other secret seers. There is the insane attention paid to the weeping wing locks which have to be as gross as it sounds.

He put his hand on her shoulder and folded off her robe. Her back was a mess. Her wing-locks were swollen and weep- ing. She wasn’t far away from a mount herself, but he knew of one sure way to keep the wings from releasing.He leaned over and began to suck. He started at the upper left wing-lock and gorged on the moisture that wept from the aperture.

I shuddered as I read about her non stop weeping wing locks and it wasn’t with desire. Certain writing tics have calmed down. The tendency of characters to use the dialogue tag “cry” is greatly reduced and by greatly reduced, my search function says 31 times. (This is a reduction, I swear). There is some anatomically impossible dual wing lock sucking along with some bizarre deep mind diving (done at the same time, like simultaneous orgasms).

The story has less battles but still enough scenes of the evil doers. All of them, however, are kind of surrounded by a rosy haze as if to say these creators of Death Vampires who are trying to destroy the other side aren’t so bad. That was a little too much for me to swallow at times. The backstories of Maguerite and Thorne are told in some terrible As You Know Bob fashion and there is definitely infodumping. Yet.

Yet, on many levels, this was my favorite Roane book. It took chances, particularly with the depiction of Maguerite. I felt that the mate bond was fully explored between the two. They both hated it and then came to appreciate it. Their love for each other was borne out of true emotion (okay, and lots of physical attraction) but their love was more than an instantaneous fated event. But the vaguely paternalistic tone wasn’t completely defeated. The women are primarily hearth and home folks while the men go out and fight the battles. Endelle, the most powerful woman, is subjected to some kind of horrible incidence from a man who professes to love her. Commander Greaves, the evildoer, is evil because of some poor relationship with his mother. While I acknowledge the problems, I can still appreciate that this book was different and fresh in terms of the relationship aspect. Maguerite is a fun heroine and Thorne, “I’m up for anything you desire” was sexy as all get out. B-

Best regards,

Jane

P.S. for those keeping track she smells like roses and he smells like cherry tobacco.

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Lately, I’ve been suffering from a problem that affects many paranormal romance fans: Sexy Vampire Fatigue. Yes, I’m kind of tired of sexy vampires. I miss the scary vampires. The blurb for your novella Bound for Trouble promised a sci-fi world in which vampires once brutally ruled humanity, but are now imprisoned and enslaved by humans, I wondered if, perchance, your vampires might be scary.

My hopes were rewarded. Your vampires are scary and your world-building is spare, but intriguing. I just wish the rest of Bound for Trouble had been as satisfying.

The heroine is Lucy George, a security specialist inspecting conditions in an underground vampire prison. When a prison break results in scads of the aforementioned scary vampires getting out, Lucy escapes with her life, only to be taken hostage by an escaping vampire named Gabriel.

Gabriel is, of course, not nearly as creepy or scary as those other vampires. He’s hot—so hot, in fact, that Lucy gets a little bothered by his hotness when she observes him all emaciated and starved in his cell.

The narration describes the imprisoned vampires in Gabriel’s section thusly:

Their hairless bodies were painfully gaunt, their bones pressing against a thin film of chapped and ashy skin. Fat, silver collars hung heavy around their necks. Most of their dull eyes were vacant, but a few shone with the glimmer of intelligence.

Okay. So far, no sexy. The narration goes on to describe Lucy’s reaction to Gabriel:

Though his body had atrophied from years of confinement and weak blood, Lucy could imagine how he must have appeared, judging by the lines of his musculature still visible beneath the shrunken flesh…Lucy caught herself wondering what his skin would feel like beneath her hands…She shivered and unconsciously wetted her lips as she traced the line of his torso down to his–

The thought of gaunt, emaciated prisoners arouses my pity, not my libido. Ab-tacularly hot, tattooed, unjustly incarcerated male prisoners doing one-armed pull ups in solitary? That scenario has potential, but the one quoted above just seemed wrong.

Shortly after the prison break, Gabriel holes up in a motel. Lucy tries to escape. Gabriel ties her to the bed. The next day, after Gabriel unties Lucy, and faster than you can say Stockholm Syndrome, she helps him, hops into bed with him, and allows him to bite her.

The story is also told from Gabriel’s point of view, and he turns out to be the more relatable of the two. The scenes from his point of view establish that 1) he’s a pretty decent guy; 2) most vampires are not like him.

Gabriel’s motivations and actions make sense from his POV, but Lucy’s are a mystery, even when we see the action from her perspective. Perhaps if the story had illustrated the genesis and growth of Lucy’s emotional connection with Gabriel as well as it illustrated their physical connection, I might have found Lucy a more sympathetic—or, at least, a more interesting—heroine. As it is, she seems like something of a flake, and I had a hard time caring what happened to her.

It turned out just as well that I didn’t care too much one way or the other what happened to Lucy, because the story didn’t provide much closure. The ending doesn’t clarify Lucy and Gabriel’s relationship. It doesn’t resolve the danger they’re in. It doesn’t really do anything but set them up for the next stage of the story.

Bound for Trouble reads like Part I in a novel, not Book One in a series. If the hero and heroine’s emotional relationship had been more detailed, or if the heroine’s emotional arc had been stronger, I might be interested enough to read the next book. But as it stands, scary vampires, a decent hero, and intriguing world-building are not enough to lure me into future installments in this series.

C-

~Josephine

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2. REVIEW: A Tryst with Trouble by Alyssa Everett
3. REVIEW: Bound by Blood by Evie Byrne

Being undead sucks. Literally.

Just ask C. Thomas Flood. Waking up after a fantastic night unlike anything he’s ever experienced, he discovers that his girlfriend, Jody, is a vampire. And surprise! Now he’s one, too. For some couples, the whole biting-and-blood thing would have been a deal breaker. But Tommy and Jody are in love, and they vow to work through their issues.

But word has it that the vampire who initially nibbled on Jody wasn’t supposed to be recruiting. Even worse, Tommy’s erstwhile turkey-bowling pals are out to get him, at the urging of a blue-dyed Las Vegas call girl named (duh) Blue.

And that really sucks.

Dear Mr. Moore,

I’m really glad I remembered so much about “Bloodsucking Fiends” because you just jump right into this story and woe to anyone who can’t keep up. The few hints and regroups and reminders scattered throughout the story do help but I doubt that anyone who hasn’t read book one in this series would be able to keep up with the pace.

It’s good to see Jody and C. Thomas “Tommy” Flood plus all the Animals, Cavuto and Rivera and, occasionally, Elijah again. Then there’s the all new Blue – the smurf hooker. My new favorites are Abby/Allison, who takes over as chief minion now that Tommy’s been turned, and her got-to-wait-til-almost-the-end-to-see-him-again sweet love-ninja boyfriend “Foo Dog” Steve. Steve and his awesomely cool UV light fighting gear are boss.

The action is fast and furious from the get-go and yet, to some extent, much of it seems like the same from BF. Jody is delighted with her powers, Tommy still wants to know all there is to know about vampires (or vampyres as goth-ishy Abby and her gay pal Jared spell it) only this time since he is one, he really wants to know WTF. Too bad Jody didn’t learn from Elijah all there is to being a foul undead while she could. The Animals are still stoners, playing skid the buzzard and basically useless slaves to the power of Blue’s HIV+ hoo-hah – bet they’ll be glad they were, even if so briefly, changed as well in order to kill that pesky virus. And maybe Drew’s knee is fixed too. Cavuto and Rivera still are behind the times about what’s going on but at least this go round they catch on more quickly that San Francisco is becoming vampire central. Though it looks like they’ll be stuck as coPs (as Abby says it) for a while instead of retired and playing golf.

As to the number of vampires we’re dealing with, Mah God, doesn’t that almost get out of control. And speaking of OoC, I briefly worried that this book would end somewhat as does “Dirty Job” and “BFs” in that category. Everyone’s getting changed, people are racing around trying to catch each other, kill each other and stay out of the sun before the mysterious 3 show up – those who seem to have the Ultimate Vampire power and last word. Now that I know there’s a book three to check out, I wonder if more will be learned about them and why Elijah slinks off with them when they say “Slink Off, 800 year old Dude” (to paraphrase as Abby does in her “annoying at first but later you get used to it” journal).

Don’t get me wrong, I had fun reading this book, loved to see all the former gang back, and whipped through it in 2 days yet so much of it felt like a reread of BF. Which, if I have to read a reread of a book I’ll gladly read it of this one however… I guess it goes to show how hard it is to write what people loved about the first book but more. “Yeah, I want it exactly like the first book but different.” Ah, well, I’m now looking forward to “Bite Me.”

~Jayne

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I first encountered your debut novel on NetGalley. I admit I’ve always been fond of historical YA, especially if there’s a paranormal flavor. Your book sounded like the ticket. It was a nice change of pace from the urban fantasies and dystopians overwhelming the genre right now. The unique setting was just icing on the cake.

Katerina Alexandrovna is a young aristocrat in late 19th century Russia. She’s expected to marry rich and marry well and thus, is attending finishing school. The very idea is sheer torture to her. She hates the balls, which she considers to be meat markets. In fact, she’d much rather spend her time studying medical textbooks. Katerina dreams of becoming a doctor even though the profession is considered absolutely out of the question for a woman. Especially a noble one, because what suitable husband would allow his bride to do something so pedestrian as treat the sick and poor?

But Katerina has one little secret: she can raise the dead. Some people would consider it a gift. She thinks it’s a curse and has kept her ability hidden from everyone. After all, it’s abnormal and she doesn’t want to be viewed as a monster. Unfortunately, her gift is discovered and soon Katerina finds herself embroiled in a political conflict between the supernatural forces that rule Russia.

