Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

Mercedes Thompson #2
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
My rating: ★★★★★

Patricia Briggs writes like Sharon Shinn: with a very quiet, understated elegance that engulfs you and immerses you in the story without you realizing it. Very subtly she manages to make you care about all her characters (well, all of the ones that matter, anyway) and make you invested in both the story and their HEA.

I will admit to being underwhelmed by MOON CALLED, but boy am I glad I continued. This was such a good book! The suspense and intrigue built up soooooo slowly, and ended in a roaring crescendo.

And her characters are some of the best in urban fantasy. Mercy is fantabulous; and so is Adam; and Samuel; and Bran; and Stefan: and Zee; and even Ben, yes even that annoying werewolf.

Besides, who doesn't love a good werewolf story? Exactly.

So if you are looking for well-fleshed out, interesting, and awesome characters, a great plot, and four especially hot werewolves (Bran, Charles, Samuel, and Adam) then this is your book. And of course, a fantabulous female lead.

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Silver Shark by Ilona Andrews

Kinsmen #2
Silver Shark by Ilona Andrews
My rating: ★★★★

Silver Shark is a novella and the second in the Kinsmen novella series. If it is not too obvious by now, I love Ilona Andrews' work. It is always well thought out and even if I don't like a story, I can't dispute the quality of their output.

I am really happy to say I enjoyed Silver Shark very much. The reason I gave it four stars instead of five, is that like Silent Blade, the first Kinsmen novella, I did not particularly like the heroine. Even given her extenuating circumstances, I felt she did not act with honor at all times,and that the hero was a better/more honorable person. That's just my one pet peeve. Great novella!

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Fate's Edge by Ilona Andrews

The Edge #3
Fate's Edge by Ilona Andrews
My rating: ★★★★½

★★★★½


Hot Damn.

This was some pretty excellent reading, and made my day very well-spent.

Audrey and Kaldar are beyond awesome as characters - two skilled thieves trying to score one for the good guys. And as I've said elsewhere, if I wasn't too old, and if I lived in the world of The Edge, and if bigamy wasn't against the law, I'd marry them when they grew up. And if Gaston was human, him too. Yep, I want them all.

But I will say this. I defintely think FATE'S EDGE is the best of the Edge books, but ON THE EDGE REMAINS my favorite. (If you care to know, I didn't like Cerise and William's story). Fate's Edge felt a bit like theirs for me (Cerise and William, that is, not Rose and Declan's). The writing was perfect, and Kaldar and Audrey were perfect for each other. But they...didn't bring it. I don't know how to explain it, because I would be the first to say the story is excellent, the tension nearly gave me a heart attack, and I was giggling like an idiot during the moments of levity. It worked for me; it worked very well for me. But still.

The love. That was one of the factors that didn't "bring it." I mean, I felt the love, and I saw the love, but it just passed the screen. It didn't come out of the blue, but then it wasn't developed fully. Argh! This is too hard to put in words.

It's a great book. I loved it. I loved all the characters; I can't WAIT for the villains to get their comeuppance; Kaldar and Audrey are great; George and Jack and Gaston are excellent; Rose and Declan light up my life.

Highly recommended. What else can I do? It's an Ilona Andrews book. Of course it is excellent. It goes without saying.

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Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning

Fever #2
Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning
My rating: ★★

Ha. Ok.

I still think that the writing is much tighter than KMM's highlander series, but the characters leave a mighty lot to be desired.


I can only conclude MacKayla Lane is Too Stupid To Live. If her sister Alina had been anything like her, it's no wonder she got herself killed. What surprises me is how Mac has managed to remain alive despite being inconceivably stupid. Obviously then it falls to reason that the people interested in killing her must be even stupider because there is no reason why she should still be alive. Stupid villains are not scary, and that immediately dilutes the dark and gritty aspects of this series for me.


Jericho Z. Barrons. Sure, I will admit, he's badass, dangerous, alpha-male - whatever you like to call those types of guys. But that is all there is to him. Nothing else. Absolutely nothing recommends him. There is nothing endearing about him, or lovable, or empathetic, or thrilling; nothing that humanizes him, or makes him worthy of hero status. On the contrary, I felt that he was rather abusive. I quite agree with those who have called him a douche.

Being trapped in a story told from Mac's POV, interspersed with Barrons and other idiotic/stupid/patently uninteresting characters does not make for interesting reading.

And oh yes, all the pontifications are annoying as heck. Womp.

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Curran #3 by Gordon Andrews

Curran #3 by Gordon Andrews
My rating: ★★★★

NB: This is a freebie snippet of Curran's POV in the Kate Daniels series. It is a quick read; you can find it on their website here. This one takes place after Kate Daniels book #3, Magic Strikes.
 

I love my - well, Kate's - Curran!!!

