woensdag 31 oktober 2012

Karen Chance – Curse the Dawn

The fourth book in the Cassie Palmer series, published April 2, 2009.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: I like this one, but my own bookcover is very pretty as well.

Curse the Dawn

Cassie Palmer has the unenviable distinction of being the world’s chief clairvoyant. This, as she knows to her cost, is often more trouble than it’s worth.
After coming close to an agreement with the Silver Circle, a magical organization that’s been trying to kill her for years, Cassie gets kidnapped by one of its more embittered members. She escapes, and, to prevent this kind of thing from happening again, she invests in a magical device for protection: a statue that grants wishes.
What her clairvoyancey doesn’t tell her is that the statue has a warped sense of humour and grants wishes according to its own wicked whims. When she wishes to shift herself and companion Pritkin out of a sticky situation, the statue does something so bizarre and uncalled for that life for Cassie and Pritkin will never be the same again…


Another worthless blurb. So, don’t pay attention to it, even though I typed it over from the back of the book itself.

The book starts with a bang, as usual. Cassie needs training as the new Pythia, and she has decided to search for Agnes in the past. She just has to know more about her powers, and her duties, and with the Silver Circle still wanting her dead, she has no other resources. The vampires promise to protect her, but she doesn’t want to be beholden to them, work for them. She is sick and tired of being used.
But now they finally want to meet with her, to discuss things. At Dante’s, a neutral place. Pritkin is not happy with it, he doesn’t trust them to agree to the terms. And he was right. Much more mages show up than agreed to, and they soon overwhelm the vampires present. Then Cassie is captured in a null net by the lead mage, who really hates her as she was the reason his son Nick was killed. Determined to take her back to MAGIC to stand trial, he takes her off through the ley lines. With Pritkin in hot pursuit, but he is not the only one. Soon all the mage fire in the ley lines makes it go haywire, and that what never should have happened, does. The ley line explodes, and MAGIC with it. Now they have a common goal, they have to find out if anyone survives, and get them out. Cassie’s shifting powers are the most important for that, the top layers of the buildings are no more. But getting inside is not the problem, staying alive is. The defences of the building are still working, but can no longer discern friend from foe, and attack everything that moves.
The vampires are safe, which was Cassie’s major concern, especially her friend Rafe, who was kind of a father to her. But the mages prisons are overcrowded, and Cassie want to safe them all, not just the one prisoner the Consul wants her to free. With the help of vampires and mages alike, they manage, just in time. The place is coming down on them, and the only way to escape is in the Consul’s antique car collection in the garages beneath.

But after that, the hunt for Cassie is still on. She needs weapons, and she decides to take her new bodyguard, Mircea sicked on her, with her, as well as Francoise. Francoise will know which weapons actually do have magic and work, and which are fakes. Cassie will need all the help she can get. But then the mages kidnap the children she was taking care of, and she needs to safe them, at risk of herself. Of course it is a trap, and when she uses the magical statue of the Japanese god, things go not as she wanted them to. And Pritkin is livid. But her shifting also doesn’t work, as they end up in England, with the former Master of the Silver Circle, and someone Pritkin considers a friend. But he has plans of his own, and Cassie is not sure she wants to be a part of that. But does she have a choice this time?


Almost non-stop action, danger and stress, and I gobbled it all up. I enjoyed this book very much, Cassie keeps trying to do the best she can, against all the odds and all her enemies. She doesn’t have a chance to get her father out of Tony’s hands, no time to try to go back to Faery. She needs to get the mages of her back, to make them see reason. They want to kill her, so the Pythia’s power will seek a new host, one they can control as they have for thousands of years. A Pythia under the vampires influence is the worst thing they can imagine.

I absolutely laughed out loud at the last paragraph in the book, when Pritkin has discovered what Cassie has done to his body … That was really fun. I am looking forward to reading the fifth book, which arrived last week. And thanks to Karen Chance, I have the bookmark that goes with it .

9 stars.



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© 2012 Reviews by Aurian

dinsdag 30 oktober 2012

Stephanie Laurens – The Lady Risks All

A stand alone novel, published September 25, 2012.
Genre: historical romance
Cover I like it.

Thelady risks all

Neville Roscoe, notorious and enigmatic, lives resolutely outside society, bound only by his code of honour - until challenged by his desire for the one woman he cannot have.
Miranda Clifford is a lady imprisoned by rigid respectability - until tempted by a passion beyond her power to deny.
Flung together in peril, through danger and intrigue, they discover a love impossible to ignore . . . or keep.


