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Bayou Moon (Edge, Bk 2)
Bayou Moon (Edge, Bk 2)
Author: Ilona Andrews
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 152
Review Date: 10/13/2010
Helpful Score: 8


OMG - Fantastic book!!!

I am such a fan of the husband and wife writing team who make up Ilona Andrews. Their Kate Daniels series swept me into the paranormal world of Atlanta and has kept a steady pace. So when they started a new series beginning with "On the Edge" they were already on my autobuy list and they don't disappoint. My family is a tribe of readers and I am such a fan of the authors that I nagged both the male and female members of my extended family into reading the first books of both series. Then everyone who read Ilona Andrews has gone on to buy, borrow, or steal books from each other to continue reading the series. "Bayou Moon" has been eagerly anticipated by both genders of my family.

I believe that you need to have read the first book in the series "On the Edge" to pick up the full expression of "Bayou Moon" which takes the reader back to the world of the 'Edge'. It lies between the 'Broken' (regular US life with no magic (soccer moms and Walmart) and the 'Weird' (magic realm). The hefty 447 page book covers politics, romance, adventure, magic, and has some good fight scenes. It continues the story of William the Wolf, a fantastic secondary changeling character of "On the Edge". At the end of the first book, William doesn't get the girl or the family he wants. "Bayou Moon" is his opportunity.

The story line and pacing keeps the story moving quickly. The world building is solid and give a good foundation to go in a hundred directions in the future. The character development really give the reader the opportunity to get inside. Frankly, I fell in love with William in the last book so "Bayou Moon" was just a gift. I took the time to read it twice before giving it to the tribe to pass along. I don't know how I am going to wait another year before getting another book in the series.

If you have anyone in your family who likes urban fantasy books, give them the wonderful gift of introducing them to the talented authors who make up Ilona Andrews. "Bayou Moon" is a really solid book and a wonderful addition to a stellar series.


Beautiful Sacrifice
Beautiful Sacrifice
Author: Elizabeth Lowell
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 2.9/5 Stars.
 16
Review Date: 6/8/2012


the following is located on the dust jacket:
    
"According to Maya legend, December 21, 2012, will mark the end of the world as we know it. Is it myth . . . or will their prediction become reality?

Archaeologist Lina Taylor has devoted her life to studying ancient Maya artifacts, splitting her time between digs in Yucatan and the classroom teaching college students. But the professors structured, academic life is about to spin out of control. Some extremely valuable and important Maya artifacts have gone missing. Are the culprits fanatics determined to create chaos and usher in annihilation?

Helping out a friend, former immigration and customs enforcement officer Hunter Johnston is determined to recover the missing pieces and he needs Linas help. A man used to calling the shots and working alone, he isnt comfortable letting anyone get close, especially a beautiful and brainy woman like Lina. His gift for reading people tells him theres a lot going on below that professional exterior, and hes more than a little curious to probe her depths.

Burying herself in her work, Linas had little experience handling men, especially one as fascinating and exasperating as the secretive, headstrong Hunter. A devoted archaeologist, she has the skill to excavate those protective layers all the way to his core.

But finding the missing artifacts is only the beginning of a mystery that will plunge these unlikely partners into adventure, romance, and danger more thrilling, sensual, and deadly than either of them knows. . . ."

Longtime fans of Elizabeth Lowell might be happy with her latest work. It seems like a book she wrote A decade ago yet published in 2012. The main characters were wonderfully written and had nice depths. They were the only joy in the book. The plot line was predictable and pedantic. The story referenced the Mayan calender event of 2012 but it was frequently marginalized as peasant superstition. The story was interesting with Mayan mythology but it overwhelmed at times. The villain was predictable from early on and was too over the top to be believable at the climax. I have been a devoted fan, but I found myself disappointed and let down. Thankfully I did not pay Hardcover prices.


Big Bad Beast (Pride, Bk 6)
Big Bad Beast (Pride, Bk 6)
Author: Shelly Laurenston
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 100
Review Date: 10/8/2010
Helpful Score: 4


Shelly Laurenston really is a fantastic writer and adds another winner to her ongoing series.

