Review: The Vampire's Fall by Michele Hauf

The Vampire’s Fall is another excellent paranormal romance from Michele Hauf .  In this book, Blade, a sexy, brooding vampire/fairy falls for a woman, Zen, who has lost her memory and all awareness of who and/or what she is.

That I really liked this book is not a big surprise.  A quick glance through my past book reviews and it’s clear that I’m a big fan of Hauf’s writing.  Love her Beautiful Creatures world, full of paranormal creatures such as vampires and werewolves and fairies.  A couple of weeks ago, I read Her Vampire Husband, about Blu and Creed Saint-Pierre, a werewolf who marries a vampire.  After that I read a few novellas about the couple and their family, and then Ghost Wolf – which is about their granddaughter, Daisy Blu.  (I read Moonlight and Diamonds, about Daisy Blu's brother, Stryke before I read any of the other Saint-Pierre books).  Could not get enough of this family and wanted to do nothing but read while I was engrossed in this world.

I was very much looking forward to reading Blade Saint-Pierre’s story because of the hints about him in the other books.

But in the beginning, I was a little worried because the novel started out slow for me.  Usually I’m involved in the story from the first few pages, and this book didn't feel like that to me.  Maybe that was partially because I simply didn't have time to sit down and read for an extended period of time. 

Even when I wasn't sure I was loving the story, I still loved Blade, who was struggling  with a painful past that made it difficult for him to move forward in life.  But Zen, I didn't like much at all, not at first.  I couldn't understand why Blade wanted her and didn't find their attraction very convincing at first. 

I kept reading though, and once Zen’s memories began to return, she developed a more interesting personality.  Once Blade finally began to open up to her and talk more about his past, I felt the story got much more interesting.

By the time I finished the book, I pretty much loved the story.  This book is heavy on vampires and demons and fairies and angels.  The last few I've read have been mostly werewolf stories, so I enjoyed the change – being that vampires are my favorite. 

What really won me over though was the imagery in this story, especially the description of the wings.  I highlighted several passages in hopes of returning to these when I have my sketchbook in hand to try and capture these visuals on paper.  These are such beautiful and powerful scenes, so vividly described, I could see the black wings facing off against the angel as they battled to the death.  And there is one love scene involving fairy wings which is probably one of the hottest, sexiest scenes I've ever read and completely made up for any perceived slowness in the beginning of the story. 

Overall, I thought this was a great book.  I’d recommend this to anyone who enjoys paranormal romances.  These are some of the best.

According to Amazon, this book will be released in paperback on May 15 and as an ebook on June 1.

I received a review copy via NetGalley.

And just a general comment about these books because I was reading about the Saint-Pierre's, one right after the other - I have been dealing - rather unsuccessfully - with some health issues that are beginning to adversely affect other areas of my life, and these books have been my salvation.  When nothing else in my life was working, I knew I could dive into these books and find a much needed escape.  Books are important.  Fiction is necessary.  And authors who create worlds like this are, at times, more valuable than doctors.   

Review: Midwinter Magic by Erica Ridley

This was a cute story.  Not one of my favorites, but I liked it.  I think it may have been a little too light-hearted and a bit silly to win me over completely.

After a congressional hearing in which Jack realized all the bad things in which he and his company were
involved, he decides to devote himself to helping others.  While in a Bolivian village during the Christmas holidays, he runs into a strange woman though.  She seems to appear out of nowhere, wearing a Lakers jersey and a cupcake in her hair. 

The strange woman is his guardian angel, Sarah Phimm.  She was supposed to remain invisible.  But she starts breaking a lot of rules, because she's fallen in love with Jack. 

As I said, I thought parts of this were a little too silly - like her clothes.  If she's been following Jack around his whole life, as well as many humans before him, shouldn't she have a better understanding of what people wear?  A Motley Crue tshirt and a poodle skirt, while in a village in Bolivia.  I'd think that living and observing for thousands of years should have provided her with more wisdom, but she seemed a little clueless.  I don't stories in which the women are silly and goofy, especially when that woman is an angel.  Angels should be strong and intelligent.  At least that's the kind of angels I like to read about.

Anyway, Jack is drawn to Sarah because she knows exactly what he wants and likes.  And being around Jack and interacting with him - not just watching him - makes Sarah realize she's tired of living the solitary life of a guardian angel.

Things get complicated, there's all kinds of drama as Jack takes all sorts of foolish risks now that he knows he has a guardian angel watching him.  Sarah is certain she's going to lose her job and live the rest of eternity in misery.  But in the end, of course, they work things out.

