DEADLY DESIRE Book 7 in Riley Jenson Guardian Series by Keri Arthur

Publisher: Bantam Spectra
ISBN 978-0-553-59115-6
Fantasy
Mass Market Paperback
Reviewed by Dawn



A simple robbery/murder is all Riley Jenson thought when she is called on a case by her vampire boss, Jack. What she gets is a complex race to find whoever is murdering vampires and raising the dead in the process. The only good thing going on in Riley’s life is her love affair with vampire Quinn but she knows he can’t give her what her wolf side desires: a mate for life. As more people die and pressure mounts, Riley finds herself in a struggle that even she doubts she can overcome as she comes face to face with an evil so dark it scares even her. Can Riley find a way to overcome the evil that is determined to wipe out her existence and bring the killer to justice?

DEADLY DESIRE is the seventh book in the adventures of half-vampire/half-wolf Riley Jenson and Ms. Arthur delivers one spellbinding ride from start to finish. I was blown away at how far Riley has gone since the beginning of the series and you don’t get disappointed in her next adventure. This time a seemingly simple robbery/murder takes an unexpected twist with zombies, black magic and hell hounds all mixed together causing Riley and her fellow guardians to race against the clock to find whoever it is causing the murders and stop them, before another person dies. I love the dynamics Riley has with her fellow guardians and especially with her sexy lover, Quinn. These two are so good together, you get a sense that these two really belong except for one tiny little problem: Riley’s desire for her wolf mate. With twists, turns and sensual passion skimming the pages, I was literally glued to the chair trying to finish DEADLY DESIRE and see who the real bad guys are. The ending will blow you away!

Ms. Arthur is an author that delivers one heck of a ride and Riley is a heroine that can stand on her own two feet and loves with a passion that is scorching hot. As she tries to fight her attraction to a fellow wolf and stay true to Quinn, will she finally succumb to the desire this wolf gives her or will it lead to something so unexpected it will knock even Riley off her game? DEADLY DESIRE has everything a reader could want: great cast of characters, intriguing storyline that keeps you entertained, fast pace writing and scorching hot passion that sizzles along the pages. I am eagerly awaiting the next book in this captivating series and will definitely keep this one on my bookcase. Run, don’t walk, to get the latest Riley adventure and be prepared to hold on to something because this time Riley has to fight a DEADLY DESIRE.

DESTINY KILLS by Keri Arthur - *Book 1 Myth and Magic Series*

Publisher: Bantam Spectra
Publishing date: November 2008
ISBN: 978-0-553-58960-3
Fantasy
Mass-Market Paperback

Reviewed by Dawn



When Destiny McCree wakes up naked, a dead man next her and a pounding headache, she has no clue what the heck happened or how she got there. All she knows is something is coming for her, there is a mysterious ring next to her and frankly, she has no idea what to do…except find out what happened and why.

Keri Arthur is one of this reviewer’s favorites and I was blown away with DESTINY KILLS. You literally get sucked into a story full of twists, turns and magic. Who is after Destiny? What does this mysterious ring have to do with anything? Why is hunky Trae Wilson helping her? All those questions get answered eventually but man, does Ms. Arthur take you on a spellbinding ride in the process. With her trademark style, this author delves into a world of science, magic and intriguing characters that will keep you captivated from the first to the last page. With mythical creatures that you don’t see get written about, Keri Arthur delves into a world where things are not the same. Add in hunky thief Trae Wilson, a mystery to solve and a blossoming romance, you get all the makings of a wild roller coaster of a ride.

Meet Destiny McCree, a woman who has no idea how she ended up naked, wet and a dead man next to her. What the heck happened is all Destiny can think of, add in a mysterious snake ring, powers that leave her with even more questions than answers. Who is hunting her and why? What is locked in her mind that people want? Then she meets Trae Wilson, a man of considerable talents and not all of them legal. On the run and trying to find out what is going on has Destiny racing against the clock as her past unfolds slowly and events spiral out of her control. These two main characters literally burn the pages up and evolve as the story unfolds. With the right amount of vulnerability, independence and layers, Ms. Arthur creates two people who are the opposites of each other yet are drawn to each other like a moth is to a flame. They keep the fast pace going as they find out what happened to Destiny and why.

If you enjoy a fast paced story, captivating characters, and tight writing, then grab DESTINY KILLS. It will leave you wanting the next book in the series and wondering what happens next for Destiny and Trae. I highly recommend this book if you are looking for a different fantasy series to delve into.