I really enjoyed Katerina as a protagonist, but I admit I have a weakness for heroines who love science. I thought it was a good choice, however, given that this time period in Russia is one characterized by superstition and folk belief. Katerina’s mother depends on her tarot cards and routinely holds séances. In fact, it was at one of these séances that Katerina accidentally discovered that she was a necromancer. But she loves science and the advances in modern medicine. There’s already conflict between her career aspirations and her class. To toss in her ability, which drags her back into old world beliefs is great.

One thing I did have a little trouble following was how the supernatural world overlapped with the Russian court. In this world, the Light and Dark faerie courts battle it out in a political dance of power. Some families are aligned with the Light Court (like the tsar) and others are aligned with the Dark Court. Katerina is, I believe, aligned with the Dark Court due to her family’s social circles. It’d make sense considering the fact that she is a necromancer. But on top of that, there are werewolves (I thought it fairly obvious who the werewolves were) and vampires. So many different kinds of vampires, I lost track of who was important, how, and why. At times, it was a little tough to figure out which characters were allies based on their family ties and which were enemies based on their supernatural ones.

I thought the plotline involving Katerina trying to find a way out of the Montenegro family’s schemes was interesting. After all, who wants to become the sacrifice to make a new living vampire? Certainly not me. On the other hand, I thought the romantic subplot was poorly executed. It was fairly obvious who Katerina would ultimately fall in love with, given the fact that one of the potential suitors is Evil with a capital E. But even though I knew and expected it, I needed something more to go on. It seemed like Katerina went from arguing with and disliking him to realizing she was madly in love in a snap. That transition phase between the two states didn’t entirely come through, in my opinion.

While the ending was a little too heavy-handed in setting up the sequel, I really enjoyed Katerina as a heroine. I’m a big fan of characters that love their family and do everything to protect them, even if it’s a mistake by our standards. I’m interested to see how future books balance her career aspirations, burgeoning powers, and new obligations so I’m definitely on-board for the continuation. B-

My regards,

Jia

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I read book one in the series and didn’t love it so I skipped the second, but I think you may have hauled me back into the fold with this one. The two characters are at daggers drawn (to use an old fashioned phrase) because the hero is destined to be a Breed Male which means he can have no mate. The heroine has no mate either but has faked a mate sign through a tattoo of sorts with another vampire who had lost his true mate.

There is a lot going on here with mutores (shapeshifting vampires), lost mates, Breed Males, veannas, and so forth. Rant on – I think that there are a number of made up words that you use to imbue ambience but seem completely unnecessary. This isn’t a problem unique to your book but an epidemic in paranormal romances. For instance, why virgini for virgin but not principessa instead of princess. Or why use flash to describe vampires moving from one location to another instantly instead of flashini or some made up noun for any other random noun. It’s one thing to use made up terms to describe nouns/verbs that are specific to the world that you are creating. That seems like real worldbuilding. It’s another thing to use special made up terms for random nouns or verbs that you pick and choose. That seems like hokey and ineffective worldbuilding. – Rant off.

Back to the book. Bronwyn Kettler, a genetic scientist studying the Breeding Male phenomenon, accidentally fed from Lucian Roman but that one bite has bound her too him more securely than any human bonds. “In consuming his blood she had consumed his very soul and now—every day, every moment he existed, she moved inside him, her unending hunger deafening as she searched and slithered through his veins, circled his muscles, squeezed until his brain threatened to explode.” Neither of them want this which is what makes this mate book different. Bronwyn intends to proceed with the Veracou, a binding ceremony with another vampire. Lucien has only two choices, to “fuck her or kill her.” Sex with Bronwyn would turn Lucian into a “Breeding Male” which is essentially a vampire who does nothing but rut “a rutting animal with no conscience, no control, only a hunger to claim.” Killing her, well, obviously, that’s not a solution either. Regardless of the Sophie’s Choice presented, Lucian’s blood drives him to essentially stalk Bronwyn.

Brownyn feels Lucian too and has chosen to go through with the Veracou in hopes that the mating ceremony with another vampire will break the compulsion and need she has for Lucian. Yet the Veracou with her good friend, Synjon Wise, does not have the desired effect. Synjon goes into the bonding ceremony willingly because his heart died when his true mate’s life was extinguished.

The stakes are sufficiently high for me from the very opening of the book. When the book focuses on this struggle to not mate, it is at its best. The emotion rings true and is further heightened when Bronwyn and Lucian begin to have tender feelings toward each other and want to consummate their relationship but cannot because of the threat of Lucian turning into a Breeding Male. Knowing that the story ends happily diminishes some of the tension but what keeps the pages turning is guessing what will solve the Breeding Male problem. Sadly, I felt that the answer was a cop out, very Andromeda Strain, if you will.

Where the book falls off the rails is its tendency toward overdramatization, even though that is another hallmark of PNR. I do feel that there is a need to either go big or go home in paranormals, but sometimes it can be taken too far. The description of Synjon is a perfect example.

. Nicknamed the ghost, the only vampire paven to ever serve as both an elite Special Forces officer in his native Britain and as an American Navy SEAL regarded his current existence as a spy, an assassin, and a bounty hunter for the Eternal Order as bloody perfection

It is not enough for Synjon Wise (which somehow changed into Samwise in my head) to excel in country’s elite military arm, but two country’s. Why stop at two? Why not have him be part of every elite military arm? What kind of slacker is he?

Another part of the story focuses on Cruen, a mad vampire scientist who has been creating mutores. (If this reminds people of Lara Adrian’s stories, it did me as well). Cruen abduct Bronwyn in order to lure Lucian to him. The two will breed and Cruen will embark on the next step of his King of the World plan.

Despite the villain, the questionable made up word choice, and unnecessary over the top descriptions, I found the story angsty and compelling with just the right amount of humor. Lucian and Synjon’s testosterone (or testesteroni?) driven fights made me smirk. Don’t we all love a good alpha male throw down? (I always envision them wrestling in jello and accidentally touching each other, don’t you?)

“Blood!” Lucian said the word, rising from his seat and pointing at Synjon.

“What the hell are you doing?” Synjon asked. Shooting his gaze around the room, he demanded, “What the hell is he doing?”

Nicholas shrugged. “It’s not always clear.”

“You and Bronwyn have mated,” Lucian said, his tone threaded with disgust. “Have had your Veracou.”

“Yes. Do you have a point, or are you just reminding yourself that I am Bron’s mate?”

Lucian ignored the barb. “You should be able to find her, track her, know where her blood is. Isn’t that right, Alexander?”

Alexander nodded, his eyes suddenly graying over with thought. “It is.”

“There’s no need for any of this,” Lucian said, his voice rising, his fangs dropping. “Let’s go. Let’s go and get her.”

But Synjon didn’t move. “Stay where you are, Frosty. I haven’t taken her blood. She was nicked from me before we could have our consummation, both in blood and in body.”

Despite the problems, I was engaged the entire time and I certainly want to read more about poor Synjon and the mutores. The story was very sexy and that aspect of the book worked well. New readers likely could start with this entry into the series. I didn’t read book two and I barely recall book one. While “Eternal Captive” doesn’t break new ground, the emotional strength of the story elevated this above other paranormals I’ve read of late. C+

Best regards,

Jane

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Best regards.

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The Orchid Affair by Lauren Willig – Another satisfying entry in the Pink Carnation series with a strong, quiet heroine and a glasses wearing beta hero who complement each other as they slowly fall in love while trying to survive the final days of the French Revolution before Napoleon became the Emporer. The villain might be a little obsessive but then so was the one in LES MIS. Full review to be posted.

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Loving a Fairy Godmother by Danielle Monsch – the concept is interesting it’s the execution that failed for me. The hero gets turned into a Fairy Godfather, something that the heroine doesn’t like. But others aren’t happy either and the hero, with help from heroine, has to achieve a HEA or it’s ixna and death. I was enjoying the sexual tension and the sparing between them until the first Issue appeared, namely the dreaded “perhaps if I fuck him it’ll get him out of my system.” I hate it when either a hero or heroine does this. This was closely followed by another Issue which is the “we must fuck for the sake of the plot.” Hate this when it happens too. But I was prepared to continue until the third Issue arose. The HEA which the hero has to achieve involves Cinderella – yes, THAT Cinderella. After dipping into her dreams – which Fairy Godpeople do in order to see how to best go about achieving happy endings – he realizes that she knows nothing about physical relations between men and women and that is part of why she’s so wary of men. This must be fixed before she can be wooed by Prince Charming and the requisite HEA obtained. How are H&H going to go about this? Why let her watch them! Or at least that is what appeared to be in the cards. At this point, in an effort not to have this story ruined for me the way the Gingerbread Man story was for Jane, I tossed in the towel. I did not want a vision of a sexual voyeur Cinderella to need to be bleached out of my brain. Perhaps this isn’t what actually happens but I wasn’t sticking around to find out.

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If It Ain’t Love by Tamara Allen – Sunita has done an excellent round of of this free story (from Smashwords) so I’ll just say that I’m glad I finally read it and wish I hadn’t taken so long about it. Beautiful descriptions and lovely characterization together with a touching plot about peoples’ better natures in the face of the Great Depression equals a novella that I didn’t put down until I’d finished it. Reading this woman’s stories is a delicious treat.

