Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

All the creatures of the night gather in "the Hollows" of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party...and to feed. Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining - and it's Rachel Morgan's job to keep that world civilized. A bounty hunter and witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she'll bring 'em back alive, dead...or undead.

Not impressed. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't awesome. I did finish it just b/c I HAD to know how it ended. So I guess that is something. But as of right now I definitely won't be reading the others in this series.

A streak of stinkers...

So, I had a good solid run of AWESOME books but now it seems that I am in a dry spell of "stinkers only." If you are one of the authors that I have reviewed & not liked, please take heart, I am only one person & my opinion matters little. I do not mean to belittle your hard work in any way, it just may not be my style.


For those that read my blog regularly, I try to be as honest as I can possibly be w/o being mean. Just b/c I may not like a book, doesn't mean that you won't. If I review a book that you have been looking forward to reading, take a plunge, YOU may see something in the story that I completely missed.

Above by Leah Bobet

Matthew has loved Ariel from the moment he found her in the tunnels, her bee's wings falling away. They live in Safe, an underground refuge for those fleeing the city Above--like Whisper, who speaks to ghosts, and Jack Flash, who can shoot lightning from his fingers. But one terrifying night, an old enemy invades Safe with an army of shadows, and only Matthew, Ariel, and a few friends escape Above. As Matthew unravels the mystery of Safe's history and the shadows' attack, he realizes he must find a way to remake his home--not just for himself, but for Ariel, who needs him more than ever before.

Straight-up honesty? I'm not even done reading this one?! I was SOOOO excited about it & waited on the edge of my seat for the release date & I feel like I'm pulling teeth trying to get through it! The writing style is very choppy, the storyline is so mish-mashed that I have no idea what they are talking about half the time. It seems like it should be a 2nd or 3rd book in a series & it's the author's first book & a stand alone. I don't know....maybe it's me, but totally NOT what I expected.

Royal House of Shadows Series by Gena Showalter

Once upon a time…the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden. To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance. Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs…and time is running out….

Nicolai the Vampire was renowned for his virility, but in a twist of fate "The Dark Seducer" had become a sex slave in the kingdom of Delfina—stripped of his precious timepiece and his memory. All that remained was a primal need for freedom, revenge—and the only woman who could help him. In her dreams, a wanton vampire called to Jane Parker, drawing her to his dark sexuality and his magical realm. But for a human, all was not a fairy tale in Delfina. Jane was the key to Nicolai's memory…but exploiting her meant dooming the only mortal he craved.

So, the this is the first book in Gena's newest series.....I ♥ it! Gena writes very simply but deeply. I never fail to fall in love with the "main man"  in her stories! Her books are always a quick read, which is both exciting & sad. You know how you want to know so bad how a story is going to end but then you get to the end & are like ohhhh man.....IT'S OVER!!

The Goddess Test Series by Aimee Carter

It's always been just Kate and her mom—and her mother is dying. Her last wish? To move back to her childhood home. So Kate's going to start at a new school with no friends, no other family and the fear her mother won't live past the fall.

Then she meets Henry. Dark. Tortured. And mesmerizing. He claims to be Hades, god of the Underworld—and if she accepts his bargain, he'll keep her mother alive while Kate tries to pass seven tests. Kate is sure he's crazy—until she sees him bring a girl back from the dead. Now saving her mother seems crazily possible. If she succeeds, she'll become Henry's future bride, and a goddess.

This book was quite easy to get into. Although a journey outside of my normal genres, I was completely fascinated!  Aimee has a great writing style & a wonderful world that she's created. I instantly fell in love w/ the characters and the premise for the story brought Mythology into modern times in a clean concise way. 

 A vacation in Greece sounds like the perfect way for Kate Winters to spend her first sabbatical away from the Underworld...until she gets caught up in an immortal feud going back millennia. Castor and Pollux have been on the run from Zeus and Hades's wrath for centuries, hiding from the gods who hunt them. The last person they trust is Kate, the new Queen of the Underworld. Nevertheless, she is determined to help their cause. But when it comes to dealing with immortals, Kate still has a lot to learn....

Just a short Novella, but it was kinda cool to read about Kate's first summer away. So easy to jump into a novella like this when you are already in  love w/ the characters & the story! A nice bonus & a DEFINITE read for any Goddess Test fan!

