Review - Starry Knight by Nina Mason

TITLE:    Starry Knight
AUTHOR:   Nina Mason
INFO:    Paperback, Fiction, 248 pages
PUBLISHED:  Kensington, 2015
SOURCE:   Received from Publisher for Review

FROM GOODREADS:  Can these star-crossed lovers bridge two worlds?

British aristocrat Vanessa Bentley has beauty, fame, and fortune, but she gets no respect for her decision to become a paranormal investigator. Determined to prove the naysayers wrong. Vanessa ventures to the misty moors of Caithness, Scotland. There stands the immense Castle Barrogill, where a vampire is rumored to be stalking the dungeons - a vampire Vanessa is determined to find. She'll just have to get past the resident shape-shifter...

Callum Lyon is the gorgeous reclusive astrologer and faery knight who guards the castle. For free-spirited Vanessa, seducing him proves to be easy. After all, he was once a breeding drone to a Queen. But astrologically, their differences are harder to overcome Will Vanessa's mission - and Callum's secrets - be more than their burgeoning love can take? Or will flesh - and blood - win over the ghosts that haunt them both?

MY TAKE:  The blurb on this book jumped out at me and seemed to have many of the elements I look for in a story: historical, fantasy, romance, Scotland, knights, castles - need I say more? While it did have all of those things, Starry Knight was just an OK afternoon's read. It did what a good book is supposed to do, entertain the reader, but it didn't grab a hold of me like I'd thought it might. 

Ms. Mason has created an alternate/adjacent world that I believe has a lot of promise in the stories to come. Her building the imagery was done quite well. I could picture the scenery as she was describing it and could easily place myself into the setting. It was somewhere I'd be interested in being. 

What didn't make this a "great" read for me, is well, pretty much Vanessa and the political/environmental messages. I could not connect or empathize with the woman. She'd say one thing while doing the opposite. Her "cause" seemed to be first and foremost with her when it was convenient. She had the spoiled brat thing down to an art form.

As for the political and environmental slant, it is not that I am not also very concerned about doing what is right for our world. I just don't want to be bombarded with it throughout a story that I'm reading to escape reality and be entertained. I am of the same mind when it comes to the political vein. 

All in all, I think many readers will enjoy this story and the ones to come. As I noted, the author is quite adept at world building and creating a place you want to go back to. 
  

Out of 5 JEWELS, I give it:

You can grab your copy of Starry Knight at the fine literary retailers below:

 Amazon / Powell's Books / Book Depository
Kobo / Barnes & Noble

~~~~~ 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.

Review - Never Been Bit by Lydia Dare

TITLE:    Never Been Bit
AUTHOR:    Lydia Dare
INFO:    Paperback, Fiction, 363 pages
PUBLISHED:   Sourcebooks, 2011
SOURCE:   Received from Publisher for Review

FROM GOODREADS:   Lydia Dare's paranormal historical romances feature the hottest theme in paranormal combined with the most popular time period in historical romance. This is the third in a trilogy of vampire Regency romances, where the glittering world of English high society is a playground for the rich, titled, and undead.


Vampire Alec McQuarrie's heart was broken long before it stopped beating. Now Alec's after-life is an endless search for pleasure. Young witch Sorcha Ferguson has come to London in search of a man, beast-or even a blood sucker-of her very own...

MY TAKE:    Once again Lydia Dare has entertained me immensely.  I reviewed In the Heat of the Bite earlier this year and was thrilled to get a chance to check out this book as well.  


The author has continued her hot streak with Alec and Sorcha.  Alec is a gentlemanly vampire who has known the fiery witch Sorcha all of her life.  When she announces that she is determined to ensnare a Lycan for her husband, Alec goes into protection overdrive.  The story that follows is hilarious, romantic and fun.  


Ms. Dare has a knack for creating characters that make you laugh and root for their success.  I love the fact that she has storylines occurring in the background the entire time.  The machinations of some of the secondary characters is fascinating.


This is a fun series with stories that stand well on their own but also make great additions to the entire collection.  I'm looking forward to the next Regency vampire story and to reading more about the wolfy men of her companion Lycan series.

Out of 5 JEWELS, I give it:

Available NOW from:

Amazon

Kindle

The Book Depository

Barnes & Noble

Nook

~~~~~ 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.

