Guild Hunters Series: Archangel's Kiss

Archangel's Kiss is the second book in the Guild Hunter series, and it sees Elena dealing with her transition from human to angel. This installment of the Guild Hunter series is also a lot less action packed, focusing more on Elena's relationship with Raphael.

I did sort of miss the action from Angel's Blood. There's the threat of Lijuan, the oldest archangel in the Cadre of Ten. She's a little bit nutty and has the unfortunate tendency to raise the dead. She's also taken an unhealthy interest in Elena. I actually wish that we'd seen more of Lijuan and what she was capable of. It was a little hard to be scared of her like we were of Uram, the baddie from the last book. Elena has been invited to a ball that Lijuan is hosting, so she needs to get her strength back ASAP. Unfortunately, the ball takes place right at the end of the book meaning that there isn't a whole lot of time for Elena to be as fierce and kickass as we know she can be. 

While Lijuan is a peripheral threat, we have another angel committing horrific acts of violence in the Haven (basically the place where angels go to chill out). And it looks like a lot of this violence is being committed with Elena in mind.
Since Elena isn't as strong as she should be, she needs to be protected by Raphael's Seven. They are Dmitri, Illium, Jason, Venom, Galen, Naasir and Aodhan, and these boys are fine! I have a confession to make here: I find these guys more interesting than Raphael himself. I know, I know! You're thinking, how is this possible? Raphael is the king of uber-sexy! 

I just think that Raphael is the kind of sexy that you admire from a healthy distance. Another thing I was a little disappointed with was how little Dmitri featured in this book. He was there for about five minutes and then he was gone. But we got lots of Illium, which I really enjoyed.

Overall, Archangel's Kiss was really good. It was just missing a little bit of that something that took Angel's Blood from really good to friggin' awesome. This series is still totally worth following though. I can't wait to see what Ms Singh has in store for Elena next!

House of Comarre Series: Blood Rights

Blood Rights is the first book in the House of Comarre series by Kristen Painter and I have to tell you, this book was flat out awesome! I loved it!

The book is set in 2067 in Paradise City, New Florida. In this alternate reality we have a couple of species living among us. There are shifters, vampires, fairies, demons and ghosts running amok. And who can forget the clueless humans stuck in the middle? But there is one branch of humanity who aren't what you would call clueless. They are the Comarre.

The Comarre are described as being the vampire's version of a geisha. They are the creme de la creme of humanity as far as vampires are concerned. What makes the Comarre so very special is the quality of their blood. They're sort of like Lindt chocolate for vampires. The Comarre are bred for the specific purpose of feeding the filthy rich of vampire society.

Chrysabelle is a member of the Comarre and she is in big trouble. She's being accused of killing her owner and is being pursued by both the vampire high council and certified crazy bitch, Tatiana. While on the run, Chrysabelle comes across the vampire Malkolm (who I think I love). Malkolm is an outcast in vampire society and he has the itty-bitty problem of hearing the voices of all the people he has killed in his head. There's not a whole lot of trust going on between these two, but Chrysabelle is forced to work with Malkolm after an unfortunate... incident. 

We get introduced to a few other characters, including Chrysabelle's aunt, Maris, and the mistress of the house of Comarre, Rennata. But my favourite secondary characters were Doc and Fi. Doc is a 6ft5 were-leopard who, thanks to a curse, can only shift into a house cat. I kid you not. Fi is one of the ghosts who haunts Malkolm and who has somehow managed to assume a sort of corporal form. She and Doc are seeing each other and are the cutest couple ever. 

Now let me talk about the main characters.

I'll start with Tatiana because, seriously, who doesn't love a scary ass villain? She sort of reminds me of Devina from J.R Ward's Fallen Angels series. She is ambitious, determined and absolutely ruthless. And, as I mentioned before, she's batshit crazy.

Then we have Chrysabelle. Since she's Comarre, most assume that she's nothing more that this weak, helpless, walking blood bag. We get the first inkling that this isn't actually the case after she stabs Malkolm, thinking that he was sent by the vampire council to bring her in. I really like Chrysabelle. Despite being relatively sheltered, she's also a woman who can handle herself and isn't about to let cranky pants Malkolm boss her around.

Ah, Malkolm. I really liked him. He has that whole "tortured hero" thing down pat. From what we get from Malkolm's past, he was not a very nice man. In fact, during his early years as a vampire, he was a butcher. So he's been living on his own, wrestling with the many voices in his head, until he meets Chrysabelle, who turns his dark broody world upside down.

I totally loved this book, and I highly recommend that you give it a try. It was nice to have a new take on the  whole vampire genre. Although the whole "irresistible blood" thing has been done to death, the story was so good that I stopped rolling my eyes after the first few chapters.

Pretty cover, right?

The Dark Angel Series: Darkness Unbound

Darkness Unbound is book 1 in the Dark Angel series by Keri Arthur. The story is set in Melbourne and is told from the perspective of Risa Jones. Risa is half werewolf and half Aedh. Near as I can figure, Aedhs are a little like angels, in the sense that they're really beautiful and have wings. But Aedhs are also capable of sort of dissolving themselves and travelling around in non-corporal form. Risa lives with her best friends, Iliana and Tao, and she does her best to do the Average Jane thing. 

Despite her best efforts though, this doesn't happen often. Risa also has psychic powers. She can see reapers (those creepy folks who lead the dead into the afterlife), she can travel the gray fields, and she has a degree of precognition. One day Risa's mom contacts her and asks her to visit the hospital where a little girl is stuck in a coma for no obvious reason. As it turns out, the little girl's soul was ripped from her body. 