It has been a long time ago, since Stephanie Laurens wrote a stand alone novel. Of course, it is tied into the series, some of the previous the characters do appear in this one, as Roscoe did in their stories. But I enjoyed reading his story, as he intrigued me before. The last years, all of her books kind of used the same storyline. The hero decides the heroine is the wife for him, and sets out to seduce her, in order to get her to think about marrying him. This book was a nice change from that line of action, and I really liked and appreciated that. Stephanie Laurens has proven again why she stays on my autobuy list, as I was getting tired. Okay, the book itself!

Miranda Clifford is minor gentry, and with her sister and brother raised by their two aunts, who are very strict and very careful of propriety. Respectability is their only aim. Miranda’s mother married below her station, as her grandfather made a fortune with his mill. Which means trade! And then they inconveniently gotten themselves killed in a carriage accident. Her older sister ran off with a gypsy at age 16, to return deathly ill two years later, and die. Her one remaining aunt has only gotten more strict after that.

Miranda is now 29, and has been looking after her younger brother almost all of her life, protecting him from the brunt of her aunts displeasure and lectures. But now Roderick is 23, and ready to be independent of her apron strings. He has grown up as a capable young man, and she is proud of him. But he has been sneaking out of the house lately, through the garden gate, and she just wants to know what he is up to. So, she follows him. To a house nearby, where he enters through the garden doors. A house she knows belongs to Neville Roscoe, the gambling king of London. What can Roderick be up to in that house of sin? Gambling? An orgy? She just has to know, so she follows him inside, in the supposition that she can demand Roderick to take her home if something bad is happening there.

To her dismay, she is captured by Roscoe himself. And he invites her to witness what is happening at his house, in his private library. Miranda agrees, and is lead to the gallery, where she can hear everything. Apparently, Roscoe and some of his friends, including Roderick, are doing charity, helping the poor by educating them and finding them jobs and apprenticeships. Miranda is very proud of his brother, for using his fortune to help those in need. And she knows she owes Roscoe an apology, something that is not easy for her. And Roscoe is wondering why he acted as he did, why he let Miranda stay in his house. But he likes this brazen female, she is so different from the females he interacts with usually. And somehow, he wants her opinion of him to be a good one. Of course he has a file on Roderick, and he will find out all he can about her as well.

But a few nights later, Roderick does not come home after his meeting at Roscoe’s. Miranda is worried sick, as he promised he would be there to have dinner with her suitor. Her aunt does not want her to call the police, think of the scandal! But Miranda does not care, she wants her brother home safe! So she goes to Roscoe, and asks for his help. Which he gives at once, Roderick is one of his friends, and he has to defend his reputation of taking care what is his. So he sends out his bodyguards and other employees to find out what they can. Surely someone must have seen something last night. And if not, he knows one of the other underworld figures of London, one who deals in information. He will help, if only to have Roscoe owe him a favor. Miranda is frantic with worry, and stays at Roscoe’s as long as she can. She needs to know what has happened. Roscoe promises to keep her in the loop, but that is not enough. She has to be there as well, and to go with him when word arrives. When he refuses to take her to the docks with him, she just follows in a hackney, dressed in her brother’s clothes. Roscoe is furious when he discover her in the seedy bar, but he does understand her concern, and knows better than to try to leave her behind the next time.

When they find out that the kidnappers have taken Roderick out of town in a carriage, three days later, they set out together to follow their trail, and get Roderick back. If they wanted to kill him, they would already have done so. With Miranda dressed as a widow, and Roscoe escorting her as a family friend, they get lots of information, a man alone, or Roscoe with his bodyguards would not have gotten so easily. Unfortunately, they loose a lot of time inquiring after their prey, and don’t really catch up with them. For days they travel together, getting to know each other, but Roscoe never tells Miranda the truth about himself. And the attraction between them is growing. Of course, there can never be anything between them, a not so young miss and a gambling king, Miranda would be ruined if she was caught in his company.

After rescuing Roderick, who has a broken foot, collarbone and a fever, there is only one safe option for them: to go to his ancestral home. And there Miranda finds out who he used to be:
Lord Julian Roscoe Neville Delbraith, second son of the Duke of Ridgware. His family is very happy to see him again, they did not expect them. The preparations for his youngest sister’s marriage are in full swing, and all the family is there. They are grateful for Miranda to bring him home to them, and Miranda quickly grows fond of them all.
But why did he give up his name, his status, to become Roscoe? And, will he be able to convert back to Lord Julian?

After Roderick heals enough to be able to journey home, and the man who kidnapped him have been imprisoned, they still have a mystery to solve: who wants Roderick dead, and why?


I absolutely loved this book, the story was refreshing, and I liked both Julian and Miranda, and Roderick as well. The villain, well, he really is honourless and evil, and I did have some suspicions. The ending, that was plain fun, with Miranda taking charge as she did. Really loved it, and did not see that coming. Very unusual. So, what are you waiting for, if you like historical romance, go read it!
Stephanie Laurens does not have a very easy to read writing voice. She uses very long sentences, big words (I don’t know them all!) and lots and lots of inner dialogue. The love scenes are hot though, and fairly detailed, so if you like smexy scenes, you won’t be disappointed. This book has it all, great characters, a good story, suspense, a real villain and a happy and surprising ending. I do like mature heroines in a book instead of 17 year young debutantes.