Review - In the Heat of the Bite by Lydia Dare

TITLE:    In the Heat of the Bite
AUTHOR:    Lydia Dare
INFO:    Paperback, Fiction, 368 pages
PUBLISHED:   Sourcebooks, 2011
SOURCE:   Received from Publisher for Review

FROM GOODREADS:   Chivalry is far from undead...

Matthew Halkett, Earl of Blodswell, is one of the few men in the ton who can claim to be a knight in shining armor- because that's precisely what he was before being turned into a vampyre. When he spies a damsel in distress in the midst of a storm in Hyde Park, his natural instinct is to rush to her aid...
 
But not every woman needs to be rescued...
 
Weather-controlling witch Rhiannon Sinclair isn't caught in a storm-she's the cause of it. She's mortified to have been caught making trouble by the imposing earl, but she doesn't need any man-never has, and is sure she never will...
 
But when Rhiannon encounters Matthew again, her powers go awry and his supernatural abilities run amok. Between the two of them, the ton is thrown into an uproar. There's never been a more tempestuous scandal...


MY TAKE:    Lydia Dare is an author who has been on my radar for a while.  She has created a fascinating world using ingredients from two of my favorite romance sub-genres:  historicals and paranormals.  I love that in The Heat of the Bite we have the background setting of Regency England and the unsuspecting ton populated with vampires and werewolves - in nob's clothing!

Matthew and Rhiannon are quite the pair.  Sparks are literally flying between the two of them as they try to navigate the rough waters surrounding them.  The fun really starts when both of their powers go haywire.  Rhiannon's ability to affect the weather fascinated me.  I enjoy stories about those who are connected to the elements and this was no exception.  The book is full of richly written characters which is definitely what drives the tale. 
  
Very enjoyable read, entertaining as stand-alones and as part of the series.