I don't know about you, but the very idea gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Then, as if all this isn't freaky enough, a reaper starts following Risa around. Apparently, the father Risa has never met is going to contact her. According to Azriel the reaper, her father has some nefarious plans that will eventually result in the end of the world as we know it.

But it's not all bad. Risa meets an Aedh called Lucian and they get physical pretty quickly. Which is good. Risa seriously needed someone to help her lower her stress levels.

I wasn't too keen on this book in the beginning. It felt like information was heaped on the reader and the names of people we hadn't met were being thrown around, so it was a tad confusing. I don't like feeling confused. With the information dump came the feeling that nothing was actually happening. It went on like this for roughly half the book and I was getting fed up. But then things started picking up and by the time I finished the book, I was actually interested in what was going to happen next. 

Darkness Unbound was a pretty good book once you get past all the non-happenings of the beginning. I don't think I would say I loved it, but I would recommend to anyone who's looking for something different to read.

Fallen Angels Series: Rapture

Have I mentioned lately how much I absolutely adore J.R Ward? Well, you're going to hear all about my love for the WARDen now. 

Rapture is book 4 in the Fallen Angels series. In case you don't know what the series is about, let me quickly break it down for you. It's basically about the whole good versus evil thing that will eventually determine the fate of the entire world. Seven souls are hovering between choosing to be either good or evil, and it's up to Jim Heron to influence these people and help them make the right choice. Jim is being helped by two angels, Adrian and Eddie. Jim is being hindered by a psychotic demon named Devina. 

So in this installment of the series, the score is 2:1 to the good guys. Plus Devina is being punished because the concept of playing by the rules is completely beyond her. The soul in play is someone we met in both Covet and Crave. Matthias was a Bad Man. He was head of XOps (a sort of military group that carried out political hits for the US) and he didn't care who he hurt. It turned out that Matthias was the soul in need of saving in Crave, not Isaac Rothe. However, as a result of some misunderstanding on Jim's part, Matthias was lost and Devina won. Devina didn't get to keep Matthias for very long though. For being a lying, cheating, good-for-nothing she was penalised and Matthias was given a second chance.

I don't know whether the WARDen had a soft spot for Matthias or if he was a fan favourite, but I'm really glad he got his chance at redemption. I had thought that nobody in this series could top Isaac in sheer awww....-ness (I imagine Isaac to be kinda like a young Matthew McConaughey), but Matthias did it. He's had a really rough life and he lives with both the physical and mental scars. And the physical scars are really horrendous. Matthias once intentionally stepped on a landmine and as a result his lower body is badly scarred and he needs to use a cane to get around. Obviously this is a huge blow to his pride, seeing as how Matthias is a big, strong, manly man. But he seems to have accepted his injuries and the limitations that come with them. Until he meets Mels.

Mels Carmichael is a reporter. She moved back into her parents house after her father died with the idea of being a "pillar of strength" for her mom. Sadly, this didn't happen. Mels' life just sort of stalled out. She's frustrated by her job, uneasy living with a mother she doesn't have much in common with. She's stuck waiting for life to happen. And then, after she hits some poor stranger with her car, it does. 

Things progress pretty quickly from there and within a few days Mels and Matthias are thinking in terms of I-love-yous. But Shakespeare had it right and speed bumps for these two come in the form of Devina with poor, long-suffering Jim trying to smooth things over. 

I just want to talk about the characters quickly. 

I loved Matthias. I just wanted to give the poor guy a hug. Amnesia Matthias was much nicer than XOps Matthias. He just seemed more cuddly in general. Still badass though. His stint in hell did him some good.

I liked Mels well enough. I don't know how well I'll remember her in two or three books time, but I really liked how solid she was for Matthias. 

Jim and Adrian are having adjustment issues. Eddie was killed by Devina's minions and this has left them a lot out of sorts. Jim and Adrian tend to... well, they struggle to see eye to eye and Eddie usually played referee when the fists used to go flying. Adrian has now lost his best friend and Jim has to try to keep the poor guy on track as well as save the world. Adrian isn't the only one struggling with death. Jim is still hugely preoccupied with the young woman Cecilia Barton, who was sacrificed by Devina to protect her magic mirror. Devina taunting him about it at every available opportunity is not helping matters either. 

Lastly, we have Devina. She is quite obviously evil and psychotic and horrible and sadistic and all those other things. But she's also funny as hell. Please don't judge me, but I have to be honest: I love Devina. I don't know how the WARDen does it, but she's managed to create a villain that you can almost relate to. Devina has a debilitating OCD (she's a hoarder) and she sees a psychologist for it. She goes to the salon to get her hair done. She wants to look pretty for the guy she likes (Jim, much to his disgust) and she doesn't get why he doesn't like her. If she weren't such an evil, crazy bitch, I would totally be rooting for her.

Let me share some of my favourite bits form Rapture:

This is when Mels' boss, aptly name Dick, is hitting on her.

What she was clear on was that with a jawline more ham sandwich than Jon Hamm, the man had no objective reason to believe the answer to any woman's problems was in his pants. 

This is from Jim's perspective when Matthias ends up asking him for help.

And yet no matter how much his brain cramped, it looked like pigs could fly, there was a snowball in Hell, and somewhere across town, a twelve-year-old dog was learning to drive a goddamn car. 

Jim and Adrian are having a fight because Adrian can be an irresponsible pig when he's got time (but it's okay. I forgive him. And you will too). Jim hits Adrian in the penalty area. 

