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Spaz & WLP Reviews: Blood Bound – Rachel Vincent

September 15, 2011 in Reviews

  • Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
  • List Price: $7.99
  • Publisher: Mira (August 23, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0778312550
  • ISBN-13: 978-0778312550
  • Rachel Vincent’s website
To purchase Blood Bound:

By blood, by word, by magic…Most can’t touch the power. But Liv Warren is special— a paranormal tracker who follows the scent of blood.Liv makes her own rules, and the most important one is trust no one.

But when her friend’s daughter goes missing, Liv has no choice but to find the girl. Thanks to a childhood oath, Liv can’t rest until the child is home safe. But that means trusting Cam Caballero, the former lover forbidden to her.

Bound by oath and lost in desire for a man she cannot have, Liv is racing to save the child from a dark criminal underworld where secrets, lies, trauma and danger lurk around every corner…every touch…every kiss.

And more blood will be spilled before it’s over…

WLP: I am a huge fan of Rachel Vincent’s Shifters series, so when I learned of Blood Bound, the first in her new Unbound series I said “heck yeah!”

Spaz: Huge fan of her Shifters series as well, and didn’t even have to read the blurb of Blood Bound or know what it was about to know that I would definitely be reading it. And YAY we got to read together!

WLP: There are a few things guaranteed with a Rachel Vincent book:

  1. She will mess with your mind
  2. Happy Ever Afters are not always a guarantee
  3. She writes one hell of a story

All three were present in Blood Bound, never mind the comic timing & the breakneck speed! Pam and I could hardly put the book down. I told Pam I was going to bed, I lied…I stayed up late reading. Couldn’t. Put. It. Down.

Spaz: You did, you little turd! But I kinda like it when you pull ahead of me because then I can drive you bananas sending you quotes to illustrate where I’m at, and not have to worry about spoiling it for you. Here are some more things guaranteed with a Rachel Vincent book:

  1. She will plot twist your face off
  2. The protagonist will be tortured by RV to crazy levels
  3. You’ll still be thinking about the book for at least a day at finish

Definitely all three of these were present as well. And the world building was so unique! I loved the Skills Ms. Vincent created for the characters in her world. The heroine Liv is a Tracker, or more colloquially, a bloodhound. The hero Cam is also a Tracker but whereas Liv is good with blood, he is good with names. Then there are Travelers (shadow-walkers), Readers (human truth detectors), Jammers, Binders, Seers, a world of very neat abilities – I cannot wait to learn more about them and all the secondary characters.

Nat, I also have to admit… I like the bad guy. Ms. Vincent really made me guiltily crush on him, no matter how horrible he is. And he’s horrible! Yet I crush! WHY??

WLP: I know! I liked & I felt guilty. WTF! But are you surprised? Ms. Vincent ALWAYS does this to us. She screws with your mind & makes you emotional.

For that very reason, we agreed on a rating after a two day debate. But it was so worth the rehashing of the story line again and again!

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Dark Passages – Kathryn Leigh Scott

September 14, 2011 in Reviews

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • List Price: $14.95
  • Publisher: Pomegranate Press (August 9, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0938817833
  • ISBN-13: 978-0938817833
Buy Dark Passages at:
Dark Passages is a coming-of-age story encapsulating the romance and innocence of JFK’s Camelot era and the tumultuous “dark passages” of Meg Harrison, a vampire raised by her mother to resist the temptation of human blood.
Meg arrives in New York determined not to use her vampiric gifts to fulfill her dream of becoming an actress.She joins the cast of the cult hit Dark Passages, only to face her nemesis, a beautiful 300-year-old witch bent on destroying her. Their rivalry leads to a final confrontation as the telekinetic vampire and spell-weaving sorceress engage in a spectacular battle for supremacy.

 

It takes all of Meg’s wit and tenacity to defeat the witch and win the affections of a handsome young mortal with a secret life of his own. In the end, Meg realizes that the powers she always denied within herself are not a curse, but a blessing.
Meg moves from her small town in Minnesota  to NYC and is determined to become an actress, but first she promises herself she will not use her vampire powers in anyway. She ends up taking a job as a Bunny at the Playboy Club, but keeps on auditioning until a part in a gothic soap opera comes up.
Little does she know, a witch who has a grudge with her family also have a part on the show. She will do anything to see Meg fail, even if that means killing her. Meg not only has to deal with her, but she has to deal with the drama at the Playboy Club and the drama amongst her fellow actors. She ends up realizing, she has to use her vampire gifts, or she won’t survive.

