A Bandit’s Stolen Heart by Michelle McLean (Blood Blade Sisters #1) Entangled Publishing (March 2013) Ebook, 254 pages Historical / Western Romance Cilla Richardson is a modern-day Robin Hood, well as modern as you can be in 1856. She robs from the rich, most notably her brother, Frank, the crooked sheriff and helps out the poor. Her life takes a change when she hits Leo, our hero, over the head during one of her raids. You can imagine he is a bit shocked when he finds out the bandit Blood Blade…
Wait for You by J. Lynn (Wait for You #1) Harper (Aug 2013) Paperback, 384 pages New Adult, Contemporary Romance As my first foray into the newly created genre of ‘new adult’, Wait for You by J. Lynn didn’t feel like that big of a step away from the young adult fiction I am already accustomed to. The book has a fairly simple plot, as Avery Morgansten moves away from her home town in Texas and begins her life again at college (university to us Brits!). However, she is nineteen and…
Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts (Bride Quartet #2) Brilliance Audio/Piatkus Books (Sept 2009) Audiobook, 9hrs & 27mins Narrator: Angela Dawe Contemporary Romance Bed of Roses is book two in Nora Roberts’ Bride Quartet, following four best friends who run a wedding planning business. Book two is Emma’s story, the florist of the group. Emma’s a very different lead to Mac in the previous installment. She is light, fun, sexy and romantic and I found I liked her very much. She is my kind of girl, warm and kind-hearted. She…
The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig (Mookie Pearl #1) Angry Robot (May 2013) Ebook, 400 Pages Urban Fantasy The Blue Blazes is an urban fantasy novel by Chuck Wendig and is set in a version of New York that has a literal Hell below it. The eponymous Blue Blazes refers to a mineral compound, cerulean, found down below that allows users to see demons and half-breeds as they really are, it also makes the user stronger and more resilient. The protagonist is Mookie Pearl, a mob enforcer and user. He…
From Russia with Blood by Michael Lee (Ian Redd and Larissa Barton Adventures #1) Self-Published (Oct 2011) Ebook, 278 pages Urban Fantasy Ian Redd is a 400 year old vampire whose last century or so has been somewhat of a diversion from your typical vampire story. He’s a genuinely decent bloke – he doesn’t kill to feed and all that jazz – whose boredom leads him to pursue a career in British Intelligence during the Cold War. That’s all in the past now though, as the reader finds out in…
Don’t Bite The Bridesmaid by Tiffany Allee (Sons of Kane #1) Entangled Publishing (May 2013) Ebook, 209 Pages Paranormal Romance After reading Allee’s urban fantasy, Banshee Charmer, I was excited to hear about Don’t Bite the Bridesmaid, the first in a new series entitled Sons of Kane. However, I was in for a bit of a surprise as this book was very different from her previous work. Luckily, this was in a good way and I found myself lost in the book very quickly. The premise of the story is…
Sealed with a Curse by Cecy Robson (Weird Girls #1) Signet Eclipse (Dec 2012) Paperback, 350 pages Urban Fantasy Despite their attempts, Celia Wird and her three sisters can’t seem to avoid the paranormal population of their hometown – possibly because it’s full to bursting with vampires, werewolves and witches. This time, they find themselves in trouble with the vampires, and in order to get out of it they have to make their way deeper into the world they were thrust into. Sealed with a Curse thrusts the reader right…
Coming Home by Christine S. Feldman Crimson Romance (March 2013) Ebook, 149 pages Contemporary Romance Callie Sorenson has been travelling the globe, writing and going from job to job ever since she left high school. She rarely calls her mother and she tries to avoid going home as much as possible so she doesn’t have to relive the death of her beloved brother, Elliot, who died in a car accident when she was sixteen years old. Danny McCutcheon has only seen Callie a handful of times since she left. But…
Just for Now by Abbi Glines (Sea Breezes #4) Simon & Schuster (April 2013) Paperback, 307 pages New Adult Contemporary Romance Just for Now is my second foray into the new “New Adult” category and I must say it was completely different from my first with Losing It by Cora Carmack. Different in tone, use of language and sexual imagery. This is definitely not for young readers. But was it good, and did I enjoy it? The simple answer is yes, but there were a few issues… One of my biggest gripes is the language used by…
Werewolves Be Damned by Stacey Kennedy (Magic & Mayhem #1) Entangled Publishing (April 2013) Ebook, 204 pages Paranormal Romance Nexi Jones watches helplessly, as her adoptive parents are slaughtered by werewolves. She is saved by two men dressed in leather kilts that call themselves Guardians. Taken back to an Otherworld where she is told she is part-guardian and part-witch, Nexi wants nothing more than to get revenge on the creatures that killed her parents. She is willing to do anything, even be instructed by Kyden, an elite Guardian. The man is,…
The Queen is Dead by Kate Locke (The Immortal Empire #2) Orbit Books (Feb 2013) Paperback, 333 pages Urban Fantasy *Warning: Contains spoilers for book one* After the action and upheaval of book one, feisty heroine Xandra Vardan is back in The Queen is Dead by Kate Locke, the second book in The Immortal Empire series. The disappearance and death of her sister Dede in book one paved way for the knowledge that Xandra Vardan is not a half-blood vampire, but a half-blood goblin. Not only that, but she is…
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels #5.4) by Ilona Andrews Self-Published (Dec 2011) | Ebook, 100 pages Urban Fantasy Magic Gifts is a great novella in the Kate Daniels series. It is included with Gunmetal Magic, the Andrea spin-off (which I really must read). I was however, sent it separately for review. It takes place after Magic Slays, the latest instalment, but before Gunmetal Magic. The story begins with Kate and Curran going out for a dinner date. But as ever for things with Kate and Curran things don’t quite go to plan….
Down London Road by Samantha Young (On Dublin Street #2) Penguin (May 2013) Paperback, 407 Pages Contemporary Erotic Romance Having devoured On Dublin Street in a matter of a few days, I was more than giddy at the prospect of reading Down London Road. As with its predecessor, Down London Road continues with a story that is an emotional rollercoaster ride that by the end of the book you are exhausted but happy that everything worked out in the end. True, for those few days, I once again sacrificed sleep…
The Awakening: Aiden by Abby Niles Entangled Publishing (April 2013) Ebook, 167 pages Paranormal Romance Dr. Jaylin Avgar is a psychiatrist and half-shifter who has spent her career counselling other shifters who have lost their mates. Between watching her mother grieve over the death of her father, and dealing with her patients’ grief, she has decided to never mate with a shifter. Aiden O’Connell contacts Jaylin to help his friend, Liam, overcome his grief after being rejected by his mate. Aiden instinctively knows that Jaylin is his mate but she…
Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha Trilogy #2) Indigo (June 2013) Paperback, 224 pages YA Fantasy Warning: contains spoilers for book one Picking up where Shadow and Bone (previously titled The Gathering Dark in the UK) left off, Siege and Storm follows the adventures of Sun Summoner, Alina as she struggles to remain hidden from the Darkling and protect her childhood friend, Mal. The close of book one left Alina and Mal on the run from the Darkling, endeavouring to escape as far away from Ravka as they can…