Motherfucker was going to sing the high notes like Justin-cocksucking-Timberlake for a while.

And then for Devina related fun, read chapter 31.

So, in conclusion, I just want to tell you that if you haven't started reading this series you really should. It isn't quite as good as the Black Dagger Brotherhood, but it does serve to tide me over until Lover at Last comes out next year.

Have a good Monday everybody! 

Shaede Assassin Series: Shaedes of Gray

I was less than impressed with Amanda Bonilla. Not because I didn't like the book. I loved the book. It completely broke the awesome scale. But that bloody woman had me biting my nails! I stopped doing that when I was in grade 7. Eight years worth of restraint and maturity down the tubes in the space it took me to read one book!

Moving on now... Wow. This book was so good! I'm noticing a trend in my reading lately: I love them all. But this one was super awesome. I loved the characters (or loved to hate them), there was suspense, there was action, there was some romance on the side. All completely epic. 

So let me tell you about the lead. Darian is the leading lady and she's a wee bit... prickly. Yes, I think prickly is a good word for her. Darian is a Shaede and she also happens to be an assassin, which you could probably get from the name of the series. Shaedes are kinda humanish, and they have the power to sort of... evaporate? I don't know how else to describe it. I imagine them to become shadows like the Dementors did in the Harry Potter movies. So they become shadow which, given Darian's profession, is a plus. I really liked Darian. She's a strong heroine who has been through the wringer. She's about one hundred years old and she's become used to relying on herself. This is because, one way or another, the people in her life have let her down. Her parents couldn't wait to marry her off to any random, well-to-do stranger. This well-to-do stranger, Henry, was an abusive asshole who beat her. The abuse only stopped when this Shaede, Azriel, saved her. They did the couple thing for twenty odd years until he bailed on her without a word. Darian had assumed that he was dead because there was no way he would have left her otherwise... right?

So, given all the crap that Daian's been through, it's no wonder she has trust issues. In fact, there is only one exception to her "trust no one" rule. And that is Tyler.

What a wonderful man. I adored him! He was so patient, and sweet, and kind. Even when Darian was being a prickly pain in the butt. He was always there for her when she needed him, even when she didn't realise she needed him. Also, Tyler isn't an average Joe. You want to guess what he is? C'mon, guess. Have you guessed yet? Alright, I'll tell you. He's a genie. How awesome is that?!?!

Next we have the mysterious Xander Peck, the king of the Shaedes. I actually liked him, despite the fact that he was all kinds of arrogant. He is super fine but too charming. I didn't trust him. Not even a little. Xander has hired Darian to carry out a hit for him but he doesn't think her skills are quite where they need to be (So why didn't he hire someone with the skills he needed? You'll have to see).This is where his brother, Raif, comes in.

Despite Xander being all swoon-worthy, I liked Raif more. Raif is awesome! He acts as Darian's trainer. Because while Darian is fully capable of kicking some serious ass, she needs to be a hundred times better than what she already is. They both seem determined not to like each other but eventually become  (grudging) friends.

Azriel is a jackass. I took great pleasure when Darian handed the ass whuppin' he so badly deserved. 

I liked Delilah, the Oracle. She seemed way helpless but that couldn't be further from the truth. 

This book was a hundred different kinds of awesome! It went from really good to super awesome towards the end. Expect humour, action and some serious twists and turns.

Fever Series: Shadowfever

Whew! I am finally done with the Fever series... for now, anyway. 

I have to admit that I'm kinda glad. While it's an absolutely epic series, it's also absolutely exhausting! I'm not going to give a full recap because it would take me forever to get through everything. So, I'm just going to gloss over the important stuff, and then talk about the things I loved about the series and then the stuff that I wasn't overjoyed with.

The cliffhanger from Dreamfever was not dealt with fast enough for my liking. But that's probably because I'm waaaaay impatient. But it took about eight or nine chapters and by that time I was practically rabid.

Darroc, aka the Lord Master, is killed. I have to admit that it was pretty anti-climatic. I was hoping that this particular bad guy would go with more of a bang.   

We get to know Barrons' merry band of psychopaths better. It's the crazed fangirl in me that lets out a "squeee!" of delight whenever Ryodan or Lor is in a scene. These guys are so fine.

We find out who killed Mac's sister. I have to tell you, I did not see that coming. I felt so bad for Mac because she was totally blindsided.

We find out what happened to Fiona. I have two words to sum this up: not pretty. But she remains helplessly, hopelessly in love with Barrons and it still makes her a little insane. I want to quote Dr Sheldon Cooper here to sum up Fiona's character: Bitches be crazy.

Rowena gets her comeuppance for being such a deeply unpleasant woman. Quite frankly, given everything that happened, I still think they went too easy on her.

Mac and Dani have a bit of a fallout. This is unresolved by the end of the book and will probably pick up again in Dani's book, Iced. 

The sweet, sexy Scotsman Christian McKeltar is having some serious issues. From what I understand, Christian will be playing a key role in Iced.

We find out why Barrons wants the Sinsar-Dubh. It's actually really sad. He's not the selfish jackass we initially think he is. He's still a jackass but one with some serious baggage.  

We meet the Unseelie King, his concubine, the Seelie Queen, and Cruce (the Unseelie Prince, War, who's supposed to be dead). We meet some other fairies too, but they're not so important.

Hmmm... let me think... what else happened...?

Oh, right! Mac and Barrons finally stopped dancing around each other and are now a couple. Again, given their stormy relationship, I thought their coming together would have happened with more of a bang (no pun intended).