10 stars



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© 2012 Reviews by Aurian

maandag 29 oktober 2012

Karen Chance – Embrace the Night

The third book in the Cassie Palmer series, published April 1, 2008.
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Cover: Love it.

Embrace the Night

Recently named the world’s chief clairvoyant, Cassandra Palmer still has a thorn in her side. As long as Cassie and a certain master vampire – the dangerously sexy Mircea – are magically bound to each other, her life will never be her own…
The spell that binds them can only be broken with an incantation found in an ancient text, the Codex Merlini. The Codex’s location has been lost in the present day, so Cassie will have to seek it out in the only place it can still be found – the past.
But Cassie soon realizes the Codex has been lost for a reason. The book is rumoured to contain dangerous spells, and retrieving it may help Cassie to deal with Mircea, but it could also endanger the world…


In the previous book, Cassie made a deal with the Dark Fey King to bring him the Codex Merlini. But first she will use one spell herself, to break the double geis between herself and Mircea, as it is slowly killing him. The clues to the whereabouts of the Codex are lost in the past, and many other people would happily kill to get their hands on it.
Together with Pritkin and Nick, one of his magefriends, they are searching for clues, and in the meantime, Cassie is helping out in Dante’s Casino, wherever Casanova wants her to help out. She sure doesn’t like those odd jobs, and the costumes she has to wear, but staying in hiding is the smartest thing to do, since so many people want her dead.
When Cassie ran away from Tony at age 14, she ended up with Tamika Hodges, who ran a sort of halfway house for magical kids. If the mages got hold of them, they would end up in facilities until they got control of their powers, and would be safe to get out again. In other words: never. And now a bunch a very small kids show up at Dante’s casino, asking her to help hide them. Tami has been captured by the mages, and they were the only ones who escaped. Cassie is afraid, she can barely keep herself alive, how is she to care for 9 little kids? All with out of control magical powers? She sees no other solution but to take them to the kitchens. After all, all Fae love children. And she is right, Miranda, the head chef gargoyle, tells her they will protect a crèche with their lives. The other staff helps her in finding some rooms for the children to stay in, without Casanova knowing about it.

Pritkin knows about a Djinn who might help them, but he will ask for much more than just money in return, and he doesn’t want Cassie to go there. But Cassie is the Pythia, and she has to take charge of things, or she will be under his thumb for ever. But when they get to Saleh’s house they find him and his household staff murdered.

In exchange of showing his Djinn spirit who his killer was, Saleh tells her the last known location of the Codex, in 1793, Paris. Cassie cannot believe her eyes though, when she sees a coldblooded Pritkin killing the Djinn. Why doesn’t he want her to find the Codex? And where did he find those clothes? The Pritkin she knows, doesn’t where stuff that stylish.

The only answers lie in the past, and Cassie and Mircea have to go on a dangerous journey to finally break the geis. And Cassie sure is in for a few surprises along the way, and finally the truth about who Pritkin is, or was…


I very much enjoyed this third book in the series, and I would love to learn more about the other magical children and their powers. Especially Jesse came in handy in the big fight in the end of the book. But I would love for Cassie to be safe of the mages for once, and get the chance to take up her role of Pythia and learn more about her past and her powers.
I still love Cassie as a character, she doesn’t give up, and she knows how to handle the vampires and even the Consul. And Pritkin, well he is growing on me. I still love Mircea though, he does care for Cassie, and it shows. Cassie’s ghostly helper Billy Joe is still an invaluable aid to her, and I do like his antics.

I am looking forward to reading the fourth book in this series soon.

9 stars



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© 2012 Reviews by Aurian

zondag 28 oktober 2012

The Witch’s Dream book by Victoria Danann spotlight tour.

Release date: October 14, 2012
Title: The Witch’s Dream
Author: Victoria Dannan
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: The Order of The Black Swan #2
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: 7th House

Witch's dream

This second, or middle, book in the First Trilogy of the Black Swan series is a pure romance. Whereas the first book, My Familiar Stranger, could be read as a stand alone novel, BOOKS TWO and THREE are interdependent.

He was left behind when Elora Laiken made her choice. Now he’s had it with love, but a transplanted witch who happens to be the world’s best tracker hopes she can change his mind.

The Witch’s Dream begins with B Team on loan for temporary assignment to Black Swan headquarters in Edinburgh where they are supposed to fill in for stretched-thin resources and assist with a werewolf issue. They’ve been given permission to stop in Ireland for a few days and help Ram and Elora celebrate their handfasting at the palace in Derry.

