Review + Giveaway - My Immortal Assassin by Carolyn Jewel

Tempted by Revenge, Bound by Desire...

TITLE:    My Immortal Assassin

AUTHOR:    Carolyn Jewel
INFO:    Paperback, Fiction, 358 pages
PUBLISHED:   Forever, 2010
ISBN#:   978-0-446-56386-4

HOW I GOT IT:   Received from Forever Books for Review & Blog Tour

FROM GOODREADS:  Revenge. It's all Grayson Spencer wants. Christophe dit Menart, a human with dark magical powers, destroyed the life she loved. She wants the pleasure of killing him, no matter the cost to her. If not for Durian, a dangerously sexy demon fiend charged with keeping Christophe alive, she would have succeeded, too. Now, she's certain all hope is gone. But he has a plan and an offer she can't resist...

Durian has spent his life as a trained and sanctioned assassin. His duty: to enforce the laws against demons harming humans. He's always prided himself on staying out of the fray, carrying out his orders and honoring his fealty to his warlord, but never getting attached. Never until Grayson, a spunky and determined woman clearly gifted with magic herself. He convinces her to swear fealty to him so he can protect her and teach her to use her magic to taste the revenge she so desperately wants.

They're soon bound together in a forbidden desire--a dangerous passion that calls into question Durian's oath of loyalty to his warlord. When he refuses to return her to Christophe, his disobedience threatens to inflame the tumultuous war between demons and the magekind. Can they--and their love--survive?

MY TAKE:   Fiends aren't usually what comes to mind when I think of a love story.  That was before I read My Immortal Assassin.  I have to admit that the hunky Durian really changed my mind on that matter.  Carolyn Jewel has conjured up some extremely yummy good bad boys! 

I haven't yet read the first two books, My Wicked Enemy and My Forbidden Desire so I wasn't familiar with the storyline.  It didn't take long to catch on to the plot.  These are all stand alone books, but I think reading them in order would definitely enhance the enjoyment of the series.  The included glossary in this book is very helpful with the terminology and helped me fill in any gaps I may have found. 

The author has taken us into a fascinating world where magic and evil are prevalent and out there for anyone to see, if they know where to look.  Demons, mages and witches walk the streets and rub shoulders with humans.  It's an interesting underworld to our every day, oblivious lives.

Durian is a very complex man/fiend/hero.  He's tough and tender, scary and sentimental all at the same time.  He's a very disciplined and methodical killer.  Of course it always helps to be devastatingly gorgeous and possess magical skills.

Gray is an interesting woman.  She starts out with the rage and motive for revenge that an assassin needs, but not the training.  Her courage and perserverance make Durian want to learn more about her while he's teaching her the art of killing and survival.  When she starts to come into her own magic, she really turns things around and sets Durian on his heels.

I think the only negative I would have is that the ending was a bit rushed for me.  I felt that it could have been drawn out a bit instead of tying things up so quickly.  Of course, that could just be me - I wanted more!  I am thrilled that there is more to come with a fourth book out this summer My Dangerous Pleasure.

     

You can learn more about the author at her website, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and don't forget to check out the author interview I posted earlier today. 
   

Out of 5 JEWELS, I give it:

WHERE TO BUY IT:   Amazon,  The Book Depository, Indiebound, Powell's Books

Thanks to the generosity of the author and Hachette Books, we have a copy of My Immortal Assassin for TWO of you lucky ducks.  Whoo hooo!  Entering is simple:

• Leave a comment WITH your email.
• Contest closes February 9th. Winners will have 72 hours  to reply with address.
• Open to readers with US and Canadian addresses only.  NO PO BOXES
• One prize per household no matter how many times your name is drawn (here or on other blogs)

~~~~~ Disclaimer:  All opinions expressed on this blog are 100% my own.  I do not receive monetary compensation for my reviews but do utilize affiliate links.  I may receive books in  order to facilitate a review, but this does not guarantee a good review - only a completely honest one.  Each review post denotes how I obtained the book.

Author Interview - Carolyn Jewel

It is my pleasure to welcome the talented Carolyn Jewel here today!  We are celebrating the release of My Immortal Assassin ~ the newest addition to her blockbuster Witches saga.  Be sure to check out my review and a GIVEAWAY later today.

Hi Carolyn,

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit One Book Shy. We're looking forward to getting to know you a little better. Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Thanks so much for having me here! 

I am a fabulously wealthy woman able to eat cookies and malt balls all day long with no discernible effect on my figure. When I’m not piloting my private plane or attending a really fun party, I can be found shopping for awesome shoes or donating my time at a worthy charity.

Heh. In reality, I am a SQL Server database administrator who has to work out like a fiend in order to stave off the weight gain caused by the mere thought of cookies and malt balls. I do, however, have very spiffy hair. I write paranormal romance for Grand Central (demons and witches) and historical romance for Berkley (no demons or witches).

I love malt balls!  What is your favorite thing that has happened or resulted directly from your writing?

The writing paid for my son’s braces and for quite a while it was paying for his new pants every 4 or 5 months while he was busying growing into a 6 foot 2 fifteen year old able to eat everything in the house in the blink of an eye. 

But you probably didn’t mean that. To be honest, my favorite thing is the number of friends I’ve made in the writing community, and I definitely include readers in that. They’re all smart and friendly and they feed my need to talk about books. I love that. I really do.

An author's process of naming their characters fascinates me. How do you go about choosing a name for yours? Do you fit their name to them or do you write a character to fit a name?

I am SO glad you asked that! I have my methods. . . I have been known to change characters names up to just days before I turn in a book. But the names have to be right. Sometimes I discover I’ve done something unwittingly silly, like having six people whose names all start with the letter H.

I need to feel like the name fits the character, which is why I might change names late in the game. As the story develops (I am a total seat of the pants writer) it’s sometimes the case that a name that worked for me at the start, just doesn’t anymore--- because during the writing the character has changed. Usually, but not always, I know the names of the hero and heroine names early on.

For anyone who's geeky about names, there’s a section on my website dedicated to discussing the naming of characters. I posted a list of all the names I considered for a character in one of my historicals and go through why names dropped off the list, why they stayed and why I ended up with the one I chose. The main page is here, http://www.carolynjewel.com/craft/names.php There are additional links to naming examples from some of my books.

If you had to choose your three favorite possessions, what would they be and why?

Oh, easy!

1. My GPS. I am left-right challenged in a way that is amusing up until you are in a car with me and I'm the driver. You can tell me to turn left, but that’s no guarantee I will figure out which way is left before it’s too late. Having a GPS in my car improved my life immeasurably. My son played on a traveling soccer team for a while and that meant I had to build in at least double the driving time to account for the time I knew I would spend lost. I am absolutely not kidding. The GPS reduced the time I spent going the wrong way by about 90%. FYI, my GPS’s favorite word is “Recalculating.”

2. My iPhone. I can do anything with this phone. I adore it. It was one of the best technology investments I ever made. The UI (user interface) of this device is amazing. There’s just about zero frustration with trying to figure out how to do something. See also #1, because my phone has gotten me unlost when I am on foot.

3. My MacBook Pro. For years I was a PC person, although my very first computer ever was an Apple IIc. After that, however, I had a hard time justifying expense. I work in technology and have over the years become proficient at managing all the pesky little things that gum up a PC or server.
I started getting tired of components breaking or drivers no longer operating correctly, having to run 3 or 4 different programs to ward off viruses and malware (because, in all honesty, that’s how many you need to be reasonably certain you’re safe) and etc etc and then spending hours on the phone convincing tech support I had already run through the obvious stuff – and they should just send me a new [whatever part was non-functional]. When my laptop died about a year ago now, I took the plunge and bought a Mac.
I was in love with my MacBook about 30 seconds after I started using it. I put fangs on it , complete with a drop of blood and named it MacFang. I was never moved to name any of my PCs. Make of that what you will.

I can really relate to the GPS!  The one we had was overly fond of saying "Please make a LEGAL U-turn" even if we were parked.    Finally, what can your devoted fans look forward to next and is there anything else you'd like us to know about you and your lovely books?

In 2011, I’ll have two paranormals out with Grand Central Forever. My January book is MY IMMORTAL ASSASSIN, and it’s book 3 in the My Immortal series. You perhaps will not be astonished to hear that the hero is an assassin. And a demon. He ends up training a human woman with some special abilities to be an assassin. This book has been getting wonderful reviews (4 ½ stars from Romantic Times!). You can find out more or read the first chapter at my website: http://www.carolynjewel.com/books/book_detail_myimmortalassassin.php

In June, the 4th book in the series, MY DANGEROUS PLEASURE will hit the stores. The hero of this book is a demon and a sort of enforcer who ends up involved with Paisley, a bakery owner being stalked by a mage. For those familiar with the series, the hero of book 4 is Iskander. He discovers that Paisley is a wee bit more than a baker. You can find out more here: http://www.carolynjewel.com/books/book_detail_mydangerouspleasure.php

The first book in the series is My Wicked Enemy and Book 2, a 2010 RITA finalist for best paranormal romance, is My Forbidden Desire.

     

I won't have another historical out until 2012, but SCANDAL was also a 2010 RITA finalist and INDISCREET won the 2010 Bookseller's Best award for Best Short Historical.

 

Carolyn, thanks so much for being here.  I've really enjoyed getting to know you a bit better and am really looking forward to that fourth book with Iskander.

Thank you!

 

~~~~~ Disclaimer:  All opinions expressed on this blog are 100% my own.  I do not receive monetary compensation for my reviews but do utilize affiliate links.  I may receive books in  order to facilitate a review, but this does not guarantee a good review - only a completely honest one.  Each review post denotes how I obtained the book.