Showing posts with label Paranormal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paranormal. Show all posts
02 December 2011
Review: How to Worship A Goddess by Stephanie Julian
HOW TO WORSHIP A GODDESS
Stephanie Julian
ISBN #: 978-1402251504
Sourcebooks, Inc.
December 2011
Paranormal Romance
BACK COVER BLURB:
HE'S EXACTLY WHAT SHE'S ALWAYS WANTED...
Lucy was once the beloved Goddess of the Moon. These days
the goddesses of the Etruscan pantheon are all but forgotten. The only rituals
she enjoys now are the local hockey games, where one ferociously handsome
player inflames her divine blood...
AND SHE UNLEASHES HIM LIKE A FORCE OF NATURE...
Brandon Stevenson is one hundred percent focused on the
game, until he looks up and sees a celestial beauty sitting in the third row. A
man could fall hard for a distraction like that...
COVER SNARK:
She doesn't look anything like I pictured Lucy.
FIRST LINES:
Some days, it didn't pay to get out of bed.
LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS:
HOW TO WORSHIP A GODDESS is a great read that I enjoyed very
much. I love the premise of this series; Goddesses from an old Parthenon who have
lost most of their powers, how they're able to adapt without the majority of
their powers in this modern world and how they're able to find love. The
characters are interesting and the plot, just when I think it's going to be
predictable it always takes a slight turn that I didn't expect. If I have one
complaint about this series and HOW TO WORSHIP A GODDESS specifically (though I
had the same problem with the first book in the series as well) is that there
is too much sex in it. That sounds like I'm such a hypocrite doesn't it?
Especially given that I love steamy romance and erotica is one of my favorite
genres. However, it didn't always fit in for me here. It was sort of like
reading an inspirational and all of a sudden the heroine stands up and says F
You. LOL. The majority of the sex scenes didn't flow right and slowed down the
pacing of HOW TO WORSHIP A GODDESS. I’m not saying that it was with every
encounter but a good deal of them. And yes the encounters were hot. I don't
often say this, but the sex actually pulled me out of the story several times.
It felt as if it were tacked on as if they author felt she HAD to amp up the
sexual chemistry.
It seems silly to say that the only thing that didn't work
for me in the book was the that the sex seemed out of place, but that's how I
felt when I read HOW TO WORSHIP A GODDESS, but other than that it was a stellar
read.
WHERE PURCHASED:
Received copy from publisher for review.
RATING:
Labels:
17 November 2011
REVIEW: Dark Predator by Christine Feehan
dark
predator
Christine Feehan
ISBN #: 978-0-425-24197-4
The Berkley Publishing Group
September 2011
Paranormal
BACK COVER BLURB:
As
brutal as the undead he hunted, Zacarias De La Cruz was a master executioner.
Over the long, dark centuries, he plunged into so many battles they blurred
into an endless lifetime of evil that hardened the soul of this merciless,
ruthless and implacable dark predator.
Now
his stark and savage journey is over. After a thousand years in a gray world,
he has accomplished everything he set out to do. His brothers are safeguarded.
Each has found a woman who completes him. And they are at peace. For his
brothers, Zacarias has walked the edge of madness, but with centuries as a
killing machine now left to the past, and without a hunt to define him,
Zacarias wonders, for the first time in his life, who he really is.
The
answer awaits him back home in Peru, in an unexpected betrayal, in the vengeance
of an old enemy, in the inevitable consequences of a bloody family legacy, and
in the deliverance of a life mate he never could have imagined.
COVER SNARK:
This
cover isn't how I pictured the hero. And I know this is weird, but look at his
upper lip, although I know it's part of the model's beard, but it really looks
as if he has a cold sore.
FIRST LINES:
Smoke burned his lungs. It rose around him in bellowing waves.
LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS:
It
took me forever to read DARK PREDATOR, mainly because I had read another
bloggers review of this book and she trashed it. She trashed it in such a way
that it made me think that I was going to have serious issues with this book.
However, I eventually read DARK PREDATOR because while I love how thought out
this blogger reviews books, I rarely agree with her. If she's egging me on to
read a book saying she loved it, I read it and it's a DNF for me. If she hates
a book, I don't mind it. But because of the way she reviews, I still like to
read her reviews.