Love and War by Patricia Hagan – this is a reissued, old skool bodice ripper (1979) from Samhain about the American Civil War, a feisty heroine, and, I think, a love triangle between a wimpy Southern gentleman and a Yankee who vows to tame the heroine. The heroine is beautiful, has breasts that can be seen from Saturn and a waist that can be spanned by either hero with one hand. She can also ride, hunt and shoot better than most men and is a dab hand at delivering a calf. She has to do this because their freed black servant announces to her “I don’t know nothin’ ’bout birthin’ no calf…” After I managed to snap my hanging jaw shut and decide whether or not I wanted to continue the book (this is from page 2, mind you), it slowly, very very slowly slid downhill. Lots of telling and little showing plus an endless replaying of the same three things for the first 107 out of the 618 pages the ebook formatted to on my reader: the heroine’s parents repeatedly bickering and sniping at each other, the heroine sneaking off with the wimpy guy though never losing her virginity as that has to come later, plus the Secesh neighbors arriving at the heroine’s poor homestead to threaten her father into joining the Cause. The story started in the late fall of 1860 and over 100 pages later the damn war had yet to even start! Considering the fact that when I peeked at the end and Sherman was now marching through North Carolina – I knew there was going to be a ton of condensing to get through 5 years of fighting. Fans of meaty historicals might want to check it out – it’s described as a saga – but I had had my fill.

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*****

Let the Right One In – Shot in a palette of blah – so the crimson blood shows up better?, there are no sparkly vampires in this one. Instead Eli the vamp is a perpetually twelve year old girl who moves into an apartment complex with an older man and who then befriends a downtrodden – also – twelve year old named Oskar who is bullied at school. When the older man – who’s been killing to supply Eli with blood – is caught, Eli has to resort to jumping her prey like a jungle cat before messily slurping their blood. The film ends with Oskar and Eli headed off – somewhere – to – I guess – live by themselves though no mention is made about how two twelve year olds are supposed to do this. Whatever romantic feeling I felt was erased by the comment made by another Netflix user who posits that Eli is merely grooming Oskar to take the place of the man who had been her blood supplier. I found the film depressing and boring.

Priceless (Hors de Prix) – A woman who makes a living sponging off of rich older men mistakes a bartender at a ritzy hotel for another mark. By the time she learns the truth, she’s lost her sugar daddy and he’s lost his job and his life savings which he quickly blows through trying to keep her happy. She then hooks up with another man while he dabbles in being a gigolo to a wealthy woman. But true love conquers all and the film ends with them admitting what we’ve known all along – namely they’re in love. In order not to mess with the HEA vibe however, it’s best not to think much beyond this stage as they’re both still penniless and jobless.

William and Mary – This is a British TV series about an undertaker who meets a midwife through a dating agency. It starts nicely then bogs down in the family issues and squabbles as middle class William and working class Mary date, fall in love and attempt to blend their families. William also deals with trying to keep the family business afloat while Mary militantly clashes with her superiors over work conditions. I made it halfway through before Mary’s self righteous selfishness, combined with the increasingly outlandish twists and turns of their families began to irritate and – because those were fairly predictable – bore me.

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1. What Jayne has been reading and watching in early October
2. What Jayne is reading/watching in early September
3. What Jayne’s Been Reading and Watching – November and most of December

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

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Ascension by Caris Roane
2. REVIEW: Burning Skies by Caris Roane
3. REVIEW: Ashes of Midnight by Lara Adrian

We had a discussion here at Dear Author about the mother of modern paranormal romances.  Christine Feehan received the most votes.

******

Samhain is celebrating with a 30% off coupon.  I highly recommend the Meg Benjamin Konisburg series.

*****

Wall Street Journal writes that discoverability is a problem for self published authors.  It’s a problem for every author, of course.  In a world of increasing content, it is harder and harder for an author to stand out, regardless of whether she is self published or traditionally published.  In 18 months, Bella Andre has made over $500,000 in self publishing whereas others have netted only $100 to $5000.  For authors like Bella Andre, Marie Force, and Barbara Freethy (who released a statement announcing her 1,000,000 ebook sale) self publishing is making writing more profitable than ever.

A few of these self published authors have had print releases recently and I’ve been watching their sales success.  Bella Andre’s print title from Grand Central published under the name Bella Riley, Home Sweet Home, didn’t hit any lists.  Barbara Freethy’s September releases did the following.

• Silent Run, self published, $4.99 – High mark on the USA Today list was 33,  No. 11, 16 on the NYTimes eBook list
• Silent Fall, self published, $4.99 – High mark on USA Today list was 91, No. 19, 27 on the NYTimes eBook list
• Garden of Secrets, published by Pocket at $7.99, did not hit USAToday list

Courtney Milan’s self published, $.99 novella, propelled her onto the NYTimes and USA Today list, but her Harlequin title, Unclaimed, price at $5.99  made neither lists.

Robyn Carr’s Harlequin titles regularly make the top of the NYT list but her self published historical Chelynne ranked lower.  Chelynne was previously published by Little Brown (now part of Hachette) in 1980.  It was #96 on the USA Today list whereas her last original MIRA release, Harvest Moon, in February 2011 was #8 on the USA Today list.

Heather Killough-Walden has a release out from NAL beginning tomorrow and priced at $7.99.  Her previous self published titles were at $.99.

I’m not sure what to make of these data points. The data points are small and there are so many variables that it’s hard to draw one conclusion; however, for Freethy and Bella Andre and Courtney Milan, it looks like self publishing is still more successful than traditional publishing but maybe not for a big author like Robyn Carr.  Price could play some part in it although Freethy and Andre price their books at a robust $4.99 (both authors, though, play around with their prices quite a bit).

*****

There is a new retailer in the digital book market called aNobii.  It’s for British readers and allows them to buy books directly from the publisher, both print and digital.

If a book catches your interest on British social reading site aNobii, you’ll now be able to buy it directly from the publisher. The site, which is backed by HMV (LSE: HMV), HarperCollins UK, Penguin UK and Random House UK, just signed deals with 10 British publishers to sell books directly through the site. Meanwhile, a similar effort in the U.S., Bookish, is bogged down and delayed its launch.

Will British readers move away from Amazon, Waterstones, Kobo, and Sony?  I can’t imagine why unless there is more and better content on aNobii.

*****

I loved this blog post by Veronica Roth about the unconvinced reader.  I subscribe to an Amazon thread called “Dear Author Don’t” where readers share their reading peeves with other readers.  The readers cite examples of everything from too many redheads to descriptive words they can’t stand.  But ultimately, I think the readers are responding to general unhappiness with the book that they read.  Truly, an author can do anything so long as she convinces the reader.

*****

Digital book ownership is a looming legal issue but Douglas County Libraries have attempted to avoid the hazards of parsing out whether a purchase is a lease or a sale by striking deals directly with publishers.

The new deals follow a similar partnership that was struck between the library and the Colorado Independent Publishers Association in March. All the deals are part of the strategy being pursued by LaRue to demonstrate that the library remains in the digital age a trustworthy steward and owner of intellectual content, and that the library can reliably guard against capricious copying.

*****

The Kobo Vox deliveries are delayed according to Nate at the Digital Reader. I never received an email cancelling my order, telling me it was delayed or that shipment has occurred.  This is kind of disturbing and I hope that Kobo works things out.  Nate also reports that BN is readying a new Nook announcement for November 7.

Related posts:

1. Monday Midday Links: Post mortems full of fail
2. Monday Midday Links: Disintermediation and the valued supply links
3. Monday Midday Links: It’s Release Time Again

I have no idea where to start with this review. My reactions to this book ranged from glee to boredom. The heroine is a personality-free wimp. The hero is an ass. The story brings nothing new to the table and reads like fanfiction. And yet every time I told myself I would not continue reading this book…I read more pages.

Bound by Night is about the romance between human Elena and vampire Drake. Elena is a young twenty-year old orphan living in Transylvania with her uncle. Her uncle wants to marry her, but Elena wants nothing to do with him. One night when her uncle pushes his attentions on her and kisses her, Elena knows she must run away. She runs to nearby Wolfram Castle. It’s rumored to be haunted. As soon as she gets into Wolfram Castle, she lays down on a couch in the foyer and goes to sleep. The owner of the castle, Drake, sees her there asleep and must have her. He grabs her and puts her to bed. In his bed. After he undresses her so she can be comfortable of course.

Drake continued up the stairs and into the lord’s chamber. After removing her T-shirt, khaki shorts, and shoes, he tucked her under the thick blankets in the big four-poster bed.

Then, because he is hungry, he feeds on her while she is unconscious. I had a very big problem with this, as this is not hero-like behavior.

The next day, Elena wakes up and finds herself unclothed in a stranger’s bed, and her reaction is not to call the police, but to wander about the castle, curious about her new surroundings and her new friend Drake. Their attraction continues to grow, and the story spirals out from there.

I have a long, long list of problems with Elena, the heroine. In short – she is clueless. Even though she lives in Transylvania, it takes her forever to actually figure out that Drake is a vampire. He doesn’t eat meals with her. He only shows up after sundown. He wears a cloak and is very pale. She sees his eyes have a red gleam every now and then. He lives alone in an ancient castle rumored to be haunted. When she cuts her finger, he sucks the blood from it. He has no mirrors in his house. She comes across a coffin in a secret room.  After all this, she still doesn’t put together that he’s a vampire until she catches him sucking blood from someone’s neck. Then, she is horrified and surprised. Meanwhile, I’m horrified that this clueless woman is our heroine.