It's an okay story.  I like my stories a little darker and intense, but that's just me and that isn't very holiday-ish of me.  Would suit anyone looking for something fun and lighthearted, with a holiday message about helping others and doing what you think is right.

I received a review copy of this via NetGalley.

Review: A Vampire's Christmas Carol by Cynthia Eden

A while back, I decided I would begin my holiday reading a little earlier this year.  I always stock up on holiday reads, and then never get around to half of them because I tend to wait until the beginning of the winter break to start reading them.  So this year, I decided I would begin reading nothing but Christmas stories after Thanksgiving.  And then, after making that statement, I added that I was doing this to turn my brain to candy – because maybe that would make the holidays more tolerable.

Having spent the week of thanksgiving binging on Cynthia Eden’s Mine series, I decided to begin my Christmas reads with her novella, A Vampire’s Christmas Carol.  In terms of candy, I would consider it delicious, sinful dark chocolate, with just a hint of peppermint.  (And in case you haven’t guessed, dark chocolate with peppermint is my favorite holiday indulgence.)

I love vampire stories, especially when the vampires are tormented and guilt-ridden, angry and desperate and broken-hearted.  I don’t like boring vampires, I like them hot and sexy and Ben, in Vampire’s Christmas Carol is very hot and sexy and angry at the whole world because of all he’s lost.

As indicated by the title, the story is a twist on Dickens’s Christmas Carol.  Ben, a vampire who hates Christmas, is visited by a demon to show him his past, an angel to show him the present, and a shifter to provide him a view to his possible future. 

After becoming a vampire, Ben lost the love of his life, the woman with whom he’d planned to spend forever, and it was around Christmas time.  He’s been angry ever since.  This particular Christmas, he’s in a place called Desolate.  He thinks he’s doing the right thing by killing people he feels don’t deserve to live.  But the ghosts of Christmas are about to show him the error of his ways and the things he’s missed through his haze of anger. 

I really enjoyed this story.  Not too sappy or simple.  Had the perfect mix of danger and emotion and romance.  And did I mention hot and sexy? Yeah, I think I probably did.  It was short, easy to read in one sitting.  Definitely marking this as one of my favorite holiday stories, one I can return to when I need a guaranteed good, steamy read with a nice holiday message. 

I received a review copy via NetGalley.

Review: Beauty Awakened by Gena Showalter

I was so eager to read Gena Showalter’s Beauty Awakened, the second book in her Angels of the Dark series, which is a spin-off of the Lords of the Underworld.

I read all nine of the Lords of the Underworld books this summer, one right after the other and was completely addicted.  I followed that with Wicked Nights, the first Angel of the Dark book, and was so sad when I realized it would be months before another book in either of the series was released.

 

When the gorgeous cover of Beauty Awakened was revealed, I was sure this book was going to be amazing.

But this book wasn’t amazing.  This book was not at all what I expected.  It wasn’t that I entirely disliked the story, but it wasn’t the story I was hoping to read.  It’s interesting and I am still fascinated by the world Showalter has created, but I’d been hoping for a return to the hot, sexy, steaminess I discovered this summer with the Lords of the Underworld.  Unfortunately, this book left me cold. 

I was uncomfortable with the heavy religious tone of this book.  There was so much talk about requesting assistance from the “Most High” and forgiveness and joy.  I got the impression this book was more about ideas, and less about the characters.  The two sisters in this book (they call themselves La La and Co Co, which made me cringe every time I read that) were born with weak hearts, but can supposedly be cured by being less fearful and adding more joy into their lives.  I found that a little offensive to the medical community or to anyone who has suffered from a heart condition.

My biggest issue though was the level of graphic violence in this book. In the Lords of the Underworld books, the violence is present, but it's implied, for example, you know Paris and Aeron are downstairs torturing hunters, but the details aren’t provided.  In this book, the violence is explicit, every cut, every drop of blood, every lash of the whip is explained in detail, but the sex is implied.   Why is that so often the case with religion?  Lots of violence and death and doom, but stay away from the sex, because you know, that's bad.  Sorry, but I very much prefer explicit sex to explicit violence.

I wouldn’t say this is a bad book and I feel so guilty giving this a bad review because I consider myself such a big fan.  But overall, I found it disappointing and feel as though this wasn’t written for the same fan base as Showalter’s earlier books.  That’s fine, an author should write what she feels the need to write.  But I wish there had been some sort of warning.  The sexy cover and the description is misleading in that it gives no indication that this book is so very different from what she usually writes.  It was as if the sexy book weekend I had planned morphed into a grim, violent church sermon, and that’s not my idea of fun times. 