Still
after finishing DARK PREDATOR, I am having a hard time putting my feelings down
to words. Christine Feehan was one of the first paranormal romances that I read
way back in the day before Twilight/Harry Potter, etc. when not a lot of people
were reading paranormal romance. I've pretty much given up on the rest of the
series she has written (I still plan to finish the Drake Sisters and that spin
off of them, but just haven't gotten around to it, yet), but for some reason I
still keep reading her Carpathian series.
The
heroes of her books range from Alpha to Alpha-hole and the heroines from weak
twits to kick-ass woman. Of course, I prefer books with the Alpha and the kick
ass woman. DARK PREDATOR was not that book. DARK PREDATOR's hero is an
Alpha-hole and while the heroine is not a twit, she fell a little short for me,
in ways that it's hard for me to describe. SORRY, I SO NO THIS IS NOT HELPFUL.
I'm trying to sort out my feelings here, people!
I
think my problem is that I'm so over the mind rape premise of this series,
especially when the hero is an Alpha hole. To be specific, when a Carpathian
finds his mate, they are able to communicate telepathically, and the man can
often bend the female to his will. That was done in this book. The hero totally
mind rapes the heroine and that annoyed me, especially as he did it after she
saved his life. The heroine believes that she deserved this mind rape because
she didn't listen to his demands that she let him die. While mind rape has been
done throughout the series, I think this time, I just got annoyed and was so
over it. I'm like it's time to move on with this premise. Please.
This
scene was in the first couple chapters of the book (I think Chapter 3) and
after that, the story picks up and becomes a little more interesting but I
think it's because of how the author switched up the whole life-mate premise
that was interesting to me. However, because of the character traits of both
the hero and heroine (him being an Alpha-hole and her being Ms. Susie Sunshine)
I had a hard time connecting with them or caring about their happily ever
after.
I
found myself skimming the endless narrative in DARK PREDATOR, mainly because I
didn't care, and mainly because I was looking for more interaction between the
hero and the heroine and not the emo narrative that was given. I felt that I
had been given what DARK PREDATOR presented countless times, the vampire chase,
the society hoopla, yada, yada, yada.
While
closing DARK PREDATOR, I realized that the book was very well crafted, but I
had an epiphany. DARK PREDATOR was not a romance novel, because choice and free
will were taken away from Susie Sunshine. I wanted to see more on why they were
destined for each other than Alpha-Hole's constant Alpha-holeness towards Susie
Sunshine.
Will
I still read these books. Probably. I think because there was nothing in here
that made me scream with rage to make me stop reading the series like I have
from her other series (the Game one) or the Stephanie Plum series by Janet
Evanovitch. Both are long standing series that I followed for years and just
stopped for various reasons.
And
can I say, can authors who are doing such long series please take the J.D. Robb
class on figuring out how to constantly make your series seem fresh even after
a million books? Is that a class? If so it should be one.
WHERE PURCHASED:
Borrowed
from my local library.
RATING:
10 October 2011
REVIEW: Dark Passage by M.J. Putney
dark pASSAGE
M.J. Putney
978-0-312-62285-5
St. Martin’s Press/Griffin
September 2011
Historical/YA/Time Travel Romance
BACK COVER BLURB:
Merlin's
Irregulars are grateful to have made it safely home to 1803 England, but their
view of the world has changed. Not only are they more confident and proud of
their part in the heroic Dunkirk evacuation, but their powers have increased
because of their dangerous and exhausting magical work.
Tory
and Allarde become closer everyday until an agonizing conflict threatens to
tear them apart. Allarde is deeply connected to his family's estate, the land
he will one day inherit, but only if he denies his magical abilities. Being
with Tory will deny him his heritage, and his family lets Tony know this. Will
she have the strength to end their relationship?
Cynthia
is now a powerful and respected member of the Irregulars, but her prickly
attitude keeps everyone at a distance. Feeling isolated and very alone at
Lackland Abbey over the Christmas holidays makes her even surlier than usual,
but an invitation from Jack Rainford to join in his family's festivities is an
unexpected delight. There's an attraction between the two young mages, but will
Cynthia let her guard down enough to let herself fall in love?
Then
the Irregulars are called upon again. Once before their magic helped save
England's future. Can they do it again?
COVER SNARK:
I
like this cover. It conveys the message.
FIRST LINES:
Tory had almost reached her destination when a machine gun blasted crazily from the farmhouse ahead.
LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS:
I
really enjoy this series. I really do. To me DARK PASSAGE combines a lot my
favorite things: magic, WWII, love, school adventure, time travel, and
historical detail.
I
liked Tory as a character. She's come a long way from the first book. I am
really curious as to where Ms. Putney is going with her and especially her relationship
with Allarde. Tory's like sixteen now, will she be more open about her magic
and be stuck at Lackland until she's twenty-one? Will she just say screw it and
leave and start a life on her own? These are burning questions that I'm dying
to know.
Yet,
no matter how much I liked Tory, Cynthia (Tory's snobby roommate) really shined
in this installment. Cynthia has that edge that Tory lacked and her journey was
more of a focus in DARK PASSAGE than Tory's was. I loved Cynthia's evolution.
It was a complete 180 degree turn, yet Cynthia was still Cynthia. While Tory is
still ambiguous, I think Cynthia is actually a stronger character and I
actually don't worry about her as much, because I know that she has the
strength to pursue her own happiness.
OKAY
LOOK AT ME, I AM TAKING ABOUT CHARECTERS IN A BOOK LIKE THEY ARE MY KIDS.
SERIOUSLY, DO YOU HEAR ME HERE. I HAVE ISSUES!
Anyhoo.
The plot is rich, layered, and keep me on my toes. The minute I finished DARK
PASSAGE, I immediately re-read it. I admit that I might be biased, because I
really enjoy WWII fiction.
It
is so hard for me to describe this book. It is such a mash-up. If you're used
to Mary Jo Putney's romances, you might be disappointed, because the focus
isn't on the romance, but the development of the characters. If you don't like
time travels, you might be disappointed because the story is sooo deeply
entranced in both time periods 1803 and 1941. Even for die-hard young adult
readers, it might give them pause, because the historical details are such a
part of the characters that it's almost effortless. And once again, it's not
focused on the hero/heroine and their happily ever after, but the character's
journey. Also, I love, love, love the historical details the world full of
magic that Ms. Putney has created. I'm sorry to say that there are few
historical or paranormal romance authors out there who makes this appear so
effortless like Ms. Putney has done.
DARK
PASSAGE was a homerun for me and I'm looking forward to seeing what she's doing
next. Even as I'm saying this, I know that others might think differently
because really it's hard to put this work in a neat box. DARK PASSAGE was
written outside the box of what's being written today and it was executed
beautifully.
This
review is totally lame. I know this! My bad!
WHERE PURCHASED:
It
was a gift from my Twitter buddy Sarah who knows I love this series and sent me
the ARC she had received. I am blessed!
RATING:
06 October 2011
REVIEW: Serpent's Kiss by Thea Harrison
serpent's
kiss
Thea Harrison
ISBN #: 978-0-425-24440-1
Publisher Name: Berkley Publishing Group
Date Released: October 2011
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Book
Format: Print.
BACK COVER BLURB:
In
the latest Novel of the Elder Races, a Queen on the brink of sanity has no one
to rely on except the Wyr warrior whose conviction is every bit as strong as
his passion . . .
In
order to save his friend's life, Wyr sentinel Rune Ainissessthai made a bargain
with Vampyre Queen Carling – without knowing what she would ask from him in
return. But when Rune attempts to make good on his debt, he finds a woman on
the edge.
Recently,
Carling's Power has become erratic, forcing her followers to flee in fear.
Despite the danger, Rune is drawn to the ailing Queen and decides to help her
find a cure for the serpent's kiss – the Vampyric disease that's killing her.
With
their desire for each other escalating just as quickly as Carling's instability
spirals out of control, the sentinel and the Queen will have to rely on each
other if they have any hope of surviving the serpent's kiss.
COVER SNARK:
Once
again. I don't like the cover models they use for these books. DON'T, DON'T,
DON'T.
FIRST LINES:
"I'm a bad woman, of course," said Carling Severan, the Vampyre sorceress, in an absent tone of voice. "It is a fact that I made peace with many centuries ago. I calibrate everything I do, even the most generous-seeming gesture, in terms of how it may serve me."
FAVORITE LINES:
"You could try to surrender to the experience and let change happen.""Change or die?" she said."Yes. Change or die.""You might have noticed, I don't do surrender very well,"
LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS:
Once
again, everyone and their mother has reviewed SERPENT'S KISS. And, I know that
nothing I'm going to say is going to stop you from reading this book, right?