Elena also reads like someone out of a bad fanfiction (which might not be too far off the mark, given a quick perusal of the author’s website). She is a virgin who has no friends in town. She has a molesting uncle. She’s a good girl who has never had sex, doesn’t own a phone, doesn’t go to college, and doesn’t do anything but exist to be a foil for the hero. Her reactions – and her thoughts – are so bizarrely anachronistic for a modern twenty year old that for a time, I thought I was reading a historical paranormal and a find/replace had been done to change ‘trousers’ to ‘jeans’ every now and then. Elena acts and thinks like a prudish Victorian spinster. Her thoughts on sex as a modern twenty year old is that it is something wives suffer for their husbands. This does not strike me as a twenty year old mentality.

The longer the story goes on, the more Elena remains a victim. Another vampire brutalizes her and she has to be saved from him.  She also has to be saved from her uncle. Drake is the one that saves her every time, and Drake is the one with purpose in this story. Which is a shame, because he’s an ass. Not too far into the book, they decide to marry to save Elena from her uncle. Elena doesn’t want to have sex, so Drake promises her that they won’t until she is ready. Then, a day or two later, he decides that they should have sex to ensure the marriage is not annulled by other vampires. He is certain she’ll object to this, but doesn’t care:

He considered waiting until she was asleep, then hypnotizing her so that she would give him the answer he wanted. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but if it did, so be it. He would do whatever was necessary.

The man’s an ass. He also thinks of Elena in insulting, dismissive terms.

He had thought to gentle her to his will as one might gentle a filly who had not yet learned the touch of her master’s hand.

Take note, romance heroines. If you are reluctant to have sex with an aloof, mysterious man you just discovered was a vampire, it’s not that you have common sense or are not attracted to him. It’s that you just haven’t yet learned the touch of your master’s hand and need to be gentled.

His high handed and sometimes callous treatment of Elena did not endear me to him. Nor do we get to see how he treats her wonderfully in bed, because all of the sex scenes are a paragraph long at most. Even for all of this, the first half of the book moves at a fast pace and I found myself reading to see what would bizarre thing would happen next.  The second half, however, becomes murky with vampire politics and I found myself growing bored. If the first half of the book was head-scratchingly fascinating, the second half was simply bland vampire filler and domesticity between Elena and Drake.

I have no idea what to give this book. I didn’t hate it, but I’m puzzled by it and the unlikeable characters. I think I’m going to go a little higher than a D, simply because of this line:

“This man’s kiss was nothing like her uncle’s.”

You cannot imagine the enjoyment I got out of reading that. C-

All best,

January

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | nook | Sony | Kobo

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
2. REVIEW: Night Child by Jes Battis
3. REVIEW: Let the Night Begin by Kathryn Smith

 Jaclyn says:

When I opened to page one of Isle of Night I was expecting a historical romance set in Scotland—presumably on the Isle of Night. The ARC I had didn’t have a cover image and because I have enjoyed your books in the past I did not seek information about the story before starting to read. My assumption was half right: most of the story takes place on the Isle of Night.

Isle of Night begins with seventeen-year-old Annelise leaving her abusive dad’s dingy Florida apartment to register for college. The specter of her father, who uses his fists to communicate, sows the seeds of suffocating menace that permeates the pages of this story. Unable to register for college and left with no money and nowhere to go, Annelise accepts the offer of a mysterious young man to drive her to the coast. But in turns out he didn’t mean the coast of Florida, and what follows is a coming of age story set in a school that trains girls to become agents for vampires—Watchers—who travel the world doing their masters’ work, whether it means gathering information or assassinating enemies. The experience of reading this book is visceral. As I read page after page my body was tense, my heart rate picked up as Annelise faced danger, I was scared for her and simultaneously wanted her to win and to escape, but mostly I wanted her to survive.

John says:

Unlike Jaclyn, I knew from the beginning what this story was about.  I was expecting an unusual setting for YA (Scotland – not the boarding school itself, which is a common trope in YA books) and something with a little more spice than the regular vampire novel.  The blurbs and marketing have been promising this as a combination of The Hunger Games and other big YA titles.  Many of the comparisons could have set this book to fail before it even began, but I was soon sucked into Wolff’s world the same way you were.

What makes me feel like this book works from the beginning is that it’s appealing to a lot of different fronts without feeling like a pretender.  I never once questioned WHY Wolff wrote this book – which I often due with these adult-turned-YA authors that come out with hyped books – and that in and of itself is something that I am impressed by.  She strikes a tone that feels completely natural, and she manages to make everything feel suspenseful and gripping.  Even the romance.  It’s a paranormal novel that really has a lot of grit to it.

Jaclyn says:

I agree with John about the tone and level of grit in this book. The most compelling novels create rich atmospheres that allow me to drop out of the real world and immerse myself in the events of the story. Wolff does this by appealing to all of the reader’s senses. Almost all romances offer detailed visual descriptions and appeal to a reader’s emotions, describing how things look and what the characters feel; with Isle of Night, sound, taste, and scent are deftly woven into the story, and in particular sound plays an important role in Annelise’s life and maintaining the tension throughout the story.

Annelise smuggles two things into the boarding school, a photo of her mother and her iPod, deciding that her need for the solace of music and a tangible connection to her beloved mom is greater than the potential for punishment if she is caught with the forbidden items.

During the early weeks of her training these two items become a source of life support, a moment of escape from the stress of the intense Watcher training and Annelise’s way out of the school without leaving the campus. But because they are forbidden, they also become a point of stress for the reader—will she get caught? What will happen if the items are discovered? And they are eventually discovered.

My only complaint in this whole story is the iPod: whenever Annelise listened to her iPod I found myself wondering how she managed to charge it—which drew me out of the story for a brief moment.

John says:

I think Jaclyn makes a really important comment above, so I’m going to reiterate it:

 ”Almost all romances offer detailed visual descriptions…”

The comparison is very adequate on a multitude of levels.  What is so appealing about Wolff’s style is that she has all of the description and atmosphere detailing of a romance novel—which would make sense, considering she’s penned several historical romances—while still keeping the pacing and focus of a YA work.

What Jaclyn describes about Annelise is precisely why I enjoyed her character.  I haven’t read The Hunger Games, so I can’t say how she’ll compare to Katniss fans, but I felt like Wolff knew how to make a strong female character that wasn’t perfect.  The iPod and the picture are both obvious weaknesses that get exploited throughout earlier parts of the book, and I felt Wolff really understood that her character couldn’t be this perfect person.  Annelise’s weakness is such a highlight to the story, and it’s really rewarding to see her grow into someone who can be utterly ruthless.

I think that the characterization extended well into the side characters, too.  Annelise’s love interest admittedly made me swoon.  Even her friends caught my attention.  Wolff has really thought about what her world entails, and I think it’s most obvious when you consider the side characters.  She has an island in Scotland where the elite train to be vampires—which is already a step from the YA norm—and she places all of these really interesting and diverse people on it.  There are characters from around the world in this story, and they don’t feel tacked on at all.  It gives such a good idea of just how sweeping her world is.

Jaclyn says:

John makes a good point—the secondary characters enrich this story. At the same they also play into the menace—Annelise is learning a dangerous lesson about whom she can and cannot trust. Each new person she met at the school left me wondering if they would betray her, though she manages to make some genuine friends.

In the last quarter of the story violence ratchets up as all the first year trainees, including Annelise, take part in a competition for the Directorate’s Award. The girls fight in one-on-one combat. There are a few rules to the fighting, but they are not intended to keep everyone safe and the girls are often fighting for their lives. In the last match Annelise faces off against her archenemy in an epic battle. When it’s over the true threat to Annelise is revealed.

After finishing Isle of Night I sat for a moment and realized I had read it straight through. Then I immediately headed online to find out when the next book in the series will be published. Isle of Night earns a well deserved A.

John says:

Like Jaclyn, this book completely sucked me in.  I didn’t read it in one sitting, but if I had the time I easily would have.  Minor quips like the iPod easily brushed past my reading, and I think Wolff sets herself up for what promises to be a strong YA series.  A-

Cheers,

Jaclyn & John

Goodreads | Amazon | BN | nook | Sony | Kobo

Related posts:

1. REVIEW: Devil's Own by Veronica Wolff
2. REVIEW: Veil of Night by Linda Howard
3. REVIEW: Divergent by Veronica Roth

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

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I was first introduced to your work with Four and Twenty Blackbirds, your Southern gothic debut. I remember liking it but for some reason, I never picked up another book by you again. It happens. So when I saw this book pop up on NetGalley, I glanced at your backlist and was shocked to discover how extensive it was! Time passes fast. Upon realizing that Hellbent was the second book in a series, I tracked down the first book Bloodshot (which I talked about briefly here) and liked it enough to give this one a go.

Raylene Pendle is a vampire who makes a living as the thief known as Cheshire Red. She’s lived a long time and is good at what she does — so good that many people think Cheshire Red is actually a man. After the events of Bloodshot, the normally solitary Raylene has picked up some friends: the blind vampire Ian Stott and the ex-Navy SEAL turned drag queen Adrian deJesus.

In Hellbent, Raylene is recruited to steal a very strange set of magical artifacts. Unfortunately, a brilliant but mentally unstable sorceress also wants them for her own purposes. And when she gets them first, Raylene will have to contend with the woman’s greatly amplified powers to get them back.

At the same time, Ian has a political problem on his hands. Vampires normally belong to Houses. Raylene left hers decades ago after a falling out with the head of the Chicago house. (The head wanted Raylene to die for her, and Raylene disagreed.) Ian, however, never actually left. He went into hiding after losing his sight because as one of the potential heirs, such a perceived weakness would put him at a disadvantage and make him a walking target. But now the San Francisco head has died and people are looking for Ian. And because of her feelings for him, Raylene will do anything to dissuade him from leaving, even if that means dealing with the San Francisco vampire house instead.

