Review: Burned by Karen Marie Moning

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

It’s easy to walk away from lies. Power is another thing.

MacKayla Lane would do anything to save the home she loves. A gifted sidhe-seer, she’s already fought and defeated the deadly Sinsar Dubh—an ancient book of terrible evil—yet its hold on her has never been stronger.

When the wall that protected humans from the seductive, insatiable Fae was destroyed on Halloween, long-imprisoned immortals ravaged the planet. Now Dublin is a war zone with factions battling for control. As the city heats up and the ice left by the Hoar Frost King melts, tempers flare, passions run red-hot, and dangerous lines get crossed. 

Seelie and Unseelie vie for power against nine ancient immortals who have governed Dublin for millennia; a rival band of sidhe-seers invades the city, determined to claim it for their own; Mac’s former protégé and best friend, Dani “Mega” O’Malley, is now her fierce enemy; and even more urgent, Highland druid Christian MacKeltar has been captured by the Crimson Hag and is being driven deeper into Unseelie madness with each passing day. The only one Mac can depend on is the powerful, dangerous immortal Jericho Barrons, but even their fiery bond is tested by betrayal.

It’s a world where staying alive is a constant struggle, the line between good and evil gets blurred, and every alliance comes at a price. In an epic battle against dark forces, Mac must decide who she can trust, and what her survival is ultimately worth. 

(Blurb from Goodreads.)

——————————————————————

Karen Marie Moning is one of my top two favorite authors. I buy her books in hardcover.  Sometimes, I buy the ebook at midnight when it releases before I go buy the hardcover the next day, because I just can’t wait to read them. Her books are that good.

So Burned is book 7 in the Fever Series.  (If you aren’t familiar with this series and want to go check it out, Darkfever is book 1.)

I don’t know how she does it, but Moning always surprises me.  I never know where the book is going, and that’s a reason I love her work so much.

Mac is back in Burned.  Yay! She’s my favorite point of view to read, and Burned was mostly hers.

The two things I didn’t like about the book – the cover – sexy man??  I liked the original urban fantasyish covers; not a fan of these new ones.

Second thing – it ended way too soon.  Oh well, I’ll just have to wait for the next one.

So obviously I highly recommend this series.  If you like Urban Fantasy and haven’t read this series, go read it now!

My Rating: 5 stars

 5

Organ Reapers Spotlight

Organ Reapers Cover

Detective Elliott “Eli” Robinson and his new partner, Ava Aguilar, are baffled by a series of brutal murders happening in their fair city.

 

No evidence, no eyewitnesses…only mutilated corpses with missing internal organs.

 

When Eli and Ava stumble upon evidence of similar gruesome crimes around the globe, they realize there is more to the murders, but the answers continue to elude them. In a race against time, Eli and Ava must figure out who is behind the killings and stop them before more people die.

 

But the answers will take them out of their comfort zone and into the realm of the fantastic: another world with a different set of rules, and a leader who has no qualms about killing.

 

—————————————————–

Author Bio:

Shay West was born in Longmont, CO and earned a doctorate degree in Human Medical Shay West PictureGenetics from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical. Dr. West currently lives in Grand Junction, CO with her two cats. When not writing novels, she plays with plushie microbes and teaches biology classes at Colorado Mesa University. She is the author of the Portals of Destiny series and the Adventures of Alexis Davenport series. She has also been published in several anthologies: Battlespace (military sci-fi), Orange Karen: Tribute to a Warrior (fundraiser), and Ancient New (steampunk/fantasy).

You can find Dr. West and more of her work at:

Blog

Facebook

Twitter

Google Plus

Goodreads

 

Find the book:

Goodreads

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

iTunes

 

 

***I work at Booktrope Publishing and am the manager for this book. I do receive a profit from sales.***

 

The Species Within Review

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Title:  The Species Within

Author:  Kimberley Clark

Genre:  Paranormal Romance, Erotic Urban Fantasy

Buy:  Amazon

This book is intended for ages 18 plus.

—————————————————————

Blurb

Kira, a huntress plagued by dreams of fire and pain has worked
 tirelessly to rid her city of the scourge that has nearly destroyed
 it…nostvores, mythlend creatures with dark and vast appetites for
 blood and sex. She does this not only because they had killed so many
 people in her life, but also because she has an edge that no other
 human had…she has their abilities. The problem was, these abilities
 were killing her and she feared time was no longer on her side.
 