Kate Winters has won immortality. But if she wants a life with Henry in the Underworld, she'll have to fight for it. Becoming immortal wasn't supposed to be the easy part. Though Kate is about to be crowned Queen of the Underworld, she's as isolated as ever. And despite her growing love for Henry, ruler of the Underworld, he's becoming ever more distant and secretive. Then, in the midst of Kate's coronation, Henry is abducted by the only being powerful enough to kill him: the King of the Titans. As the other gods prepare for a war that could end them all, it is up to Kate to save Henry from the depths of Tartarus. But in order to navigate the endless caverns of the Underworld, Kate must enlist the help of the one person who is the greatest threat to her future. Henry's first wife, Persephone.

LOVED IT! Plenty of action, drama, conspiracy & soooo much more! Another great chapter in the Goddess Test series, although, the way Aimee decided to end this one almost killed me....STILL may kill me.....I just finished it & I'm shocked & horrified!!!!!! 

 COMING JULY 31, 2012...

Matched Trilogy by Ally Condie

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.

 I ABSO-FREAKIN-LUTELY love this story! Ally creates a very imaginative yet believable dystopian world. To be honest, it wasn't a "hooked by the end of the first page" kinda book, but by the end of the first chapter she had me captivated! I fell in love with all the characters immediately & really did struggle w/ Cassia's decision probably a bit more than she did! I was torn.....my heart was torn....♥

  

Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky--taken by the Society to his sure death--only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life and the enthralling promise of a rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices every thing to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game once again.



Well, once I was hooked reading Matched this was a super easy read. (Yes, just took me one day, no I do NOT have a life!) I was glued to the book from the first thrilling word! The non-stop action/adventure were super fast paced & I think I held my breath for most of this book. The worst part of the entire book was that it ended & the way it ended.......(but that will be remedies soon....see below)

  ....COMING NOVEMBER 13, 2012

Highlander Series by Karen Marie Moning

He would sell his warrior soul to possess her. . . .An alluring laird...

He was known throughout the kingdom as Hawk, legendary predator of the battlefield and the boudoir. No woman could refuse his touch, but no woman ever stirred his heart—until a vengeful fairy tumbled Adrienne de Simone out of modern-day Seattle and into medieval Scotland. Captive in a century not her own, entirely too bold, too outspoken, she was an irresistible challenge to the sixteenth-century rogue. Coerced into a marriage with Hawk, Adrienne vowed to keep him at arm's length—but his sweet seduction played havoc with her resolve.

A prisoner in time...She had a perfect "no" on her perfect lips for the notorious laird, but Hawk swore she would whisper his name with desire, begging for the passion he longed to ignite within her. Not even the barriers of time and space would keep him from winning her love. Despite her uncertainty about following the promptings of her own passionate heart, Adrienne's reservations were no match for Hawk's determination to keep her by his side. . . .

Only her love could gentle his savage soul—

He was born to a clan of warriors of supernatural strength, but Gavrael McIllioch abandoned his name and his Highland castle, determined to escape the dark fate of his ancestors. Hiding his identity from the relentless rival clan that hunted him, he called himself Grimm to protect the people he cared for, vowing never to acknowledge his love for ravishing Jillian St. Clair. Yet even from afar he watched over her, and when her father sent an urgent summons, "Come for Jillian," he raced to her side—into a competition to win her hand in marriage.

Why had he run from her so many years before? And why return now to see her offered as a prize in her father's manipulative game? Furious, Jillian vowed never to wed. But Grimm was the man she loved, the one who urged her to marry another. He tried to pretend indifference as she tempted him, but he could not deny the fierce desires that compelled him to abduct her from the altar. She was the only woman who could tame the beast that raged within him—even as deadly enemies plotted to destroy them both....

A Warrior of Immortal Powers, He was a mighty Scottish warrior who lived in a world bound by ancient laws and timeless magic. But no immortal powers could prepare the laird of Castle Brodie for the lovely accursed lass who stood before him. A terrible trick of fate had sent her 700 years back in time and into his private chamber to tempt him with her beauty - and seduce him with a desire he could never fulfill. For this woman he burned to possess was also the woman he had foresworn to destroy.

