Tag Archives: urban fantasy

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The Den

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17207004

The Den (Vampire’s Witch Saga #1)

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
This was almost like a stream of consciousness type of thing. The story seemed to proceed from point to point without any real feeling about anything. It was a ramble that had me trying to figure out what was going on for the first 5 (five) chapters with no idea what it was about. The characters were never really fleshed out and did not make me care about them but I felt they might do something interesting at some point, but they didn’t. The dialogue seemed awkward and not thought out, and the descriptions of locations could have been crisper and more visual. Not awful but not what I had expected it to be.

Skyla Jane Judge is a girl who has drifted through life with no real goals, feeling different from all those around her. She has always had strange abilities that she used sparingly because she was told that they were a curse by her mother. They said she was a witch. Just before graduating from college a psychic tells her something that could change her life forever and she is not surprised. When she and her friend move to New York she is still drifting, then she meets Alex and starts on an adventure which will find her in a new city, with new people who claim to know her and seem to want more than she may be willing to give.

Skyla was a character who I wanted to like but she was so drab and seemed to allow life to happen to her instead of really living. She finally grows a backbone at the end, or so it seems, but it is a bit late to really redeem her. Alex is mysterious but still transparent to the reader, you know exactly what he is about from the moment they meet and remains so. The rest of the characters are just background noise with no substance at this point.

I am debating with myself whether to try the next book and see if things start to pick up since it was left on a cliff hanger. I wouldn’t say don’t read this but go in knowing that the action is weak, the heat is lukewarm, and the characters are a bit annoying.

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A Bit of Bite

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17726877

A Bit of Bite

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a quick and great read! I have never read anything by Cynthia Eden before and if this is an example of what I can expect from future reads then I am very happy to have found her. Though this was a short novella it was tight and gave me the benefit of getting the characters known quickly and easily. The story was fast paced but left me with the feeling of knowing what was going on and why these things were happening. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this book and these characters.

Sheriff Ava Dushaine was assigned to Crossroads, Mississippi as the paranormal liaison in the area. When the paranormal community made themselves known 10 years ago they were assigned areas within the states that they could reside in, this usually had both werewolves and vampires living in close proximity to each other. The people of the towns close to them are wary and feel that they are in danger from the having the supernatural so close to them, and someone is stoking that fear even higher.

With three murders of humans in a short period and the bodies being found on the land between the paranormal land Ava has to solve this quickly. When the Alpha, Julian Kasey, shows up at the murder scene she has no choice but to take him in for questioning. What she doesn’t realize is that things are more complicated than she would have ever thought and her life may hang in the balance.

This was an exciting story about what a person will do in order to gain what they want and who they will sacrifice for that goal. It is also about gaining love even in the midst of bad things. Definitely worth reading and giving you a taste of what you can look forward to in the future.

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Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs

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12702453

Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs (Jane Jameson #1)

by Molly Harper (Goodreads Author), Amanda Ronconi (Narrator)
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was one of those rare laugh out loud, make people stare at you books. I can say without a doubt that I have fallen in love with Jane Jameson and Gabriel Nightingale. The story progressed rapidly from beginning to end with no slow points to make you pause, it was just such fun to follow as it unfolded. The language was perfect and did not make me wonder about what was being talked about and seemed perfectly natural for the characters. The characters themselves are so natural they remind you of people you may have met in your life, that includes the vampires who just seem like anyone else. This is what I think a small town would be like, though I have never lived in one.

Jane Jameson is a librarian who has always loved her job and done it well, then for no reason she no longer is employed. Depressed she heads out to drown her sorrows at a bar and while doing this runs into an interesting man, Gabriel, who actually can talk books and proceeds to drink the hurt away. When she leaves the bar Gabriel walks her to her car and she leaves for home, but unfortunately never makes it there. Three days later she wakes to find that everything in her life has changed and she is in a strange house. Now not only is she unemployed she is a vampire, and lucky for her they have come out of the closet. She is also lucky that her sire is one sexy man.

For Jane however nothing ever goes smoothly. All she wants to do is get on with her new existence but someone seems to have other plans for her. Jane finds herself the target of gossip in the community and the target of a murder investigation only days after being born into the life. She is being stalked by someone who wants her out-of-the-way and she does not know who would want to harm her or those she loves.

I really liked this and Jane in particular, she was sarcastic, pushy, sympathetic and a world of things in between. I listened to this and think it lent more to the story because of the narration of Amanda Ronconi who gave life to the characters in such a wonderful way. If you are looking for a good story, with lively and fun characters then this is the place to go.

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Charred Heart

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18878146

Charred Heart (Heart of Fire #1)

by Lizzy Ford (Goodreads Author)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I received this book for free through NetGalley for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book so much that it almost surprised me. The characters were all what I would have wanted them to be. They acted and reacted to each other and their various situations with such real emotion that I could not help but be drawn to them. The story was logical and heartbreaking in so many ways that sometimes I was not sure how I should react. I loved that! I like a story that gives me a bit of a mystery along with my action and love story, because there was definitely a love story here. Lizzy Ford has given me a hero I can root for an a heroine I can like and admire, she is not a simpering little girl. The only thing I missed was getting to know more about some of the secondary characters, even though they were not a major part of the story I would have liked to have learned more about them.