Dawn@Loveromancesandmore.com

THE DEVIL’S DUE *Book 3 in Morgan Kinsley series* by Jenna Black

Publisher: Dell Spectra
Date published: November 2008
ISBN: 978-0-440-24492-9
Fantasy Romance
Mass Market paperback

Reviewed by Dawn



Poor Morgan….she has had one shock after another to her system since being possessed by the king of all demons. Now the most important choice is upon her: Trust Lugh or die. Trusting is not easy for Morgan and she has some dang good reasons why not to. Either someone is trying to kill her, her house has been torched, life as she knew it is up in a puff of smoke and she has to keep one step ahead of the demons sent to find Lugh, the King who is determined to rule his world…though the power struggle Morgan is pulled into could get her killed if this keeps up. Now she has to earn her paycheck and finds herself doing an investigation into a bizarre possession of a son of a wealthy couple. Questions rack up, leading Morgan into a world where the daytime and night collide and this time she has to make the choices that could ultimately kill her in the end.

THE DEVIL’S DUE is the third book in Ms. Black’s Morgan Kinsley series and it is getting even better. I read this in less than three hours and frankly, could not put it down. Morgan is still sassy and distrustful of everyone in her life. With all the shocks to her system, she finds herself trying to keep herself from pitching over the edge and screaming into the night. With a fast pace, intriguing characters that continue to grow as the book races to its climatic climax and all the twists and turns to keep you enthralled, Ms. Black delivers another chapter in her delightful Morgan Kinsley series. Just a note though, you should read these in order to understand the back-story of things mentioned in THE DEVIL’S DUE.

Morgan has had one too many shocks in her opinion to keep her reeling off kilter. With her father’s death, her houses burning to the ground and then add in the fact she is possessed by the King of Demons, Lugh, and frankly, all the attempts to kill her are getting on her nerves. Morgan is my kind of heroine: Flawed, distrustful of everyone around her and frankly, just sick of it all. Now Lugh is forcing her to either trust him or die. The way she sees it, she is stuck between a rock and a hard place. With returning characters, complex emotions and a fast paced storyline, Ms. Black delivers a one-two punch as Morgan finds herself doing the impossible in her thinking: Trusting the demon inside her and finding a way to survive on top of it.

THE DEVIL’S DUE is a delight to read and Ms. Black definitely keeps the tension up as Morgan grapples with inner demons-real and otherwise. Can Morgan trust Lugh not to keep her in the dark if she lets him gain control? Will she be able to help her newest client as the case keeps twisting into places she would rather not go to? If you enjoy a fast paced story with gripping twists and turns, then grab THE DEVIL’S DUE and be prepared to stay up just to see what happens next. Ms. Black definitely delivers a story that will keep you captivated and wondering: How long till the next adventure for Morgan?

Dawn@Loveromancesandmore.com

SOUL OF FIRE by Sarah A. Hoyt

Publisher Spectra
Date published August 2008
ISBN 978-0-553-58967-2
Fantasy Romance
Mass Market Paperback
Reviewed by Valerie



This is set in a fantasy Victorian England. Weres live and breathe among normal humans and in England they are hunted and killed. Peter Farewell is a were-dragon and a British gentleman. When his father found out what he was, he was sent away to India. Actually, he is on a mission to recover the Soul of Fire, a ruby that matches the Heart of Light, whose story was told in an earlier book of the same title. Peter doesn’t have much hope in finding this jewel in a land that stands on the brink of rebellion, where magic and hostility abounds. But one night he saves a young virgin who is running away from home and a marriage she is being forced into by her parents. Her prospective husband is a were-tiger and is also after the jewel, that the damsel happens to have as her dowry. They both start on an adventure where Peter and Sofie have to defend themselves from those that want the jewel. Who can they trust? Can they even trust each other?

This is a book I really enjoyed. Sarah A. Hoyt delivers a believable story with wonderful characters. She draws her readers into an historical setting that abounds with sights, smells and ambience, then adds her own fantastical elements. It’s a fascinating read with the characters acting in keeping with the time period and great paranormal elements that make it different. I enjoyed the interaction between Peter and Sofie and I enjoyed the danger and action that kept the plot moving along. The conflict between the weres and the English was interesting, too. There was only one thing that kept me from giving this story a higher rating. I found it had rather a lot of descriptive prose, which was ok some of the time, but I found it a little boring at times. Still, I will get the first book and I know there is another one too which I will definitely pick up. All you fantasy, paranormal fans out there, follow my example and go pick up some good reads now! You won’t be disappointed, I promise.