So, I'm just going to give you my impressions while I read instead of boring
you to death with plot points.
SERPENT'S
KISS had a slow start. However, if you're familiar with my opinions, you'll
know that I believe all of Ms. Harrison's novels have a slow start. I'm
becoming somewhat familiar with her books going like this . . . . yada, yada,
yada, yada . . . WOW.
You
guys must also know that I am not the most perky person on the planet, as a
result I find perky heroine's kinda annoying as well. Can I just say, THANK
GOODNESS CARLING WAS NOT PERKY. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I know a lot
of readers might be disappointed, but I was standing up doing cheers for this
change. As a result, I liked Carling a lot better than I did Pia or Tricks.
Give me an evil, vindictive b-tch with a heart of gold over an annoying perky
one any day. LOL.
I
also loved that SERPENT'S KISS seemed to be entirely focused on Rune and Carling
and them trying to find a way to keep Carling alive. There weren't a lot of
distracting side plots so that gave me the time to focus on Rune and Carling
and their developing relationship. I love it when authors focus on their
hero/heroine instead of their overall plot arc.
Things
that drove me crazy.
SERPENT'S
KISS is the first book in Ms. Harrison's series that I read in print instead of
in eBook format. WTF is up with the small print? It killed me. I'm already
nearly blind as a bat, but the small print was ridiculous. Really. What size
was the font? Six point? Come on publishers, please, please, please work on
that.
I
was disappointed with the ending. Because Carling was so kick-ass, I was
disappointed that no one really had to pay. I wanted Carling to kick butt and
take names. I get that love is supposed to soften you, but come on. Some of
those people really needed a beat down. That goes for Rune as well. He
should've given a certain person a beat down as well and I don't care who they
were. (Why yes, I'm trying to avoid spoilers here!)
Because
no one got their beat downs, in my opinion a lot of plot threads weren't
wrapped up as neatly as I would've liked. I don't know if they are going to be
resolved in later books. I hope so, and please don't keep us waiting long.
Despite
my quibbles, because of my relief that Carling wasn't perky. SERPENT'S KISS was
my favorite in the series to date. I can't wait to see what's coming next.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Come
back tomorrow as Thea Harrison will be my special INSIDE THE AUTHOR STUDIO
guest. She'll be giving away a copy of Serpent's Kiss to a lucky commenter.
Good Luck.
WHERE PURCHASED:
Received
from publisher for review.
RATING:
17 August 2011
REVIEW: Deceiving the Protector by Dee Tenorio
deceiving the protector
Dee Tenorio
978-0-425-24209-4
Publisher
Name: Carina Press
Date Released: August 2011
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Book
Format: E-book
BACK COVER BLURB:
After
a series of murders is discovered along the trail of the Shifter Underground,
wolf soldier Jensen Tate is assigned to find and protect a missing stray. But
Lia Crawford doesn't seem to want his protection. When she eludes his watch and
returns with mysterious injuries, Tate knows she's hiding something. To
discover her secrets, Tate will have to win her trust...and get closer to the
woman he thinks may be his mate.
Lia
has reasons to keep her distance. The killer is haunting her steps, determined
to claim her. He will come after them both if he sees how drawn she is to Tate,
though it becomes increasingly difficult to deny her attraction to him.
Protecting Tate is vital—but will her deception cost her his love?
COVER SNARK:
Love
this cover. It is very beautiful.
The sound of her own breath – ragged, desperate gasps – echoed in the girl’s ears. But not nearly as thunderously as the pounding feet behind her. Coming closer with every lunge.
FAVORITE LINES:
I feel you. Inside. In the parts of me I crushed the night my mother died. No matter how I tried to keep you out, you got in and I couldn't let you leave me behind. So listen to me when I say this. My life is yours. You're the reason I'll stay alive. The only goddamn reason.
LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS:
I’ve
been in a serious reading slump. Reading DECEIVING THE PROTECTOR snapped me out
of it.
I’ve
read a couple of Ms. Tenorio’s novels before. Ms. Tenorio also writes
contemporaries, while I always loved her heroes; her heroine’s often fell too
short to me, which made it hard for me to buy into the couple’s chemistry. That
is so not the case with DECEIVING THE PROTECTOR. Lia grabbed me from the first
sentence from the first page until the last page, and as always her heroes are
well drawn out and drool worthy.