Chace has been a dragon shifter for a thousand years and just wants to human again. He has lost so many friends over the years that life has become unbearable for him, and the fact that it is due to a curse makes things even worse. Chace does not think before he acts and tends to be arrogant and selfish, but it is partly because he forgets that others may rely on him. This is a man/dragon I would not push away!

Skylar is a slayer, a dragon slayer in particular and has been hunting Chace for a while. When she finally stumbles upon him she can’t understand why she feels drawn to him for more than just the capture. Skylar’s life has been very straight forward until she runs into Chace, then things start to change for her as she starts to question if she is who she thought she was. You cannot help but like a girl with a warped sense of humor that surfaces at the most peculiar times. She is pretty fearless but has a soft side. This girl I could hang with and have a great time.

For twenty years the shifters have been disappearing and no one knew what was happening, their numbers had fallen from the thousands down to a few dozen. Chace is tasked with finding out what is going on in order to get what he wants most, while Skylar is after the last dragon shifter. Both of them are being manipulated, though they are unaware of all that is being done around them. They find each other only to have external forces pull them apart and maybe separate them forever.

With a story full of mysterious shifters, murky slayers, betrayal, lust, magic, and a fathers regret, how could I not want more. This story had the right measure of heat and intrigue to keep me reading well into the night. And know I just need to find out what happens next, because I am hoping for my HEA, or least a continuation of a story that has me.

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NightDrake

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NightDrake

NightDrake

 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a great short story! You were able to get the story fast and know exactly what was going on without having that feeling of something missing. Before the end of the first chapter I knew what was going on in this world and then just had to sit back and let things flow over me. Though things moved quickly I did not feel like I was being rushed to a conclusion, but that I was being led to the start of something.

The world changed in 2066 when the Earth’s axis was reversed and calamity reigned as deserts became a part of the ocean and wide swaths of the coast disappeared under those waters. Three hundred years later and mankind lives a harsh life, but there were others that had only been thought myth who surfaced with the change. The Strange are shifters, hobgoblins, telepaths, and all manner of creature.

Nisha the Heartless is a mercenary who will deliver anything, no questions asked, for the right price. She hates the Strange and just wants to make her money and move on to the next job. Drakor is the cargo she will be moving, though she is unaware.

I was ready to dislike Nisha even though she was obviously the focus, but she is much better than I thought.

I really liked this story and wish there could be more about these characters. Maybe if I wish really hard it will happen one day. 🙂

 

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Kiss Across Time

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Kiss Across Time (Kiss Across Time #1)

Kiss Across Time (Kiss Across Time #1)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I love vampires and I love time travel and to have them combined is fantastic. I actually was pulled into this story after the first page and would have read it straight through if I had not had to work and sleep. There is nothing ambiguous about the story or the characters, it flows naturally from plot point to plot point and fully engages. The characters are true to life and you can imagine either knowing them or having seen their type around at some. The conversations are believable as far as language and tone which makes it easy to follow.

Everything begins because of Taylor Yates, a history professor who has been researching her thesis on a man who does not seem to have ever existed. When she is fired from her position because of this research she is less than happy but is astonished to hear the lyrics of a poem written in 5th century England blaring from the apartment of her neighbor. Upon finding out that it is being performed by a death metal band she insists on meeting them by any means necessary. At the concert for Nocturnal Rain she does make it backstage and meets with Brody Gallagher, lead singer, and his partner Veris, two very handsome and virile Vampires. What starts out as an academic search soon turns into much more for all three of them as a kiss transports them back in time.

There is a story of history in the dark ages, a quest to bring a lost poet’s contributions back into the light of history, there is guilt, pain, love, and lust. All the elements which make a story worth reading. There are also some very hot sex scenes! If mm play does not appeal to you I would say avoid this, also if  a threesome are objectionable I would give the same warning.

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The First Alpha

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The First Alpha

The First Alpha

I gave this 3 stars but I feel more like 2.5 stars. I can’t really decide where I should go with this. I liked the premise of the story and it did move along at a nice pace, but still it was lacking in some ways. I would have liked if the characters were fleshed out more, particularly the character of Lucius. We are told he is a cruel and sadistic guy but we don’t really get to see enough of him to get to explore that. Then there is Megan who is there one minute and gone the next but seems to have an important role in what is going on, no development of who she is or why she did what she did.

The idea behind the story is good and I did enjoy it. Adam has wandered for 3000 years looking for his mate and has not found her in all those years. Cassie is 23 years old and has been given to the cruel 500-year-old Alpha Lucius by her mother to cement a treaty which would save their tribe from disappearing. When Adam and Cassie meet they know they are fated for each other, but the question is can they get away from what has been planned for Cassie since she was a child?

