Paranormal Chick!
Fan of the Paranormal and Fantasy Genre
“Nightshade” by Andrea Cremer
0256 days
by Laura
in Andrea Cremer
What can I say about this book? I read it after seeing many people recommend it online. Even though it was written for a YA audience I found myself absorbed in the story. I followed a young alpha female wolf named Calla through a very difficult time. She is betrothed to the alpha male of another pack, the Banes. On Halloween, which just happens to be both Calla and Ren’s birthday they will be joined as a couple and their two small packs of 5 will combine to form a new pack of 10. The wolves in this series are called Guardians. They guard the sacred places of the Keepers. The Keepers are a group of witches that threaten insubordinate behavior with these creepy creatures called Wraiths that had me having flashbacks to Rowling’s dementors from “Harry Potter”. There is also a group called the Searchers which are the enemy of the Keepers. They are touched on in this book, but don’t make much of an appearance.
Then there is Shay, a human boy who is the “nephew” of one of the powerful Keepers. He dives head first into this world he knows nothing about. Then the fun begins, Calla rescues him from a bear in the woods. Then she finds out he is going to her school. Then, her new Keeper to be of the new pack, asks her to look out for Shay. So she does what any good Alpha would do, she starts spending more time with him. Shay lives in his uncle’s old museum of a house. He breaks into the library and starts learning more about Calla and her kind. He finds astonishing things which he chooses to share with Calla. Calla is trying to keep her mind on her impending mating with Ren, but Shay is just so tempting.
I’ll have to see what happens in the next installment of this trilogy. Happy reading!
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“Bound to Shadows” by Keri Arthur
0256 days
by Laura
in Keri Arthur
This is the eighth and next to last installment in the Riley Jenson Guardian series.
Riley is a half vampire/half werewolf. She is in love with two very different men, Quinn a vampire, and her wolf soul mate Kye. Problem is Kye is a controlling, loves to kill for sport, type of werewolf. He’s a killer for hire and he has no scruples. In order not to give away the plot I’ll try not to talk about Kye too much, because poor Riley has seen a lot of him in this book. At first I thought it was kind of cool that Riley’s wolf soul mate was bat shit crazy, but it really just made me very sad for her. I guess if she can’t be with him at least she can be with Quinn her vampire sweetie.
Riley and the Directorate are chasing their tails trying to find out who is beheading these vampires. They are looking for connections, and being evaded at every turn. They also have a second case of women being murdered. There are no signs of forced entry and the only smells are of pleasure and sex. Half the time is spent trying to figure out if there is a connection between the two. We see Vinny again, she’s the emo vampire with the crazy love nest. We also get a couple of scenes with Dia, the psychic, and her darling violet-eyed daughter Risa. Most of all I love the characters that Riley works with, Kade, Jack, Sal, and her brother Rhoan.
Riley gets an unexpected proposal from her brother Rhoan and his mate Liander. I am anxious to read the final installment to see where that will take us. I can only hope for the best with the disappointments at the end of this book. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the book and I know some things are necessary, but it doesn’t mean I can’t be sad about it.
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“Hit List” by Laurell K. Hamilton
1256 days
by Laura
in Laurell K. Hamilton
This is the 20th book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series.
I will ride this crazy train until it derails. I just can’t help myself. I don’t care how bizarre the sex scenes get or how many lovers Anita has, I mean hell I can’t even keep them all straight between book releases. That being said, I liked this book a lot more than the last couple of books. It reminded me of “Obsidian Butterfly” where Anita and Edward and all the other killers were together working a case.
I got to see Bernardo, Olaf, Edward and Anita doing what they do best. My only beef is that Anita started out as a necromancer and now we NEVER see her use those skills. That’s what I thought was really cool about her. Hopefully, we’ll get back to some of that in the next book. Heck, maybe Anita is so beyond that with all the powers that she has gained and all the animals to call etc.
Anita and the gang spend most of this book running from the Harlequin, the most dangerous vampire hit squad ever. They are convinced that Anita will make the perfect host for Mommie Darkest. Too bad that Anita has other plans. I have to say I quite liked the resolution of that topic. It never fails that something happens that will shock me, and the reveal of someone becoming “other” at the end of the book invoked a loud gasp from me. DID NOT SEE THAT COMING LAURELL!!!!