When they reach Edinburgh, the afterglow of an elftale wedding quickly turns all business. A simple werewolf sanction becomes a diplomatic issue requiring the one thing Elora doesn’t have – finesse. A missing person report turns into a demon abduction. From New York to Ireland to Edinburgh to Siena to the Texas Hill Country to Napa Valley. From promises to rages to hunts to epiphanies.

This is a story that proves that love can find you when you’re least expecting it – even when you’re far, far from home.

Erotica quotient: 18+ A few steamy scenes. No menage. No BDSM.

Victoria

Buy Links:

The Witch’s Dream Book Two: Amazon buy here


My Familiar Stranger Book One:
Smashwords: buy here |
Amazon Buy here


Where to find Victoria:
WEBSITE: website
BLOG: blog
FACEBOOK: facebook
TWITTER twitter @vdanann

Victoria

Authors Bio:

Though works of fiction are a departure for me, I have had this series simmering on the back burner of my mind for a few years. In addition to authoring and illustrating Seasons of the Witch (for the past thirteen years) I play Classic Rock music and manage one of Houston's premier R&B bands.

This series includes some of my education in the paranormal and fictionalized anecdotes from my journals during the years when I was a practicing "metaphysician", but, of course, most of the material is fantasy. All of the books will feature strong female leads with strong male support.

zaterdag 27 oktober 2012

New additions to my addiction

Stapel boeken

So, what lovely books and goodies did I score in the last two weeks?

From Bookdepository:
Christina Skye – The accidental Bride
Stephanie Laurens – The lady risks all
Laura Bickle – The hallowed ones
Bertrice Small – Bianca
Jennifer Ashley – Mate Claimed
Laura Childs – Sekeleton Letters
Darynda Jones – Death and the girl next door
Lori Austin - Beauty and the bounty hunter
Karen Chance – Fury’s Kiss
Karen Chance – Hunt the Moon

Secondhand books:
Josie Litton - Castles in the mist
Josie Litton - Fountain of dreams
Josie Litton - Fountain of secrets
Josie Litton - Fountain of fire
Julie Garwood - Fire and ice
Julie Garwood- Shadow dance
Erin McCarthy - Smart Mouth
Suzanne Enoch - Don’t look down
Maggie Shayne – Kill me again
PC Cast - Untamed
PC Cast - Marked
PC Cast - Chosen
PC Cast - Betrayed
PC Cast - Tempted
PC Cast - Lenobia’s Vow
PC Cast - Hunted
PC Cast - House of Night
PC Cast - Destined
PC Cast - Burned
PC Cast - Awakened

For review:
Michelle Styles – Hallie Wilkinson meets her Match

A gift from Sullivan McPig:
ARC Gini Koch – Alien vs Alien
Thank you again Sullivan!

I’ve won:
- from Mia Marlowe: Connie Mason and Mia Marlowe – Lord of Fire and Ice, autographed with some lovely collectors cards
- Karen Chance – a bookmagnet for my refrigerator and some bookmarks and a signature sticker to put in one of the books.
- From Blodeuedd: Theresa Romain – Season for Surrender, autographed!

A gift from Australian author Annie West:
Girl in the Bedouin Tent, with a lovely magnet, and a bookmark from Anna Campbell, which I pinned on my board immediately.




© 2012 Reviews by Aurian

vrijdag 26 oktober 2012

Laura Childs – Skeleton Letters

The ninth book in the Scrapbooking Mysteries series, published October 4, 2011. Paperback published October 2, 2012.
Genre: cozy mystery
Cover: Colourful, love it.

Photobucket

The last thing Carmela Bertrand and her friend Ava expect to bear witness to in St. Tristan's Church is a crime. But now a beloved member of their scrapbooking circle is lying lifeless next to a smashed statue of St. Sebastien - and a mysterious hooded figure has absconded with an antique crucifix. With so many tourists passing through the church, the police don’t have a prayer of finding the killer.
But if anyone can get to the bottom of the crime, it’s Carmela’s main squeeze, Detective Edgar Babcock – with a little assistance from some scrappy sleuths. As Carmela and Ava are drawn deeper into New Orleans' French Quarter in search of the missing crucifix, they discover that this is one killer they don't want to cross...


I am always looking forward to a new Laura Childs book. She writes three different cozy mystery series, and I enjoy all three of them. And lucky for me, there will be another one next month, in the Cackleberry Club series.
So when the mailman dropped this book on my doormat, I didn’t hesitated a second before opening it up and start reading.