Dark Passages is one hell of a page turner! I was drawn in right from the start, more so because Meg is every single one of us put into an unfamiliar environment. She is a character that you can relate to! You have two choices, keep moving or tuck tail & run home. Thankfully, Meg is full of stronger stuff & sticks in out. Maybe it’s because she is a vampire? Yep, Meg isn’t exactly like us now is she?

There is more focus on how Meg struggles with her vampire powers in terms of “should I use them?” then on her being a vampire, which makes this novel all the more unique. I’m usually not a fan of anything “historical” but the way Ms. Scott has written the story flows so well, it didn’t make a difference at all.

There is also emotions, tons of emotions. Especially the scenes where Meg talks about her ex-boyfriend, and another part that features him that just about broke my heart. You feel it coming, but you hold out hope right down to the end.

And of course, I would be remiss not to mention Dark Shadows because of the similarities between the show and the fictional show in Dark Passages. If you are a fan of Dark Shadows, you’ll try to but the characters from the fictional show into characters from Dark Shadows. But if you haven’t ever watched the show, you’ll get an idea of what you are missing out on. The only difference, there were no real vampires in Dark Shadows…that we are aware of ;)

As a side note, Ms. Scott was indeed a Bunny at the Playboy Club!

I really enjoyed Dark Passages, but I can’t wait to get my hands on book two. The ending of Dark Passages will have you craving more, it was brilliant!

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WLP & Spaz & Seleste Review Bloodlines – Skyla Dawn Cameron

September 10, 2011 in Reviews

  • Paperback: 216 pages
  • List Price: $12.95
  • Publisher: Mundania Press LLC (April 19, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1594267111
  • ISBN-13: 978-1594267116
  • Skyla Dawn Cameron’s Website

Buy Bloodlines at:

After three hundred years of unlife, vampire Zara Lain has seemingly done it all, and she’s now making a living as a successful thief-turned-assassin. Her newest assignment seems simple enough–kill the aging leader of the O’Connor Coven and his only heir, and she’ll have another ten million in the bank.But in the dangerous world of the supernatural, few things are ever “simple.”

When a massive assault decimates the continent’s population of powerful witches and warlocks, and its orchestrator has vampires being hunted down and captured, Zara realizes the tables have turned and now she’ll be playing the hero. Forced to join with a smart-mouthed fellow vampire, a demonologist who’s also a fan of hers, a recently widowed–and frequently brooding–warlock, and her best friend’s mom, Zara’s grudgingly willing to do what she can to save the day.

If only people would stop ruining all her outfits…

SELESTE: I’ve wanted to read this book for a while. You see, Skyla gave me my first break in the industry by accepting a poem of mine into the Nothing But Red anthology. Then I got to know her and found out I liked her. Like really liked her. But that made me nervous about reading and reviewing her work. What if I didn’t like it? So I bought Bloodlines, figuring I’d get to it when I got to it and I’d only review it if I loved it (which is my normal mode of operations anyway). Then Nat was going to review it and I had to get on the ball since she reads crazy fast and I…don’t.

Anyway, I’m excited to say I was worried about nothing. I loved this book. It was just what I needed to get my reading mojo back.

SPAZ: Oh holy snap crackers! We are all THREE reviewing this? Fun! I promise to go easy on the quotes this round =) Nat told me I haaad to read this one, so I snatched it up and here we all are. Cozy. I know I’m a fan of Zara Lain, how bout y’all?

WLP: Holy hell in a handbasket. When Belinda of  Hanging With Bells told me there was snarky character, you know I was all over this sucker! Hello, a vampire with a snarky attitude & a love for clothing?! Poor Seleste, she’s never going to want to do a triple review with us ever again…..

SELESTE: Yeah, I’m new to this so go easy on me :P

Favorite Quotes:

SPAZ:

“We don’t…” She chewed the words around for a moment. “…speak of his name.”

“Why? Is it ‘Candyman’ or something?”

SELESTE & WLP:

“It’s great to be me…but that means right now it sucks to be you.”

God help me, I even thought it was sweet. Cute. Shit, I should stake myself before I got anymore twitterpated and embarrassed myself.

WLP: How can you NOT love a vampire with a clothing addiction to rival ours & who snarks like a mofo? You can’t. That’s how! Zara is awesome, but omfg the ending will kill you. KILL. I damn near went through the computer & throat chopped dear Ms. Cameron! Brilliant ending, but holy hell.

