Jason, the spymaster, was the focus of this book in the Guild Hunter series. What a tough childhood Jason endured, a childhood that molded his adult life. Distancing himself from people and the rest of the world, I couldn’t help but feel for him and his self-imposed aloneness. Enter Mahiya, a beautiful princess who also has endured pain and loneliness, but has fought to remain true to her spirit instead of becoming jaded. I loved their journey together, how they found the courage to trust each other, and as a result, make each other happy. The ending was beautiful.
Raphael’s seven are such an amazing group of broken men. I can’t help but enjoy their stories and hope they all find their happily-ever-after.
I love the world Ms. Vaughan has created. The scenes with Lara teaching Keir about chess and how it spreads throughout the camp and grows into a massive chess tournament are hysterical! I really got a kick out of those scenes.
Keir still knocks my socks off. He is one sexy and sometimes very stubborn man who loves Lara completely. And Lara is an amazing heroine, amazing not because she’s a warrior or tough (she’s actually pretty weak compared to the other women), but because of her dedication to her craft.
I was saddened that some of the characters didn’t make it, especially since I enjoyed them so much. And I’ve decided that I truly hate Iften! But Lara’s curse on Iften’s manhood is truly one of the best curses I’ve ever heard, and I’m looking forward to when he finally gets what he deserves.
This good is a good continuation to WARPRIZE and the way it ended ensures that I’ll read WARLORD.
DARK LOVER was a good, solid read. I loved the relationship between Beth and Wrath and enjoyed the banter and camaraderie among the brothers. The world-building was strong and inventive. I thought the internal monologs inside the characters’ heads were really funny at times.
What dropped DARK LOVER to a 4 star read for me are personal reasons. I had a hard time connecting with Butch at first. As a once upon a time cop who still works for the department, his disregard for police protocol really bothered me, regardless of the tragedies in his life. I know that makes no sense, right? Here’s a book about vampires and I’m totally accepting of that premise, but a bad cop bothers me! Go figure. However, I did warm up to Butch once he met up with the brothers. (Actually, I really enjoyed how he fit in with the brothers).
I also had a hard time with the way Wrath treated Marissa for all those years, but maybe there’s hope for her yet?
DARK LOVER is a high-quality paranormal romance and I’m glad I had the opportunity to read it. I will read more from this author.
Wow! What incredible world-building! Through Ms. Bishop’s fantastic imagination, she created something completely different, intriguing, and even confusing at times. DAUGHTER of the BLOOD is a fascinating tale about a young girl learning her magic while navigating through the perils of those who would use her just for her power.
In my haste to learn about the heroine, I also read HEIR to the SHADOWS (4 stars), and QUEEN of the DARKNESS (5 stars) and must admit that I cried more than once throughout the story. For an author to absorb me into her world with such intensity that she had me crying, well, that’s pretty incredible. Although some scenes may be tough to read because of the violence and subject matter, the overall power of these books make it an unforgettable and beautiful story.
I decided to give this epic fantasy a go after reading some reviews about it and I’m so glad I did. The opening scene sucked me right into the story. I just love books that hook me within the first few pages, better still if within the first few sentences just like WARPRIZE.
Lara is an amazing female protagonist. She has an internal strength and devotion to her craft as a healer that makes her very courageous even though she’s not a warrior. I loved her passion and voice. Keir, the Warlord, wasn’t as clearly depicted for me, maybe because Ms. Vaughan wrote in the heroine’s POV only. Although I still got a good picture of him, I would’ve liked to know what he was thinking during some scenes. I also would’ve liked a little more action in the bedroom, but those nit-picky sentiments didn’t prevent me from enjoying the book.
Ms. Vaughan’s writing style kind of reminds me of Jean Auel and her CLAN of the CAVE BEAR series in that Ms Vaughan is very descriptive in her world building, yet not to the point of dragging out a scene.
I look forward to reading the next in the series, WARSWORN.
CONSUMED wasn’t my favorite in the Dark Protector series. I had a hard time connecting with the main characters, Katie and Jordan, who are cougar shifters. (I think I might have a problem with shifters as the driving characters in a story. However, I need to analyze this revelation further by reading more shifter books before I come to a definite conclusion, and that’s a different story).
But with that said, I still really enjoyed this book. Ms. Zanetti has introduced several characters in the Dark Protectors series and she excels by including tidbits about them throughout her books. She doesn’t completely abandon them after telling their story, but continues their storylines as she releases new books. So, even though my favorite characters were secondary in CONSUMED, I got to see how they were doing and learn how they’ve fared. (I’m so impressed she can illustrate their different personalities and weave their information throughout the main story). And because she included them in CONSUMED, I’m totally stoked about PROVOKED. Just hold on Jase, your brothers will save you! I know they will!
The first word that comes to mind about this series and SHADOWFEVER is, WOW! What a fantastic story! Usually, I get bored with a series as long as this one, I mean five books is a huge undertaking to the keep characters and storyline interesting. These books, however, were just the opposite—the more I read, the more I couldn’t stop. This series became my addiction, one book blurring into the next until I didn’t even know what book I was reading. To have a series consume me in such a way is incredible, and a little embarrassing to admit.