I loved this series from beginning to end. It's actually quicker for me to go through what I didn't like about the series than what I loved. Judging by the way I gushed about this series in older posts, it's obvious that I'm a huge fan. 

The twist and turns were dizzying. I was hard pressed to keep up sometimes. I actually think Ms Moning should have slowed things down slightly. Just to give Mac- and the reader- a chance to catch their breath. Then there's Barrons and Mac's relationship. When they finally got together, they could be really sweet. But the events leading up to it sort of reminded me of that song by Pink, You Make Me Sick. They were always fighting! They even did that pushy, shovey thing and, to be honest, it made me uncomfortable. My last little issue is that the story was told in first person. I don't normally have an issue with that but it bugged me a little towards the end of the series. I've heard about people complaining that some of the characters (ie. Barrons) didn't show a whole lot of growth during the series. And that's because we were never in their heads. And I don't think that I'm alone in wondering what was going through Barrons' head at certain points. Like when Mac bought him a birthday cake and he then smashed it into the ceiling. Why did he do that?! I just think it would have added more to the story if we could have had a chance to look from everyone's perspective. 

Just want to share two of my favourite scenes with you:

This is the scene where the Lord Master has his head ripped off. I know it's inappropriate, but I found this inexplicably hilarious. I think it shows how far Mac has come from being spoiled Pink Mac to ruthless Black Mac.

He stumbles and collapses to the ground. Somewhere nearby, I hear garbled sounds. Oh, God, his head is still talking. 

Good! Can he form sentences? I'm in a strong bargaining position. Tell me what I want, and I'll put your head back on. 

A scene between Barrons and Mac after they've hooked up and they're going to go after the Sinsar Dubh.

"Jericho, I feel like my whole life has been pushing me toward this moment."

"That's it. Fate's a fickle whore. We're not going. Take your clothes off and get back in my bed."

And that's it for me on the Fever front until I get my hands on Iced. 

Fever Series: Dreamfever

Wow. This book was quite intense. I just want to warn anybody who might be reading this series and happens to be on Dreamfever: Get Shadowfever and have it on hand before you finish Dreamfever. The cliffhanger for this book will have you going crazy if you don't have the next book. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Right, on to the story. At the end of Faefever, Mac was captured by the evil, pretentious Lord Master and three of the four Unseelie Princes (Death, Famine and Pestilence), who turned her Pri-ya. Being Pri-ya is basically a state where a human becomes addicted to sex with Fae and anytime they're not having sex, they're in agony. They basically lose their minds and all memory of who they are. So, for obvious reasons, this is a hectically bad thing to happen to Mac. Because Mac is so out of it, we have the story told from Dani's perspective for a chapter or two (testing the waters for Iced?). 

You know what I really like about this series? It doesn't let the guys do all the swooping and rescuing. Case in point: it isn't V'lane or Barrons who rescues Mac from the LM and the Unseelie Princes. It's Dani.  

In any case, Mac is now Pri-ya and is in a whole world of trouble. It takes Barrons to sort of... snap her out of it. I have to confess that I am insanely jealous of Mac, given how he accomplishes this. We also see a side to Barrons which was almost, dare I say it, sweet. He was singing and dancing to "Tub Thumping" with her. I know Barrons can be a jackass but his willingness to even listen to that aggravating song to help jolt Mac's memory makes him far nicer than I would have given him credit for. 

Mac does eventually snap out of her nympho state and when she does, man, is she pissed! From here what was left of Pink Mac dies and she becomes Black Mac, who likes leather and guns. 

This book is quite fast paced. Mac has a huge confrontation with Rowena and the other sidhe-seers. She and Barrons go from not being to be able to keep their hands off of each other to being stiff (a poor word choice?) and formal again. We see V'lane and Barrons posturing at each other and learn why V'lane, an immortal Fae, would be so scared of Barrons. Which leads to the burning question: what the heck is Barrons? We still have no clue and it's beginning to bug me. We do see a few little tidbits from Barrons' past but nothing to really explain what he is, why he can be such a jerk, and what his real motives are for wanting the sinsar bubh. 

We are also introduced to Barrons' merry band of psychopaths. I am very interested to learn more about these guys. The only one we've really dealt with is Ryodan, and he seems... I don't know. He's a very mysterious, shady character and from what I've read, he's going to play a major role in Iced, book 6 in the Fever series. 

I just want to throw out a few of my favourite scenes from this book. They all pretty much had me laughing like a loon.

Here Mac has just snapped out of being Pri-ya and is remembering some of what she and Barrons were doing for the past few weeks.

. If I know Jericho Barrons, he was walking around feeling like his dick was the most huge, magnificent, perfect, important creation under the sun.

Which -I winced- I vaguely recalled telling him a time or two.

Well... maybe several times.

Mac and Barrons have had a huge argument and Mac is sitting on the floor. V'lane comes in and sees this, which leads to him and Barrons beating their chests at one another:

   "Did he strike you MacKayla? Say the word and I'll kill him."

"As if you could," said Barrons.

"Perhaps not. But I do enjoy thinking about it."

"Bring it on, Tinker Bell."

And lastly, a little snippet from yet another argument between Barrons and Mac. He's being a pig and I think this is one of the few cases where she gets the upper hand. 

"I'm trying to arm myself so I can fight like I fuck," I snapped. "But you refuse to help."

"I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to say that word again, Ms Lane. Time was, you had no reservations. 'Fuck me, Jericho Barrons,' you'd say. Morning, noon and night."

"I didn't know getting you to talk was so easy, or I'd have said it five minutes ago. Fuck you, Jericho Barrons."

