Recommendations from Peggy for January 2014.

In order to bring some more variety to my blog, I have asked some of my bookish friends to tell about the books they have in the past month, and to give us a recommendation. Today’s post is made by January 2014.

Peggy:

I have read 12 books in the past month, and the 3 books I enjoyed the most are:

1. The gathering – Kelley Armstrong



2. The heart of Christmas – Mary Balogh, Nicola Cornick, Courtney Milan



3. The statistical probability of love at first sight – Jennifer E. Smith



The one I can recommend to all Aurian’s readers is:

Kelley Armstrong – The gathering



On the heels of the wildly popular "The Darkest Powers" series comes the first in another supernatural YA trilogy from New York Times bestelling author Kelley Armstrong.

Maya lives in a small medical-research town on Vancouver Island. How small? You can't find it on the map. It has less than two-hundred people, and her school has only sixty-eight students - for every grade from kindergarten to twelve. Now, strange things are happening in this claustrophobic town, and Maya's determined to get to the bottom of them. First, the captain of the swim team drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. A year later, mountain lions start appearing around Maya's home, and they won't go away. Her best friend, Daniel, starts getting negative vibes from certain people and things. It doesn't help that the new bad boy in town, Rafe, has a dangerous secret - and he's interested in one special part of Maya's anatomy: Her paw-print birthmark.


First, I want to wish everyone a wonderful 2014! I hope you all have a great year full of love and fantastic books.

Now my review, a friend of mine was really excited about the Darkness Rising series from Kelley Armstrong. So I decided to read this trilogy in my Christmas holiday. I read her Darkness Powers series a few years back and I really liked it. So I was really looking forward to her new trilogy and I wasn’t disappointed!

This series is about a sixteen-year-old girl, Maya. She is adopted and lives with her parents in a small town on Vancouver Island. In that town there is a medical-research center. Everything is going well for Maya and her friends, until a friend of her drowns in a lake. Everyone thinks it’s an accident. But is it an accident?

When a woman start asking questions in her town, Maya first thinks this is another journalist who wants to know more about the medical-research center (this happends a lot) but this woman is more interested in the children who lives there then in the medical-research center. That is something new and strange. Does it have anything to do with the talents that some children have, like Maya’s talent of healing animals or her best friend’s talent for ‘feeling’ out people and situations? Then the woman is found dead and now Maya is looking for answers. Luckily, she isn’t alone in this. She has help from her friends and the new bad boy from school (who makes her feel…a lot of things). But what do you do when you discovered that you aren’t so normal as you thought? That you and your friends have supernatural powers?
The more they find out, the more dangerous it becomes.

I really liked this series. There was never a dull moment in it. You get to know more about the supernatural world and the supernaturals.
I hope that Kelley Armstrong will write more books about this world. I really want to read more about this supernatural world.


Aurian: Thanks for the recommendation Peggy! I have not yet read a book by Kelley Armstrong, but I sure want to. I do have this trilogy on my shelves.

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian

Patricia Briggs – The Hob’s Bargain

A stand alone novel, published March 1, 2001.
Genre: fantasy
Cover: nice, but the Aren in the book wears trousers and boots, boy’s clothes.



Beauty and the Beast.
Hated and feared, magic was banished from the land. But now, freed from the spells of the wicked bloodmages, magic -- both good and evil -- returns. And Aren of Fallbrook feels her own power of Sight strengthen and grow...
Overcome by vision of mayhem and murder, Aren vows to save her village from the ruthless raiders who have descended upon it -- and killed her family. With the return of wildlings to the hills and forests, she strikes a bargain with the Hob, a magical, humanlike creature imbued with the power of the mountains. But the Hob is the last of his kind. And he will exact a heavy price to defend the village -- a price Aren herself must pay...


A long time ago, a powerful blood mage bound the natural earth magic with dark rites. The earth spirits and other creatures were slowly taking over the land, killing the humans who lived there and tried to make a living out of it. Ever since, the blood mage’s are the most powerful ones around, and they are highly priced by the kings they work for. When natural magic occurs in a human, he or she will have to die. The One God does not trust magic or magic users. A boy has a second choice though; he can become an apprentice to the blood mages, and turn evil, and insane like they all do.
And so, the old ways of the land have been forgotten, and magic is feared by all. Unfortunately for Aren and her family, magic runs high in their blood. It has already killed her brother, when a blood mage spotted him, and she has been hiding her own magic ever since.