Out of 5 JEWELS, I give it:

 
~~~~~ 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.

Guest Post and Giveaway - Dracula in Love's Karen Essex

 Dracula In Love

Today I am very pleased to welcome author Karen Essex to One Book Shy.  She is on virtual tour right now with her latest book, Dracula In Love.  I was thrilled to get a chance to read this book.  Karen has written a post about one of the very things that I mentioned in my review yesterday ~ "Female Power".  Take it away Karen.........

 

Dracula’s Women: Restoring Female Power to Vampire Lore



By Karen Essex

I want to state outright: I revere Bram Stoker. His seminal novel, Dracula, was a brilliant creation, a haunting and harrowing story, especially considering that so much of what we now know as the “vampire” sprang from his brain. His fantastic book has spawned thousands of variations in movies, books, graphic novels, illustration, and on and on. But when it came to the women, he wrote like a man of his time, constructing the typical paradigm of bad girl (Lucy Westenra who succumbs to the vampire’s seduction) versus the good girl (Mina Harker who does not). The vampire’s seduction was a thinly veiled metaphor for—yes, you guessed it—sex.

My ambition for Dracula in Love, told entirely from Mina’s perspective, was to turn the original story inside out and expose its underbelly or its “subconscious mind.” I wanted to give Mina and Lucy rich, full lives, as well as plausible inner lives, that made sense with the era in which they lived, but also reflected the breadth of women’s desires.

I did extensive research into the late Victorian era but I also wanted to research the history of blood-drinking creatures that evolved into the vampire. Surprisingly, my research turned up a wealth of information that became a major theme. I knew that vampires had a long, rich history dating back to pre-biblical times. What I did not know was that many of the original blood drinkers of myth were female, symbolic of feminine magic and power. I decided to illuminate these historical sources for the vampire, and while doing so, revisit the lost landscape of female magical power.

As I dug deeper into world mythologies, I became fascinated by these bloodsucking goddesses and monsters. These are the true bad girls of mythology—the fearsome Indian goddess Kali who punished and possessed her enemies by drinking their blood; the vengeful, child-eating, blood-drinking Lamia of Greece and North Africa who so captivated the pre-Raphaelite artists popular in Stoker’s day; Lilith, Adam’s first Mesopotamian wife who drank blood in vengeance; and the blood-lusting warrior fairy queens of Ireland. I wanted these sultry sirens in my book, and by God, I did get them in there!

So if the original blood-drinkers were females, then why did Stoker create Dracula as a male? For one thing, mythological stories rarely follow a straight line. Myths are reinvented in every culture, adapted to the needs and beliefs of the people and the times. Through the millennia, concepts of vampires shape-shifted. They were thought to be spirits of women who had been witches; angry plague victims risen from the dead; victims of crime come back to suck the blood of the perpetrators; and succubi who visited men in the night, draining them of their life force (the male spirits who did similar harm to slumbering females are known as incubi).

Then, in what might be construed as a strange twist of fate, to accommodate the Victorian mentality, writers like Mr. Stoker turned the predatory vampire into a male, giving him the supernatural power, with women becoming his victims. The Victorians lived in fear of unleashed female sexuality. To their minds, women were pure and innocent creatures who must remain protected, shielded from worldly life. If women succumbed to sexual lust, ordered Victorian society would combust.

Moreover, sex is power, which was the very last thing the Victorians wanted women to possess. As someone who has made an exhaustive study of women’s history, I cannot think of any period in which women were thought to be as frail as during the Victorian era. I’m certain this was a reaction to the vocal and persistent cries of feminism that escalated as the 19th century came to its end.

As a result, suddenly it was the male vampire roaming the foggy, narrow streets of London threatening lovely young ladies like Lucy Westenra who succumbed to Dracula’s kiss, or the more pious Mina, who resisted him. With Dracula in Love, it was my joy and privilege to infiltrate the original story and promote anarchy. I wanted to turn the old paradigms upside down, and return the ladies to that place of power, lost somewhere in the centuries since Lilith and the Lamia roamed the earth taking their bloody revenge, causing men to quake with fear, and maybe, just maybe, quiver with a tinge of excitement.

~~~~~

Karen, thank you so much for stopping by One Book Shy to share your thoughts with us.  This was a fascinating peek into the thought process behind the book. 

Readers, you can catch up with Karen at her website,  her blog or on Facebook.

I hope you have all enjoyed the sneak peeks at this intriguing story.  Now I have another lovely treat for you!  5 lucky readers will each win your own copy of Dracula In Love!  That's right, FIVE winners!!!!!  Lots of exclamation points!!!!!!!

• Must be 16 years or older
• US residents only
• NO PO Boxes
• Must fill out the FORM below
• Contest ends at midnight PST July 19th
• Winners will have 72 hours to respond to winning email
• Prize will be shipped by publisher
• One prize per person/household

I'd like to thank Amy from Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours  for including me and One Book Shy on this book tour. 