Just one book left to go in the Fever series. I won't lie, I'll be sad to finish it

Fever Series: Faefever

I love this series so much! Faefever was so good. 

 Mac is one seriously awesome heroine. And the stuff she has to put up with! "Pink Mac" as she refers to her younger, clueless self is slowly being replaced by a darker Mac. She struggles to deal with the nasty habit she picked up from Malluce and, what's worse, she teaches it to Inspector Jayne. I understand why she did it but still... gross. 

Faefever sees Mac dealing with some serious trust issues and she thinks that it's past time to diversify. Who is she to trust? Barrons who tells her diddly squat? V'lane, the death-by-sex fae, who is by his very nature untrustworthy? She thinks she's been relying too heavily on Barrons for her survival and she doesn't quite trust V'lane. That's why she throws poor Inspector Jayne into the mix. 

Mac really is struggling with her relationship with Barrons. I think that to desribe it as "tense" would be an understatement. He teaches her to resist Voice (a little like Harry Potter's imperius curse) and they go after the Sinsar Dubh. I don't think I've mentioned the Sinsar Dubh before. Sorry about that. In short, it's one seriously evil book, full of black magic, that corrupts whoever touches it. Barrons wants it but we don't know why. Mac also gets closer to V'lane, and he gives her a way for her to contact him whenever she needs him by placing his name on her tongue. It works like the mystical equivalent of a cell phone. 

We also deal more with the other sidhe-seers in this book. Rowena, the head of the sidhe-seer council, is a bitch. Dani, the fierce young sidhe-seer with a potty mouth, is awesome. 

Faefever centres around a huge problem: how to keep the walls between the human and fae worlds up. Because once the walls come down, all the creepy Unseelie come out and chaos will ensue. 

 As though all this wasn't bad enough, right at the end she gets captured by people that make Malluce look like the Easter Bunny. Ms Moning and her cliffhangers are a killer! Word to the wise: if you're reading this series get ALL of the books. You will die from not knowing. 

Just to share my favourite moments from the book. Interestingly enough, they all involve Barrons. Sigh... how the mighty have fallen.

After a hair raising run in with the Sinsar Dubh.

I began to cry.

Barrons looked horrified. "Stop that immediately, Ms Lane."

"I can't." I sniffled into my cup of cocoa so he wouldn't see my face.

"Try harder."

I think that may have been panic talking here.

Turns out Barrons is having a birthday soon. Mac decides to get him a birthday cake but, since she doesn't know how old he is, she puts Pi on the cake. It was during this scene that I wished this story was in third person so we could get the slightest clue what's going on in Barrons' head.

"Pi, Ms Lane? I'd pegged you for failing high school math."

"I got a D. The little stuff always trips me up. But the big stuff stuck with me."

"Why Pi?

""It's irrational and uncountable."

Funny girl, wasn't I?

"It's also a constant," he said dryly.

I don't want to spoil anything but, after having read Dreamfever and starting on Shadowfever, I no longer hate Barrons. Yes, he's a creep. But he's a nice creep, if that makes any sense.

Fever Series: Bloodfever

When I read a book I tend to weigh the heroine on the "Kick Ass Scale" from one to ten, with "one" being a Bella and "ten" being a Buffy. I think I'm going to have to label any heroine who goes to an eleven or something a Mac. She has this "never say die" attitude that I both admire and am totally freaked out by at the same time. 

Bloodfever wasn't quite as good as Darkfever, but it was still pretty effing awesome. Mac and Barrons are still doing that thing where they're all formal and stuff. The moments where they get all pissy with one another are too funny! They've each always got some smart ass comment ready and I have to admit, Barrons makes me roll around laughing. I know I said that Barrons is an ass and I stand by that...

But he's so funny! And despite his bad behaviour, I really wish he and Mac would just go there already. I think this little tidbit is a good example of the tension between these two. It also raises the question which will plague the rest of the series (I'm on Dreamfever now and we still have no idea): What the heck is Jericho Barrons?

"I've heard there are no male sidhe-seers."
"Where did you hear that?
"Around?"
"And which one of those are you in doubt about, Ms Lane?"
"Which one of what?"
"Whether I see the Fae, or whether I'm a man. I believe I've laid your mind to rest on the former; shall I relieve it on the latter?"
He reached for his belt.

I was torn between rolling my eyes and rolling around on the floor laughing. He is so obnoxious but so damn sexy, all at once.
We also had more interaction with the characters we met in Darkfever and we were introduced to new characters too.
Let me start with the familiar faces. V'lane, the death-by-sex Fae, still gives me the heeby-jeebies. He's up to something, besides getting into Mac's pants, and he has no damn scruples. Fiona is still crazy in love with Barrons, although at this point she is leaning heavily towards being bat-shit crazy. Rowena, the aging sidhe-seer, is one deeply unpleasant old bat. I don't like her one little bit. The "Lord Master" (pretentious, much?) is still running around causing trouble, although this happens mostly in the background. Malluce, the vampire, is falling apart. When you get to what's going on with him, you will cringe.
Now for the newbies. My favourite new character is Dani. She's a precocious thirteen year old sidhe-seer with super speed, a bad attitude and a potty mouth. Judging by the fact that book six in the Fever Series, Iced, will be told from Dani's perspective, I imagine we'll be seeing a lot of her. Inspector Jayne is a member of Ireland's Garda and is being a major pain in Mac's butt. Lastly, we meet Christopher MacKeltar. He seems like your average, everyday guy but he knows a thing or two that Mac finds herself wanting to hear more about.
Last thing before I stop jabbering about this book. Mac and Barrons do kiss. And I couldn't even yell "FINALLY!" because Mac had kinda- who am I kidding?- really freaked me out a few pages before. Let me just say that Mac picked up on a nasty habit of Malluce's and leave it at that.
Ooooh, wait! I lied. This is the last thing:
"What are you Barrons?"
"The one who will never let you die, and that's more, Ms Lane, than anyone in your life has ever been able to say to you. More than anyone else can do."