Despite owning a voodoo shop, Ava is a real Catholic girl, and she is a happy member of the Angel Auxiliary, doing volunteer work for her church, St. Tristan’s church in New Orleans. Carmela has made a nice handlettered sign for Ava to use, and they have entered the church to put it up. It is a bit spooky inside, due to the bad weather outside, and when they hear a woman screaming, they cannot directly locate her. Then, over at one of the side altars, they see a woman struggle with a hooded figure, and see her getting killed. When they rush to her side, the killer runs of, and they find one of their best friends on the floor. Desperately trying to revive her, Carmela tells Ava to call 911, and then her boyfriend, Detective Edgar Babcock. He is the best there is, and they need him to solve this crime.

Babcock is not happy that Carmela and Ava have witnessed a murder, and he warns her to stay out of it. He will peek into the investigation, as another Detective has gotten the case, but he will not take it over. He has enough on his plate already. But when Baby, another friend of Byrle Coopersmith and Carmela, asks her to look into it, use her line with Babcock to find out what happened, she cannot say no. Even her shop assistant Gabby encourages her.

Behind the church, an archaeological investigation is happening, and they found an old silver crucifix a few weeks ago, that is going to be the highlight of an exhibition in two weeks. Or rather, was, as it was stolen by the murderer. Perhaps Byrle was trying to prevent it from happening. When Ava and Carmela go back to the church the next day to investigate some more, hoping to find a clue the police overlooked, they are scared by an odd priest in the basement, who tells them ”Seekers”, and then is gone again. What does that mean?

Carmela is not only busy with this new investigation, she is also busy running her scrapbooking shop, Memory Mine, hosting a wine tasting event for Quigg in one of the best hotels in New Orleans, and helping with a children’s art project together with her friend Jekyl Hardy. Baby asks her to open up her house for the Christmas tour of the Garden District, but Carmela is hesitant. After all, she doesn’t live there, and it has only sad memories for her. She is still deciding if she will sell it or not. But with the help of Jekyl and Ava, the decorations are swiftly decided upon, and Jekyl will help her sell the house and the furniture inside it. When it entails a fotoshoot with Carmela as lady of the manor, she really is not happy. Being fotographed is not one of her favourite things. But as always, she gets talked into it.


I really enjoyed this book, and there were suspects galore, strange and eccentric people, but the real murderer threw me for a loop. I did find her a strange person, but to be the killer? Wow.
As always, I do enjoy the antics of Carmela and Ava, Carmela a bit more classy, and happy in her little apartment with her two dogs, and her love interest, and Ava always on the prowl for a new man in her life. They go out to dinner a lot, and I enjoy reading the details about that. Carmela is a really clever lady, but she does let herself be talked into things she doesn’t really want to do.
The usual secondary characters make an appearance, and some new ones. Good and nasty. I am already looking forward to the next book, but well, that will have to wait another year.

I enjoy Laura Childs writing voice, her style, her sense of humor, and how she makes New Orleans come to life for me. I really want to wander the old streets of the French Quarter myself some day, and see the shops and restaurants and everything she has described so vividly.

9 stars



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© 2012 Reviews by Aurian

donderdag 25 oktober 2012

ARC-review: Gini Koch – Alien vs Alien

The sixth book in the Katherine 'Kitty' Katt series, to be published December 4, 2012.
Genre: sci-fi romance
Cover: very cool

Alien vs Alien

Jeff and Kitty Katt-Martini and the rest of the American Centaurion Diplomatic Corps are still recovering from their introduction to Washington D.C. politics, parties and conspiracies. So when compromising pictures arrive, no one’s too surprised. They’re also the least of anyone’s worries. Evil androids running amok, birds of all kinds and from all places creating havoc, a senator trapped in an ever-tightening web of intrigue, and escalating international tensions all seem tough but manageable. But the disappearance of Jeff Martini and Charles Reynolds during the international One World Festival signals more than the usual nastiness – and it looks like even ACE can’t help them.
Then new trouble arrives in old packages and even with the best hackers in the world, beings from near and far, the full might of Earth’s military, and the Wonder Twins on their side, Centaurion Division’s outmanned and outgunned. Now Kitty’s racing against the clock to find not only Jeff and Chucky, but to keep the peace between Middle Eastern countries, all while searching for the bases of supersoldier operations – to stop them or die trying.


My boyfriend can tell you how happy I was when I was offered this ARC. To read the next Alien novel months in advance? Of course I wanted to! So, again, thank you Gini and Sullivan McPig, for the chance.