Be sure to stop by the other blogs on the tour to find out what they have to say about

~~~~~ 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.

Review - Dracula in Love by Karen Essex

The private diary of Mina Harker

TITLE:    Dracula In Love
AUTHOR:    Karen Essex
INFO:    Paperback, Fiction, 368 pages
PUBLISHED:   Anchor Books, 2011
SOURCE:   Received from Publisher for Review and Blog Tour

 

FROM GOODREADS:  Karen Essex turns on the heat in this transporting and darkly haunting new tale of love and possession that puts forth the question: What if everything you knew about Dracula . . . was wrong?

From the shadowy banks of the River Thames to the wild and windswept coast of Yorkshire, the quintessential Victorian virgin Mina Murray vividly recounts in the pages of her private diary the intimate details of what transpired between her and Count Dracula—the joys and terrors of a pas­sionate affair and her rebellion against a force of evil that has pursued her through time.


Mina’s version of this timeless gothic vampire tale is a visceral journey into the dimly lit bedrooms, mist-filled cemeteries, and locked asylum chambers where she led a secret life, far from the chaste and polite lifestyle the defenders of her purity, and even her fiancé, Jonathan Harker, expected of her.


Bram Stoker’s classic novel was only one side of the story. Now, for the first time, Dracula’s eternal muse reveals all. What she has to say is more sensual, more devious, and more enthralling than ever imagined. The result is a scintillating gothic novel that reinvents the tragic heroine Mina as a modern woman tor­tured by desire.

MY TAKE:    Bram Stoker's Dracula was one of those books (and movies) that stuck with me for a long time.  When I was given the opportunity to read and review a story that was to be from Mina's point of view, I couldn't resist.  I had always felt that she was slighted by Stoker and that his disdain for women was quite clear in the book.

Karen Essex has given us a fresh view of Mina and her world.  She has created the heroine that most of us would have wanted to see in the original version.  In spite of her childhood, Mina comes out as an intelligent woman who hungers for a bit more than Victorian society is willing to give females of that era.  Her deep friendships with the "hang it all out there" Kate and the spoiled heiress Lucy offer a sort of parallel to her struggle with society's expectations.  She desires to use her brains for more than running a household and raising children.  At the same time, she wishes to be the proper wife for Jonathan with a secure and successful future.

I found it interesting that the author reversed the roles in this story as far as many of the men were the less-than-bright blowhards and we were treated to several strong female characters.  The fact that the Count wasn't a major player until close to the end of the story was a bit of a disappointment; but the plot was well written.  We learned much about Mina and her history before being introduced to most of the other key players.  The pace really picked up once Mina went to the asylum.  It was quite the page-turner.

Readers of Stoker's Dracula will enjoy this variation as well as those who enjoy a good, dark romance full of mystery, sensuality and action.  I highly recommend it. 

Out of 5 JEWELS, I give it:

WHERE TO BUY IT:    The Book Depository

To learn more about Karen; you can visit her website, follow her blog and check out her Facebook page.  But, best of all ~ come back tomorrow for the fantastic guest post from Karen and possibly......A GIVEAWAY!

I'd like to thank Amy from Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours for including me and One Book Shy on this book tour. 

Be sure to stop by the other blogs on the tour to find out what they also have to say about

 

~~~~~ 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.

Review - Darkened Hills by Gary Lee Vincent

TITLE:    Darkened Hills
AUTHOR:    Gary Lee Vincent
INFO:    Paperback, Fiction, 248 pages
PUBLISHED:   Burning Bulb Publishing, 2010
ISBN#:   978-1-4538-4485-4
HOW I GOT IT:   Won from LibraryThing Early Reviewers program

FROM GOODREADS:  When evil descends on a small West Virginia town, who will survive?  Jonathan did not start out his life to become a rambler, it just worked out that way. William was a troubled youth with something to hide. Both were from Melas, a small town tucked away in the West Virginia hills… a town where disappearances are happening more and more frequently.


After the suicide of a wanted serial killer, the townsfolk thought the nightmare was over. But when a centuries-old vampire is discovered they find out the hard way it’s just getting started.


Dark secrets can only stay hidden for so long and when the devil comes to collect, there will be hell to pay. Can Jonathan and William find a way to stop the vampire before it’s too late?  Find out in Darkened Hills!


Darkened Hills is a Gothic vampire novel written in the spirit of Dracula with much more sinister characters and much more eroticism then the old Victorian classic.


** Warning: this book contains violence, sex, adult language and is intended for a mature audience. Reader discretion is advised. **


MY TAKE:   I'm sorry that I just couldn't get into this book. I was very excited to have won it from LibraryThing and looked forward to the review. But I had several issues that kept me from enjoying the story. 
 
First of all, the character names really threw me for a loop as they are the same from Bram Stoker's "Dracula": Jonathan Harker, Mina (Wilhelmina), Lucy and Raymond Renfield.  It was distracting as I kept picturing the characters from the original vampire saga.
 