DECEIVING
THE PROTECTOR is like a roller coaster ride. From the first page the tension is
wratched up as Lia who is running for her life is caught. She is on the run
when she encounters Tate, a shifter tasked with finding stray shifters and
leading them through the underground and eventually to Resurrection a safe
haven town in the California mountains, run by Pale the Alpha wolf and the hero
in the first book of the series. The only problem is that Lia doesn’t want to
be saved, nor be escorted to the safe house. While she has very good reasons, I
couldn’t help but be a little annoyed with her for taking so long to tell Tate
why she was so reluctant to go along with the plan to get her to the safe house.
It seemed a little too dragged out for me. I felt that Lia deliberately placed
him in danger by not being honest. If she told him, he could have at least been
prepared for the threat more. That is one of my only minor quibbles with
DECEIVING THE PROTECTOR as both Tate and Lia had such great character arcs and
they tugged at my emotional heartstrings from the start. Once she finally told
him who was after her and why it was imperative she had to deceive him, they
began working as a cohesive unit. The transition was seamless with the romantic
tension as well as escalation of the outside forces stalking them. While I
enjoyed the first book in the series, DECEIVING THE PROTECTOR turned me into a
fan.
WHERE PURCHASED:
Received
for review for Kwips and Kritiques Review Site. Want to win a copy? Check out Dee Tenorio's Inside the Actor Studio post and comment on her interivew to win.
RATING:
08 August 2011
REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY: Storm's Heart by Thea Harrison
storm's
heart
Thea Harrison
ISBN #: 978-0-425-24266-7
Publisher Name: Berkley Publishing Group
Date Released: August 2011
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Book
Format: Print.
BACK COVER BLURB:
He’s
a wyr warrior, a god of storms. She’s the heir to the Dark Fae throne. But
desire will bring both to their knees in this all-new Novel of the Elder Races.
During
the rule of her murderous Dark Fae uncle, Thistle “Tricks” Periwinkle found
sanctuary among the wyr in New York. Her ethereal beauty and sparkling
personality won the hearts of the public, but after her uncle’s death, there
are those who don’t want to see her ascend to the throne…
Able
to wield thunder and lightning, wyr sentinel Tiago Black Eagle has ruled the
skies for centuries. His massive build and thunderous power make him one of the
wyr’s best weapons. And he’s sent to protect Tricks when she’s almost
assassinated in Chicago.
Soon,
both Tiago and Tricks will fall prey to the stormy hunger that engulfs them—a
passion that will shake the very foundation of all the worlds…
A
Fiery Temper is Not Easily Extinguished.
COVER SNARK:
I
don't like this cover. Tiago is supposed to look like Dwayne Johnson. Does that
white chest on the cover look like Dwayne Johnson? As a person of color this
annoys the crap out of me.
FIRST LINES:
You didn't ignore a summons roared from the Lord of the Wyr in New York, since it usually heralded a disaster of some proportion. You especially didn't ignore it if you were one of his sentinels.
FAVORITE LINES:
Her compact, curvaceous body was laid out like some kind of offering to a pagen god. As someone who had once been a pagen god, he knew what he was talking about . . .
She cradled his head and bowed over him, wiping her damp cheeks with one hand. "We're so different from each other." "We live a long time. It's good to not be bored."
LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS:
Everyone
and there mother has reviewed this book, so I'm not going to bother with a
bunch of plot stuff, because if you haven't read it yet, you're probably
planning to and nothing I've got to say is going to change your mind, so I'm
just going to get to the point.
This
is the second Thea Harrison book I read Dragon
Bound being the first, where the cutesy beginning of the book annoyed the
crap out of me, but the great middle and end made up for the slow beginning. I
hope that the beginning of her next book is fleshed out more.
In
the beginning of STORM'S HEART, I thought that Tricks/Niniane was a wishy washy
annoying brat who lashed out on people trying to help her without a good
reason. Well, there was a reason, but it came over 100 pages into the story.
While the reason was a good one, it didn't help my opinion of her in the
beginning. I wish that her character was fleshed out a little more in the
beginning to where I didn't want to bash her upside the head for being a jerk
to Tiago when all he was doing was trying to help her. It was the classic, yeah
so you saved my life, I didn't need you, even though I can't really fight to
save my life and I was just lucky. I'm going to be a raving witch to you
anyway.