SELESTE: LOL I think I must be weird. I *loved* the ending. Absolutely loved it. I wanted to go through the computer and hug Skyla because it wasn’t a perfect wrapped up with a bow HEA. The ending of Bloodlines totally fit Zara and felt realistic (at least as realistic as urban fantasy can). One of my favorite bits was the explanation of vampirism. Rather than just relying on genre conventions, she made it something very different (at least to me) and not so out there that it didn’t “work” mentally with other vampire stories.

SPAZ: Definitely a fan of how Boodlines came to an end, as well. My most favorite part was how genuinely stunned Zara was that she had not been forgotten and left behind. That part really got to me. Also, how many times she is thwarted by the hero… I absolutely love her brave face, and could totally empathize with her when she got shut down continuously, but swallowed it and would not let the hurt show. And she just kept on getting in his face with her moves, too. Love her!

WLP: So we loved it. We really really did! That means, group rating time! There’s so much more to say, but we don’t want to give a single thing away. Trust us, all three of us loved it. That means you MUST buy it. ASAP. RUN. What the hell are you still doing here reading? GO!

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Mitch ARC Reviews: Erin Kellison’s Shadowman

September 5, 2011 in Reviews

 

Buy Shadowman at:

Ghosts

They haunt the halls of the Segue Institute, terrifying the living, refusing to cross over. But one soul is driven by a very different force.

Love

It survives even death. And Kathleen O’Brien swore she would return to those she was forced to leave too soon.

Shadowman

He broke every rule to have her in life; now he will defy the angels to find her in death.

The Gate

Forging it is his single hope of being reunited with his beloved, but through it an abomination enters the world. Leaving a trail of blood and violence, the devil hunts her too. Pursued through realms of bright fantasy and dark reality, Kathleen is about to be taken…

“I’ve searched the whole of your life for you. Been burned by divine light. Breached Hell even.” His shadows grumbled within him. “And now that I have you, I’m not letting go. Our time is just beginning.”

Pg. 155

Like all of my reviews, I am going to try to make this one as spoiler-free as possible, but in this case I am assuming you have read the previous books in the series. Otherwise, a few of my comments may spoil a few things from previous books for you.

Shadowman is the epic, impossible-love story that the Shadow Series has been building up to for the past two books. Shadowman is a dark fae lord, the Grim Reaper, to be precise. Decades before this story takes place, he fell in love with a mortal woman, Kathleen. He was drawn to her because as close as she was to death, she spent every day of her life fighting for her existence. So, he crossed the boundary between the fae lands of Twilight and the mortal realm to be with Kathleen, a joining that reintroduced magic into the world with some disastrous consequences.

Kathleen had a daughter by Shadowman, but her illness was too much for her to survive and she passed into the afterlife as her child was born. Shadowman, who as a generally capricious fae had never loved before, cannot give up his search for Kathleen in the afterlife. And Kathleen didn’t stop fighting either. In Shadowman, they are reunited, but he remains an immortal fae, and she a mortal woman near the end of her life’s thread. It seems that history is repeating itself, and again there is no way for their love to withstand fate.

I devoured this book. I could not put it down…but once I finished, I had to take time to digest or my review would’ve consisted of: “Wow! Oh My Gosh! Holy Cow! Awesomesauce!!!”

What I can now, intelligently say about Shadowman is that it is an excellent continuation in a series that introduces new magic, new challenges, and new realms of possibility with every book. Some authors will begin a series with three to five books that are relatively similar in what the characters can access and deal with, then around the forth-or-so book, they will introduce a new element that changes the game. Not so with Erin Kellison. Every book introduces a brand new challenge. New magic is revealed, but in a way that is so seamless that it seems obvious that it always existed in her world (instead of just coming along as a plot device, as can happen in some series).

I am a HUGE fan of Erin’s, and Shadowman did not disappoint. It is filled with nearly non-stop action from page one. I am not ashamed to admit I teared up a few times. If a book can make me so invested in the story and characters that I start to cry, it’s a great book. However, Shadowman took it a step beyond that. Usually, if I’m crying during a book, it’s because it seems like someone is dying, or giving up everything they want for someone else, at the end of the book. I was only about half-way through Shadowman the first time I got teary. And it wasn’t because someone was dying, it was because someone had said something so incredibly, heart-achingly sweet.

There are tons of quotes I could give you from this book, but they would lose their power outside of the context of the book, so I’ll leave them for you to discover on your own.