PERSONAL DEMON: Woman of the Otherworld, Book 8 by Kelley Armstrong

Publisher: Bantam
Date Published: September 2008
ISBN: 978-0-55358820-0
Paranormal Suspense
Paperback
Reviewed by Gina



Hope Adams is a tad more than the tabloid reporter delving into werewolf sightings about town. And she’s a tad more than a half-demon. Actually she’s got quite the pedigree in that she is Lucifer’s daughter. Yes, that Lucifer. She’s pretty much on her own, no real ties and only one commitment that looms from her past. Along the way she and werewolf Karl Marsten incurred a bit of a debt to the Cortez Cabal. Benicio Cortex, that would be Lucas Cortez’ father, hasn’t been in any hurry to collect, until now. Someone is setting up the Cortez Cabal and as the oldest and most powerful of the cabals, he needs to put a stop to it, but how? There’s a gang working in the neighborhood and what better way to get the scoop than to have a reporter, a tabloid reporter at that, investigate just what’s going on? He calls Hope and she agrees to help, sans Karl because the last thing she wants is to open the old wounds of his telling her to go on out and date other supernaturals.

When Karl hears what Hope is doing, he heads for Florida, determined to work by her side. Before he arrives though, Hope, posing as party girl Faith with an entre into gang, has met a potently sexy man named Jaz. From the first moment they meet Jaz puts the moves on Hope and she is on the verge of succumbing. Jaz is everything Karl is not. With Hope’s arrival, movement within the gang changes and instead of just stealing from unsuspecting humans, Cabal members begin to be killed. An even iller wind blows when members of the gang also begin to turn up dead. With things getting uglier and uglier, including the murder of two of Lucas’ brothers, Lucas and Paige head off to Florida to help out. What they find is almost beyond comprehension with finger pointing at the very top of the Cortez Cabal. e Fates.

I didn't like PERSONAL DEMON. There is little in the book for me to recommend and this was a huge disappointment for me because of how strong the writing was in BITTEN, HAUNTED and BROKEN. While a different series, EXIT STRAGETGY was one of the best reads I had all year. PERSONAL DEMON is a slide back to how I felt when I read DIME STORE MAGIC and INDUSTRIAL MAGIC. Admittedly I am not a fan of first person writing, but in the “Elena” books as well as Eve Levine in HAUNTED Ms. Armstrong turns me around. Those are so well done. In PERSONAL DEMON she has not only Hope, but Lucas in the first person point of view and at times it makes the reading tough going. It does not add to the drama, but makes following the story and who’s doing what hard to follow.
The connection between Jaz and Hope is instantaneous but there’s no true emotion with it. The story needs them to have a connection so it’s there, but I didn't feel it was true. I did like the turn around with Karl and he became a likeable character. I also liked Benicio – he does grow on you after awhile!

Hope is purported to be Lucifer’s daughter. There are a couple of references to Hope’s lineage, but nothing is much made of it. I felt more could have been done, perhaps even with an appearance of some sort by the…demon…himself. Over all though, I felt no connection to any of the characters and for the most part the book read like a travelogue of Hope and Lucas’ experiences.

From past books I know Ms. Armstrong is a talented and innovative writer. I look forward to the next Nadia Stafford book as well as her new Summoning series.
And, given that PERSONAL DEMON ends on the note that leads one to believe we haven’t seen the end of Jaz, I will probably read it and hope it is one of Ms. Armstrong’s pinnacle tales.

NO HUMANS INVOLVED by Kelley Armstrong

Publisher: Spectra
Date Published: February 2008
ISBN: 978-0-55358837-8
Paranormal Suspense
Paperback
Reviewed by Gina




Super sexy, red haired necromancer Jamie Vegas is about to realize the dream of a lifetime. Death of Innocence, a reality-type television show staring spiritualists, culminating in raising the ghost of Marilyn Monroe could be the pivotal last step before being handed the television show she has always coveted. The dream coming true, however, is the imminent arrival of Jeremy Danvers, the werewolf alpha who captured her heart some five years earlier. Not that Jeremy knows of her infatuation. Jeremy is all aloof courtesy, putting his pack first and lately, his two grandchildren and Clay and Elena’s babies, Logan and Kate. Jamie lives for the supernatural council meetings where she can drink in even just the sight of the man of her dreams.

When Jeremy calls to say he’ll be late because the twins have colds, Jamie is disappointed, but she understands and expects he will not be arriving at all. Before she can crumble at the thought of not seeing Jeremy, the production team begins their work on the show, starting with a séance where contact is made with the ghost of Tansy Lane, a fledging starlet killed before her career could take off. While Jamie is the real deal, the other two spiritualists hired for the show aren’t exactly the folks you’d want contacting your family member. As the contact with Tansy moves along, Jamie becomes aware of other ghosts, yet they are like no ghosts she has ever encountered. They can’t hear her and she can’t hear or see them. The joy of Jeremy’s arrival is filtered through the mystery of the child ghosts. Jamie looks to Eve Levine for help, yet Eve doesn’t answer. Rather, it is Kristof who shows up. When she tells him of her discovery he goes to the Fates and before long Eve is sent to help. What is going on is of grave concern to the Fates. What unfolds before council members is more than they bargained for.