At the start of this action filled book, Jeff and Kitty Martini have been separated for a month. Their little baby girl is teething, and Jeff, as the most powerful empath, cannot take that his baby is in so much pain, and he can do nothing against it. So while Jeff stays in Washington, playing Ambassador, Kitty and Jamie are in Florida with Jeff’s parents in the Martini Residence.
Kitty has been avoiding Senator Armstrong for months now, but now she is cornered, and he is coming over to her. She really does not want to face him alone, so she asks for reinforcements, the Alpha Centaurion way. The Senator is not happy with that, he really wants to see her in private, although he has brought to very unwelcome men with him. When he reluctantly shows the company what he has brought with him, he sure does not get the reaction he was waiting for. Kitty in sex pictures with Chucky? And Jeff not blowing his head of with jealousy?
Apparently, Mr Joel Oliver has warned them weeks ago about those pictures, but the men did not want to worry Kitty with it. And there is more bad news. Kitty, and everyone in Miami with her, need to take a test to obtain a higher security clearance, the HSAC. If not, they are not allowed to fill her in on what is happening in Washington at the moment. And so they set out for NASA base to get tested, though Kitty has a very bad feeling about it. Nasty things have happened there before! But well, perhaps she gets to see her alligator friends again!

All kinds of mayhem come from this, and it sure makes for strange bedfellows! Once back in the Embassy, they all receive a surprise gift in the middle of the night, and not everyone is happy with that. But Kitty can deal with it all, to her own surprise. And those scenes were very much fun. Not having passed the test, Kitty is not allowed to know what is happening, and is left to find it out on her own, which she is more than capable of doing. But all she really wants is to spend some quality time with her husband and child, as they missed him dreadfully in the past month.


Lots of almost non-stop action ensues, lots of intrigues and conspiracies. With the help of Olga, Arianne and Mr Joel Oliver, Kitty goes to the bottom of it all. I love how smart she is, and how she thinks around corners and comes to a solution that actually works. Jeff really surprised me with his new attachment though.
And I keep hoping that Reader comes back to Kitty’s closest group, they are so much fun together. The whole cast of characters makes an appearance, and ACE has a big part. I do enjoy his conversations with Kitty: Kitty thinks right.

Gini Koch has created a wonderful world were aliens from Alpha Centaurion are living on earth, helping to protect it from other aliens and superbeings. The American Government knows about them, but the general public not. And of course, some politicians are all for them, and others are not, and more others want to turn them into the War division, as they have superspeed and superstrenght.
It is a world filled with conspiracies, evil geniuses, and the brilliant Kitty and her team of AC’s and her family and friends. Filled with humor, and lots of references to music as Kitty cannot live without her Ipod and her Glock.

I loved meeting the hackers, and how they interacted with Kitty. And I am very curious about the peregrines. I do think the Barones are a nice addition to the cast. But best of all, the new romances in the group! Lol, did not see that all coming!

I do recommend you read this series in order, to know who is who, and what has happened before. Not only the good guys keep appearing, so do some of the bad guys.

9,5 stars



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© 2012 Reviews by Aurian


my 800th blogpost!

woensdag 24 oktober 2012

Karen Marie Moning – Shadowfever

The fifth book in the MacKayla Lane series, published July 6, 2011.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: very nice, and my book has this cover.

Shadowfever

There is no blurb on this book.

With her protector death, Mac has no choice but to go on. She has learned that the Lord Master has tattooed her, just like Barrons has, so he can find her, and he is coming for her. She has no choice but to bury her heart, and pretend to want to become friends. She will find him the Sinsar Dubh, and he will grant her one spell.
Together, they find the White Mansion, the house the Unseelie King build for his mistress, a mansion that is everchanging inside. But Mac knows it, she has dreamt about it all her life, of the treasures within, and the sad lady. The memories are still alive, of their great love. Mac ends up in their bedroom, and almost crosses over to the Dark side, when Darroc saves her. Only the Dark King and the Concubine can cross that Silver. For all others it means death.

When they are finally back in Dublin, many weeks have passed. Dani is living on her own now, finding ways to kill the shades and get the few remaining people up in arms as well.
Darroc has found a way to make the Sinsar Dubh obey him, and Mac needs to find out how. When she does, she will kill him. Unfortunately, he is killed by the biggest Hunter of all, before she can find out his secret, and she is whisked away by Barrons …
The Book is actively seeking Mac out now, trying to learn her, find out about her, and kill those close to her. Luckily, her parents are under protection of Barrons friends.

Still, she is afraid of who she is, and of the prophecy that tells her she is the one to destroy the Earth. But they will have to confront the Book sooner of later and imprison it again, needing all the MacKeltars, the four stones and the sidhe seers.


The ending of this epic series was, well, epic. Amazing. I never could have guessed it all. I am very happy that I finally finished the series. I am also looking forward to reading Iced, Dani’s book. I enjoyed her in this series. I admit, I was hoping for a bit more private lives of the MacKeltars, as I love their own books.

Needless to say, you have to read this series in order!

10 stars



Autobuy author

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© 2012 Reviews by Aurian

dinsdag 23 oktober 2012

Karen Marie Moning – Dreamfever

The fourth book in the MacKayla Lane series, published September 18, 2009.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: good but I prefer my own.