Fever Series: Darkfever

Oh my stars. Wow. I loved this book to pieces! It was absolutely flippin' amazing. I cannot even begin to tell you how good this book is! Ms Moning is an evil genius. Even though most of the characters kinda pissed me off, I couldn't stop reading. As soon as I even thought about taking a little break from this book, just to catch my breath, this little voice in my head would scream, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!?!" 

I had to know what was going to happen next.

The story is told from the perspective of MacKayla Lane. She is a girly girl who lives in a small town in Georgia. She is pretty happy with her lot in life. She is super-cute, she has parents who adore her, and she and her sister are thisclose. But then things start to go badly awry. Her sister goes to Dublin to study and she dies there under mysterious circumstances. The police close the investigation due to a lack of new evidence. Mac's whole world falls apart, so she goes to Dublin to put pressure on the police to continue their investigation. 

This is where things start getting weird. Mac meets the mysterious, arrogant, condescending and sarcastic Jericho Barrons and starts to see the Fae. The fae are uber creepy. They are not at all like Disney's Tinkerbell would like you to believe. And Barrons, while smoking hot, is a jerk. I really did not like this man. He was so mean to Mac that I often found myself yelling at my book (don't look at me like that! I know I'm not the only one who does stuff like that). I just want to give you a few examples of why I was acting like a crazy.

His gaze dropped from my face to my toes and back again. Apparently unimpressed by what he saw. "Go home, Ms Lane. Be young. Be pretty. Get married. Have babies. Grow old with your pretty husband."

Condescending, much?!

Mac has long, pretty blonde hair which she loves. For her own safety though, she has to dye it and cut it short. Being attached to my own hair, I wanted to slap Barrons for this.

"When you've finished cutting and coloring your hair, return to me. Short and dark, Ms Lane. Lose the Barbie look."

He gave me a brief glance. "Go put on something more... womanly. 

My eyes narrowed. "You mean sleazy."

"I mean the kind of woman others are accustomed to seeing me with. A grown one, if you think you can manage that, Ms Lane. Black might make you look old enough to drive. The new hair is... better. But do something with it. Make it look like the night I woke you."

All I can say here is grrr...

Normally this type of, ahem, "hero" is the kind I rail against. And I still do. I wanted to hit him upside the head with a rock and that is still one of the kinder things I wanted to do to him. But even his general asshole-ishness kept me reading. I kept hoping that something would happen to soften him, or at least make him a teeny tiny bit nicer. And eventually, halle-freaking-lujah, it did. On page 332, the last chapter. Mac managed to talk Barrons into painting her nails since she couldn't. It doesn't change the fact that he's a creep but it does make him a little bit more human. 

Now, lets talk about Mac. She's normally the type of heroine that I wouldn't have patience for. Too much love for pink, too concerned about clothes and looking pretty, too little kick ass potential. Boy, was I wrong. I found that the meaner Barrons was to Mac, the more I liked her. She reminded me a little bit of Sookie Stackhouse in the beginning. You know, carrying on oblivious to all the freaky stuff around her and then being thrown in at the deep end. Whenever Mac managed to overcome some obstacle or managed to put Barrons in his place, the latter didn't happen too often, I did a little victory dance for her. What I also liked about Mac was that she didn't just jump into bed with Barrons. Not once in the entire book was there any sexy time with Barrons. Yes, she was definitely thinking about it. But because he was so deeply unpleasant, she knew going there would be a very bad idea. 

There weren't a whole lot of peripheral characters. We've met V'lane and Fiona. V'lane is a death-by-sex Fae. He is basically so inhumanly beautiful, and oozes these "jump-my-bones" pheromones, that humans can't resist him. I don't like him. He gives me the creeps. Fiona is Barrons' squeeze. She does not like Mac, not even a little. She has a bad case of the "love-is-blinds" for Barrons.  

I loved this book so much! I wish that I could read it again and get that feeling that you get the first time you read an amazing book. Yes, I know I ranted about Barrons but I'm halfway through the second book (Bloodfever) and he does get better. Slightly.

Seriously, if you read anything else this year, read this book!

And then read the rest of the series! 

Women of the Otherworld: Stolen

Stolen is the second book in the Women of the Otherworld series and man, this book was good! I could not put it down! Which is weird because, like I said yesterday, Bitten didn't sit well with me. This book was fast paced and action-packed, which I imagine will probably be the case with most of Armstrong's books. 

The book is written from Elena's perspective again and I really think she redeemed herself. Yes, she could be a wee bit callous but she did seem a little more human-y in this book.

The book starts with Elena investigating what looks like someone selling information on an authentic case of werewolf attacks in Pittsburgh. But she doesn't find what she's expecting. Instead, she finds two witches who tell her that someone is kidnapping supernaturals and holding them captive to "study" them. The witches hope to hold a meeting to decide the best way to deal with the situation. And Elena, oddly enough, has a hard time dealing with the fact that creatures like witches, vampires and half demons exist. But after a run-in with some of the scary crazies trying to grab her, Elena decides to tell Jeremy (the Pack leader) that they may have a problem.