Review: All for You by Dana Marie Bell

I was looking forward to reading this book. But a few pages in, I was bothered by all the similarities to another book I recently read and didn’t like. Woman with a brutal, abusive, evil ex-lover is living in terror, but she has a wonderful family, and her protective older brother assigns one of his close friends to watch over her. In the last book I read the friend was a former SEAL, in this case, he’s a nephilim – though no one knows that. Not sure why the brother felt so confident putting his little sister in the hands of an architect, but whatever.

My biggest problem with this story was the main character, Abby. She’s so weak and unable to take care of herself. She’s terrified one moment, so frightened she’s crying and fainting from fear and then she’s deciding that she’s going to leave and take care of herself and protect her family and friends on her own – only to be rescued moments later by Seth. This happens several times in the book. Got old after a while. Also, she acts so goofy and immature. Her thoughts and behavior seemed more along the lines of a silly teenager than an adult woman who had been through a harrowing tragedy. So many times I found myself actually rolling my eyes after reading parts of this book. Things like her getting out of bed and dancing around the room naked or one scene where she got sloppy drunk while waiting for Seth to finish a phone call. An adult woman should not be that unaware of her alcohol tolerance.

I never quite understood why Seth was so drawn to her – other than a desire to protect her because she was in danger. She didn’t seem especially smart or clever, just very, very needy. As for the sex in the book — I’d hoped that would make up for the weak character — it was okay, but a little silly at times. Abby never seemed to move past the idea that she was finally living out her teenage fantasy of hooking up with her older brother’s hot friend.

But the book did hold my interest. I thought the storyline was intriguing. There’s quite a bit of danger and action. This is the first book in a series, and I think the world of Nephilims who hunt Shemyaza holds a lot of potential. I thought for the first book in a series, this world was explained well, I didn’t feel lost or confused about what was happening. There were several other characters introduced in the book I would like to know more about. They seemed stronger and more intelligent than the characters featured in this book. So even though I didn’t love this book, I am interested in reading future books in this series.

I received a review copy of this book via NetGalley.

Review: Where There's a Will by Karen Kelley

This was really just not my kind of book.  I didn't enjoy it all that much.

My full review can be found on Brazen Reads:  http://brazenreads.com/review-where-theres-a-will-by-karen-kelley/

Review: Soul Weaver by Hailey Edwards

I reviewed this book for Brazen reads, which can be found here: http://brazenreads.com/review-soul-weaver-by-hailey-edwards/

This is the first book in a series about fallen angels, Wicked Kin, I believe the series is called.  Up until I read Gena Showalter's Wicked Nights, I didn't have much interest in angels, but I enjoyed this story and really liked the two main characters.

The Soul Weaver, Nathaniel, - an angel who fell because he was trying to protect his family - falls for a dying human.  He attempts to save her when he notices she has no friends or family - he describes it as having no "tethers to this world" and her soul wouldn't survive the trip to heaven.

I found this idea especially interesting, because I always wonder about the people who don't have anyone.  If there is no one to miss you, no one to notice you're gone, what happens to your soul or your spirit?  Every time there is a disaster or big tragedy, we hear all about the families and loved one who are grieving those they've lost.  But I always find myself thinking about the people who don't have anyone to miss them.  We don't like to think about that, but I promise you, there are plenty of people like that out there.  People who go through life completely alone. 

Because I think about that so often, I felt a personal connection to the character of Chloe, who was too scared of life to live it, who kept herself confined to her home and the bookstore downstairs.

My only problem with this book was that I found the details of Nathaniel’s job and background to be a bit confusing. This is the first book in the Wicked Kin series, but a few pages into the book, I stopped to check and see if maybe I’d misunderstood and began this mid-series. This is written as if the reader should understand what is happening, and I didn’t, at least not at first. I found myself re-reading passages, thinking I’d missed something. By the end of the book, everything had, for the most part been explained. I like that it’s such a complex world, with so many potential storylines – but I wish it had been explained a little more clearly.

Nathaniel’s life is grim. There isn’t much, if any happiness associated with his existence. Viewing so much horror committed by humans and being forced to see and feel their sins is resulting in some major job burnout on his part. It’s no surprise that he’s drawn to Chloe, who possesses a soul so different from what he’s used to handling.