But now, something very bad has happened, and the earth magic is set free once again. But not without a price: earthquakes and even the mountains themselves are toppling, blocking the known passages to other villages for those living in the remote village of Fallbrook. And just now that there is a large band of raiders in the area.
Aren has just lost her whole family and her husband of one day to their violence, and she does not know what to do with the visions that plague her. A lot of the villagers want her dead for her forbidden magic, but what she sees, might just save some of their lives. Aren is determined to stay alive and to extract some revenge on the raiders. She will seize being the dutiful woman her father wanted to be, she is free now. Free to dress in the clothes of her little brother-in-law, and to take up arms. But raiders are not all the danger the villagers are facing: the ancient creatures of the land are waking up again, and attacking. They will need help if they want to survive …

There are only two trained warriors in the village, the one armed Kith, a berserker created by Lord’s blood mage, and Wandel, who is more than the simple troubadour he is supposed to be. Aren is not afraid of Kith, she grew up with him, and she knows he will never harm her. But Kith knows he is living on borrowed time, as a one armed men he is useless to his Lord, and he will die in the spring. Their Lord may have died, but he is still not free of the blood mage, so he has to have survived the massacre …

Aren knows where to go for help. When she, Kith and Wandel went to find out what happened to the people in the village on the other side of the Hob’s mountain, she was attacked by one creature and saved by another. If she was saved by the Hob, perhaps he will help them again. The Hob agrees, but as he is the last of his species, he asks a high price for his help … but Aren and the city Elders agree to his bargain.
First though, he starts to teach Aren what she is, and how to control her powers, not to be a victim of random visions, but to control what she sees. And how to control the ghosts and spirits now roaming the land.


I am a big fan of Patricia Briggs’ urban fantasy werewolves, so when I came across this book, I had to snatch it up. And I certainly was not disappointed by it. The only thing I am sorry about, is that this is a stand alone novel, I would not mind reading about what happens next with Aren and her Hob. And what happens to the village now the magical creatures are once again set loose upon the land.

I quickly became invested in Aren, she lost everything in one day, her family and her husband of one day. The raiders almost got her as well, but she was in the cellar when they attacked her house and destroyed it, locking her accidentally in. She tried to warn the village Elders about what had happened, what she had seen in the visions that suddenly plagued her, and then she went back and grieved; a victim of even more visions. But after a few days, she got up, and took charge of her live again. Dressing in practical boy’s clothes, riding her husband’s horse and taking up arms. A lot of villagers are afraid of her, but that does not stop her from protecting them as best as she can, and even to sacrifice herself to the Hob.

I liked how she discovered her powers and all the different creepy creatures out there, some creatures I have learned about before in fairy tales, some are totally new. How there are Elementals awake again, and how the villagers will have to revert to their ancient ways, or their efforts will be for naught.
Aren does have some friends though, most of the Elders are grateful for her help and her warnings, and Kith is behind her as well. But it is the Hob that completely fascinates me. He has been asleep for so long, and now he is alive again, and doing the mountain’s bidding. He sees more than the villagers do, and after all that killing, he will reconcile the raiders and the villagers.

I enjoyed this book more than I expected to, and I will certainly re-read it someday.

8 stars.

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian

Ellery Adams – Pecan Pies and Homicides

The third book in the Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery series, published January 7, 2014.
Genre: paranormal cozy mystery with recipes
Cover: stunning.