While
some find that type of perkiness endearing, I found it annoying.
Tiago
was also a little weird. In the beginning, I thought there was going to be some
m/m love with the descriptions Tiago was giving to his fellow sentinels and
co-workers. I mean really, what guy thinks about other guys the way Tiago was
unless they were going to screw them.
This
is just one example of several:
He wore a Jerry Garcia T-shirt that strained across his chest and at the biceps faded jeans with the knees torn out and steel-toed books, the treads of which had been imprinted on more than one Wyr ass. He had sun-bronzed, fine-grained skin with laugh lines at the corners of lion-colored eyes.
I
mean really. Just throw him on top of the conference table and have your way
with him.
Okay,
so despite all my snark STORM'S HEART is a good story once it got going. Once
Niniane finally decided to get around and explain herself, I found her funny
and understandable, and endearing. Also, once Tiago got over crushing on all
the other guys on the book, he stole the show with the fierce love and protectiveness
that he showed to Niniane.
I
loved at how they joined to try to uncover the conspiracy to discover who among
the Dark Fae were trying to kill her. Although, I knew who it was from the
moment the character appeared on the page, I enjoyed the journey Tiago and
Niniane took to discover the truth for their self. I also loved the respect
Tiago and Niniane showed for each other. They respected each other's strengths
and differences. It is sad to say that it is not often in romanceland that you
come across characters that respect each other, this is definitely not the case
inside STORM'S HEART.
I
can't wait to read the next story in this series.
GIVEAWAY:
I
have an extra copy of STORM'S HEART that I am going to give away to a commenter
as a thank you for you guys sticking around while I took a blogging hiatus.
This 'thank you' contest is for followers of my blog only, although it's not
too late for you to follow my blog and comment to win a copy. The contest ends
on Sunday August 14th midnight EST. I'll announce the winner on
Monday, August 15th.
WHERE PURCHASED:
Purchased
with my own money.
RATING:
03 June 2011
REVIEW: Savage Nature by Christine Feehan
Christine Feehan
ISBN #: 978-0-515-149933-3
Publisher Name: Berkley Publishing Group
Date Released: May 2011
Genre: Paranormal Romance/Shape-shifters
Book Format: Print.
When Saria Boudreaux finds a dead body in the Louisiana bayou near her home, her first instinct is to go to the police. But there’s a problem – it looks like the victim may have been killed by a big cat, and her brothers are all shape-shifting leopards.
Sent to investigate by the land’s owner, leopard shifter Drake Donovan is ready for anything – except the insatiable hunger that rocks him when he meets Saria. Deep in his soul he knows that she is destined to be his mate. Torn between protecting her brothers and finding the truth, Saria treads warily around the powerful shifter. Yet as they venture deep into the mysterious bayou on a hunt for the killer, Saria finds herself longing for Drake’s touch and the sweet release of surrender . . .
The girl on the cover photographs too old to me. Saria is supposed to be young twenty years old, I think. I did like the guy on the inside flap though.
LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS:
SAVAGE NATURE is the recent release in Christine Feehan’s Leopard series (she writes several paranormal romance series).
Saria family has lived on the Louisiana Bayou for centuries. For her, it’s the only place she feels comfortable. But that comfort is stripped away when her she starts finding dead bodies in the swamp, bodies that look like they’ve been attacked by a leopard. That scares her, because leopards are not native to the swamp and once as a child she had seen her older brothers shape-shift into leopards. Although there is a great distance between herself and her brothers (which she assumes comes from her inability to shift as well) she cannot believe that they are killers. When threats to Saria increase and she is attacked by a leopard, she can no longer push aside what is happen and manages to smuggle a letter out to the owner of the land.
A short time later, Drake Donovan appears and hires Saria as a guide. He is shocked when he meets Saria and the instant attraction he feels for her. The man and leopard inside of him is calling out to her, he soon realizes that it’s because she’s about to go through the change and is astounded that she knows nothing of her heritage especially when he discovers a large shifter lair out in the bayou. A lair rife with lawlessness and who are breaking every shifter law due to a lack of inadequate leadership. Now Drake and Saria have to trap a killer, get control of the lair, and deal with the burgeoning emotions battling between them.