The story progresses from there and Elena gets kidnapped by these "scientists". These people range from the crazy to the stupid to the misguided. 

We met a whole bunch of new characters who I adored. We didn't see much of the Pack beyond Jeremy and Clay but that's okay. These new people totally made up for it. There's Paige, a feisty young witch and her aunt Ruth. Then we have Savannah, a twelve year old with crazy powers. Xavier, the half demon who worked for the crazy scientists, was brilliant. Despite being a self-absorbed ass, he was funny as hell.

Just a little warning: this book was kinda graphic in terms of the blood, guts and gore. And, being the wuss that I am, it freaked me out a little bit. Just in case there are any other scaredy-cats planning on reading this book, I just thought I'd give you a heads up. 

I'm not going to read the next book (Dime Store Magic) in this series just yet but it is definitely on my "to be read" list.

Women of the Otherworld: Bitten

I finished the first book from the Women of the Otherworld a few days ago. Bitten is written from the perspective of Elena Michaels, the only female werewolf in the world. The werewolf gene is passed on along through males, but a person can become a werewolf if they're bitten. This is what happened to Elena ten years ago.

Her boyfriend, Clay, bit her. She's never quite forgiven him for it and, as a result, their relationship is what you would call stormy. So after several years of breaking up and making up, Elena decides that she's had enough. No more. She leaves Stonehaven, where she lives with The Pack, and moves to Ontario where she tries to carve out a normal life for herself. And she does. For a year, she manages to be "normal" (midnight strolls not included). She has a job and she's living with a really nice, understanding (human) guy. Then she gets a phone call from the Pack leader, Jeremy, telling her that she needs to come back to Stonehaven immediately.  Some "mutts" (non-Pack werewolves) have been causing trouble and the Pack needs Elena's help getting them in line.

This book was really action-packed. But I struggled with it a little bit. 

I really liked that Elena was one of those no-nonsense heroines and that she could totally take care of herself. I liked that Clay respected that fact and didn't get all uber-macho protective over her. He respected her abilities and let her do her thing. I liked how the Pack was one big family and that they all had each other's backs. I was also really looking forward to the mutts getting their butts kicked for all the trouble they were causing.

Now for me to get picky. I thought that Elena sometimes came off as... kinda heartless. I don't know why. I found it really hard to root for her. She totally forgot about her human boyfriend while at Stonehaven and didn't feel any more than a pang of guilt for engaging in hanky-panky with Clay. 

I think my biggest issue with Bitten was that I didn't really like Elena all that much.

But have no fear. I've just finished the next book in the series, Stolen, and I have to say that it was MUCH better. I think I will keep track of this series.

Guild Hunter Series: Angels' Blood

Nalini Singh, where have you been all my life? I am so flippin' glad that I found Angels' Blood. It is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best book I've read all year. It was funny, it was action packed, and it was sexy. If the rest of Ms Singh's books are anything like this, she may have knocked J.R Ward off her spot as my most favouritist author EVER. I know I'm gushing but I honestly can't stop. 

It was so good! I'm going to work backwards, from the things I really liked to the things I absolutely, flat-out adored.

The book is set in New York and follows a guild hunter by the name of Elena Deveraux. In this world vampires, humans and angels coexist. I don't usually like it when authors revamp (pun intended) vampire mythology.

*glares pointedly at Stephenie Meyer*

 It's like, you've got plenty of good stuff to work with. Why change it? But I loved what Singh did with it! Her older vampires are mostly sex on a stick. The best example of this was Dmitri, head of the archangel Raphael's security. Holy. Crap. Whenever this guy was on I was grinning like an idiot. He is just totally... wow. Words fail me. I will love Nalini Singh forever just for coming up with this guy.

Then we have the Raphael. He was kinda scary but also totally hot. Since he is way old, he's also really detached and cruel. Being one of the ten most powerful angels in the world, he's used to people doing exactly what he tells them to do without hesitation. This is where Elena comes in. He needs her to track another archangel who's gone psycho.

I loved Loved LOVED Elena. I can't remember the last time I liked a heroine this much. Unlike most other heroines, she doesn't just fall at the hero's feet. She has the good sense to be terrified of Raphael. She doesn't make excuses for his bad behaviour and she tells him off when he crosses her boundaries. Elena is also one of those take-charge heroines I love so much. Saving the day isn't just left up to Raphael. Elena kicks some serious ass too.

I loved how Elena and Raphael started softening towards each other. Elena doesn't just meekly do what he tells her and Raphael, in spite of himself, is intrigued by this. 

Can I just share my favourite part of the book? It's not a scene between Raphael and Elena but between Dmitri and Elena. Elena has had a huge fight with Raphael and is heading home. Dmitri has been instructed to escort her but he's being a little too... forward for Elena's liking. So she slits his throat (no biggie, he heals fast).

"Bitch." It was a wet gurgle.                                                                                  "Thanks."                                                                                                                                    He actually smiled, hard, lethal, scary as hell. "I like bitches." The words were clearer, his healing progressing at a faster pace than she would've believed.                                                   But it was the dark hunger in his tone that got to her. Damn kinky vampire had actually liked the knife.

I laughed like a drain. 

Angels' Blood is the first in the Guild Hunter series. Here the rest are in reading order:

Angels' Blood

Archangel's Kiss

Archangel's Consort

Archangel's Blade (Dmitri's book!)

Archangel's Storm

Belador Series: Alterant

I am done for the time being with Ms Kenyon's stuff. The whole "broaden your horizons" thing will start today. And not a minute too soon to be perfectly honest.