Her Charmed Pie Shoppe is open for business, but baker Ella Mae LeFaye is about to discover solving a murder is not as easy as pie…
Owning the Charmed Pie Shoppe and serving enchanted treats in the magical town of Havenwood, Georgia, seemed like a little slice of heaven for Ella Mae LeFaye. But now her hopes for both a lasting romance with Hugh Dylan and business success are starting to seem like pie in the sky, and Ella's left wondering: Where has the magic gone?
When an enchanted grove is set ablaze, Ella realizes she has more grave problems. With her magic waning, she's going to have to sleuth from scratch to stop an arsonist who has no respect for sacred ground—or human life…


Ella Mae Le Faye is grieving for her mother, who is now the Lady of the Ash, and securing their continuing magic for all the warlocks and witches in the village. She is determined to get her back, and her best friend Suzy is helping her with her research. Ella Mae hasn’t been in the mood to use magic lately, the price has just been too high. But her pie shoppe is suffering from it, and it is time she snapped out of it before she looses her business.
So when a cold and lonely older man enters her shop, she is determined to make him happier. Concentrating hard on her own happy memories of a warm summer day, she infuses her pies with the magic of her memories. And it works, the people in the shop are talking with each other, and laughing and making plans. It just feels good and right for Ella Mae to use her magic again.

When she learns of the dreadful news that the sacred grove of a village called Oak Knoll in Tennessee has been burned, including their Lady of the Ash, she is horrified! Who would do such a thing? And when Suzy tells her, she has a lead on a book that will aid their research, she is determined to get her hands on it. Even if she has to crash the party thrown by her family’s enemies, the Gaynors, for some of the richer refugees from Oak Knoll. She should have been invited anyway, as she is the daughter of the Lady of the Ash, and as such has the highest standing in their magical society.

Opal and Loralyn Gaynor are not happy with her presence, especially as Opal is busy wooing a rich man in a wheal chair, who is thinking of relocating his business to Havenwood. Ella likes his young and beautiful wife, Eira, but Robert Morgan treats his wife like a little child, never letting her answer questions herself, and sending her on errands on his behalf. While Ella is chatting with Opal, Suzy manages to get the book they are after from Loralyn, who is really nice to. Suzy doesn’t get the feud between Ella Mae and Loralyn and their families, and thinks they both just should be nice to each other.

Ella promises Eira to show her to their Grove the next morning, so she can pay her respects to their Lady of the Ash, but when Ella, her aunts and Reba arrive at the Grove, they find Eira’s dead body at the portal. Who could have killed her? She would never walk through the woods without a coat and shoes in this brutal cold. Ella is devastated that this is happening. Did they invite a murderer to stay in their town along with an arsonist? She is determined to find out who is behind it, just as determined to free her mother from the tree.

And then there is Hugh, her boyfriend. Ella Mae has been in love with him for ever, but there is something strange about him. She cannot tell him about being a witch though, that is forbidden and would cost her her magic. She doesn’t like to keep secrets from him or lie to him, but she has no other choice. Especially when she starts to suspect he may be a water elemental. It would explain the burning sensations when they kiss unless they are both soaking wet … Hugh is a fire fighter, and he runs the local doggy day care center, Canine to five, where Ella Mae brings her sweet little doggie Chewie every day.

With the help of Reba, her friend Suzy and her new friends from Oak Knoll Aiden and Jenny, Ella Mae will find out the truth…


I am so in love with this series, it makes me very sad that I have already finished the book and have to wait so long for the next one. This is a series you will have to read in order.

I do love Ella Mae who did not know about her own magic until she returned to Havenwood when she caught her husband cheating on her. She is finally divorced now, and free to pursue a relationship with Hugh. But first, she wants to get her mother back. They were just building a bond together when Adelaide sacrificed herself to the Ash tree to secure their magic. It gives Ella Mae and her family a lot of prestige and good will, but she is totally not interested in that, she just wants her mother.

There are suspects galore who might have wanted to kill Eira, as she was not the frail innocent thing she looked after all. I disliked her cold and calculating husband from the start, and was inclined to put the blame for everything on him. But the real murderer and arsonist took me completely by surprise, I did not see that coming, and neither did Ella Mae.

I love the feisty Reba, who looks after Ella Mae like some kind of bodyguard. She is always on the lookout for danger and hot men.

Of course I am not telling very much about the story, you really should find out for yourself. I recommend it to all lovers of paranormal cozy mysteries, and am impatiently waiting for the next book already.

10 stars.