This is definitely NOT a book for young readers.  It is very violent and gory and there are a lot of gratuitous sex scenes.  I'm not squeamish by any means, but there was a section regarding torturing cats that I found extremely offensive.  That part pretty much overshadowed the rest of the book for me. 
 
This is not one of the glittery, sparkly teen angst vampire novels.  The storyline is a much darker, monster story that is what nightmares are made of.   I think that if the author had used original character names and hadn't gone as much for the bloody shock value, his plot could have really made for a much better and longer story.  The basic bones are there but I just couldn't get past the points I mentioned above. 
 
I do want to note that I LOVE the cover and that several readers on Goodreads  and LibraryThing had a completely different response to the book.  This review is strictly MY personal reaction to it and I hope you'll check out what others thought of it.  I appreciate the author and LibraryThing giving me a chance to read the book.   

Out of 5 JEWELS, I give it:

WHERE TO BUY IT:    Amazon, IndieBound

 

~~~~~ 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.

Review - The Radleys by Matt Haig

TITLE:    The Radleys: A Novel
AUTHOR:    Matt Haig
INFO:    Hardcover, Fiction, 370 pages
PUBLISHED:   Free Press, 2010
ISBN#:   978-4391-9401-0
HOW I GOT IT:   Received from Publisher for Review

FROM GOODREADS:    Meet the Radleys...


Peter, Helen and their teenage children, Clara and Rowan, live in an English town. They are an everyday family, averagely dysfunctional, averagely content. But as their children have yet to find out, the Radleys have a devastating secret.


From one of Britain’s finest young novelists comes a razor-sharp unpicking of adulthood and family life. In this moving, thrilling and extraordinary portrait of one unusual family, The Radleys asks what we grow into when we grow up, and explores what we gain – and lose – when we deny our appetites.

MY TAKE:   This is a fun read that just happens to be about a family of vampires.  With the major outpouring of vampire novels currently out and in the works, The Radleys was a refreshing change of pace for me.  It was definitely a character driven story with several interesting plot twists that keep the story moving forward.

Matt Haig has created an average and endearing family in the Radleys - they just happen to have a few more secrets than the rest of us.  Peter is the head of the family.  He's middle aged and feels he's in a rut ~ in his marriage and his professional life as a small town doctor.  Helen runs her household well, but dreams of a man she can't have and a life she left behind.  Rowan is a teenager with more than his fair share of trials and tribulations - he's pale, always itchy with a rash and considered a freak by his schoolmates.  Clara is also unpopular at school and on top of that is trying to become a vegan.  She can't understand why her parents (and her own body) are fighting her so strongly about it.

As we follow this normal-seeming family, the real story starts to unfold.  A tragedy occurs which brings to light the fact that the Radleys are vampires hiding in a small, unsuspecting English town.  This is a severe shock to Rowan and Clara, especially when they also suddenly meet their uncle Will, a man neither knew existed.  He is the key to several of the problems facing the family and plays a pivotal role in what transpires.

There were several times when I found myself laughing out loud.  This book was a lovely departure from the current vampire books on the market.  It was centered on the family, not the blood-sucking issue.  I really liked that the Radleys had a battered copy of "The Abstainer's Handbook" which gave them such gems as "If blood is the answer, you're asking the wrong questions."   It is essentially an instruction manual for vampires who choose to not drink blood.  

Enjoyable and fun read.  I need to mention though, this isn't really a tween book.  Although it's being marketed as YA, I think it was intended for an older audience due to some of the sexual tones as well as quite a bit of swearing.  More mature teens would be fine with it.

Out of 5 Jewels, I give it:

WHERE TO BUY IT:    Amazon, The Book Depository, The Radleys

 

~~~~~ 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.

Review + Guest Post: The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer by Lucy Weston

as told by Lucy Weston, the immortal vampire from Bram Stoker's "Dracula"

TITLE:    The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer
AUTHOR/EDITOR:    Lucy Weston
INFO:    Paperback, Fiction, 303 pages
PUBLISHED:   Gallery, 2010
ISBN#:   978-1-4391-9033-3
HOW'D I GET IT:   Received from Gallery Books for Review

FROM GOODREADS:  Sovereign Power. Eternal Pleasure.  Revealed at last in this new vampire saga for the ages: the true, untold story of the “Virgin Queen” and her secret war against the Vampire King of England. . . .