Although I loved the ending, I’m now at a loss because I’ll miss Mac and Barrons so much—too much. Very well done, Ms. Moning. Thank you.
This was a very hard review for me. I only review books I like and I initially stopped reading TAKEN. Why? Was it because the book was too dark? No, as an ex-cop, I’ve seen what real demons look like in our world. I stopped reading because Ms. Raymond is a very unconventional writer and her technique threw me completely out of sorts.
Every type of writing has a style and within those styles there are certain “rules” the writer is supposed to live by. Well, Ms Raymond has a writing style all her own and doesn’t care about the rules! She loves to change point of views, not just once or twice, but several times. You’ll be reading from one person’s POV at the beginning of a paragraph only to end the paragraph from a different POV. If I remember right, we even had an omniscient POV a few times. And she’s an equal POV opportunist—it doesn’t matter if we only see the character once in the book because chances are, for a few short lines, we get to read from that incidental character’s POV. Now, I’ve said this before, I don’t mind head-hopping (and truth be told, I tend to enjoy it) if it’s done well. Because Ms. Raymond jumps from one person to the next so regularly, I sometimes had a hard time knowing whose head I was in until the end of the paragraph and that was frustrating.
This book also had format errors, misspellings, and typos to add into the mix of why I initially put it down. So, what made me pick it up again? Because Ms. Raymond did something writers dream of doing and what good writers accomplish—she made me care. After I shelved the book, I spent the entire day wondering about Alliana, the poor gypsy girl married to the soulless demon, Mikhal. I wondered what new torture he’d inflict on her as she stood proud before him, refusing to back down. I longed to see a little bit of compassion in his eyes as his journey to redemption begins. Ms. Raymond made me care about these characters and that is great storytelling.
If you decide to read this book, you must understand a few things first: you will be jumping from not one or two, but several POVs. This book also is not for the faint of heart because as a demon, Mikhal truly is a heartless, cruel bastard. There is a lot of introspection at times which slows down the action. And finally, the ending just stops practically in mid sentence, there is no conclusion. You will be left hanging! If these attributes are going to bother you, then you might not enjoy the book. But if you remain vigilant, you might just surprise yourself and discover that you too care about the sweet, smart, and strong Alliana and the demon whose soul she’ll save, whether he wants her to or not.
Now excuse me while I go read TORN, the second in the series.
SHADOWS of the SOUL started off like gang busters for me. Ms. Armae does an excellent job of drawing the reader into her world. I loved her description (the rain didn’t just fall on the heroine, the rain assailed her). Words such as assailed are great descriptive words that create such a terrific reading environment for me.
SOUL was written in first person and I’m usually not a first person fan, but I fell in love with the heroine, Isabel. She’s a tough, passionate character with a terrific sense of humor. The hero, Nicolai, also is super sexy—loved that his uncle is none other than Lucifer!
About half way through the book slowed a bit. Ms. Armae’s attention to detail can also be a double-edged sword and bogged down the pace in some of the scenes. I’d also hoped for more—I’m not sure how to say this in a politically correct fashion, so I’ll just say it—SEX in the bedroom. I mean Nicolai is half demon for crying out loud!
(A special comment to Ms. Armae would be to get another copy editor next time because the one you had didn’t do your work justice. There were just too many typos and missed track-change marks for a book of this quality). But those few concerns didn’t prevent me from enjoying the fantastic world Ms. Armae created. Her main and secondary characters were a joy to discover and had vivid lives of their own. Nicely done.
I admit that I picked up this book because of the cover. What a great cover!!! And the book didn’t disappoint. From the first page I was drawn into Micah’s heartache and pain. Ms. Lynne did an incredible job of making me feel like I was in the room with Micah as he tried to ease his torment. Throughout the entire story, I enjoyed Micah the most. Having said that, I also liked the heroine, little Ms. Dynamo, Sam. I could easily picture her in my mind and loved her tough-as-nails attitude.
The story was unique and kept me interested throughout. I did, however, find a few things intriguing in Ms. Lynne’s writing style. On occasion, she would switch the point of view and throw the reader into another character’s mind for a sentence or two before jumping back into the original speaker. Some would argue that this “head-hopping” is a no-no, but jumping from one POV to another has never bothered me as long as I don’t end up confused as to whose head I’m in! And Ms. Lynne did a nice job of keeping me straight. Also, there were a few scenes devoted to secondary characters that never tied back to the plot. Once I read the About the Author blurb at the end of the story, I now think Ms. Lynne did that as a way to tease the reader on her upcoming books in this series. Personally, I would’ve preferred it if those scenes weren’t included in RISE. Ms. Lynne is a strong enough writer that she didn’t need to include teasers for her next book, although I must admit she did it in a very non-cliché way. Fine job. Good book.