I was seriously looking forward to book two in the Belador Series. The first one was fan-freaking-tastic. But I was a teeny tiny bit let down by Alterant. I'm not entirely sure why. 

There was a lot going on in Alterant and not much that got resolved. There are still a whole bunch of things that the reader hasn't been told about. I know it's supposed to make you want to keep reading but I found myself getting frustrated. It was like, "C'mon! Give me something!" It would have been good to have had a smidgen more information than what we got...

Also, I would have liked ot have seen more interaction between Evalle, Quinn and Tzader. These three are thick as thieves and their hanging out was kinda missed during Alterant.

But it wasn't all bad. I really liked that Evalle was starting to open up to Storm. I absolutely love Evalle's little gargoyle, Feenix. So damn cute.

So in addition to the unanswered questions from Blood Trinity, I have a few more: 

Where the heck did Storm go? 

What's going to happen to Quinn?

What is Macha's agenda? Has she got some plan or is she just being a bitch?

Will we ever find out where Sen's gripe with Evalle stems from?

Will Isak finally work out that Evalle is an Alterant?

So many questions...

The third installment of the Belador Series, The Curse, will be coming out in the States two weeks from today. Those of you lucky enough to live in the US of A can get your copy then.

Belador Series: Blood Trinity

I know, I know. I really need to expand my reading list and look at other authors. And I'm working on it. It's just that I love her books so much! So let me just tell you about another book by Sherrilyn Kenyon that I'm reading. She's collaborated with another author, Dianna Love. Does that count in my efforts of widening my reading circle?

Anyhow, the Belador series is about a race of warriors called, surprise, Beladors. They fight to protect humanity from demons and other creepy-crawlies. Among the "creepy-crawlies" are Alterants. They are Beladors but with a little bit of a twist. Much like Bruce Banner, if they get angry enough or feel really threatened, they turn into monsters. Most of the Alterants have been locked up. Many of the Beladors work for VIPER, the agency that sort of coordinates their save-the-world efforts. 

The story starts with us finding three Beladors in a cave. They are Vladimir Quinn, Tzader Burke and Evalle Kincaid. They have each been betrayed by a Belador pretending to be in trouble. 

Evallle is my kind of heroine. Like most of Kenyon's characters, Evalle has plenty of baggage. The only people she trusts are Quinn and Tzader. But she is tough and will kick your butt six ways to Sunday if you mess with her. None of this "come rescue me you big, strong man" stuff for Evalle. She can handle herself. 

Evalle is a member of VIPER, despite being an Alterant. However, there isn't a whole lot of trust and some of the other VIPER agents treat her pretty badly. Sen is the biggest culprit. No one knows a whole lot about him other than the fact that he's a bad ass. Sen is totally gunning for Evalle and he brings in Storm to be her partner, hoping that the new guy will catch Evalle in a lie.

Can I just go off on a tangent here and say that Storm is smoking hot?! The second he came on the scene, my first thought was "yummy".

Also yummy was Isak. He did do a little swooping and saving when Evalle found herself cornered by a big hungry demon. He's in charge of a little military type organisation which hunts and kills demons. 

There looks to be the beginnings of a love triangle here. It's pretty obvious that Evalle will play a leading role in it but I won't mention the guys. I don't want to give away too much.

There are a couple of burning questions...

What is Sen's problem? Will we find out anything more about our lead characters' pasts? Where do Alterants come from? Can we please skip the love triangle and have a HEA that doesn't involve an awesome character having his heart stomped on?

I swear I will move away from Ms Kenyon's stuff as soon as I've read Alterant, the second book in the series. 

Guilty Pleasures

I am mega excited. So excited that I completely forgot my dignity and acted like a complete loon in Exclusive Books yesterday. "What's got you acting so crazy, Mony?" you may be asking.
Well, I'll tell you: I got my grubby mitts on Lover Reborn by J.R Ward. Yes, I know, the title sounds unbelievably cheesy. I read these books facing the wall so that no one will see the cover or read the title. But I do these things willingly because the Black Dagger Brotherhood series is my guilty pleasure.
It's a paranormal romance that is set in Caldwell, New York. It's about this group of vampire warriors (I can't believe that I just wrote that) who protect the civilian vampire population from the evil lessers who are trying to kill off the whole species.
 Lover Reborn is about the vampire Tohrment (all the Brothers have weirdly spelled names) who lost his mate in the war against the lessers. To say that he was broken up about it is an understatement. He bailed on the Brotherhood and went MIA for a couple of months. He finally came back (with his crazy guardian angel, Lassiter) and has set his sights on killing as many lessers as he can get his hands on.
I can see some people rolling their eyes here to the point where they're on the verge of going blind. But I promise, these vampires are NOT Twilight-y in any way, shape or form. This is not the girly-girl type of paranormal romance where the guy is this smoking hot stud with no flaws and where the chick is this beautiful, helpless (annoying) female. Plus, there are loads of other characters who are vital to the story, so it's not like the whole book revolves around two people. Lover Reborn is book 10 in the series. Please give these books a try. These are not the typical tweeny books that are so sickly sweet that they give you toothache. This is some seriously good stuff.
Okay, so here are the books in the Black Dagger Brotherhood in reading order:
1. Dark Lover
2. Lover Eternal
3. Lover Awakened (my favourite in the series)
4. Lover Revealed
5. Lover Unbound
6. Lover Enshrined
7. Lover Avenged
8. Lover Mine
9. Lover Unleashed
10. Lover Awakened

Happy reading people!!!