A Woman Caught in the Mists of Time...When Lisa felt the earth move under her feet, the fiercely independent 21st-century woman never dreamed she was falling...into another century. But the powerful, naked warrior who stood glaring down at her was only too real...and too dangerously arousing. Irresistibly handsome he might be, but Lisa had no intention of remaining in this savage land torn by treachery and war. How could she know that her seductive captor had other plans for her...plans that would save her from a tragic fate? Or that this man who had long ago forsaken love would defy time itself to claim her for his own....

A laird trapped between centuries...Enchanted by a powerful spell, Highland laird Drustan MacKeltar slumbered for nearly five centuries hidden deep in a cave, until an unlikely savior awakened him. The enticing lass who dressed and spoke like no woman he’d ever known was from his distant future, where crumbled ruins were all that remained of his vanished world. Drustan knew he had to return to his own century if he was to save his people from a terrible fate. And he needed the bewitching woman by his side....

A woman changed forever in his arms....Gwen Cassidy had come to Scotland to shake up her humdrum life and, just maybe, meet a man. How could she have known that a tumble down a Highland ravine would send her plunging into an underground cavern - to land atop the most devastatingly seductive man she’d ever seen? Or that once he’d kissed her, he wouldn’t let her go? Bound to Drustan by a passion stronger than time, Gwen is swept back to sixteenth-century Scotland, where a treacherous enemy plots against them...and where a warrior with the power to change history will defy time itself for the woman he loves....

I am Dageus MacKeltar, a man with one good conscience and thirteen bad ones, driven to sate my darkest desires…

From his penthouse lair high above Manhattan, Dageus looks out over a glittering city that calls to the darkness within him. A sixteenth-century Scot trapped between worlds, he is fighting a losing battle with the thirteen Druids who possess his soul, dooming him to an eternity of sexual pursuit. When Chloe Zanders, student of antiquities, is drawn into his world, she finds the insatiable alpha male an irresistible lure.Before long, she is caught up in an ancient prophecy that will sweep her back into time to medieval Scotland. Plunged into a world of timeless magic and dark seduction, she will soon face the challenge of a lifetime: fighting thirteen evil spirits for the heart of one irresistible man....

With his long, black hair and dark, mesmerizing eyes, Adam Black is Trouble with a capital T. Immortal, arrogant, and intensely sensual, he is free to roam across time and continents in pursuit of his insatiable desires. That is, until a curse strips him of his immortality and makes him invisible, a cruel fate for so irresistible a man. With his very life at stake, Adam’s only hope for survival is in the hands of the one woman who can actually see him.

Enter law student Gabrielle O’Callaghan. For Gabrielle, cursed with the ability to see both worlds, Mortal and Faery, it is the beginning of a long, dangerous seduction. But as Adam’s quest to regain his immortality plunges them into a world of timeless magic, the price of surrender could be their very lives. Unless they can thwart the conspiracy that threatens both Mortal and Faery realms…and give them a shot at a destiny few mortals ever know: glorious, wondrous, endless love…

Jessi St. James has got to get a life. Too many hours studying ancient artifacts has given the hardworking archaeology student a bad case of sex on the brain. So she figures she must be dreaming when she spies a gorgeous half-naked man staring out at her from inside the glass of an ancient mirror. But when a split-second decision saves her from a terrifying attempt on her life, Jessi suddenly finds herself confronting six and a half feet of smoldering, insatiable alpha male.

Heir to the arcane magic of his Druid ancestors, Cian MacKeltar was trapped inside the Dark Glass eleven centuries ago. And when the Dark Glass is stolen, an ancient enemy will stop at nothing to reclaim it. For Jessi, the sex god in the mirror is not only tantalizingly real, he’s offering his protection - from exactly what, Jessi doesn’t know. And all he wants in exchange is the exquisite pleasure of sharing her bed…

So, instead of writing a blurb for each I decided to give you my review of the series as a whole. First off, KMM has a magical way with words. She can weave a story that would otherwise be laughably unbelievable & make it into a piece of history that you wish you were the one to find...

So time travel is a big thing in these stories and at first I was like ahhhh ok, how many times can we use that scenario & not get bored. Well, never fear the magical story tell does it! You will absolutely just fall in love with each of the characters. (Of course there will also be a few that you will love to hate! The most interesting thing is when you see some cross-over characters when you read the Fever Series! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING HERE FOLKS! JUST DO IT!