I became am “Armstrong fan” when I read BITTEN earlier this year, moving on to STOLEN, DIME STORE MAGIC and INDUSTRIAL MAGIC. Both DIME STORE MAGIC and INDUSTRIAL MAGIC were a struggle for me, the stories felt flat and I had a hard time differentiating between Elena and Paige. With HAUNTED and BROKEN I once again saw the writing that set Kelley Armstrong apart. NO HUMANS INVOLVED is proof positive of Ms. Armstrong’s unique talent for story telling. She definitely regained her voice and has come back strong and steady.

The heat between Jeremy and Jamie is palpable and when Jamie sends him from her door without even a goodnight kiss I wanted to shake the characters and yell at them “You gotta do this!” They waited five years to move to the next level. Well I waited through four books! Ms. Armstrong did not disappoint…and neither did Jeremy!

This is a multi-layered story—the drive to out do and the glamour of Hollywood, lost children taken in their prime with no one to care. Lost souls finding their way home and justice meted out to those that need it most. When Eve shows up with her sword I cheered her on. Ms. Armstrong leads her readers into the psychological machinations of some very sick people along with the motivations of the good guys. The cameos of some favorite characters makes for a read that makes the reader feel included. There’s also a touch of humor, as seen through Jamie’s eyes. While the author doesn’t treat some of what Jamie sees as funny, the idea of a ghost hanging from a chandelier does have a certain glimmer of amusement to it.

NO HUMANS INVOLVED shows a believable perspective on the after life. While the names are changed, some of those we meet from the other side are recognizable and honored by Ms. Armstrong’s tale. When justice is done, it’s awesome. NO HUMANS INVOLVED is a do not miss read.

BROKEN: Women of the Otherworld, Book 6 by Kelley Armstrong

Publisher: Spectra
Date Published: April 2006
978-0-553588187
Paranormal Suspense
Paperback
Reviewed by Gina



Five years after coming to terms with just how she really feels about Clayton Danvers, Elena Michaels is pregnant with his child. Being the only known female werewolf has its privileges….and restrictions. For instance, is the gestation period that of a human, wolf or a combination of both? No one knows and Jeremy Danvers, the pack leader, is making sure that all goes well with Elena’s pregnancy. Or tries to until a voice from the past calls.

When half-demon Xavier Reese helped Elena escape from a madman’s compound several years before, that would be after he engineered her capture, he let her know one day he’d call in the favor. With weeks to go with her pregnancy, Xavier has surfaced with his chip. There’s a letter he wants that no one with a heartbeat can retrieve. Against Jeremy and Clay’s desire to the contrary, Elena, who is going a tad stir crazy, wants to go after Xavier’s prize. The pack agrees and they take off for Toronto. While retrieving the letter itself is fairly simple, it’s the true contents that unleash horrors on Toronto and the Danvers pack. Embedded within the letter is a portal to the past, one that contains Jack the Ripper and Jack’s back on the streets. But they don’t know this at the outset. There are two zombies slogging their way around the streets of Toronto causing havoc themselves. They realize Jack’s back when they come across a dead prostitute, killed in a macabre imitation of the Ripper murders some 100 years before. In a race against time the werewolves with help from necromancer, Jamie Vegas, pursue Jack. One big hitch—Clay’s life is on the line and Elena may have to choose between her child and the man she loves.

Kelley Armstrong’s BROKEN is a fabulous return to Elena’s world. Five years after BITTEN where she came to terms with her werewolf nature shows her as stronger than ever. Knowing and accepting her place in the world empowers her to make her own choices. She still respects pack law; but knows how to work with it to achieve her own goals.

BITTEN also seemed to be a point of liberation for Ms. Armstrong in terms of her own humor as related in one of Elena’s remembrances—she looks back at a time when she, Clay and pack-brother Nick went to the movies and Elena and Nick ditched Clay. It’s funny yet at the same time showed just how sensitive Clay is. He’s not only gorgeous and smart, he loves Elena with an unconditional love we should all experience. Clay’s the kind of guy we’d all like to bring home and keep there for safe keeping.

Ripperology is fascinating. Who was he? Why did he do what he did? Did they ever find him? Was it a favor for the royal house? Or was he just a psychotic, sociopathic killer? Or…is he the creature seen through Ms. Armstrong’s eyes? This fabulous author adds a whole new twist on the Ripper story with an incredibly wonderfully layered story.

Kelley Armstrong just gets better and better with each of her Women of the Otherworld stories.