I really liked SAVAGE NATURE, more so than the other books in this series. If you know anything about Christine Feehan you’ll know that she’s sort of known for somewhat doormat heroines and the alpha holes who trounce all over them. SAVAGE NATURE was nothing like that. Saria is a strong woman who is used to not only taking care of herself but others as well and Drake was a strong man who showed no alpha hole tendencies. In fact he treated Saria with respect even when he didn’t agree with her plans and even deferred to her more superior knowledge in some cases. I know, I was shocked, the hero and hero actually respected on another. I liked the balance in SAVAGE NATURE. Yes, Drake wanted her to be wowed by his umm . . . stick of power, he still treated her as a woman of intelligence who he owned he respect.
In other words, SAVAGE NATURE is my favorite in the Leopard series, and I highly recommend it.
WHERE PURCHASED:
Borrowed from my local library.RATING:
06 May 2011
REVIEW: Lover Unleashed by J.R. Ward
Author Name: J.R. Ward
ISBN #: 978-0-451-23316-5
Publisher Name: Penguin Group/NAL
Date Released: April 2011
Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Romance
Pages: 489
Retail Price: $27.95
Book Format: Print.
BACK COVER BLURB:
Payne, twin sister of Vishous, is cut from the same dark warrior cloth as her brother. Because she is a fighter by nature, and a maverick when it comes to the traditional role of Chosen females, there is no place for her on the Far Side . . . and no role for her on the front lines of the war, either.
When she suffers a paralyzing injury, human surgeon Dr. Manuel Manello is called in to treat her as only he can – and he soon gets sucked into her dangerous secret world. Although he never before believed in things that go bump in the night – like vampries – he finds himself more than willing to be seduced by the powerful female who marks both his body and his soul.
As the two find so much more than an erotic connection, the human and vampire worlds collide . . . just as a centuries-old score catches up with Payne and puts both her love and her live in deadly jeopardy.
COVER SNARK:
It’s okay. But are they using the same guy over and over again?
FIRST LINES:
Xcor saw his father killed when he was but five years past his transition. It happened afore his very eyes, and yet even with the proximity, he could not fathom what transpired.
LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS:
OMG. I cannot believe it. I haven’t read a J.R. Ward book that I haven’t wanted to chuck across the floor since Butch’s story. Ever since Butch’s story it seems to me that the BDB series went downhill. I picked up LOVER UNLEASED expecting to do the snarky type review that I did for Lover Mine. I had everything so set up. My master plan was to read a chapter and post a snarky summary on my book status page on Goodreads. It started that way but I got sucked in the story and found myself reading on.
I was shocked. This was still a J.R. Ward book (product placement galore – though less so, 400 year old men talking like they grew up like white boys who are trying to be gangster and failing miserably, side plots that overtake the hero and heroine’s story). All the things that drive me crazy about her series was still there, but it was like someone held her back and what was left was a tightly plotted and focused story that I hadn’t seen from her in years.
Manny and Payne had a decent romance. I wish there was more of it and it was more fully developed. When I got to the end, I was like that’s it? However, since I was expected far, far less between them, I wasn’t as annoyed like I usually am. A lot of the focus inside LOVER UNLEASHED is focused on V and Jane. I could be wrong and often am (not really, but that sounds more humble), but I got the feel that the focus on V and Jane was Ms. Ward’s way of saying ‘my bad, I’m sorry that V’s book sucked donkey doo-doo and this is my way of making it up to my readers. This is how V and Jane’s relationship arc should’ve been.’ Now, if she’d do the same with Phury and what’s her face, I’d be over the moon and might actually go back to purchasing her novels instead of getting them from my library.
To be honest, I can’t tell you if the story was really good, or that my expectations were so low that I was shocked that it wasn’t as awful as I assumed it would be so I’m hyping it up more than it should be. My judgment may be screwed.
I am back to being curious about where the BDB series is going to go from here. Ms. Ward set up some new interesting plot lines that include Butch’s real father, The Bastards and their planned revenge on Wrath (why, what’s up with that), and who is that Toe’s father and family (yes, I know that’s not his real name, but WTF).
So from deciding to totally give up on the BDB series, I’m back to being intrigued to what’s coming up next. So that’s a good thing.
BTW. If anyone knows, whose the next book about?
WHERE PURCHASED:
Borrowed from my local library. I’m still leery about paying for one of her books, even after this. Time will tell.
RATING:
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