Although - how would Jim/Dali/Mahon or whoever get all this info? That just doesn't make any sense to me. If this information is so dangerous that Kate has fought all of her life to keep it hidden (and Greg, and Voron, and Anna), but Jim/Dali/Mahon can figure it out, then how in the heck can't Roland - who is supposed to be a master builder, ruler of cities for centuries, and rather smart? Yeah. My point exactly.

But still! I love my Curran. Thank you, Gordon Andrews, for making my day!

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Skinwalker by Faith Hunter

Jane Yellow Rock #1
Skinwalker by Faith Hunter
My rating: ★★★★

This one surprised me in a really good way.

For the first 30% or so, I was not impressed. At all. I didn't like Jane and her ways, I thought the characters were bland and uninteresting, I was irritated by the chapters featuring 'Beast,' I thought the plot was boring, and I couldn't read more than a few pages at a time.

Then one day, after weeks of not touching the book, I pick it up again, read on for a while, same-old, same-old, and then it happened like magic!

The characters became interesting, Jane became a fascinating woman, I was very interested in Beast's POV, and I had to read the whole thing in one sitting.

I am very surprised to say, I am impressed about what Ms. Hunter has brought to the urban fantasy genre. I am so looking forward to reading more about Jane Yellowrock and her adventures.

The cover, though, is a total turnoff. Eh.

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The Texan's Wager by Jodi Thomas

The Texan's Wager by Jodi Thomas
My rating: ★★★★

I chose to read this Western romance for a challenge, and I am glad I did.

I love the characters Jodi Thomas created for her novel. This book in set in Texas at the time of the Western frontier and is about Bailee and Carter's "arranged marriage" after a hilarious series of unfortunate events that landed Bailee in trouble.

This is a character-driven book, and oh my, what awesome characters they are! Carter is beyond sweet! And Bailee is funny. I didn't like hearing the beginning because i didn't understand how a woman could be so silly about sexual relations with her husband, but I realized that's how they were brought up in those days. Once I got over that hang-up, I went along with them on their incredibly sweet journey to love.

Pure awesomeness.

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Ruthless by Anne Stuart

House of Rohan #1
Ruthless by Anne Stuart
My rating: ★★★★
RUTHLESS is my introduction to Anne Stuart and the House of Rohan series.

As introductions go, this is not a bad one at all. I quite liked the story and I also liked the pace, which surprised me. It was paced much slower than I normally read, but that just meant Ms. Stuart spent a lot of time building the characters.

In faster-paced books, the character of Lord Rohan would have annoyed me no end, but because she spent so much time pacing the story, I found myself facing a very flawed, quite tortured man, but a good man no less. Elinor was a fitting heroine. Her strength and vulnerability were a good complement to Lord Rohan's caustic character, and her wit meant she was more than a match for him.

My impression over all is of a good, meaty story with excellent characters, and I am excited to add Anne Stuart to my current repertoire of authors.

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Changeless by Gail Carriger

Parasol Protectorate #2
Changeless by Gail Carriger
My rating: ★★★★

3.5+

More than 3.5 but not quite 4 stars. I jumped into the third book in the series without bothering to finish the second because its plot sounded more interesting. Now I am back to #2. CHANGELESS is the second book in the parasol protectorate series, and it follows a new adventure of werewolf Lord Conall Maccon and his wife, the soulless Alexia Maccon.

I like the story. None of it felt fillerish. I love the humor and the writing and the unique feel it has - a werewolf-vampire-soulless world set in 1800's United Kingdom: very unique and very well-executed. I am loving the relationship and the banter between Lord and Lady Maccon. Their love does not overshadow the story, but it doesn't take a backseat either; it strikes the perfect balance.

What I am NOT loving,however, is some of the supporting characters: Ivy Hisselpenny is so stupid and annoying and doesn't serve any useful purpose, not even comic relief. Neither does Alexia's family. I am just grumpy because I had to spend more time than I liked with those people in this book.

But yeah! I am really enjoying this series.

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Blameless by Gail Carriger

Parasol Protectorate #3
Blameless by Gail Carriger
My rating:★★★★

Gail Carriger is fast becoming one of my new favorite authors. I love this series!

BLAMELESS is book three of the series. I haven't actually finished book 2 - I peeked at the end and saw that the events in book three were going to be far more interesting, so I took a break from reading the second book to jump headlong into the third :P

In this one, Alexia leaves for Rome after her pregnancy was spurned by her husband, the werewolf Alpha of Woolsey Pack, Lord Conall Maccon. She heads to Italy, to see if she can find some evidence to make him see the error of his ways. There are more attempts on her life.


Back in London, Lord Maccon finally comes to his senses, realizes that Alexia would never be unfaithful to him, and he wants to go and find her and bring her back. But there are other more pressing matters to attend to, and he can't leave until he has seen to them.

I love Alexia and Conall. They make me laugh so much. There is not much I have to say about this book/any book in this series. The mystery is intriguing, and some of the characters are gems. I enjoy them immensely and would heartily recommend them!!

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