"When it comes to following her instincts, former Marine Dee-Ann Smith never holds back. And this deadly member of a shifter protection group will do anything to prove one of her own kind is having hybrids captured for dogfights. Trouble is, her too-cute rich-boy boss Ric Van Holtz insists on helping out. And his crazy-like-a-fox smarts and charming persistence are making it real hard for Dee to keep her heart safe...

Ric can't believe his luck. He's wanted this fiercely-independent she-wolf from day one, but he never expected teamwork as explosive as this. And now is his last chance to show Dee what she needs isn't some in-your-face Alpha male-but a wily, resourceful wolf who'll always have her back in a fightand between the sheets."


Dead Iron (Age of Steam, Bk 1)
Dead Iron (Age of Steam, Bk 1)
Author: Devon Monk
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 31
Review Date: 8/21/2011
Helpful Score: 2


Good vs. Evil, bad elves, unlikely hero's, changelings, a zombie and a white witch are all tied up with a beginning of a spectacular steam-punk series. This book sets up a struggling world for civilization and the people caught up with survival.

The main character, Cedar Hunt, is not a man who is accepted in the rural community. He is running from his personal pain of losing his wife and child. While running he and his brother are cursed by some local gods to hunt and kill "the Strange" and become shape-shifting wolves. He finds himself trying to do right even against his own nature and the local community. This story starts with Hunt and bridges to lives that come in contact with him. The book has a good feel for outcasts and relies on the hope that an individual can go against current/popular opinion to do the right thing.

This book is edgy, quick, and I couldn't put it down until I finished it.


Death Echo (St. Kilda Consulting, Bk 5)
Death Echo (St. Kilda Consulting, Bk 5)
Author: Elizabeth Lowell
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 54
Review Date: 5/14/2010


Cover Blurb:

Emma Cross left the CIA because she wanted to lead a
"normal" life. A quiet one, investigating things that weren't
life or death. St. Kilda Consulting put her to work investigating
the theft of a yacht. What could be less urgent than the loss of
a rich man's toy?

MacKenzie Durand walked away from a career in the military after bad intel cost the life of everyone on his special ops team except himself. He was tired of life or death situations where death won. Now his biggest worry is taking yachts from Seattle to a boat dealer in Rosario, Washington.

Then Emma and Mac find themselves neck deep in mirror-image yachts, international gangsters, and things worse than simple murder. Before they know it, they are back in the world they thought they left behind, fighting for their lives.

ARC copy text fantastic.


In Too Deep (Arcane Society, Bk 10) (Looking Glass, Bk 1)
In Too Deep (Arcane Society, Bk 10) (Looking Glass, Bk 1)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 87
Review Date: 1/10/2011
Helpful Score: 2


In Too Deep
Book One of the Looking Glass Trilogy
An Arcane Society Novel - Book #10
By Jayne Ann Krentz

Jayne Ann Krentz continues writing the Arcane Series and has taken "In Too Deep" to give the character, Fallon Jones, more depth. Fallon Jones is the head of the Jones and Jones Paranormal Detective Agency and a member of the socially prominent Jones family who control the Arcane Society. Regularly a recluse, he has paranormal ability to see strategies and connect situations. To many in the Arcane society, he is a conspiracy theorist and sees danger where there is none.

In many of the Arcane Society series early books, Fallon Jones is a abrupt voice on the phone who lacks basic social skills. He has worked alone because he couldn't figure out to delegate and allow someone else intrusion into this life.

Enter Isabella Valdez. She's funny, witty, and the perfect partner for Fallon. The story gives a good look into the ongoing issues with the Arcane Series. It can stand alone for those who are not fans. But having a passing knowledge of the series led me to a better reading experience.



The blurb for the book - Scargill Cove is the perfect place for Fallon Jones, confirmed recluse and investigator of the paranormal. Its a hot spot, a convergence point for unusually strong currents of energy, which might explain why the town attracts misfits and drifters like moths to a flame. Now someone else has been drawn to the Cove Isabella Valdez, on the run from some very dangerous men.

When she starts working as Fallons assistant, Isabella impresses him by organizing his
pathologically chaotic office and doesnt bat an eye at the psychic element of his job. Shes a kindred spirit, a sanctuary from a world that considers his talents a form of madness. But after a routine case unearths an antique clock infused with dark energy, Fallon and Isabella are dragged into the secret history of Scargill Cove and forced to fight for their lives, as they unravel a cutthroat conspiracy with roots in the Jones family business...and Isabellas family tree.