On the eve of her coronation, Elizabeth Tudor is summoned to the tomb of her mother, Anne Boleyn, to learn the truth about her bloodline—and her destiny as a Slayer. Born to battle the bloodsucking fiends who ravage the night, and sworn to defend her beloved realm against all enemies, Elizabeth soon finds herself stalked by the most dangerous and seductive vampire of all.


He is Mordred, bastard son of King Arthur, who sold his soul to destroy his father. After centuries in hiding, he has arisen determined to claim the young Elizabeth as his Queen. Luring her into his world of eternal night, Mordred tempts Elizabeth with the promise of everlasting youth and beauty, and vows to protect her from all enemies. Together, they will rule over a golden age for vampires in which humans will exist only to be fed upon. Horrified by his intentions, Elizabeth embraces her powers as a Slayer even as she realizes that the greatest danger comes from her own secret desire to yield to Mordred . . . to bare her throat in ecstasy and allow the vampire king to drink deeply of her royal blood.


As told by Lucy Weston, the vampire prey immortalized in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, this spellbinding account will capture your heart and soul—forever.

I am so thrilled to have the author Ms. Lucy Weston here today to share her thoughts.  Welcome to One Book Shy!  Please tell us about yourself and your book:

Books have always been my great weakness. Since I was a girl in England so many years ago, I have collected and cherished them. Being transformed into a vampire by no less than the most powerful and seductive being the world has ever known changed my life beyond all recognition. But it in no way changed my love of books.



Imagine then my excitement when the secret journals of Queen Elizabeth I of England, that I had sought for so long, at last came into my possession. I had heard rumors about the existence of the journals for years, and had long imagined what they might contain. But I was not prepared for the Queen’s remarkable forthrightness in accounting the events of her life.


Awakened as a vampire slayer on the eve of her coronation, Elizabeth at first has great difficulty accepting her destiny. But when she meets Mordred--and realizes that the king of the vampires tempts her to betray her very soul--she embraces her new-found powers. The battle between them is one for the ages, most especially because it does not play out as either of them could ever have imagined.


As enemies close in around her and the fate of her realm hangs in the balance, the young queen faces a choice that will change both her life and the course of history forever.


My own choice to bring “The Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer” to the public notice has also brought about great changes in my life. From the moment I was transformed into a vampire more than a century ago, I have sought vengeance for what was done to me. But now, heeding the voice of a queen wise beyond her years, I can only hope that the revelation of the true role vampires have played in human affairs will lead to a new, better accord between humans and vampires alike.

Lucy thank you so much for taking the time to come by and do a guest post.  We appreciate the insight.

MY TAKE:    I was especially interested to read this book as it combines two of my favorite genres:  historical fiction and paranormal fiction.  The author, only known to us as Lucy Weston - yes, the same Lucy from Dracula, has done a great job of meshing the two.

There are many familiar characters from actual history:  Elizabeth, her nurse Kat, Lord Dudley, Walsingham, and more.  The author then includes famous names from mythical history and legend such as King Arthur, Mordred and Morgaine among others.  She weaves them all together seamlessly into a great tale of adventure and mystery.

On the night before her coronation, Elizabeth Tudor finds out that she is THE vampire slayer the world has been waiting on for centuries.  Her destiny was foretold and kept a secret by her mother Anne Boleyn and those she trusted to keep Elizabeth safe.  Safe that is, until the time when her powers would come to her. 

This is a very engaging book that draws you into the adventure right away.  There is much intrigue and behind the scenes drama that will keep you riveted.  

Elizabeth is a strong character who has been waiting and in training for the English crown her entire life.  She is surrounded by people who are always fawning over her and she can't determine if they are with her out of loyalty or because they're trying to further their positions in life.  Her trust is only given to a very few and she still questions even their motives at times.