I’ll be the first person to say that urban fantasy is a crowded subgenre. Adult, young adult, blending with paranormal romance, traditional fantasy with urban fantasy trappings, it’s everywhere despite the fact that I think the subgenre’s heyday is behind us. But despite all that, I found Raylene’s voice very refreshing. Anyone who’s read urban fantasy is used to the tough loner heroine with attitude and a chip on her shoulder.

And while Raylene started out a loner in the previous book, Bloodshot, she’s a different take on that archetype. She’s a loner because of necessity. While she can be tough, it has more to do with living a long time on her own without a vampire house to back her up and being competent at what she does. It’s not a front. In fact, the only lies she tells involve her valuing her solitary life and disliking all these people barging in on it. That’s obviously not true since she collects people and takes them in, just like the valuables and artifacts she steals.

The biggest thing that sets her apart, however, is her personality. Raylene is neurotic and has OCD. I liked that this played on the traditional folklore about vampires where to distract them, you throw rice at them because that makes them stop and have to count each individual grain. (Like how The Count on Sesame Street teaches counting?) It makes for an interesting character because Raylene is simultaneously overprepared and reckless. She likes planning for contingencies but ends up taking risks when faced with the actual situation.

I think it’s this trait of Raylene’s that made her interactions with the sorceress Elizabeth interesting. Once she realized Elizabeth had schizophrenia, she stopped being the rival Raylene needed to eliminate. Instead she became someone Raylene wanted to help. And if there’s something Raylene suffers from, it’s this unacknowledged desire to help.

For me, though, the main flaw of Hellbent is that the plot is divided between the stolen artifact storyline and Ian’s vampire house storyline. A part of me originally thought they would converge and I read on, interested in seeing how they would. Because that didn’t happen, I was left with a scattered impression. I liked the vampire house storyline because plots involving political intrigue are a favorite of mine. But Raylene jumping back and forth between that and the stolen artifact storyline weakened it for me.

I was surprised by the conclusion to the subplot involving Adrian’s missing sister. Maybe neverending series have conditioned me to expect mysteries to be drawn out for several books. That the question was answered in this installment was refreshing. Unfortunately, it also struck me as a little too convenient.

As for the relationship between Raylene and Ian, I still have problems wrapping my mind around it. I think I just never bought it in Bloodshot, so while I can see Raylene doing all this because he’s a friend, I have a harder time thinking of them in a romantic way. I don’t know if that’s intentional but I admit I find their interactions to be emotionally unsatisfying.

Adrian, on the other hand, I can’t get enough of. I don’t care what he does. I just want more of him. I am interested in seeing how his new connection to Raylene will impact their relationship in the future.

Overall, I do think Hellbent was a worthwhile read. Maybe not so much about the events that take up the majority of the book but rather the fallout and what it means for the future. I am curious to see how Raylene proceeds from here. C+

My regards,
Jia

Previous book in this series: Bloodshot

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About 1/3 of the way through this book, I realized I’d read another in the Broken Heart series. I think it was Cross Your Heart; I remember something about a ghost and some sort of evil. That was the only book I’d ever picked up in the series, and it was amusing but didn’t push me to jump on another series wagon. I have to admit, I pulled Must Love Lycans off the TBR stack because I liked the fact that Damian (the hero) shows up naked. Yeah, I needed a thrill while on our family vacation since the door to our bedroom never closed.

Dr. Kelsey Morningstone is a psychotherapist who is lucky to have a job. After allowing a psychotic killer to manipulate her, Kelsey was sued by every relative of the killers victims, lost everything including the shirt off her back and was repeatedly interviewed by the FBI. Adding insult to injury, Kelsey’s mother, a famous psychotherapist (think appearances on Oprah), has cut off all communication. But Kelsey manages to land a job that pays off all her debts and takes care of all her associated problems at the Dante Clinic, a privately funded psychiatric hospital that seems a lot more like Promises in Malibu than Pilgrim State Hospital. It’s weird enough that I wouldn’t take that job, but Kelsey is an empath, hides her abilities, and knows her options are limited to the Dante Clinic or nothing.

Damien is a new patient that is brought into the clinic. Suffering from amnesia, Damien doesn’t know who he is, where he’s been or what’s happened to him. But the minute he senses Kelsey, it all starts coming together for him. Kelsey’s first encounter with Damien is her observation of him after he’s been brought to the clinic. He’s naked, has a giant wang, and hair that the Herbal Essences chick would kill for. So she falls for him immediately. You may be wondering why I’m not writing much more about Damien here. Since the book is written in first person from Kelsey’s POV, I had a hard time getting much of what Damien was thinking or feeling beyond what Kelsey thinks about. As the story progresses, Damien bites her and wants to mate her but fights it because his bite could end up killing her. Surprisingly, the sex was well written for first person, but it could have been in a vacuum because I felt so little connection to Damien.

Kelsey, on the other hand, has an amazing backstory and crazy parental and barely-explored sibling relationships. But obscuring a lot of this (and confusing me) is the fight between the parakind (author’s word) and ETAC (the Ethics and Technology Assessment Commission, tasked with destroying anything alien) which is the thread that helps link all of the Broken Heart novels together. I found following the Para/ETAC stuff and reading all of the Glossary’s (there are three of them) mentally exhausting. Damien has two brothers that are sequel bait, and there is a giant cast of characters that were all in the previous Broken Heart novels. I was able to glean enough from the text to not have to go through all of the Glossary entries with a fine tooth comb, but I’m sure I ended up missing a lot of the humor and how and why all of these people are connected to each other. With all of that, I still managed to read the book in a day and a half, while playing with five kids, four in-laws, swimming, biking, running, hitting the beach and getting hit by a hurricane (Irene). Because I had to repeatedly pause for clarification and couldn’t get more from Damien, this one gets a C.

~ Shuzluva

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This is the second to last book in the Guardian series. The hero is a human named Nicholas St. Croix who first appeared in Demon Blood as a demon hunter. Nicholas searches for the demon who impersonated his mother and drove his father to suicide. He believes that Ash, a halfling demon, can lead him to this villain. Ash has taken on the appearance of someone that Nicholas once knew and who he believed had been killed by his demon target. Ash, however, can’t remember anything of her time before the Nightingale House, a psychiatric hospital.

She doesn’t know if she was once this Rachel person that Nicholas claims to have cared about. She doesn’t know exactly what she is. She only knows that she scared the beejeesus out of the staff at the Nightingale House because she could clothe herself from thin air, scent the feelings of others, jump from high altitudes and sometimes she even turned red. The what question is part of the mystery that drives the plot and for a Guardian book, I found this plot to be fairly straightforward. Can Nicholas overcome his hatred of everything demonic to accept his growing feelings for Ash? Will Ash regain her memory? Is she Rachel reborn?

For the overarching series plot, Caelum is literally falling apart. The buildings are crumbling and the place is abandoned. Most of the guardians have ascended. Michael is gone and Taylor is supposed to be gathering new guardians as replacements but no human has offered up the requisite sacrifice in the last year.

The reveal of Ash’s identity is actually told early on in the story but in such a subtle way that I totally missed it on the first reading.  Upon review, I felt foolish for having overlooked it but no part of the text is included just for fun. Instead, the clues about Ash and how she relates to the overall series arc are there to be found.  It is part of what makes the series engaging and worth re-reading.  But the inclusion of a big series plot with a complicated story arc can also lend itself to confusing a reader, particularly a reader who jumps in at the middle of the series. I don’t know that a reader can jump into this series although you have provided a great number of guides on your site for new readers.

I thought this was a good addition to the series because I was completely engaged when going in I thought I might skip to the Taylor/Michael bits. Nicholas was the billionaire asshole bent on revenge but for a good reason but his anger couldn’t stand up to Ash’s refusal to be upset or hurt by his attacks.  Ash’s inability to be a good demon provides for several moments of comic relief:

“I’d rather be a clever demon. Perhaps that’s why it is taking me so long to come up with a plot against you. My standards are too high.”

Nicholas bit back his laugh. Damn it. How did she turn his anger and suspicion around so easily? In all probability, she was plotting to destroy him. He ought to be preparing for it, not finding humor in it.
“Have you been trying to think up many plots?”

“Not really.” She gave him a sideways glance. “It ought to be simpler now, knowing that I should think of something cliché. And you never answered me: Are demons all so obvious?”

At first glance, it seems that Nicholas has the bigger story arc. He goes from demon hunting man to caring so deeply about Ash that his decision is placing him at odds with the Guardians. Yet Ash is the one who had no memory, who is recreating her life as the book unfolds.

It was pointed out early in the story that Nicholas’ feelings for Rachel were that of guilt rather than lost love and there were efforts to show why Ash was connecting to Nicholas where Rachel could not. With Rachel, Nicholas would have always felt guilty. She wouldn’t have understood his quest against demons or his role in the larger world. Ash was part of that larger world. Nicholas didn’t have to care for Ash as he would have had to care and watch out for Rachel’s safety. Ash was self sufficient, both emotionally and physically, than Rachel.