Well, I laughed, I almost cried, and I gasped out loud, so all in all a good Anita book.
I’ll keep coming back for more.
I’m not ashamed. 
Only because I really miss the old Anita….. Rating: 
“Playing Easy to Get” by Kenyon, Black & Cole
0257 days
Sometimes for a nice change of pace I like to read short story collections. It gives me a little taste of some authors I haven’t read before. In my case I hadn’t read anything by Black or Cole. I wanted to read Cole’s short story so I could begin her series.
In Kenyon’s story “Turn Up the Heat”, we meet a girl who is down on life and reads romances for fun and escape. After her publishing friend sees her at work, she convinces her to enter the contest in the new romance novel. It’s for a trip to an island where men will cater to her every need. At the same time a gangster type needs to get away and his gangster friend puts him on the island too. You can imagine how this turns out.
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In Cole’s story “The Warlord Wants Forever” we meet Wroth and Myst. Wroth is a vampire and Myst is a Valkyrie. These two races do not mix well together, well basically, they hate each other. Unfortunately, it turns out that Myst is Wroth’s vampire Bride and there can be no other. This story is a will they or won’t they and I found it interesting enough to read the first full length novel of the series.
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In Black’s story “Hunter’s Oath” we meet a young lady who has just lost her military brother in a helicopter crash in the Arctic Circle. On her way there, her cabbie kidnaps her and sells her to some strange men. I loved how Sofia was strong and kept fighting the whole time. It turns out that deep underground there is a whole Viking culture hidden away and one handsome man wants to make her his wife. I really enjoyed this one and want to read more of this author’s work.
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“Vampire Mine” by Kerrelyn Sparks
0257 days
by Laura
in Kerrelyn Sparks
This is Connor and Marielle’s story, and I never miss a Kerrelyn Sparks book.
Marielle is an angel, literally. She disobeyed and was cast out of Heaven and separated from the Heavenly Host. She now has the body of a human woman and is discovering how to cope with things she’s never had to do. Like using a toilet. This I found particularly amusing.
Connor is a 500 year old vampire who has given up on love. For someone who has had to wait this long he sees no point in it. He gets easily annoyed with all his fellow vamps that keep falling in love. He will be a hard nut to crack for sure.
Connor discovers Marielle and he is absolutely stunned by her beauty. He makes it his mission to protect her and help her return to Heaven like she wishes. They have to avoid a demon that is convinced that Marielle is a perfect edition to the fallen angels. The twist is that Marielle was an angel of death. If she touches humans she can kill them instantly. So Connor has to take Marielle away so she doesn’t harm anyone. You can imagine Marielle’s shock when she doesn’t kill Connor. Now just how can you explain to a beautiful angel that you are a vampire and you used to feed off of humans?
Somehow they manage and I love all the twists and turns. I can’t wait to see who we get to read about next! Love this series! I was a little disappointed that Connor didn’t get a tougher chick for his mate. Oh well. Maybe the next book will make me happier.
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“This Side of the Grave” by Jeaniene Frost
1257 days
by Laura
in Jeaniene Frost
I just can’t get enough of Cat and Bones. Not to mention all the delightful characters that come with them. In this edition of Cat and Bones’ adventures they are investigating the disappearance of some vampires. Tensions are building between the ghouls and vamps and both factions are blaming the other. It’s like the chicken and the egg, they can’t decide which came first.
Cat has to enlist the help of one of the scariest people in my opinion, Marie, the ghoul queen of New Orleans. She has freaky power over the dead and I wouldn’t EVER want to get on her bad side. Cat has a tendency to absorb and be able to use gifts of other vamps for a period of time. What she never imagined is that she would be able to absorb and use Marie’s power.
Cat gets help from the ghosts to help solve the case. My favorite character Vlad shows up and I can’t wait to read his spin-off book due out next spring.
If you love Cat and Bones (and Vlad) as much as I do I would not miss this one.
