Sunday Book Blog(s)

Sorry about being out of touch but I've been such a slacker and since my job has resumed, it's been crazy.  So here is the Sunday Book Blog for the past TWO weeks.  Yup, folks, your math is right, it's FOUR books that I am going to review.

And without further ado...

Noah by Jacquelyn Frank

As King of the Demons, Noah prides himself on his self-control and his sound mind.  So when the dreams that he has been having of his Mate for the past six months suddenly stop, it drives him over a precipice and causes him to commit a heinous act.  One that he can neither forgive himself for nor can he ask others to forgive him.  But he cannot deny the incredible pleasure that having Kestra in his life brings.  They are as different as night and day.  She a highly trained mercenary and he a King more at home among his books than on the battlefield.  Together they must find a way to be together and fight against those that would pull them apart.

Now, I first want to start off by saying that I love this series.  My personal favorite was 'Elijah.'  I don't know why but something about that story got to me.  

I enjoyed getting to know Noah.  Although he has been in all of the books, you've never really gotten a true sense of who he is other than he is a Scholar King.  And I thought that Kestra was a good match for him, both in temperament and vibe.  I liked their romance.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I was disappointed in some aspects of the book.  

This book marked the end of the 'Nightwalker' series and Ms. Frank will be moving on to the 'Shadowdweller' series.  That being said, I was expecting big things out of this book.  For the first three books, there was this great storyline going on with Ruth and her daughter Mary who betray their demon kind because Jacob inadvertently killed Mary's Imprinted Mate.  That sends these crazy bitches into a tailspin and they set out to wreak havoc.  This storyline culminates in 'Elijah' where Mary gets killed and Ruth vows revenge on Jacob and Bella and Gideon and Legna's children whom it has been prophesied will usher in a new era of peace.  Great story, right?  Too bad it ends there.  If I remember correctly, Ruth had a bit part in Damien and Syreena's story and she is almost an afterthought in 'Noah.'

Huh?

What happened to her?  Is she working with the Vampires to overthrow all the Nightwalkers?  

And what's with that library that they found buried deep in the ground that was said to contain some crazy knowledge and prophesies?

And was Kestra a mercenary?  Her background other than what happened when she was 17 years old (read the book) was sketchy at best.  Why did she turn to merc work after getting out of the Marines?  Those questions just niggled at my brain. 

There are so many loose ends in 'Noah' that by the end, although I thoroughly enjoyed the story, I wanted to rip out my hair.  To me it seemed as though both 'Damien' and 'Noah' were stand alone stories and didn't really fit in with the story arc created in the first three books.  Which is fine but as a reader, when I hear that a series is ending, I want everything wrapped up in a neat bow and this book just didn't give me that.

But that will not stop me from reading her next series.  I love Ms. Frank's writing.  I love Jacki (I met her last year which is how I got started reading the books).  So while I am disappointed, it won't stop me from gobbling up her next book and hope that I get some of the answers to my questions there.

Rating: Speed Walk

Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh

Dorian Christiansen has nothing good to say about the Psy.  They covered up for the psychotic killer who murdered his sister and even though Dorian exacted his revenge, his hatred for the Psy has not diminished.  Ashaya Aleine represents everything that the Psy stand for.  So deep in the Silence protocol that Dorian doubts that she even has a heart.  But that doesn't stop him from wanting her.  She's like a fever in his blood but to look at her, he was sure that ice ran in hers.  So when Ashaya enlists his help to save her son, he has no choice to to repay a debt.  And when Ashaya soon follows her child, she and Dorian are trapped in a world of pleasure and torn apart by the fact of their very natures.  

There are no words to describe how much I love this book.  Ashaya and Dorian are in my heart.  I cried, I laughed, I fell in love.  To see Dorian struggle with the knowledge that Ashaya is his mate and that she is Psy was heartbreaking but not nearly as much as watching Ashaya try to bury her love for her son and deal with her sister.  

Sniff.

The tension between Dorian and Ashaya is palpable.  They're drawn together and yet repelled.  They are the epitome of opposite attracting especially when Ashaya is determined to hold onto the Silence protocol, something that Dorian believed contributed to his sister's death.  

Great storyline.  Consistent plot.  Steady worldbuilding.  Everything that a paranormal romance should be.

Rating: Sprint like you're that Jamaican dude who blew people away at the Olympics. 

Bound by Light by Anna Windsor

The only thing that Astraroth demon Jake Lowell wants more than to be human is Merilee Alexander, the broom of the Manhattan Sibyl triad.  But after two years with no success, Jake has decided to put that dream aside and join his brothers on the OSU team of the NYPD.  Unfortunately, that puts him in constant contact with Merilee since her triad sisters are pregnant and not able to fight with her.  

Psychics are disappearing all over Manhattan and it is up to Jake and Merilee to find out the reasons why.  Especially since Merilee is very much afraid that she might be next on the madman's list.

This was a very enjoyable end to a very enjoyable series.  Jake and Merilee practically scorched off the pages.  I found the story to be completely engaging and like the two before this book, very unique.  This was a cohesive trilogy that unlike some other trilogies, gave each couple their own arc and separate story but still managed  to keep everything together.

Rating?  RUN

And I saved the best for last...

Dark Curse by Christine Feehan

Lara Calladine has endured a lifetime of pain in just the first eight years of her life.  Held hostage by her father and grandfather and used as nothing more than food, with the help of her aunts, she was finally able to escape.

Nicolas De La Cruz can feel the darkness covering his soul.  The call of the Vampire echoes in his head.  His last duty?  To relay a message to the Prince of their people before choosing the dawn.  When he meets Lara on the streets of a Carpathian village, he cannot help but call her to him, the dark hunger rising in his blood.  The Vampire can no longer be denied.  However, at the sound of her voice, colors explode before his eyes and long-dead emotions flood into his heart.  She is it.  The one that he has been searching centuries for.  She is is Lifemate.

Bound together, Lara and Nicolas must work to find her aunts, expose the experiments of a madman intent on causing the destruction of all Carpathians,  and save their race before it's too late.  For either of them.

Christine Feehan is a genius.  Plain and simple.  I await every single one of her 'Dark' books with bated breath.

And the sex?  OMG, the woman is a master.  I wish that I could write love scenes like she does, which such intensity and sensuality.  I'm still stuck on the ones that I have to write for my WIP.  I need to go back and read her some more to get inspiration but her books are never at the library.  They all get stolen.  That's how good she is.

I really enjoyed this story because I liked the humbling of a De La Cruz.  If you've ever read Ms. Feehan then you would know that these brothers give new meaning to the word 'Chauvinist' even in the Carpathian world.  And while other Lifemates have 'tamed' their De La Cruz brothers, none have been humbled and truly changed like Nicolas was.

Rating: Pull a Usain Bolt.

Until next time...

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