In Demon Forged,

[[Visit blog to check out this spoiler]]

While I am anxious for Michael’s book, I didn’t find Demon Marked to be a half hearted effort to keep me entertained while I waited for the climax to the series. Instead, Nicholas St. Croix’s quest for vengeance is paired with a tender and engaging love story with Ash. I read this about the same time as Nalini Singh’s Archangel Blade and I found this one to be actually lighter in tone because of the humor.  B

Best regards,

Jane

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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

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Dear Ms. Miller,

I decided to pick up your book because it sounded cool and slightly different from other things in the Vampire/Shifter paranormal genre and I’m a sucker for cool and different. Slade is a Therian (shapeshifter) assassin that is sent to infiltrate a local Vampire group. His mentor, Dylan, is gorgeous and he knows he should hate her on sight, but he just can’t. Dylan mentors new vampires and teaches them the rules of the vampire world. But that’s only one of her many jobs. Dylan runs ReVamp, a blood center and sort of Vampire “Promises” treatment center aimed at getting vampires to give up biting humans. But Dylan’s been accused of poisoning the vampire’s blood supply. I like a star-crossed love story, especially one of paranormal ilk. Unfortunately, this didn’t pan out the way I’d hoped when I read the blurb.

Intervamption takes place in Crimson Bay, a fictitious part of San Francisco, and sets the stage for what seems to be the beginnings of a war between the Vampires and the Therians. The two species have hated each other for years, and Therians are tasked with keeping Vampires from getting out of line (read: no feeding on humans or the Therians will kill you). How did this come about? Beats me. Are the Therians actually stronger than the Vampires? Couldn’t tell ya that either. Also, for some reason, the Vampire population seemed less concerned about the Therian threat than vice-versa. Why? Again, no idea here. Humans (referred to as “mundanes” in the book) are generally clueless about both of these otherworldly species and the Therians and Vamps plan to keep it that way.

I felt like a mundane too…with every chapter there was some new, nonsensical rule or idea imparted in a very non-organic manner. I am making a major effort not to give anything away for anyone that want to give this a try, but this is a huge issue that didn’t make sense at all, unless the reader is willing to make some crazy assumptions. Slade has been told by Moses, his Sheik (or Therian leader, for those of you that hate to read definitions as much as I do), that he will shift into a Vampire and infiltrate the local khiss. And then there’s this:

Vampires had incompatible genes, different from any other living organism, which made shifting into them nearly impossible. Those who could fight through the delirium barely made it a few minutes in leech skin. It was a pain in the ass. Slow-motion shifting, wicked bouts of nausea, and sub-par strength made them easy prey for a leech who got wind of such a deception. Not to mention shifting into those parasites never lasted long. Therians who tried it in the past had shifted back to their original form without so much as a gut-clench warning.

Well. If that isn’t a recepie for disaster…but hey. It’s a paranormal. Worldbuilding rules were made to be broken, right? Er…not. Does any of this weakness/sudden shifting/only a few minutes as a vampire happen to Slade? Absolutely not. Oh, and Slade doesn’t know who his target is when he goes in. Somehow, they’re going to set up a newbie vampire with the high ranking officials and he’ll have all sorts of power. Now, trust me, this isn’t a spoiler: Slade isn’t given a high ranking. In fact, the only reason he has any interaction with the “high ranking” set is because Dylan keeps him around ’cause he’s hot. But does Slade find any of this odd? Nope…he goes on his merry way trailing after Dylan and occasionally pounding his chest if another guy gets too close to her.

Dylan is totally mission-focused. She needs to find out why the vampires are weakening and must find a way to strengthen their blood supply. Her gorgeous blond buddy Ruan sorta tries to help her but not really…hell, I couldn’t figure out what he was doing. But Dylan somehow gets sidetracked without anyone’s help because of all of the other crap she’s made herself responsible for. She’s going in so many different directions that I was getting dizzy. But with all of her running around, this is all I got about new vampires: They didn’t know any better. Ok…but how does one become a “new” vampire? Yeah, I know, at least one of your parents has vampire blood. But then what? How does one make the transition? Do they even call it that? What happens? I get that you’re hungry for blood and starved for sex after (hell, that’s a given regardless of the book!) but getting to that point is a giant blank. Now, is that something I need to know? No. But there are holes like this one all over the book. This happened it the beginning, so I’m running with it.

You’re probably wondering why I haven’t talked about Dylan or Slade much. Well, let me put it this way: tropetastic. It was hard for me to get into the characters when so much was going on that I didn’t understand. I was busy trying to fill in the gaps, and the personalities seemed to be overshadowed by a bunch of tropes. Dylan has a goal. The goal must be met. Slade has a goal. Same goes. Dylan is promised to someone in an arranged marriage she can’t get out of. But hey, the way the vampire marriage works, if the guy isn’t really meant for the girl, she dies. But Slade *knows* Dylan is his! Can you say fated mate? And his blood pressure goes up every time another male is in the same vicinity as her. Rar, Alpha Male. Slade knows it would never work with him and Dylan because of the whole therians want to kill vampires thing. Star-crossed lovers! Oh, and Ruan is in love with Dylan too. Ooh, love triangle! There’s the double cross, the fucked up family, the other fated mate, the hidden secret, a serious deus ex machina…I could keep going but I’ll stop here.

And the worst part? The vampires and therians were as clueless about each other as I was about them. How does that happen? You really have no idea that your enemy is so well organized and has a functioning society after hundreds of years of fighting each other? Are you kidding? I got tired trying to make sense of everything that was happening here. D.

~ Shuzluva

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I’m back. Remember me? I read Vampire Instinct a few weeks ago and while it was a nice read, it was just that. Nice. I like you when you’re crisp and edgy and take me to dark, weird places. So I picked up Vampire Mistress and Vampire Trinity and decided to give them a go. They both came out last year, but as soon as I found out that Vampire Mistress was the first of a two parter, I waited for the second one to come out. Reading Vampire Instinct reminded me to pick up the books, and I’m glad I did.

These books read like one big story in two smaller volumes, with one notable exception (which I will go into later).  I’m glad that I waited to read the second half because I was concerned that the stories would not stand alone, and I feel somewhat justified in that perception. I don’t think you should read one book without reading the other, or the experience will feel unsatisfying. Moreover, I was worried that you’d taken one novel and shoved it into two books, but this was not the case.  I did not feel like this suffered from story-bloat. Many times authors will try to draw out a shorter story with extended sex scenes or big misunderstandings to fill page count (or so it feels like from the reading perspective) but I am pleased that this was not so.

As a quick recap to Vampire Mistress, the story starts out with Gideon seeking peace of some kind. He approaches a Mistress in a BDSM club and finds Anwyn, who takes a liking to him and begins to show him how he has a submissive and protective streak under that angry, furious exterior. Anwyn has a vampire lover, Daegan Rei, but she will not be his servant, and he will not take anyone to his side but Anwyn. This little mess of a relationship gets worse when Anwyn is raped and brutalized in an alley by other vampires seeking vengeance on Daegan. To anchor herself, she must take Gideon as her human servant. Vampire Trinity spreads the story out to encompass the struggle that Anwyn has to fit in with the vampire community, Daegan learns who has betrayed him, and Gideon learns that he desires not just Anwyn but Daegan, too. The relationship focus is pretty focused on Gideon/Anwyn in the first book and then spreads to involve Daegan quite a bit more in the second.

I approached these books thinking they would be primarily focused on Anwyn, a newly-made vampire (and the titular vampire mistress). To my surprise – and delight – I felt as if Gideon Green was the focus of not one, but both books, and it is his journey that these stories encompass. If you read the first Vampire Queen books, you will recognize Gideon as the very emotionally damaged brother to Jacob, the Queen’s mate/servant. Gideon is a vampire hunter who lives to destroy those that go bump in the night. He is a man destroyed on the inside and lives nothing for vengeance. Yet it is Gideon that must be Anwyn’s anchor when she is turned against her will and made into a vampire that suffers from seizures and schizophrenic voices. It is Gideon that struggles with a strange attraction and partnership with Daegan, the loner vampire assassin. It is Gideon that must be the cement that keeps their fragile trinity together, and he must strip away his mental barriers to do so.

This is not a love triangle in the traditional sense – the men are not fighting over the woman. Rather, they all bring something different to the relationship, and it cannot function without all three parts. Daegan has never taken a servant before, and is fascinated by Gideon’s servitude to Anwyn, the woman Daegan loves. Gideon struggles with his devotion for Anwyn, a vampire, and Daegan, a man, and wants to serve them both. Anwyn must dominate Gideon as a vampire to make him truly happy, and at the same time, craves the fact that she cannot dominate Daegan. I don’t explain it as well as it’s done in the books, but you do truly feel as if all three parts make up the whole, rather than this being a pairing with a convenient third wheel.

I also need to give props to the relationship between Daegan and Gideon. I initially felt this would be an afterthought just to fill in the triangle, but the vibes between the two of them lit up the page. If Gideon’s servitude to Anwyn started out as a ‘marriage of convenience’, Gideon’s sexual relationship with Daegan is an ‘enemies to lovers’ trope. Gideon hates what Daegan is, even as he grudgingly respects and admires him. Gideon hates and is confused that he is so attracted to a man. Daegan is less hung up on the manlove aspect than Gideon is and is the more aggressive partner in the pursuit. Their banter is funny, playful, and totally sexy, and I found myself far more interested in when Daegan kissed Gideon than when either man kissed Anwyn.

The entire story is not all happiness and kittens and manlove, though. I had a few issues with the story. This is the third one in a row that I’ve read from you that features a heroine brutalized and raped, and how that brutalization is the catalyst for the next stage of her life. While your books are about dubious consent and submitting all to your partner, I’m not sure I’m keen on this trend, if it is one. In addition, I felt that parts of book one went on a bit too long with Anwyn’s torture and struggle to become a vampire. These books are about dark, sexy needs and hungers, and this was more like the vampire version of the Exorcist. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but that wasn’t it.

