Category Archives: Paranormal

Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, #2) by Ilona Andrews

Purchased

When Kate sets out to retrieve a set of stolen maps for the Pack, Atlanta’s paramilitary clan of shapeshifters, she quickly realizes much more is at stake. During a flare, gods and goddesses can manifest – and battle for power. The stolen maps are only the opening gambit in an epic tug-of-war between two gods hoping for rebirth. And if Kate can’t stop the cataclysmic showdown, the city man not survive… (from Goodreads)

This is turning into one of my favorite series.  I have already contacted the author to find out when book five, Magic Slays, is due out.  Unfortunately, there is no release date yet.

The relationship, if you can call it that, between Kate and Curran continues to develop, but they still seem more interested in sniping at each other than becoming lovers.  Of course, due to her raising Kate has real issues with any type of relationship, whether friend or lover.  Her friends all seem to die on her and this one may not be the exception.

This book really fleshes out some of the other characters in the book.  There are some that I thought were okay at first, but now I really despise and others that I thought were “ewwww” who turn out to be okay.  Who knows what book three will bring?

Leave a comment

Filed under Paranormal, Romance

Hourglass (Evernight, #3) by Claudia Gray

Library

After escaping from Evernight Academy, the vampire boarding school, Bianca and Lucas seek refuge with Black Cross, the elite group of vampire hunters led by Lucas’s stepfather. When Bianca’s close friend—the vampire Balthazar—is captured by Black Cross, Bianca knows she has to do whatever it takes to save him. But at what cost? (from Goodreads)

Talk about your love triangles.  Lucas and Balthazar both love Bianca.  She loves Lucas, but has strong feelings for Balthazar as well.  Oh yeah, Lucas is a vampire hunter, Balthazar is a vampire, and Bianca is in the process of turning into a vampire.  Sheesh!

Personally, I’m rooting for Balthazar.  Lucas has way too many issues with vampires.

Oh yes, let’s not forget about the wraiths that are trying to kill Bianca.  No one knows why they are targeting her, or if they do know, they’re not telling.

Leave a comment

Filed under Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

Stargazer (Evernight, #2) by Claudia Gray

Library

Evernight Academy: an exclusive boarding school for the most beautiful, dangerous students of all—vampires. Bianca, born to two vampires, has always been told her destiny is to become one of them.

But Bianca fell in love with Lucas—a vampire hunter sworn to destroy her kind. They were torn apart when his true identity was revealed, forcing him to flee the school. (from Goodreads)

You would think being in love with a member of a cult determined to kill you and all of your kind would be enough trouble, but no, Bianca also has wraiths after her.  What has she done to deserve this?

On the other hand, she also has two gorgeous guys in love with her.  Lucas, who is human and a vampire hunter, and Balthazar, who is one of her own kind.  Balthazar, who is gorgeous and kind and would do almost anything for Bianca.  How is a girl to choose?

I would recommend these books to anyone who loves vampire romances.  They are more like Vampire Academy and the House of Night series than Twilight, but should appeal to anyone who loves the paranormal.

Leave a comment

Filed under Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

Evernight (Evernight, #1) by Claudia Gray

Library

Library

She’s been uprooted from her small hometown and enrolled at Evernight Academy, an eerie Gothic boarding school where the students are somehow too perfect: smart, sleek, and almost predatory. Bianca knows she doesn’t fit in.

Then she meets Lucas. He’s not the “Evernight type” either, and he likes it that way. Lucas ignores the rules, stands up to the snobs, and warns Bianca to be careful—even when it comes to caring about him.

I originally read this book when it was first published. There are three books in the series out now with the fourth, Afterlife, due in March 2011. With all the wonderful YA books being published, I somehow missed reading the third, so I am doing a reread of the entire series.

This is one of those books that it is hard to say much without giving away a major plot twist. I had actually forgotten I had read it until I started it again. I kept asking myself, “Isn’t this the one where . . .?” And it was!

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys paranormal romances. There is a love triangle with a really nice guy and a “is he really a nice guy or is it all an act” guy.

I wish I could say more, but it would really spoil it for you.

Leave a comment

Filed under Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, #1) by Ilona Andrews

Purchased

When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta’s magic circles.

I don’t know if it is because I am reading these so soon after Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series or if there is really a resemblance, but I keep confusing Kate and Mac in my mind.  Both of them are loners who are expected to save the world from a magical disaster.  Both of them have alpha males who try to control them.   Hey, they’re even both from Georgia!

Having said that, I much prefer this series.  Kate is a smart mouth, but she is also smart.  She has a serious attitude problem, but she also has the skill and training to back it up.

I didn’t think I was going to like the book to begin with, but halfway through I ordered the rest of the series.  Unfortunately, they won’t be here for a couple of days.

My only complaint is that there are so many characters, I feel like I should keep notes.  When the “bad guy” is revealed, I had to go back and figure out which one he was.  It made me want to re-read the book again just to get things straight.

Regardless, I can’t wait for UPS to come tomorrow.

Leave a comment

Filed under Paranormal

Dreamfever (Fever, #4) by Karen Marie Moning

Library

He has stolen her past, but MacKayla will never allow her sister’s murderer to take her future. Yet even the uniquely gifted sidhe-seer is no match for the Lord Master, who has unleashed an insatiable sexual craving that consumes Mac’s every thought-and thrusts her into the seductive realm of two very dangerous men, both of whom she desires but dares not trust.

