Moon Called (Mercedes Thompson #1) by Patricia Briggs Orbit (June 2008) Paperback, 308 pages Urban Fantasy ‘I didn’t realize he was a werewolf at first. My nose isn’t at its best when surrounded by axle grease and burnt oil…’ Mercedes Thompson runs a garage in the Tri-Cities. She’s a mechanic, and a damn good one, who spends her spare time karate training and tinkering with a VW bus that happens to belong to a vampire. Her next-door neighbour is an alpha werewolf – literally, the leader of the pack. And…
Visions of Heat (Psy-Changeling #2) by Nalini Singh | Gollancz (April 2010) Paperback, 332 pages | Paranormal Romance Visions of Heat is the second book in Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series. I loved the first book Slave to Sensation and although I very much enjoyed this instalment I found I didn’t like the heroine, Faith, as much as Sacha from the previous book. Faith seems a bit too weak, although she does try to be strong, and a little too cold. However, the hero, Vaughn, is deliciously dark and brooding. Faith NightStar is…
Magic Burns (Kate Daniels #2) by Ilona Andrews Gollancz (March 2010) Paperback, 260 pages Urban Fantasy Down in Atlanta, tempers – and temperatures – are about to flare… As a mercenary who cleans up after magic gone wrong, Kate Daniels has seen her share of occupational hazards. Normally, waves of paranormal energy ebb and flow across Atlanta like a tide. But once every seven years, a flare comes, a time when magic runs rampant. Now Kate’s going to have to deal with problems on a much bigger scale: a divine…
Viper’s Kiss by Shannon Curtis Carina Press (July 2011) | Ebook: 162 Pages Paranormal Romance When I first began Viper’s Kiss, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it. I thought that the heroine Maggie was going to irritate me. But luckily she grew on me very quickly. She has spunk and ingenuity. A librarian with a reasonably quiet life, Maggie gets caught up in the worst case of mistaken identity. Arrested and charged with espionage, Maggie gets attacked, kidnapped and arrested all in one day. Our hero Luke is…
Title: The Scorpio Races Author: Maggie Stiefvater Publisher: Scholastic Publication Date: Oct 2011 ARC: 400 pages Genre: Fantasy Young Adult Source: Review copy from publisher Guest Review by Sarah Feeling Fictional | @sarahsreviews RATING: 7/10 SUMMARY: It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die. At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he…
In the Heat of the Bite by Lydia Dare (Regency Vampyre Trilogy #2) Sourcebooks Casablanca (July 2011) Paperback, 368 Pages | Paranormal Romance In the Heat of the Bite is a great book that combines a regency romance with the wonderful world of vampires and the supernatural. It’s the second in a series, but I haven’t read the first and you can easily pick it up as a stand-alone novel. Matthew has been a vampire for over six hundred years, and was once a real knight in shining armour. He’s…
Title: One Wicked Sin (Scandalous Women of the Ton #2) Author: Nicola Cornick Publisher: Mira (UK) | Harlequin (US) Publication Date: July 2011 (UK) | Oct 2010 (US) Paperback: 360 pages Genre: Historical Romance Source: Review copy from publisher Reviewed by: Carolyn RATING: 7/10 – very good SUMMARY: Once the toast of the ton, Lottie Cummings is now notorious for being divorced. Shunned by society, the destitute beauty is lured to become a Covent Garden courtesan. Until a dangerous rake saves her with a scandalous offer. The illegitimate son of…
Awaken the Highland Warrior (Connor Clan #1) by Anita Clenney | Paperback, 426 Pages Sourcebooks Casablanca (May 2011) Paranormal Time-Travel Romance Having read quite a few time travel romances, I started this book with a certain set of expectations. Hero travels forwards in time, has to come to terms with the modern world, believes women are to be protected and are not necessarily equals and spends a good part of the book learning to live and of course love again. And I have to confess as formulaic as they often…
Kitty Goes to War (Kitty Norville #8) by Carrie Vaughn Gollancz (UK, Jan 2011) Paperback, 334 pages Urban Fantasy Kitty Norville, werewolf radio call-in show host, gets a call from an old friend at the NIH’s Center for the Study of Paranatural Biology, a friend with a problem, who doesn’t know where else to turn. Three Army soldiers who have recently returned from the war in Afghanistan are in custody at Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs. They’re also werewolves suffering from post traumatic stress, unable to control their shape-shifting, unable to…
Title: Kitty Raises Hell (Kitty Norville #6) Author: Carrie Vaughn Publisher: Gollancz (UK) | Grand Central Publishing (US) Publication Date: Oct 2009 (UK) | March 2009 (US) Paperback: 311 pages Genre: Urban Fantasy Source: Review copy from publisher Reviewed by: Carolyn RATING: 7/10 – very good SUMMARY: Kitty and Ben thought they were done with Las Vegas, but it’s beginning to looks like Vegas isn’t done with them. A sadistic cult of lycanthropes and their vampire priestess have laid a curse on Kitty, revenge for her disrupting their rituals, and…
Adam (Nightwalker #6) by Jacquelyn Frank Piatkus Books (Oct 2011) | Paperback, 313 pages Paranormal Romance Adam is the 6th novel in Jacquelyn Frank’s Nightwalkers series; and probably not the best novel to start with, though that certainly didn’t stop me devouring it. Although it would be best to read the series in order, I didn’t find the world too confusing and I caught up with all the characters pretty quickly. I think the main thing missing in my reading was previous knowledge of the other characters, if I had read those…
Title: Passion Fish Author: Alison Oburia and Jessica McQuinn Publisher: Omnific Publishing Publication Date: 2010 Ebook: 400 Pages Genre: Contemporary Romance Source: Review copy from publisher Reviewed by: Laura RATING: 7/10 – Very good, would definitely recommend SUMMARY: With $3 million for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art on the line, curator Eve Carwyn hardly has time to focus on the state of her love life. Struggling to escape the clutches of a creepy ex and looking to add some adventure to her personal life, Eve is off on a…
Legacy of Lies/Don’t Tell (Dark Secrets #1 & #2) by Elizabeth Chandler Simon & Schuster (Aug 2009) | Paperback, 431 pages Paranormal YA This novel actually combines two separate novels set in the same small town, Wisteria. They aren’t interlinked and can be read separately, though they do compliment each other, and if you like the one, I can almost guarantee you’ll like the other. So not to confuse things I’ll review each book separately and then do a combined verdict. The first story is called Legacy of Lies and is…
KITTY GOES TO WASHINGTON (Kitty Norville #2) by Carrie Vaughn PUBLISHER: Gollancz (UK) | Warner Books (US) RELEASE DATE: April 2008 (UK) | July 2006 (US) FORMAT: Paperback, 321 pages GENRE: Urban Fantasy Celebrity werewolf and late-night radio host Kitty Norville prefers to be heard and not seen. So when she’s invited to testify at a Senate hearing on behalf of supernaturals, and her face gets plastered on national TV, she inherits a new set of friends, and enemies, including the vampire mistress of the city; an über-hot Brazilian were-jaguar;…
Cold Warriors (Infernal Game #1) by Rebecca Levene Abaddon Books (May 2010) | Paperback, 295 pages Zombie Horror Cold Warriors is essentially a zombie novel, but not one like I’ve ever read before. This is no cheap thrills, blood and gore novel, but a well thought out story in which it’s easy to see Levene has done her research, not only in the occult and supernatural, but in history and religion, too. It blends mythology, religion and the supernatural seamlessly, making it all the more real and disturbing because it’s set around…