Dreamfever

When the walls between Man and Fae come crashing down, freeing the insatiable, immortal Unseelie from their icy prison, MacKayla Lane is caught in a deadly trap. Captured by the Fae Lord Master, she is left with no memory of who or what she is: the only sidhe-seer alive who can track the Sinsar Dubh, a book of arcane black magic that holds the key to controlling both worlds.
Clawing her way back from oblivion is only the first step Mac must take down a perilous path, from the battle-filled streets of Dublin to the treacherous politics of an ancient, secret sect, through the tangled lies of men who claim to be her allies into the illusory world of the Fae themselves, where nothing is as it seems, and Mac is forced to face a soul-shattering truth.
Who do you trust when you can’t even trust yourself?


Don’t read this review if you don’t want spoilers!
At the end of the third book, Mac was captured by the Lord Master, and given to his tame Unseelie Princes as their plaything, making her lose herself, making her addicted to them, making her Pri-ya. The only thing she wants is them, sex, and more sex.
But Dani and the other sidhe-seers free her from them, taking her and the spear back to the Abby, trying to keep her safe, locked up in the basement. Dani tries to take care of Mac, trying to make her eat and drink, but Mac doesn’t want anything but skincontact, she is burning up. But not all the sidhe-seers are happy with that, and some try to have her killed, obliterating the wards that are supposed to keep her from being scried. But just in time Barrons and his men arrive, to take her away with him. He will try to cure her from being pri-ya, although no human has ever survived before.
And Barrons succeeds, though it takes weeks for the real Mac to surface again. Before her memory is restored, and she can face the world. One lucky thing came of it: she is now resistant to Fae powers, V’Lane has no hold over her any more. And she can walk through wards easily. Time to get to the knowledge in the forbidden libraries in the Abby. Time to rouse the sidhe-seers, make them engage in battle, like Inspector Jayne and the Garda are doing their best.

But then the Lord Master kidnaps her parents, and blackmails Mac in giving herself up, with the results that she gets lost in the mirrors. She finds and looses Christian MacKeltar in one of the worlds, and when she finally uses her cellphone, to call: IYD, some sort of prehistoric monster arrives to kill her attacker. It keeps her safe, protecting her, herding her. But how is she ever going to find a way out of this world, and back into her own?


I was captivated by this story, and the minute I finished it, I needed the next book. This could not be true, could it? So, a kind warning, if you start reading this fourth book in the series, be very sure you have the fifth lined up. If only to read the first chapter in it.
Because, now I know.

10 stars



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© 2012 Reviews by Aurian

maandag 22 oktober 2012

Karen Chance – Claimed by Shadow

The second book in the Cassie Palmer series, published April 30, 2007.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: love it

Claimed by Shadow

A recent legacy made Cassandra Palmer heir to the title of Pythia, the world’s chief clairvoyant. It’s a position that usually comes with years of training, but Cassie’s circumstances are a little … unusual. And now she’s stuck with a whopping amount of power that every vamp, fey and mage in town wants to either monopolize or eradicate = and that she herself doesn’t dare use.
What’s more, she’s just discovered that a certain arrogant master vampire has put a geis on her – a magical charm that warns off any would-be suitors and might also explain the rather intense attraction between them. But Cassie’s had it with being jerked around, and anyone who tries it from now on is going to find out that she makes a very bad enemy…


Cassie is back at Dante’s casino, trying to get Tony’s location out of the manager, Casanova. She wants to rescue her father’s ghost from his hands, and locate Myra, the rogue seer who is probably with him. But Casanova really doesn’t want to tell her, betraying one’s vampire master is always bad for your health. Casanova wants nothing more than for Cassie to leave, and to take her three “friends” with her.
When Cassie left MAGIC in the previous book, to escape the clutches of the Consul, she ended up in their treasure room, and stuffed a few things in her pockets. Including an orb that held the three Graeae, and now that she has freed them, they accompany her everywhere. They are bound to serve her for a year and a day, or until they have all saved her life. Three old crones, sharing one eye and one tooth amongst them. Until Cassie is in danger, and they morph in some kind of deadly Amazons, protecting her.

And then hell breaks lose in Dante’s when the mage Pritkin is coming for Cassie, intent of taking her with him. Does he still want to kill her, or is he protecting her from the other warmages? Dante’s casino will never be the same, and they are searching for a way out, fast.
Cassie does manage to find out that Tony and possible Myra, are hiding out in Faery. Which means, she will have no choice but to follow them there, and kill them. Before Myra changes history by preventing Mircea from being made, and so protecting Cassie herself.