Erin has a wonderful, fresh, and unique voice. I have not seen her story ideas from anyone else, even though she uses fae, which are not unheard of in paranormal or fantasy romance. All of her plot elements are her own, and HOLY COW! (Okay, sorry, but at least one was going to slip out in this review.) Shadowman has so many twists that as soon as I thought I knew what would happen, something else came along and changed the game. I LOVE not being able to guess where a book is going! Since it’s a romance, I knew to expect a HEA, but I could not for the life of me figure out how it would happen. It’s a credit to Erin’s fresh and creative writing that she was able to keep me guessing through the final few pages.

“A mortal can summon a devil at the crossroads to make a deal, usually to sell his soul”

A deal with the devil? “And the crossroads are in Jersey?”

Pg. 334

Another thing I love about Erin’s writing is her voice. Without being over flowery, she can still give incredibly poetic images and metaphors. There is a scene in Shadowman within a desolate winter Twilight that made my heart ache with its symbolism.

People who don’t think romance can be a high form of literature need to read Erin Kellison. She reminds me a bit of Marjorie M. Liu in her poetic imagery. I could picture everything in this book. Even more, I could feel everything in this book!

So, while I could go on gushing forever about Erin Kellsion and Shadowman, here’s the rundown…

What I Liked:

  • Erin has definitely grown with each book, and continues to take huge and fantastic steps forward with this third book in the series.
  • The plot kept me guessing. Every time I started to think I had it, something came along and made me rethink all of my ideas.
  • This love story is EPIC! Even after death, Kathleen returns to find Shadowman and her daughter, Talia.
  • Custo. I love Custo! He plays a sizeable part in this book, as do Adam and Talia Thorne, and it’s good to see them again after their books. (In fact, I wouldn’t mind another book, or at least short story, on Custo and what he’s up to now…*hint* *hint* *Erin* *HINT!*

What I Didn’t Like:

  • There was nothing about this book that I didn’t like. It totally hit all spots for me, and I can’t wait for more from Erin!

I give Shadowman five out of five stars, with Awesomesauce poured on top, since Nat doesn’t have a graphic for anything more amazing than five stars.

Shadow Series:

  1. Shadow Bound
  2. Shadow Fall
  3. Shadowman

*Shadow Touch – a spinoff series

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Mitch Reviews: Eve Silver’s Trinity Blue (eBook edition)

September 3, 2011 in Reviews

  • Format: Digital Edition
  • List Price: $ .99
  • File Size: 125 KB
  • Publisher: Smashworlds (April 14, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B004WOXF9I
  • Eve Silver’s Website

Buy Trinity Blue at:

A demon in the shadows… Daemon Alexander is host to a dark trinity that must hunt and feed.

A dead body in the woods… Jen Cassaday might have just hired the killer, oh-so-seductive handyman, Daemon.

As Jen draws closer to a man she cannot resist, her deepest desires war with his dark secrets.

Trinity Blue first appeared in the Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance. I read the eBook version, which was revised and lengthened from the version appearing in the anthology. While Trinity Blue is a stand-alone mini-novella, it is loosely related to the world where the Compact of Sorcerers books are set.

Admittedly, I have yet to read the two Compact of Sorcerers books (Demon’s Kiss and Demon’s Hunger), but I am adding them to my TBR mountain after reading Trinity Blue.

I did enjoy Trinity Blue, but it was so short (only 58 pages)! I have grown to expect almost painfully short stories from the Mammoth anthologies, but I had hoped this story would have been expended more than it was for the eBook edition.

I was intrigued by the premise, and I thought the romance developed well between Daemon and Jen (especially in such a short amount of time), but I felt like I had too many questions remaining in my mind at the end.

I’ll give an example in as spoiler-free of a way as possible…

There’s a short prologue where Daemon says he can save a woman’s life by making her immortal. Later in the story, he says he doesn’t know much about his powers. So…how did he know how to (or even that he could) make someone immortal? I think this bothers me because the powers are not only an important part of the plot, they’re the basis for the title.

Overall, I guess my biggest problem with this story is that it’s not a full-length novel. Hopefully reading the other two books in the Compact of Sorcerers series will answer a few questions for me. They should at least help to clear up the heroine’s back-story, since she is a sorcerer.

So, while Trinity Blue was very well written for a short story, there just wasn’t enough for me in the expansion. Still, the story was compelling to me. I would love to see it continued some day. I give it 3 stars out of five.

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