I’d give book one – Vampire Mistress – a B-.  It was intriguing and the storyline interesting, but I felt Anwyn’s struggles with her vampiredom felt a bit too much for too long, and Daegan was more of a minor player in this book.  However, it picked up speed nicely at the end and I was eager to read the next.

Book two, Vampire Trinity, felt like an extension of the first book – so much that when you began recapping the last story at the beginning, it felt almost painful to me. It would have been helpful if I’d had the six month wait between books, but since I did not, I was impatient to continue forward. Not your fault, but it did pall my enjoyment a little. But after the slow start, we delve back into Anwyn, Gideon, and Daegan’s world quickly enough, and watch their relationship escalate, and I thought this book was like a well-orchestrated song from a favorite band. The sex was incredibly sexy, the tension between Gideon and Daegan smoldering, and Anwyn was strong and came into her own as a vampire without being declawed by the two strong men at her sides. I liked this book quite a bit and wouldn’t mind if you revisited their relationship once more in future books. B+

PS — For those of you looking to pick up these books, I just wanted to point out that the trade paperback versions of both are highly discounted at Amazon right now. I purchased both for the Kindle, and after sales tax, spent double what I would have for the paper. Fair warning.

Book Link | Kindle | Amazon | nook | BN |  Sony| KoboBooks  (Vampire Trinity)

Book Link | Kindle | Amazon | nook | BN |  Sony| KoboBooks  (Vampire Mistress)

Book review, romance book review, romance novel review, reviews about romance books, Jane Litte, Dear Author, vampire romance, erotic romance

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2. REVIEW: Mark of the Vampire Queen by Joey Hill
3. REVIEW: Beloved Vampire by Joey Hill

When I want something darkly paranormal, erotic, and edgy, you are my go-to author.  I’ve been listless about paranormals lately, and when I realized you were coming out with a new vampire book, I immediately wanted to read it. If anyone can get me back on the paranormal wagon, it’s you. And while this book was just as well-written and compelling as anything else I’ve read by you, I had some problems with it.

I’m not one of those reviewers that gives a really long recap of the plot line, so here’s my attempt at a cohesive summary. In A Vampire’s Claim, we met Lady Danny and Dev. Danny had a servant – a cute, roly-poly little serving girl who was brutally raped by a vampire fledgling and left for dead. This serving girl also had to watch helplessly as the man she loved was murdered in front of her by the same vampire fledgling.

Vampire Instinct starts out about a month or so after that book ended. Elisa, the cute serving girl, is in traumatic shock from the attack, and Lady Danny doesn’t know what to do with her to snap her out of it. Compounding the problem is that Elisa is attached to the remaining vampire fledglings that were captured. She feels they are children that need reforming, not animals to be put down, as most vampires think of them. Lady Danny reaches out to Malachi, a Native American vampire that runs a big cat rescue preserve on a remote island, and asks him to help both Elisa and the fledgling vampires, as he’s good with rehabilitating wild/abused animals.

It’s been a few years since I read A Vampire’s Claim, and I have to admit, for the first 50 pages of Instinct, I was totally clueless as to what was going on. As an author, I think you have a weakness when it comes to the beginning of the book and pulling the reader into your story. With the exception of Beloved Vampire (which I loved), I find all of your books a little tricky to get into. I know once I get past that initial hump, I’m going to enjoy myself. It’s just getting past it.

The hero in this book is Malachi. He doesn’t act like the regular vampires in your series. He’s a made vampire, so isn’t at home with the aristocracy. He’s very in touch with the wild animals in his home and prefers to hide out on his island, away from the world. He thinks the fledglings need to be put down, but he knows that if he destroys them, it will in turn destroy Elisa, and he doesn’t want that to happen.

As you can guess, Elisa and Malachi are attracted to each other. Part of Mal’s job is to bring Elisa back from the brink after she’d been raped, and so he’s trying to make her feel things again. As heroes go, he’s perfectly fine – alpha when he needs to be, patient with the heroine’s occasional shenanigans, and in control of all he surveys. I didn’t feel a real connection to him throughout most of the story, however, so I never felt that it was his story.

The story itself is Elisa’s – her learning to live again, love again, and then be a dutiful vampire servant and all it entails. Honestly, she is my main problem with the entire book.  I am not a fan of wallowing books. Elisa? She wallows. First she’s wallowing in the aftermath of her rape, which I understand. But then she’s wallowing in pain, thinking her ‘children’ (the vampire fledglings) will be destroyed. Then she’s wallowing because she’s not sure Mal loves her. Then she’s wallowing over yet another plot point, and another. And through the whole book, while falling for Mal, she wallows in pain over the man that she loved that murdered, and she thinks of him every time the hero touches her. This annoyed me, a lot. I want the heroine to be in love with the hero, not constantly thinking about another man that was taken from her. About halfway through, I started to get annoyed. I looked down at the percent-read on my kindle and was actually dismayed to find out that I was only 50% through. Surely Elisa wouldn’t wallow for another 200 pages? I didn’t have the intestinal fortitude for that.

Luckily for me (and poor suffering Mal), the second half of the book picks up quite a bit, after Elisa becomes Mal’s full fledged servant in all ways. The sex picks up, the vampire politics picks up, and the story becomes about a lot more than just Poor Elisa. One of the things I like best about your vampire books are that the vampires are truly scary at times. They are not just your average gangsta thug hero with fangs who is a teddy bear when the heroine flashes him a little pink. They are cold, merciless creatures that live in a political and social world that is cruel. The servants that obey them exist only to please them, and nothing is off the table. There’s something a little alarming as well as fascinating in that aspect. For me, the first half of the book didn’t play up to the strengths of the series like the other books do. Mal fights hard not to be like those other vampires. When they are finally pulled into the vampire world in the second half of the book, my interest perked quite a bit.

There were still a few sour notes, though. I didn’t feel like Elisa was at home with Malachi in the vampire world, and that was jarring to read. When he instructs her to do things that other servants do, she agrees but is utterly sick at the thought. How are they going to be a couple if she cannot function in the vampire world? Granted, he asks her to do some pretty intense things (which I won’t spoil, but if you have read the other books in the series, you know what I am talking about) and then afterward she is sick. It made me troubled for their HEA for a while, though I think eventually those fears are mostly soothed away. Mostly.

As always, the sex is hot, the characters are raw and the world is fascinating. However, I don’t feel that this is your best book or showcases your talent or imagination as well as it should. I couldn’t put it down when I was reading it, but now that I am done with it, I’m glad I don’t have to spend more time with Elisa, the heroine. I think I missed the books you put out last year (a two-parter, and I avoided them specifically because of that) but reading this makes me want to go back and see if those are closer to the dark, erotic stories that I was hoping for.  This one is close, but not quite what I wanted.

C+

~ January

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I must admit to a bittersweet experience reading Dead Reckoning, in part because I know there are only two more books to come in a series that has given me such reading pleasure for almost ten years now (I came to the series a couple of books in). Sookie is one of my favorite fictional characters – her blend of ordinary and exceptional, vulnerable and tenacious, pragmatic and idealistic has made her more realistic and sympathetic to me than many other series heroines. Also? The last few books in the series have been, in my opinion, a tour de force of plotting, thematic development, and emotional complexity. Which may be why Dead Reckoning seemed almost anti-climactic to me, despite the immense crisis that occupies the book. In fact, I had to read the book twice and both times my almost sedate experience of the book belied its frantic aura of instability and danger.

WARNING: SERIES SPOILERS AHEAD

Dead Reckoning begins with Sookie deciding to clean out her attic, an act which sets a tone for the book and, it seems, the series at this point – a clearing of the decks, so to speak. The last time Sookie had been in the attic was right after her grandmother was murdered, and she now decides it is time to face the past and make something new of it. Again, a theme for the book.

As readers know by now, any attempt Sookie makes at constructing a life of normalcy does not last long, and Dead Reckoning presents no exception. A firebombing later that night at Merlotte’s almost destroys the bar and kills everyone inside, including Sookie and Sam. Who could be gunning for Sam? There is already a new bar off the highway that is siphoning business from Merlotte’s, although Sam hardly seems like the kind of guy to really piss anyone off. To make matters worse, Eric has been incredibly stressed and brooding, while he and Pam are in some kind of tense standoff, but Sookie does not know why. She suspects, though, that it has something to do with her, because Pam keeps making loaded statements about Eric and Sookie’s marriage and Eric makes over-reacting gestures to keep her quiet. Pam, in the meantime, is miserable because Victor, Louisiana’s new regent and uber-adversary of Eric, will not give Pam permission to turn her leukemia-struck lover before she dies. And speaking of Victor, guess who owns the bar taking business away from Merlotte’s – as well as a vampire bar not too far from Eric’s own Fangtasia? Victor, it seems, is all sorts of trouble. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, Sandra Pelt is out of jail and is, from all reports, crazier and angrier at Sookie than ever before.

Reading Dead Reckoning is like watching a chess match, a two-layered chess match. The first layer concerns Sookie, Pam, and Eric, all of whom have been made abjectly miserable by Victor, who is becoming more and more aggressive in his attempts to provoke Eric into an injudicious attack (giving Victor an excuse to kill him). Sookie is also feeling hunted – literally – by Sandra Pelt, who simply wants Sookie dead, as soon and as violently as possible. Sandra, however, is something of a nuisance when compared to the danger Victor presents, and it is clear very early on in the book that all the strategizing between Victor and Eric is ultimately going to leave only one of them alive. Should either strike out unprovoked, however, that vampire would answer to King Filipe, with no guarantee of justice or mercy.