After a vicious fight in the kitchen, where Cassie and Pritkin meet the kitchen helpers, illegal aliens from Faerie, Cassie and Pritkin manage to escape. When Cassie and Pritkin go to one of Pritkins mage friends, Mac, where he gets another magical tattoo, they find out that Cassie is under a major geis. Apparently, Mircea wanted her to remain a virgin, to be in the running for the powers of Pythia, and the geis makes sure no man will come to close to her to become her lover. Or they both end up in horrible pains. But the Pythia’s power wants Cassie to stop being a virgin, and tries to call males to her, to take care of that. Having two strong powers fighting inside her, is truly horrible. Unfortunately, the only one to get rid of the geis is Mircea himself, or the mage who put it on her. The more Cassie and Mircea are in each others company, the stronger the geis gets. But a geis works two ways, Mircea is bound to it as well, and when he meets Cassie in the past, the geis has been working for him for more than a hundred years, becoming too powerful to handle in the present.

But there is more bad news for Cassie, the Silver Circle has shut down the power that empowered her ward, making her quite defenceless. Sure, she still has the bracelet of the black mage, and her secret ghostly weapon, Billy Joe, but she is very open for physical attack.

When they decide to go to Feary, to find Tony and Myra, Mac and Pritkin discover the truth about the weapons Cassie stole at MAGIC, and are awed by them. Magical runes, thought long lost, and null bombs. Cassie wants to use the box that housed the Graeae to capture Myra. But Faery is not a good place for humans or mages, and they are soon captured by the Dark Fae. Only bartering with the Fae king to bring him Merlin’s lost book will get them out.


I enjoyed this story very much. It is filled with action, and Cassie encounters the strangest creatures and magics. I loved it all. I never knew what was going to happen next. Pritkin is growing a bit on me, though he still is suspicious of Cassie at times. I still like Mircea, because of how he acts in the past, when he doesn’t know Cassie. That geis really bit him in the backside, I am wondering how he will solve this problem.
The ending was action filled, and filled with surprises. I loved it, and am looking forward to starting the next book, Embrace the Night.

9 stars



Autobuy author

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© 2012 Reviews by Aurian

zondag 21 oktober 2012

Tiffanee Allee – Banshee Charmer

From the Files of the Otherworlder Enforcement Agency – Book One, published @
Genre: romantic paranormal suspense
Cover: meh

Banshee Charmer

When she’s sent to a crime scene and finds her second dead woman in as many weeks, half-banshee detective Kiera “Mac” McLoughlin is convinced a serial killer is on the loose. Incubi are extinct, her boss insists. But what else can kill a woman in the throes of pleasure? When her partner is murdered after using witchcraft to locate the killer and Mac is thrown off the case, her frustration turns to desperation.
Certain the killer is an incubus, Mac works behind her department’s back to chase down slim, sometimes perilous leads. While the killer eludes her, she does discover handsome Aidan Byrne, an investigative counterpart from the enigmatic Otherworlder Enforcement Agency. Mac typically runs her investigations fast and hard, but with Aidan at her side, she’s running this one “hot” as well. But Aiden knows more than he’s letting on—something that could shatter their blazing romance and add Mac to the killer’s growing body count…


I’ve won this e-novella a while ago at Stella Ex Libris blog, thank you again Stella! and I have been wanting to read it for a while, but there was always something else to catch my attention. But thanks to my own reading challenge of reading at least one book a month I have won, I choose this one.
It starts out strong, a murder investigation, and one cop is half human-half banshee, and the other a gorgeous witch. They are part of the OtherWorlders crime unit, and that premise was a good one. They both come over as kick ass, sensible women.
Some being is killing women, having sex with them and leaving them death. All signs points to an incubus, but they should be extinct.

Unfortunately, from the moment Aidan arrives on scene, Kiera McLoughlin, our heroine, is out of her league. She asks no questions, she suspects little, and I found that hard to accept. He breaks into her house, tells her he is a cop with an organization like the FBI, and that is that. He is secretly working on this serial killer case, as there have been more murders with this same MO. She believes him, and works together with him. Especially when her partner is the next victim and she is kicked of the case. Aidan keeps showing up in her house, during her investigation, everywhere.
I kept thinking, wake up Kiera, can’t you see you are under his spell/attraction? He might not be the one you are looking for, but he knows much more that he won’t tell you. She acted out of character, and she knew it, and still did not look harder inside herself what was happening to her. So, that part was really disappointing, that she was not as strong as I like my heroines.

There is totally no background on Aidan, you just get to know how he looks and makes love, and in the end, how he knows the killer and why he is the one hunting. Kiera’s background is only a little bit more explained. So getting to feel for the main characters did not happen to me.

Still, the hunt for the killer, the different paranormal creatures, that was well done. And if I won the second book, I would read it too ;)

6 stars



I won this book on a blog

© 2012 Reviews by Aurian