Cassie seems like a weak, whiny wolf with no common sense but then morphs into this strong woman all of a sudden and there should have been more. Adam is way older than Lucius but does not really seem as dominant as you would expect from a wolf of his age, though he is said to feel like an Alpha. This has introduced them and I would like to see more to see if the characters can be brought more to the front and made more interesting.

A quick read with a nice story that may pique your interest.

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Before The Moon Rises

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Before The Moon Rises (Ritter Werewolves, #1)

Before The Moon Rises (Ritter Werewolves #1)

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would and it has piqued my interest in other books by this author. I can say that I would have liked it to have been a little longer because I was really into it just as started getting to the end. This was a fast paced story that managed to introduce the characters in a way that made them real and give you the entire run-down on what was going on in their world. While the romance was almost instantaneous, it gave meaning to the males need to protect. Not to mention the fact that shifters always seem to fall in love/lust immediately.

Max Ritter is found in the middle of Los Angeles naked and unconscious, he is taken to the hospital and meets Janet O’Brien, the nurse taking care of him. Also at the hospital is Gorman, the werewolf he has been following. When he sees that Gorman has set his sights on Janet what else can he do but try to protect her. Though they have an instant attraction Janet has no idea what Max is and he does not enlighten her even though he knows the danger that stalks her. The Ritter’s are a family of werewolves who are sworn to protect people from being killed or turned but can they do it when it’s most important to them and Max.

This was a really good story about the good and evil that can be found within the werewolf community with a villain who was evil and had plans for everything and everyone. Our good guy was rich, handsome, and almost to good to be true. Then there is the nurse, Janet, who has found herself between two adversaries without knowing the real cost to her.

Fast, sexy, brutal, and engrossing!

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Rise of the Fallen

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Rise of the Fallen by Donya Lynne   Rise of the Fallen (AKM, #1)
by Donya Lynne

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have to say that as soon as I started reading I was pulled directly into the world of Micah Black. Though I did not know who he was at first I knew that this was going to be someone I could like based on how dark and tortured he appeared because you know that he feels deep. The plot of this book is very straight forward and keeps moving at a good pace which allows you to follow the action without getting bogged down. There are no slow spots of weird changes to deal with, no shifts in time or tense to keep track of, you know what is going on every step of the way.

When you consider that most of the main characters are vampires, you can still relate to them and what they are dealing with as people. I could imagine knowing someone like Trace, a nice guy who is quiet and keeps to himself but is looking to make a friend of the guy everyone else avoids. I know sometimes the dialogue in these books can seem kind of stilted or forced, but that is not the case here. The dialogue seems to be very true to who each of the characters are, keeping in mind that some of them are quite old. 😉

Our main character is Micah Black who works at AKM (All the Kings Men) as an enforcer, he keeps the peace between the drecks (lower vampires) and upper level vampires. Micah has fallen into a dark place because of the lose of his mate and is looking for a way to continue living as he is or to die. Samantha Garrett is working as a stripper after leaving her abusive husband and simply wants to make enough money to get a new identity so she can feel free. They have nothing in common but when they cross paths it is salvation them both.

My favorite quote from Micah, “If they made a move on Sam, he’d fuck up their world so righteously the galaxy would shift from the gravitational pull of his wrath.”

Micah is not a man you want to get in the way of, he is fierce, passionate, and loyal. Who wouldn’t want a man to feel like that about them. You see these traits in all the characters, they are a group I cannot wait to find out more about! In this first of the series we get to meet Micah but in subsequent novels we will get more on the other enforcers at AKM. Each should be just as exciting and hot as this one. I will be reading them as fast as I can get them.

There is some talk of BDSM but it is fairly mild though some of the scenes are good and hot even without it. Also if M/M action makes you squeamish you may want to skip.

 

 

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Kade’s Dark Embrace

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Kade's Dark Embrace by Kym Grosso   Kade’s Dark Embrace (Immortals of New Orleans, #1)
by Kym Grosso

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

 

This book was just WOW! I am totally and completely in love with Kade Isaccson. The start of this book is so laid back at first you have no idea where it might take you, then Kade spots a woman he is drawn to and you know that their paths are going to cross before long. I knew I was going to enjoy this at that point. If I am intrigued within the first few pages I have to be ready for an all night read.

Kade has been called to Philly from his home in New Orleans by his friend Tristan (an Alpha) who says that a rogue vampire is rumored to be in the city. When a body is found on washed up on the dock apparently drained of blood and with the looks of a ritualistic killing Kade is sure he is right. Detective Sydney Willows is assigned to the case and does not like working with supernaturals but she does not have any choice if the case turns out to be a vampire kill. An attraction between these two could cause more problems for their investigation than either is ready to deal with.

This is a sexy, romantic story with a killer who uses magic, voodoo, and vampire powers to wreak havoc on a city as well as those looking them. This story flows seamlessly from start to finish and pulls you in as it builds to the final showdown with an evil that has no limits.

Sydney and Kade are hot together and would make me blush if I weren’t enjoying it so much. This is a great read for anyone.

 

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