Nathaniel isn’t supposed to interfere with the balance of life and death, but he wants to give Chloe more time, time to find someone and create bonds so that she’ll be allowed into heaven when her time on earth ends. Only later does he realize that his attempt to provide her with another chance has damned her soul.

This isn’t the first time Nathaniel’s good intentions have backfired on him. There is so much sadness in his life. His attempts to protect his brother and save his nephew having resulted in his fall from Heaven. He requests time off from his job so that he can try to figure out a way to remedy what he’s done to Chloe.

While Chloe’s agoraphobia may have began with her wreck, she had social problems long before her accident. Her parents sheltered her, preventing her from having any sort of normal childhood. She has no friends or family.

When Nathaniel walks into her store, offering to do some much-needed repairs on the storefront’s porch, Chloe is startled by her reaction to him. She’s never been drawn to another person like this. He seems to be able to read her mind. When he leans in to kiss her, even though he’s practically a stranger, she offers no resistance.

I really liked the romance between these two characters. It took a while to develop. There is so much going on in this story, that Nathaniel and Chloe don’t have their first date until more than halfway through the book, but it was worth the wait.

I think a story loses credibility when a character who has never so much as kissed a man suddenly becomes a sexual expert in the bedroom, so I appreciated that the author stayed true to Chloe being nervous and hesitant about getting involved with Nathaniel and then inviting him up to her room for the first time. There’s something so sweet about how Nathaniel regards Chloe. He’s so careful with her, always aware of her fears and her inexperience. He was exactly what someone as fearful as Chloe needed.

Nathaniel's entrance into Chloe's life makes everything extremely complicated and difficult.  But still, I liked this story and I'm looking forward to the next book in this series -- really hoping there's more of Chloe and Nathaniel and not just a brand new couple in this world, as most series tend to be it seems.

Review: Wicked Nights by Gena Showalter

Wicked Nights is the first book in Gena Showalter's Angels of the Dark series, which is a spin-off of her Lords of the Underworld series.  If you've read my review of that series, you know how much I like it, so, of course, I was going to read this.

The main character of this book is Zacharel, who we first meet in Book 7, Darkest Secret.  He is described as being stunningly beautiful (as are all the angels) and devoid of emotion (that would be his own personal quirk, not necessarily an angel trait).

He appears again in Book 8, accompanying Lysander to the Harpie Games and plays an even bigger role in Book 9, Darkest Seduction, traveling with Paris in his search for Sienna.

In this book, he's being punished because he doesn't care about humans, has no qualms about killing them when they get in his way of doing his job.  He's got issues, to say the least.  Years ago, he lost his twin brother, and lost his ability to love or care for anyone.  He does his job, follows orders.  His boss though, he wants him to develop some empathy for humans.

No one is more shocked than Zacharel when he finds himself drawn to a human who has spent the last few years in a mental hospital.  She's being tormented by demons.  He feels obligated to rescue her.

Annabelle is damaged.  Not only has she lost her family, but she's also endured years of abuse in the mental hospital.  She and Zach are quite the pair of dysfunction. 

It takes them a while to work things out.  Annabelle is leery of trusting anyone - with good reason.  Zach doesn't even know how to go about caring for another person.  I enjoyed seeing them work through their issues.  I thought it was a nice, believable love story.  Believable in that they had to get to know each other before they fell for each other.   

I also really liked the guest appearance of some characters from the Lords of the Underworld. 

I was a little bothered by some events at the end of this book.  There's a huge secret revealed in the end, and it's resolved way too quickly.  While I don't question the choice made, I felt there should have been a stronger reverberation from the choice.  The information was shocking, but Zach seemed to handle it way too easily.  Maybe centuries of denying any emotion would have that effect?

For the most part, I really liked this book and I'm looking forward to the continuation of this series. Showalter has created yet another world, or rather an extension of a world, filled with interesting, complex characters battling demons real and imagined.  And I love the clouds in which the angels live.  This Angel wants a cloud!

Oh, and did I mention the cover of this book is absolutely beautiful?  Every time I look at it, I ache, wishing I'd been the one who painted it.  When I was a teenager, my dream job was to be an artist who painted the cover of romance novels.  I used to spend hours drawing those covers that featured Fabio and the Topaz Man.  (I have a weakness for men with beautiful bodies.)  I remember reading an article in an artist magazine about a woman who painted those covers and setting it aside, thinking someday that would be my future.  So sad when dreams die.