 So the moment she found out that Darius, a nostvore leader was
 threatening to awaken an indestructible species to help him enslave
all humans and mythlends, and that she may be the key to his plan, she
 knew her only choice was to risk her life with the little time that
she had left and join her enemy to find out why, and to make sure his
plan failed.

If that wasn’t dangerous enough, the more time she spends with the
Vanatre nostvore Emmerich, and the mooran Kuron, who she brings with
her for protection, the less she wants to kill them. Instead, she
feels an unexplainable attraction towards them both, and she fears
surrendering to such desire with either is a deadly game to play, for
she would not only be risking her life, but quite possibly her heart.

 (Blurb from the author.)

————————————————————————-

Ms.  Clark approached me many months ago for a review, and life got busy, so I apologize for taking so long getting to it.

This book started off fantastic.  In fact, it reminded me of Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series (which I love!)  As you saw from the blurb, Kira is a huntress, who kills the nostvores (aka vampires).  This isn’t so hard for her because she shares a lot of the same abilities.

Kira’s a hard ass, she is a supreme fighter, and at one point she was tortured.  Most people would cave; she didn’t.  Like I said, this girl is tough stuff!

I really loved loved loved the beginning of this book, but then it went from awesome to good.  Kira has an attraction to a certain vampire, but she has a real tough time accepting it.  It’s just so back and forth (for her) that it just drove me nuts.

Another thing, that I kind of got bored with, was there was a point of view from the ‘bad guy’ Darius.  I don’t know, I think it would have been more suspenseful if his point of view was left out all together.  I’m kind of impartial to singular point of views in stories though, so that’s my personal opinion.

All in all, Ms. Clark is a very talented writer.  And if you like paranormal romance I would give hers a try.

My Rating:  3 stars

03

***I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.***     

 

 

What I’ve been reading lately

So I got a job at a publishing company which is awesome!  I have still been reading, but I’ve been a little behind on writing reviews, so I’m going to do some mini-reviews in this post.

—————————————————————————————–

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

 Ilona Andrews is one of my ‘go to’ authors.  I think I’ve read if not everything, most of what she has out there.  What I like about her writing is that it’s not just about the romance, although there is definitely romance in the story.  In Magic Rises, Curran and Kate take a contract to protect a werewolf who is pregnant with twins by two different men.  They know by going it’s a trap to attack Curran and the pack.  While there, Curran appears to take interest in another shifter, and some weird dragon type beings start attacking and killing people.  And worst of all, someone is there who Kate didn’t want to run into for years to come……

This was an awesome read.

                                                         

My Rating:  5 out of 5 stars

                                                                 Purchase Magic Rises:  Amazon

                                                                 ***My husband purchased this book for me.***

——————————————————————————————————————–

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Next up is another series in which I always buy the next book when it comes out, The King by J.R. Ward.  Beth wants a child, but it is extremely risky for female vampires to be pregnant, give birth, and live to tell about it.  Wrath does not want a child.  He can’t stand the thought of Beth being in so much danger.  Not only that, but Wrath is currently under scrutiny by those he rules over, and they are secretly trying to dethrone him.  Will Beth and Wrath’s relationship survive or will the distance between wanting a child tear them apart?

Like I said, this is one of my go-to series.  I’m honestly not sure if this is the last one in the series or not, but I did find myself wanting the book to be over already.  I still think it was a great read, but I think I’m ready for this series to come to an end.

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

Purchase The King:  Amazon

***My husband purchased this book for me.***

——————————————————————————

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Richelle Mead; I love all of her series so far.  What a great author.  She does not disappoint in the Bloodline series.  This has been on my TBR shelf forever it feels like.  Despite Sydney’s Alchemist upbringing, she is slowly finding herself getting closer and more comfortable with the vampires and dhampirs around her.  One of her teachers is pushing her to use magic, and that still makes her uncomfortable, but her teacher believes she is extremely magically inclined.

Ah, the ending!  I loved it.  I really enjoyed this one so much that I asked my husband to buy me the next in the series a week later.