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian

Karen Chance – Tempt the Stars

The sixth book in the Cassie Palmer series, published October 1, 2013.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: nice



Being a goddess is a lot less fun than you might think. Especially when you're only a half goddess, and you only found out about it recently, and you still don't know what you're doing half the time. And when you've just used your not-so-reliable powers to burglarize the booby-trapped office of a vampire mob boss.
Yeah, that part sucks.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg for Cassandra Palmer, aka the Pythia, the freshly minted chief seer of the supernatural world. After all, Cassie still has to save a friend from a fate worse than death, deal with an increasingly possessive master vampire, and prevent a party of her own acolytes from unleashing a storm of fury upon the world. Totally just your average day at the office, right?


I have no idea how to write a coherent review about this book. It is so incredibly action filled, Cassie has no time to catch her breath, eat or sleep before the next disaster is happening. Pritkin saved her life in the previous book, and as a result of that, his demon father took him back to hell with him. Now Cassie is searching the past to find her mother, so she can tell her how to get him out of hell again, and how to fight demons in the process. And so she and Jonas find themselves back in the house Cassie grew up in, with Tony the vampire and his plethora of ghosts. Cassie did not count on running into Mircea and Marlowe though, and it are the ghosts that save them from being discovered, thanks to Billy and her childhood ghostly friend Laura.

Back in her Las Vegas hotel room, Cassie just wants some food but some witches have broken into her suite, and one of her bodyguards is anxious to serve them food and drink and snatches Cassie’s right out of her hands. Cassie has had enough, and refuses to deal with them at the moment, and so she shifts right out again. Hiding in Pritkin’s old room. What she doesn’t know, is that she shifts back in time in her sleep again, and meets Pritkin again. Of course he is her best bet to get to her parents, as they are supposedly guarded by demons. Fighting their way into their house is not easy, but she manages and has a very strange conversation with her father. Who is apparently not such a black mage as his reputation tells her. And her mother, the goddess Artemis, seems to have her own hidden agenda and uses Cassie to get her point through at the demon’s council. But first, Cassie will have to get into hell, and safe Pritkin. If he wants to be saved, that is.

And so, bouncing back from time to time, trying to save her loved ones and the world itself, there is no rest for Cassie. But more and more of her past is revealed and what the mages and vampires have been hiding from her. The witches are not her enemies, but they are the mages’ enemies. And apparently, Cassie has a Court with apprentices and novices, who need her. But when she knows nothing about being a Pythia, how can she help them?

And why is Mircea avoiding her? Of course he is busy with his work for the Vampire Council, but he could have at least talked to her on the phone. He did have time to check up on her through Marco …


This book/series is so packed full of action, it keeps getting more and more difficult to keep track of all the different plots and conspiracies and characters. You sure need to be focuses on your reading. Of course all the action makes you want to find out what happens next, but frankly, this series is kind of exhausting to read.
Sure, it is fun and entertaining and always surprising and original. But Cassie needs a break. Some quiet time to sort out her life and her love life, and learn about her powers and responsibilities as a Pythia. She is fighting gods who want to come back to Earth and use it as their playground again. Cassie needs all the help she can get, even if it is from the demons her mother used to hunt.

8 stars.

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian

Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts – Mistress of the Empire

The third book in the Riftwar : The World On the Other Side series, published in 1989.
Genre: high fantasy
Cover: old fashioned
Warning: I have read this book in Dutch, so the names are probably different.



Following "Daughter of the Empire" and "Servant of the Empire", this novel brings the trilogy to a finish. Now Mara faces not only the brotherhood of assassins, and the spies of the rival ruling houses, but the Assembly of Magicians, who see her as the ultimate threat to their ancient power.


Three years have passed since Mara of the Acoma defeated the Minwanabi, and gained their beautiful estate. Life is good for her and her husband, Hokanu of the Shinzawai. She has forsaken the Game of the Council, and is content running her family and her business, making the Acoma wealthy and powerful again.
But all is not well of course; a lot of the Lords are apposing the Emperor’s new rule and his change to a more humane society. And that means that Mara’s enemies are not resting either, as she is one of the major powers behind his throne. She is immensely popular with the common people, as she is a Servant of the Empire, and there hasn’t been one for a very long time.