It’s a good thing this book was already published when I finished Faefever.  I am really tired of cliffhanger endings and book three had the worst so far.

I’ve said it before . . . these books are addictive.  I did not realize until I finished this one that there are only five scheduled for the series.  I wish I had known that because I would have waited until they were all published.  The final book, Shadowfever, is scheduled to be released January 18, 2011.  I want it now!

I am afraid I will need to reread the entire series just to keep up with the storyline.  I see a long weekend in my future.


Leave a comment

Filed under Paranormal

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

Free ebookI hate reading a book that I already know how it ends, but this book makes it worthwhile.  Bree becomes very likable and I wish the storyline was different.

It was odd reading about the Cullens from someone besides Bella’s viewpoint, but I enjoyed the different perspective.  I had forgotten about Jasper’s scars until I saw him through Bree’s eyes. I never think of him as one of the major fighters because he is so slight in build.  Bree made me see him differently.

There are at least two more plot lines added to the Twilight saga in this book:  one is about Jane and the other is about a vampire named Fred.  I wonder if Stephenie Meyer plans to take them further.

Oh yes!  I really wonder how the wolf pack would feel about being called “howling vampires.”

Leave a comment

Filed under Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

Faefever (Fever, #3) by Karen Marie Moning

Purchased

He calls me his Queen of the Night. I’d die for him. I’d kill for him, too.

When MacKayla Lane receives a torn page from her dead sister’s journal, she is stunned by Alina’s desperate words. And now MacKayla knows that her sister’s killer is close. But evil is closer. And suddenly the sidhe-seer is on the hunt: For answers. For revenge. And for an ancient book of dark magic so evil, it corrupts anyone who touches it. Mac’s quest for the Sinsar Dubh takes her into the mean, shape-shifting streets of Dublin, with a suspicious cop on her tail. Forced into a dangerous triangle of alliance with V’lane, an insatiable Fae prince of lethally erotic tastes, and Jericho Barrons, a man of primal desires and untold secrets, Mac is soon locked in a battle for her body, mind, and soul.

I have said from the first book that I really don’t like this series.  However, I cannot put them down.  A secondary character has been added that I think I like better than anyone else, so maybe there is some hope.

There are indications of a “possible” romance developing, but since I don’t like either V’lane or Barrons, I’m not all that excited.  Both of them are users, regardless of their motivation.

This book probably has one of the worst cliffhanger endings I have ever read.  I HATE those types of endings.  I love a continuing storyline, but I expect every book to actually have an ending.  It’s a good thing that book four was already available when I read this one.

I’ll say it again.  I don’t like these books.   And, I’ll say it again.  They are absolutely engrossing.

Leave a comment

Filed under Paranormal

Bloodfever (Fever, #2) by Karen Marie Moning

Purchased

I used to be your average, everyday girl but all that changed one night in Dublin when I saw my first Fae, and got dragged into a world of deadly immortals and ancient secrets. . . .

In her fight to stay alive, MacKayla must find the Sinsar Dubh—a million-year-old book of the blackest magic imaginable, which holds the key to power over the worlds of both the Fae and Man. Pursued by assassins, surrounded by mysterious figures she knows she can’t trust, Mac finds herself torn between two deadly and powerful men: V’lane, the immortal Fae Prince, and Jericho Barrons, a man as irresistible as he is dangerous.

For centuries the shadowy realm of the Fae has coexisted with that of humans. Now the walls between the two are coming down, and Mac is the only thing that stands between them.

I stated in my review of Darkfever that these books contain no romance and I stand by that statement.  However, there is plenty of lust to go around.  Of course, V’lane is a death-by-sex prince of the Fae, so I guess it is to be expected.

As I said before, these books are not what I wanted after reading Moning’s Highlander series.  They are absolutely addicting though.  For some reason the Dark Zone especially interests me.

I really like Mac.  It is becoming obvious that she can’t be completely human.  Only time, and the next book, will tell.

Leave a comment

Filed under Paranormal

Darkfever (Fever, #1) by Karen Marie Moning

Purchased

MacKayla Lane’s life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she’s your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman. Or so she thinks…until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death–a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed–a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae….

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister’s death, her every move is shadowed by the dark, mysterious Jericho, a man with no past and only mockery for a future. As she begins to close in on the truth, the ruthless V’lane–an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women–closes in on her. And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac’s true mission becomes clear: find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book–because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control of the very fabric of both worlds in their hands….

I started this series thinking I was going to get something similar to her Highlander series.  I was very wrong.  The title of the first book should have been a clue because this is one of the “darkest,” most depressing series I have ever read.  Nothing good ever happens.

Having said that, the books suck you in.  Yes, there is quite a bit of world building, but the story still grabs you from the start.

I really liked the setting in Dublin, Ireland.  With rare exceptions, the entire series takes place there.  Mac, however, is from south Georgia and since that is where I am from too, I felt a real connection.

All I can say is don’t go into these expecting a romance.  There is NO romance.  There are suggestions of possible romances in the future, but no promises.

Leave a comment

Filed under Paranormal