There is a great deal I cannot say about the plot of Dead Reckoning, because to do so would spoil the series of revelations and surprising outcomes the book has to offer. And they are numerous. Because in the same way that various characters are plotting against each other in the novel, so can you sense the book’s authorial hand moving characters around, positioning everyone in a certain way, revising past history and revealing past “secrets” in a way that feels very much like the moment before a very decisively executed climax.

WARNING: SOME BOOK SPOILERS AHEAD

For example, a secret regarding a long association between Eric and Sookie’s fairy grandfather Niall is revealed by Terry Bellefleur after the firebombing, and while I have not gone back to previous books to check, it does not seem to jibe at all with the existing series timeline. However, the information makes it seem as if Sookie was involved in fae politics much earlier than she was even aware of her own fairy streak. This is important because one of the subplots in Dead Reckoning involves the fate of all the fae trapped on the human side of the portal Niall closed at the end of the Fairy War. The fight between Pam and Eric involves the political machinations of Eric’s maker, Appius Livius Ocella, who re-appeared in Dead in The Family. The demon lawyer, Mr. Cataliades, is revealed to have a special relationship with Sookie that was never revealed when they met during the settlement of Hadley’s estate, five or so books ago. This relationship is revealed through a secret letter from her grandmother Sookie uncovers during the attic clean-out, a letter that attempts to smooth out the rough edges around the revelation that Sookie’s God-fearing, straight-laced grandmother was the lover of Sookie’s fae grandfather, Fintan.

There is also a lot of movement in the ranks of current, past, and potential mates for Sookie. Eric has a secret that threatens his future with Sookie. Bill declares his undying love for Sookie again in this book, with the added bonus of actually being there to help her during at least one crucial incident. Sam is dating Jannalynn, Alcide Herveaux’s pack enforcer, and while he seems happy, neither Sookie nor Jannalynn have many good feelings for each other. One thing Sookie and Sam have in common is that they each believe the other deserves a better mate. And both are probably correct. Amelia and the now-human Bob also show up in the book, and among other things, Amelia has found a way to break the blood bond Eric effected on Sookie without her consent. Amelia is also involved in an incident that results in a decisive moment in any potential future Alcide and Sookie might share.

All this maneuvering is somewhat ironic, since one of the novel’s main themes is the question of how much Sookie is acting upon the world around her and how much she is being acted upon. Eric, Amelia, Niall, Bill, and even Claude and Dermot have all acted upon Sookie over the years in ways that have had drastic consequences on her life, from Bill’s orders to settle in Bon Temps and acquaint himself with the telepath to Eric’s arrangement of the vampire marriage that now both protects and vexes Sookie. On the one hand, Sookie knows that she cannot shirk responsibility for her actions, and that those actions mean, “My determination to survive, and to ensure the survival of those I loved, was stronger than the religion I’d always held so dear.” But there also seems to be a kind of fatalism closing in around Sookie, a sense that the very nature of her being has brought her to this place. And yet, free will is still a central theme in the series:

When I went in the kitchen with a tray full of dirty dishes, I thought, This is happiness. Last night wasn’t the real me.

But it had been. I knew—even as I thought this—that I wasn’t going to be able to fool myself. I’d changed in order to survive, and I was paying the price of survival. I had to be willing to change myself forever, or everything I’d made myself do was for nothing.

Change is another heavily handled theme in the novel. Sam and Sookie have a very pointed conversation about whether people can change who they really are, and both agree that one may be able to change habits, but character was character. Which raises the question of what kind of character Sookie is. One answer in the book comes from Mr. Cataliades, who insists that humans like Sookie “who are born with the essential spark are born to experience or perform something wonderful, something amazing.” And yet when Sookie reflects on her feelings for Jannalynn, she must confront the irony of her own judgment:

…It was my personal opinion that Jannalynn was not good enough for Sam.

Of course, I kept that to myself. Glass houses, stones; right? I was dating a vampire whose kill list would top Jannalynn’s for sure, since Eric was over a thousand years old. In one of those awful moments you have at random, I realized that everyone I’d ever dated—though granted, that was a short list—was a killer.

And so was I.

Sookie clearly does not share the alternative morality of the supes, despite her own fairy blood and her recent life experiences. In fact, all of the true villains in the series have been deliberate predators, suggesting a differentiation within both human and supe categories. Victor, for example, is a “corrupt vampire” not only in his ruthless and violent ambition for power, but in the way he treats humans as vessels for food and orgiastic sex. However, the relationship between good and evil is no longer so black and white as Sookie once imagined, and her desire to be a “good person” has become complicated, not only by the things the world has visited on her, but by the autonomous choices she has made. The sum of these actions weighs heavily on how Sookie defines herself and with whom she will ultimately choose to identify. Communities can be welcoming and supportive or divisive and exclusionary, often at the same time. And yet being alone never seems like a wise or happy option. This philosophical pondering of the series has always been one of its strengths, in my opinion, and has, over the course of eleven novels, become wonderfully nuanced.

Clearly, Sookie is at a crossroads, as her change comment above indicates. And clearly that change is going to coincide with the end of the series. Although I have never been particularly invested in Sookie being in a relationship with The One, there has always been a bittersweet quality to Sookie’s relationships that is distilled in one exchange she has with Bill:

“I love you,” Bill said helplessly, as if he wished those magic words would heal me. But he knew they wouldn’t.

“That’s what you all keep saying,” I answered. “But it doesn’t seem to get me any happier.”

It now seems unlikely that in the next two books Sookie will find lasting happiness, especially given Sookie’s own grappling with who she is, where she belongs, and with whom she belongs. One of my favorite things about this series, though, has been watching Sookie grow stronger and more confident in herself – to see her take that unfailing pragmatism and use it to find her own strengths. She is the mastermind of something in Dead Reckoning that should reveal to her the depth of her intelligence and will to live. Where that will take her I’m not certain, nor am I completely comfortable contemplating the end of the series in a mere two books. However, I think Dead Reckoning is really the first book in the series where I felt that the thematic concerns of the book – as strong and compelling as they are — overrode its plotting and characterization, and where I felt so keenly the manipulations of the authorial hand, especially when those manipulations seem to conflict with earlier books.

I read every installment in this series, including Dead Reckoning, with engaged appreciation for the ongoing saga of Sookie’s life, but I wish the behind the scenes machinations were less visible in the book. B-/C+

~ Janet

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Having been a long time reader of series, I’ve come to expect that a series will generally start losing direction or steam or focus around the 5th book or so.  Fortunately, this series has not sagged at all and I think it has to do with not only the tight writing, but the tight focused plotting.  While each book contains a battle, it is all working toward a greater end that was visible from almost the beginning: Kate’s showdown with her father.

I know readers often ask whether you have to read the previous books in the series in order to understand the current release and I think for the Kate Daniels series you kind of do, at least to get a full appreciation for the subtle changes that are occurring to Kate who begins the series arc as a complete loner who just lost her mentor to becoming part of the Pack.  Kate in the beginning of the series is a different person than Kate five books later and that makes sense because so much change has happened in her life.  The change, though, might go unnoticed if each book is read in isolation.

From Jia’s review of Magic Burns:

For those readers new to the series, the Kate Daniels books take place in a futuristic Atlanta suffering from an advanced state of urban decay. In this world, magic batters the earth in waves, eating technology. When tech is up, spells fail and magical constructs lose their power. When magic is up, cars cease functioning and planes fall from the sky. But every seven years the waves increase in intensity until they culminate in a magical tsunami called a flare. During flares, magic is so powerful that even gods can walk the earth.

For those unfamiliar with the series (and this paragraph will contain spoilers for the past books), Kate Daniels used to be a mercenary, hiring out her sword for a fee.  She then became part of the Guild, a group that polices magical beings.  After a falling out with the Guild, Kate starts her own protection agency.  Magic Slays opens with Kate having no clients and nearing financial ruin because the Guild is bad mouthing her and others don’t want to enrage the Beast Lord of Atlanta aka her mate, Curran.   And that is just her business life.

Her personal life involves constantly maintaining boundaries with Curran who would like to order Kate around, trying to decide what is best for her foster daughter who has run away from another boarding school, and being a good friend to Andrea who is recovering from a recent trauma.

One complaint I’ve read about this book is the huge cast of characters.  It is true that there are a number of people being tracked in this story and that is one reason that it has helped to have read the previous books.  New readers to the series might be easily confused.

This series is sort of a cop/detective mystery series wrapped up in an urban fantasy setting.  Kate is a kind of paranormal dectective, a powerful one.   What moves Magic Slays forward is twofold.  First, the mysterious object that is causing mysterious deaths to shapeshifters and vampires.  Second, the overaching series mystery of Kate’s origins and her destiny.  Magic Slays is also the most romantic book of the series because a great part of the story arc in the book involves Kate and Curran negotiating the terms of their relationship.  We are in the “happy ever after” part of romances where two people in love try to find out how to live with each, how to tolerate each other’s quirks after the emotional high wears off.

I’m not going to say that Magic Slays brings much of anything different to the table than previous books.  The mystery and how it is resolved is mechanically similar.  The relationship, as I mentioned previously, plays a bigger role than it has in the past.  The thing is that all of the previous books in the Magic series are excellent and thus saying that the recent installment isn’t different is a complement.  It’s another well constructed entry into an excellent series that featured some real character growth.   B+

Best regards,

Jane

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