A Lady by Midnight (Spindle Cove, Bk 3)
A Lady by Midnight (Spindle Cove, Bk 3)
Author: Tessa Dare
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 77
Review Date: 10/29/2012


Ms. Dare is a very talented author. Her spindle cove series is lighthearted without being cloying. Her newest book, "A Lady by Midnight", has one of the most wonderful hero's written this year. If you like your hero's taciturn and serious, Corporal Samuel Thorne is perfect. His character is well developed and interesting. Unfortunately, several other characters fall into the realm of farce.

The story twists about Miss Kate Taylor. An orphan working as a music teacher living in an extraordinary community of Spindle Cove. She is helpful kind and looking for her roots. Out of the blue an aristocratic family shows up looking for her and they think that Ms. Taylor is their missing family member. There is a brief mystery regarding who she is by birth, a emotional revelation of the first time she met Samuel, and a family mystery as to how she became lost.

The book is charming and a little silly in parts. If you are looking for gritty realism this is not the book for you. If you are looking for the best written hero this year...


Practically Wicked
Practically Wicked
Author: Alissa Johnson
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 11
Review Date: 1/5/2013


This story is tied to Ms. Johnson's prior release "Nearly A Lady".

Anna Rees is the illegitimate daughter of a popular courtesan. While she was never beaten or sold, she was not loved or supported by her parent. She has been kept separate from main society but has seen the worst of the Demi-mode in her mothers house. She is a stranger in her own home with only her governess for a friend. Her mother throws wild parties and creates outrageous lies about her daughter. Anna did not know who was her father or her birth date as her mother had made up stories which named several men. Her mother claimed that she made up the lies for her own amusement. Anna has lead a very loney life.

One evening she meets a very drunk man who has fallen down in the hallway, and she actually has a conversation with a man. . . And is disappointed when he does not come back to see her later as he promised. Four years later she learns the truth, he came a dozen times to see her and was turned away by her mother. She never received his letters or knew of his regard.

She meets him again the day she goes on an adventure and meets her half brother. Viscount Max Dane believed the lies told by her mother. He believed that she had forged documents to try to take advantage of his friend. He is determined to stop her.

It is a bumpy ride before their happy ending.


Rainshadow Road (Friday Harbor, Bk 2)
Rainshadow Road (Friday Harbor, Bk 2)
Author: Lisa Kleypas
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 137
Review Date: 3/3/2012
Helpful Score: 6


Contemporary romance is not my favorite genre. However, this book is well written, well paced, and an enjoyable read. The characters were nicely developed through the book and I found myself hoping the Hero and Heroine would have their happy ending. All relationships are discussed in the book; parent to child, sister to sister, brother to brother, and none of the relationships were written as comic relief or unneccesary.

Excellent offering by a talented author.


A Soldier's Duty (Theirs Not To Reason Why, Bk 1)
A Soldier's Duty (Theirs Not To Reason Why, Bk 1)
Author: Jean Johnson
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 39
Review Date: 9/29/2011
Helpful Score: 1


A Soldier's Duty - Jean Johnson
Theirs Not To Reason Why

Author Jean Johnson the bestselling author of the Sons of Destiny series, has taken a break from romance with a outstanding new science fiction project. Her clean writing style really drives forward her newest creation in epic military science fiction. Don't look for her regular romance stylings in the book as the main character "Ia" is clear that she doesn't have time for that in her life as she is too busy trying to save as many as she can.

The new series introduces "Ia" a human from a heavy gravity outlying colony planet who comes to earth to join the marines and follows her initial years. The basis of the book is solidly sci-fi space opera. It has a minor paranormal bend in that "Ia" has visions of the future. In an attempt to stop a future mass destruction, she attempts to put herself in the path of events and people to best change or affect the future in order to avoid mass destruction. The story follows with her initial plans to save her world and as much of galaxy as possible.