Mordred, King of the Vampires/bastard son and murderer of legendary King Arthur, makes his intentions known to Elizabeth early.  He wants to turn her into a vampire, marry her and then rule the world together.

This is a fun twist to the normal Tudor legacy or even vampire legend story.  A lot of the same elements are there, but they're slanted just a bit differently than we're used to.  I enjoyed this book and recommend it to those interested in historical fiction/fantasy and the paranormal.

Follow Lucy on Twitter http://twitter.com/Lucy_Weston
and at
her website http://www.lucywestonvampire.com/lucyweston/


MY RATING:    4/5

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

 

~~~~~ 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.

Review - Ecstasy in Darkness by Gena Showalter

TITLE:    Ecstasy in Darkness (Alien Huntress, Book 5)
AUTHOR/EDITOR:    Gena Showalter
INFO:    Paperback, Fiction, 502 pages
PUBLISHED:   Pocket Books, 2010
ISBN#:   978-1-4391-7577-4
HOW'D I GET IT:   Received from Publisher for Review

FROM GOODREADS:  New York Times bestselling sensation Gena Showalter enthralls with a dark, tantalizing world of humans, otherworlders, powers beyond imagining, and a seductive vampire undone by his insatiable hunger for one woman. . . .

Growing up poor on New Chicago’s meanest streets, Ava Sans had two options: be the predator or be the prey. No contest. Now, working for Alien Investigation and Removal, she’s been ordered to capture the biggest, baddest warrior of all—a vampire too beautiful to be real, with the ability to manipulate time. Once the leader of the entire vampire army, McKell has been deemed savage and unstable, spurned even by his own kind.

To McKell, humans should be nothing more than sustenance. Yet the petite, golden-skinned Ava is a fascinating contradiction—vicious yet witty, strong yet vulnerable, lethal but fiercely loyal. Against his better judgment, McKell craves that loyalty, and much more. When the chase leads to seduction, McKell and Ava will race to discover the truth about his past. But the answers will come at a price, even for a woman who thought she had nothing left to lose. . . .  

MY TAKE:   I am a semi-rabid fan of Gena Showalter who I became acquainted with in my review of  "The Darkest Night" from the "Lords of the Underworld" series a few months ago.  I've started going through her backlist and am hooked!  This lady is an amazing author.  She really knows how to grab her readers and keep them entertained.

So, on to the newest gem!  Ecstasy in Darkness is the 5th installment in the "Alien Huntress" series.  (Just so you know, all of her books that I've read so far can be consumed as stand alone books or read in order of the series.  She provides plenty of backstory so a reader isn't lost if they're not being read in sequence.)

The heroine in this book is Ava.  She's little, she's tough, and she's an agent-in-training for Alien Investigation and Removal.  When she and her best friend Noelle are assigned to bring in the vampire McKell, things really start getting tough for Ava.  She fights her attraction for this amazingly gorgeous being while trying to fight her way to becoming a full-fledged agent of AIR.

I really liked Ava, for many reasons.  Her loyalty to her BFF Noelle was a lot of fun to read.  They are quite the pair.  Ava is scarred emotionally from a horrible childhood, but she is still hopeful, down deep.  She has the marshmallow core, she just can't afford to show it much.

McKell, or Viktor as he insists Ava call him, is a real pain in the rear in the beginning.  He's extremely arrogant and rather obnoxious.  The fact that he is blindingly beautiful just happens to be a plus.  McKell is fighting with his own demons regarding his upbringing and his place in this world.  He doesn't really have or want a home until he meets Ava.  She changes the brutal killing machine into someone who has something to fight for.

As usual, Ms. Showalter delivers with a fabulous plot, strong but likable heroines, beyond yummy males, steamy sex scenes, and a lot of humor ~ you'll love Hellina, btw!

I highly recommend this to Gena Showalter fans and those who enjoy a great paranormal romance filled with action. 
   
MY RATING:    4.5/5

WHERE TO BUY IT:    Amazon, The Book Depository, IndieBound

 

~~~~~ 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.