The bad day comes when Mara’s oldest son Ajiki is killed by a Tong assassin. The assassin is caught and slaughtered by her guards, but that is too late to safe Ajiki. Mara is heartbroken, and when she thinks Jiro of the Anasati is behind it, she cannot control her anuish when she sees him at the cremation rites. She bodily attacks him, and Jiro calls for blood revenge. But when both armies are on the verge of battle, the Assembly of Magicians interferes. They forbid any armed conflict between the Acoma, the Anasati and the Shinzawai, so Hokanu cannot act on behalf of Mara either.

Mara is very angry with the Assembly, and asks her spy master Arakasi to research them and find a way to infiltrate in their ranks. But this proves to be pointless.

Another assassination attempt on Mara almost succeeds, she loses her unborn child, and almost dies. It takes Hokanu almost giving up his life when he goes with Arakasi in search of the antidote, and Hokunu is intercepted by Anasati murderers on the way back.
When Mara finally is well again, she gives Arakasi a new job, to find the head quarters of the Tong Hamoi, and steal their records. It will destroy the Tong, and they will know who is behind those attempts on their life. For months Arakasi is searching for a small clue to give him the whereabouts of the Tong headquarters, and in the process, he falls in love with a concubine. It changes him, and he fears for himself now that he has finally something to lose. Of course his devotion to Mara is absolute, but perhaps there is more to life than he ever believed there to be.

When Mara gets some unexpected information from the Queen of the Cho-Ja on her ancestral lands, she embarks on a dangerous journey to unearth the information the Assembly has been hiding for millennia. She will come back and confront them to give up their superiority and take responsibility for their actions, they don’t deserve to be outside of the law anymore with the way they look down on human life and suffering. The journey is hard and Mara learns firsthand what it means to be a lowly slave, but she perseveres and with the help of her faithful battle leader Lujan, she succeeds.

But when she finally makes it back home, the Emperor has been murdered, and her biggest enemy Jiro intends to seize the throne for himself by marrying the oldest daughter of the former Emperor, who is only 12 years old…

A race against the clock and throughout a country ready for a civil war erupts. With the Assembly against her, intend on killing her before she can reach the capital, Mara will need all her cunning and knowledge to reach the Palace in time to safe her last two children … and the Empire itself …


I so love this series. It is very old, but also timeless. I love the Japanese like settings, the strange new worlds we are introduced to in this book, and especially the parts with the Cho-Ja. I just imagine some human sized ants or something like that.

If you like fantasy, you really should read this series. The worldbuilding is amazing, and the main characters are very real. I do imagine the original English is much better than the translation. Perhaps next time I will read this in English and see for myself. The combined powers of Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts make this a series to fall in love with. They still play with my emotions, even after having read this series at least a dozen times over the years.

Awesome, amazing, captivating.

10 stars.

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian

Rachel Caine – Feast of Fools

The fourth book in the Morganville Vampires series, published June 3, 2008.
Genre: YA urban fantasy
Cover: I have no idea if this is Shane or Michael



In the college town of Morganville, vampires and humans have learned to live in relative peace. Still, students like Claire Danvers know that after dark, studying can take a back-seat to staying alive. But the tenuous good-neighbor policy is really turned on its head with the arrival of Mr. Bishop,
Bad to the bone, the ancient, old-school vampire cares nothing about harmony. Staying at the top of the food chain is enough. What he wants from the town's living and its dead is unthinkably sinister. It's only at a formal ball, attended by vampires and their human dates, that Claire realizes Bishop’s plan – and the elaborately evil trap he's set for the warm-blooded souls of Morganville…


The previous book ended with a surprise visit from Claire’s parents, who have apparently moved to Morganville without her knowing, and with their companion, Mr. Bishop, who is Amelie’s father …

Mr. Bishop and his two nasty companions treat Claire and her friends as their servants when they demand breakfast while waiting for Amelie to show up. But Claire’s calls to her go straight to voicemail, and desperately, they finally decide to call Olivier. When he hears who is visiting, he gets scared and promises to find Amelie and come as soon as possible. When one of the most powerful vampires in town gets scared, they better obey their orders as good as possible. Neither of them is very good at cooking, and Claire’s parents are under some kind of vampiric mind control. Michael is too young a vampire to be of much help either, as he is severely outclassed, and he knows it. Worse off is Shane though, as the female vamp has her eyes set on him …

Amelie and Olivier manage to get them out of their house, but won’t tell where they will be staying. Claire can only hope that they won’t be staying in the same Founders House as her parents. And she refuses to go live with them too, she will stay in the Glass House with her friends.