The story is written as a soldier. Excerpt from private writing journal of main character Ia:

"Everyone knows what a soldier does during times of war. We place our skills, our weapons, our bodies, and even our lives on the line, protecting the innocent from all that which would threaten them. We fight, so that others do not have to fight. We take the risks, because we know the price.
What people tend to forget is how much we also do during times of peace. We are the supporting arm, the helping hand, the strength of a friend coming to save you from the monsters that plague in the middle of the night. We aren't always big damn heros demanding big damn parades; most of us are nameless, faceless, and interchangeable. . . and for that reason, we are indispensable.
We serve in many ways. It is our duty, and our right. - Ia"

The author's wonderful writing style, descriptive language and great pacing creates an outstanding
story and even more interesting character. This book has captured my attention and the beginning of this new series has me anxiously awaiting the next installment.


Steel's Edge (Edge, Bk 4)
Steel's Edge (Edge, Bk 4)
Author: Ilona Andrews
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 75
Review Date: 11/28/2012


The husband and wife writing team of Ilona Andrews have given fans an outstanding end to The Edge series. This book is a stand alone story with some old friends dropping by or mentioned. The world building continues to be fantastic. The character development, pacing, and plot development keep the reader on the edge of their seat just waiting for the next page.

There once was a land where magic lives in everyone's lives. It is called the Weird. Next to the Weird is the Edge where magic is not strong but still possible and next to that is our modern world the Broken. There are various countries that exist in the Weird along with normal human politics, greed and corruption.

This part of the Edge series focuses more on events in the Weird. The heroine, Charlotte, is sold by her parents to the state when she was three after it was discovered she had a rare talent for healing magic. She lives a successful protected life but is crushed when she finds her husband has married her for the wrong reasons. When she finds out she is barren, he demands an annulment. She gives him a smack down using her magic and then is remorseful for using it wrongly. She also feels she can't stay in the community to watch him hunt for a new wife so she runs away. Poor little princess goes on a journey, gets robbed of her horse her money and almost her life. She is saved from death by an old woman who gives her a safe place to stay and helps her get her feet settled. The princess grows, saves the life of the hero-Richard Mar, loses her friend and then the story takes off as an adventure.

Now the story really begins. Tortured hero, Slave trade, criminals, spies, mysterious island, terrible events, hidden mysteries, plots . . . Oh my!

You just have to read the book.


What the Duke Desires (Duke's Men, Bk 1)
What the Duke Desires (Duke's Men, Bk 1)
Author: Sabrina Jeffries
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 71
Review Date: 7/8/2013
Helpful Score: 2


I like historical romances and read quite a few during the year. This book stands above the rest.

The back cover blurb: "Maximilian Cale, the Duke of Lyons, long ago buried his grief for his missing elder brother, Peter, who was presumed dead after being kidnapped. When a mysterious note arrives from Tristan Bonnaud asserting that the Duke's brother is alive, it leads Max straight to the winsome Lisette Bonnaud, illegitimate daughter of a viscount and Tristan's sister. Soon he and Lisette are traveling to Paris posing as husband and wife, in search of Tristan, who has disappeared."

The characters were well developed multidimensional people. Life was not just champagne and balls. They are actual people. Overall, the book can be thought of as a road romance. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next in the series.


Written in Red (Others, Bk 1)
Written in Red (Others, Bk 1)
Author: Anne Bishop
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
 39
Review Date: 3/25/2013
Helpful Score: 3


Wow!!!!! Anne Bishop has long held the distinction of being my all time favorite author and holds pride of place on my bookshelves. I own her stories in hardcover and in paperback. I see her as a fantastic writer so my expectations regarding her new series were very high. It takes off in a new and interesting direction.

Inside cover blurb:
"As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cuta gift that feels more like a curse. Megs Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyarda business district operated by the Others.

Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses shes keeping a secret, and second, she doesnt smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg the job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that shes wanted by the government, hell have to decide if shes worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow."

Shifter culture with various species, vampires and elementals are shown in fresh perspective. I could not put this book down and read it through in one day. It has wonderful world building that Ms. Bishop has previously shown as one of her strengths and one aspect of her talent. The characters are well developed and are interesting people. OK, the female villain is one that I was happy to see get her due but it plays well within the story. There is tension between major characters but no gratuitous sex. The story is well developed, with great pacing, and has me on tether-hooks waiting for the next in the series.


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