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“Silver Borne” by Patricia Briggs
0355 days
by Laura
in Patricia Briggs
This was the fifth book in the Mercedes Thompson series. Mercy is a mechanic and also shifts into a coyote. She is dating the local werewolf Alpha, Adam Hauptman. They are having a little bit of a rough time dating right now because some members of the Pack don’t approve of Adam’s mate being a coyote instead of a wolf. Not only is Mercy having to deal with the animosity of the Pack she is also greatly concerned for her best friend, the lone wolf, Samuel. Samuel is having issues with his wolf side and when he tries to harm himself his wolf takes over.
Mercy also has yet another problem. She has borrowed a book from a fae. When she goes to return it to him she finds his bookstore destroyed and the destruction is shielded by magic. It turns out that someone is looking for that book. I am anxious to see how the next book is going to turn out. The great thing about this series is that it always keeps you on your toes. There are many twists and turns and just when you think you have it figured out something else happens! I love books like that! This is an action – packed mystery adventure.
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“Fallen” by Lauren Kate
0355 days
by Laura
in Lauren Kate
I waited a really long time to read this book. I really loved the cover artwork but that’s about as far as my love went. I definitely feel the strain of this being a first book. I think I will maybe try out the next book to see if I like it better. I will give it a shot. I’m not one to give up on an author all together based on one book. Anyways, this book was about a girl that gets sent to a boarding school after being suspected of a crime. The school is covered with cameras and the students have very little contact with their outside friends and family. It is a pretty bleak place to be. That is until Luce meets Daniel. She seems to have an instant connection with him, one that Daniel desperately tries to avoid at all costs. The book is a little slow moving, maybe artistically slow. I did eventually finish the book and I think the cliffhanger is enough to make me want to read the next book.
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“Never After” by Hamilton, Galenorn, Liu & Shinn
0355 days
In this collection of short stories we get to read about strong women who don’t necessarily need a “happily ever after”.
Laurell K. Hamilton contributes “Can He Bake a Cherry Pie?” which follows a young girl who is betrothed to a creepy old man. In order to escape him she goes in search of a lost prince. It turns out he isn’t that great and she decides to go out on her own.
Yasmine Galenorn contributed “The Shadow Mist” is about a selkie female (wereseal) who has been running from her betrothed that abused her when she was younger. She is now pregnant and very happy with her chosen mate who knows nothing of her past. When her betrothed hunts her down she enlists the help of the sisters from the Otherworld series. Hijinks ensue and I really enjoyed the resolution. I am interesting in reading more of the Otherworld series.
Marjorie M. Liu contributed “The Tangleroot Palace” which was probably my favorite of the whole series. Sally has been set up by her father to marry the Warlord. Instead of staying at the castle and waiting for the Warlord to arrive Sally runs away towards the Tangleroot Forest. She meets a group of travelers that save her from some unsavory men. She joins them on their journey and makes some great friends. I’m kind of sappy sometimes and I really enjoyed the ending.
Sharon Shinn contributed “The Wrong Bridegroom” which was about a princess named Olivia. In this story her father sets up a test of three tasks and the man who wins gets to marry her. Two people are victorious and Olivia has a choice to make. She’s pretty stubborn at first, but she grows on you. By the end, I really liked her and I was happy with her final decision.
All in all, this was a very enjoyable collection of short stories.
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“Frostbite” by Richelle Mead
0426 days
by Laura
in Richelle Mead
I liked this book much better than the first one. We got to see a lot more of Rose, Lissa, Christian, Dimitri and Mason. We also got introduced to what I’m sure will be a new player for Rose’s affections, Adrian. Maybe I’m a sucker for the bad boy, but I love him. Haha Just what Rose needs, more “trouble”! I loved Rose’s character development in this book, she becomes less selfish and more responsible. She protects people she cares about at all costs which is very admirable. I like that we got to take everyone away from St. Vladimir’s for awhile, it was nice to be in a new setting. I am glad we got to meet Rose’s mother in this book and were able to learn more about her and how she operates. She may not be a hands on mother, but she does seem to love Rose very much. I would have liked Rose and her mother to grow a little bit closer and maybe “like” each other more. Oh well, I’m sure there will probably be more development of that relationship in future books. I’m excited to see where we will go next.
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