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

Purchase The Golden Lily:  Amazon

***My husband purchased this for me.***

——————————————————————————————

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

*Contains Spoilers*

Although Sydney was becoming more comfortable with her vampire friends, the kiss that her and Adrian shared caught her off guard….especially by how much she liked it.  Sydney keeps finding out more things about the Alchemists that she doesn’t agree with.  And she finds a man, Marcus, who used to be an Alchemist and is now not.  He’s on the run and is trying to take the Alchemists down, and he wants Sydney to join him.

Sigh.  Another great novel by Richelle Mead!  Sadly, this one just came out so I have to wait a while until the next one, lol.

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

Purchase The Indigo Spell: Amazon

***My husband purchased this for me.***

—————————————————————————————————-

These next two are books that I’m a marketing manager for.  I wanted to share them with you guys!

First up, paranormal romance book, The Lycan Hunter!

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Blurb:

When Alexis James arrives at her first assignment in months, she anticipates the danger and violence rife in her calling as a Lycan Hunter. What she doesn’t expect is a handsome, blue-eyed wolf saving her life and kidnapping her. Surrounded by the enemy, Alexis must not only survive her prisoners but the bonds of a different sort that begin to form against her will.

Mikko Kyran was chosen by the gods to lead his pack, and he has made it his mission to end the eight thousand years of war plaguing his people. The Alpha never suspected that the key to the prophecy ending the Forever War would be held by a smart-mouthed, sexy Hunter determined to kill him.

Can two people from different worlds set aside everything they know about one another long enough to survive retribution from the Hunters, the pack, and the gods? Or will their differences start a war that neither can win?

Written with intensity and depth, The Lycan Hunter is the first in a thrilling new series.

Purchase:  Amazon

__________________________

Want to enter to win a free copy?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Lycan Hunter by Kelsey Jordan

The Lycan Hunter

by Kelsey Jordan

Giveaway ends August 01, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

 

——————————————————————-

Next up, young adult book Dangerous Reflections: releasing on June 23rd!

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Blurb:

Alexis Davenport wants to go home. She hates her new school, her mother for moving her away from her friends, and her father for walking out.

To make matters worse, Alex is haunted by images of strange girls reflected in her mirror. It’s bad enough juggling homework, a relentless bully, boys, and a deadbeat dad; now, she must save the world from an evil presence hell-bent on changing the past – and our futures. Who knew her A+ in history was going to be this important?

Add to your Goodreads shelf!

————————————————————————–

That’s it for me!  Phew, what a long post.  🙂  What have you guys been reading??

~Pam

Exodus 2022 Review

 

Image from Goodreads

Image from Goodreads

Title:  Exodus 2022

Author:  Kenneth G. Bennett

Published:  2014 by Booktrope Publishing

Genre:  Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy

Purchase Exodus 2022 from Amazon

 

 

Joe Stanton wakes up in a panic.  Something is terribly wrong.  His daughter, Lorna Gwin, is missing.  He runs out of the hotel room that he and his girlfriend Ella are vacationing at, in a rampage screaming for his daughter, causing chaos and a huge scene.  The issue is that Joe doesn’t have a daughter.  He doesn’t have any children.  Joe’s worried he’s either going crazy or has a brain tumor that caused this hallucination; his girlfriend, Ella, who’s a nurse, has similar worries.  However, Joe’s not the first person that this has happened to.  The others who were affected didn’t live long.  Will Joe survive long enough to find the answers?

I love that I couldn’t guess what was going to happen or even why it was happening to begin with.  It’s kind of hard to write a review without giving anything away, but I definitely don’t want to leak any spoilers because it’s awesome when you figure out what’s going on.    Sometimes science fiction novels are hard for me to follow, but that wasn’t the case in this story.  And although it is a science fiction book, it felt relatable, as though it could be classified as urban fantasy as well.  I think this book will appeal to readers who like both genres.

There were twists and turns in every chapter.  The characters were relatable, and the villain was hate-able.  Every time I tried to put the book down to go to bed, I told myself, read just one more chapter, and then it would be 2am.  I didn’t want this story to end, and I’m wondering if there will be a sequel?

Romance, suspense, fantasy, drama; Exodus 2022 has it all.  So if you like science fiction, and even if you don’t; I highly recommend this book.

 

My Rating:  5 out of 5 stars

 5

~Pam

***I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  Also, while I am professionally associated with Booktrope, I am not being compensated in any way for this review.***