Bishop certainly stirs things up in the village, and Amelie is throwing a huge masquerade ball for him to welcome him. Vampires are taking one human being with them to the ball, and of course Eve wants to go with Michael, and is hurt badly when he chooses Monica off all people. Of course he is not allowed to tell her she should be very happy with this …

Meanwhile, Claire still has to go to classes as the university and together with the Doctor she is working on improving Myrnin’s medication. But when Myrnin finds out about Bishop, he wants out of his prison cell, Amelie will need him at her side!


This series keeps shocking and surprising me with its twists and turns, and the cliffhangers at the end. Of course I do have the whole series, so that is not much of a problem. Even though it is quite a thin book, it took me a surprising amount of time to read it, as it is filled with a great story that you have to keep your concentration on so you don’t miss anything important.

I love all the main characters, and I can never guess what will happen next. I completely understand why this series is so popular. Reading the next book soon, that is for sure!

9 stars.

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian

Julie Hyzy – Fonduing Fathers

The sixth book in the White House Chef Mystery series, published December 31, 2012.
Genre: cozy mystery with recipes
Cover: tasty!



White House executive chef Olivia Paras has enough on her plate. But after gaining new information about her father's death, the First Family isn't the only family Olivia is concerned about...
Olivia has always believed that her father was an honorable man - until a trip to visit her mother reveals that he was dishonorably discharged from the army. Olivia is even more shocked to learn that he was brutally murdered because someone at his company suspected him of selling corporate secrets. Refusing to believe that her father was a scoundrel, Olivia won't rest until she proves his innocence.
Enlisting the help of her boyfriend, Gav, Olivia must reach out to her father's colleagues to discover the truth behind his murder. What she's about to discover may not only put her at risk, but threaten national security as well...


Olivia has never known her father very well, as he died when she was just a little girl, but she knows he died a hero. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery after all. But her mother never wanted to tell her what really happened. This time Ollie has taken a short vacation from the White House, and is taking her boyfriend (manfriend) Gavin to meet her mother and grandmother, and she is determined to find out the truth this time.
When her mother reluctantly tells her what has happened, that her father was dishonorably discharged, and started working for a company selling food supplements, when he was murdered, she is devastated. Her father’s boss also accused him of corporate theft, of selling the company’s secrets to outsiders. Ollie refuses to believe it, and with Gav’s help, she is determined to find out the truth.
Little does she know what kind of trouble she will stir up.

Meanwhile back home, she is needed at the White House a lot for someone who is supposed to be on vacation. Little Josh wants to go with her to the Food Expo, and the Secret Service needs her to be disguised. And later Josh wants her help in making some love cheese fondue, when the Family’s personal chef refuses. Ollie has fun with Josh, but even at the Food Expo they run into trouble, and in her father’s old company …


This is the first time that Ollie is deliberately investigating something, instead of just falling into the middle of a plot. Despite many warnings and admonishments to give up her quest, she keeps going on, she needs to know the truth about what happened. With help from Gavin and one of his spy friends, she manages to unearth the truth and straight into lethal danger for herself and others.

Through it all there are some goings on at the White House as well, where a new Chief Usher needs to be appointed. The acting one is really not cut out for the job, even as he wants Ollie to endorse him. Which she is not going to do, as she does not want him to get the job. But when the new Chief Usher is made known, she sure is surprised!

It was an action packed story, and I loved it very much. The relationship between Ollie and Gavin is improving, and I enjoyed those parts. The White House really needs her Chef, even when she is off duty. The interaction with Josh is fun as well, Ollie is discovering some maternal genes she did not think she had. This does not mean she is ready to settle down though, she has worked very hard for where she is now. And Gavin will be getting dangerous assignments as well.

The mystery, well, I did see some things coming about her father, but the truth was a very big surprise. And a good one. The next book has been published this week, and I hope to read it soon. Of course the bad thing is, I will then have to wait a whole year for the book after that one, just like everyone else.

9 stars.

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian