Absolute Fear review

I am blaming Elle Rossi for my recent inability to sleep - she recommended Lisa Jackson to me, and specifically Absolute Fear, and Jackson's books are so creepy that if I read them at night, I can't sleep :)

Needless to say, I enjoyed Absolute Fear a great deal despite a couple of character issues that really annoyed me. It definitely kept me guessing all the way to the big reveal and the romance is better than in the preceding book in the series, Shiver. Jackson is really good, maybe a little too good, at painting a picture of the very mentally unstable thoughts of serial killers. The plot thread involving Our Lady of Virtues and the family of Abby from Shiver provides great continuity but doesn't preclude reading Absolute Fear if you haven't read Shiver.

While overall I enjoyed both Eve and Cole, there was one sticking point with them for me that really brought the book down from great to good. Cole demands that Eve trust him and yet he is lying to her the entire time! Then he doesn't understand why she is mad at him. The flip side of that is while Eve does get very angry at Cole when the lie is exposed, as far as I'm concerned she forgave him way too quickly - I certainly wouldn't have forgiven him at all but that's why I'll never be a romance novel protagonist :) Other than that, the chemistry between the couple was palpable and their personalities were enjoyable.

Overall, I've enjoyed the two books in this series that I've read and am highly likely to pick up more books by Jackson in the future. 

Synopsis

Eve Renner has returned to New Orleans hoping to forget the past...but it will not be so easily forgotten. The cold-blooded killings that culminated in a near-fatal attempt on her life three months ago have begun again. The crimes are bizarre, baffling, but all connected to Our Lady of virtues Hospital, the crumbling old asylum that was once the scene of unspeakable madness. Eve's father was a doctor there, and she spent hours exploring its forbidden passageways. Somewhere in its decaying rooms lies the key to a terrible crime. And the only man she can trust with the search is Cole Dennis, her former lover and, just possibly, a cold-blooded killer. Now, as memories begin to surface, someone is watching, planning... For the sins of the past must be revealed, the crimes brought to justice, and the price paid--in blood.

Heart of Evil review

I really liked Heart of Evil by Heather Graham, the second book in her Krewe of Hunters series. Like Phantom Evil, Heart of Evil takes place in New Orleans - always a good setting for a ghost filled murder mystery!

While I had mixed feelings about Jackson, the hero of Phantom Evil, I completely adored Jake, the hero of Heart of Evil. He was a quintessentially good guy - smart, fun, easygoing, and talented. Really, what more could a girl ask for? He also just happens to see and speak to ghosts :) When the Krewe gets a call about a case at Ashley Donegal's family plantation, Jake comes face to face with the woman he loved and lost.

Ashley was a great character - smart, strong, all Southern charm but independent and unwilling to take crap from anyone. She was, however, not willing to admit that she's just like Jake - she can see ghosts, too. There are a couple of times in Heart of Evil when I wanted to smack Ashley for not being more open minded overall she was a lot of fun to read. At the same time, Ashley's strong enough to find a dead body and be able to do what needs done - no fainting, no blubbering, no hysterics after the initial shock. I liked that Ashley and Jake were written as equals and not one coming in to "save" the other all the time.

The rest of the Krewe make appearances as well and round out the book nicely. Graham writes vivid descriptions of place and action which makes the settings jump off the page and makes me feel like I'm in the middle of her scenes. I figured out who the murderer was in Heart of Evil about three quarters of the way through but I did have to go back and double check a detail to make sure I was remembering it correctly.

I'm eager to read the next book in the Krewe of Hunters series and find out more about the remaining members of the team.

Synopsis

Emerging from the bayou like an apparition, Donegal Plantation is known for its unsurpassed dining, captivating atmosphere, haunting legends…and now a corpse swinging from the marble angel that marks its cemetery's most majestic vault. A corpse discovered in nearly the same situation as that of Marshall Donegal, the patriarch killed in a skirmish just before the Civil War.Desperate for help traditional criminologists could never provide, plantation heiress Ashley Donegal turns to an elite team of paranormal investigators who blend hard forensics with rare—often inexplicable—intuition. Among the "Krewe of Hunters" is an old flame, Jake Mallory, a gifted musician with talent stretching far beyond the realm of the physical, and a few dark ghosts of his own.

The evil the team unveils has the power to shake the plantation to its very core. Jake and Ashley are forced to risk everything to unravel secrets that will not stay buried—even in death.

Implosion review

Implosion, the second book in Berinn Rae's Colliding Worlds trilogy, is even better than the first book! I was riveted from start to finish with the characters and the action.

Implosion is the story of Nalea's kidnapping by Roden that readers witnessed in Collision. Nalea's secret that is alluded to in Collision comes out in Implosion - and boy is it a doozy! Nalea remains the kick-ass Sephian I enjoyed in the first book but she becomes more well-rounded and gets a new depth as the lead character in Implosion. Her emotions and reactions were so human that I forgot that she was a Sephian several times!

I honestly wasn't sure what to think of Roden - even after Implosion ended. One minute, I'm cheering for him and wanting him to win thinking he's the "hero" and the next I'm wanting someone to kill him off because he seems like the "bad guy"! His actions, plotting, and maneuvering all made perfect sense but at the same time, left me seeing him very ambivalently. There's one scene - and I won't spoil it - where his rationalizations were much like those of a serial killer. And yet, you can see how Nalea could love him. That's the dichotomy that is Roden and I suspect not many authors would be able to do such a great job writing such a flawed character.

Much like in Collision, the action in Implosion is fast and furious throughout much of the book. It flows well and the vivid descriptions of battles and their aftermath are sometimes a little too vivid.

Several questions remain after Implosion that I'm hoping are answered in book three, Explosion. I'm looking forward to Jax's story and hope we get to see more of his friend Ace as well! If you enjoy paranormal romance, I definitely recommend Rae's Colliding World's trilogy but you need to read them in order or it might be confusing.

Synopsis

A cataclysmic war is brewing… Sephian warrior Nalea exists only to kill Draeken, and she’s good at her job. That is, until a particularly bloody battle, she finds herself captured by Roden Zyll, a Draeken commander known for his good looks and heartless brutality. Her tormentor ignites a passion she believed impossible, and she despises him for it. Worse, she fears he has no intention of letting her go.

Desperate times call for desperate schemes... Meanwhile, a tyrant has devised a plan that threatens to obliterate life on earth. Roden has spilled plenty of blood in his time, and he cares little for humans. But when he realizes his leader’s plan could lead to his people’s extinction, he plans a war of his own, a war that needs Nalea to succeed. But does earth stand a chance if its survival depends on Nalea opening her heart to the man who’d enslaved her people?

Blood of the Pride review

Blood of the Pride by Sheryl Nantus is the first novel in the Blood of the Pride series and the first book by Nantus that I've read. It was an interesting read but it was a little uneven.

Rebecca is supposed to be a strong and independent PI but she doesn't come across as particularly independent - in fact, she seems incredibly needy when it comes to the acceptance of the Pride that kicked her out twenty years ago. However, she is smart, brave, and seeking justice unerringly so she's not all bad. Brandon, on the other hand, needs to have his ass kicked - by Rebecca. I couldn't understand why she didn't kick the crap out of him - he didn't seem able to take anything seriously and he was far too pushy for a guy who didn't seem able to back his attitude up. I really didn't care for him at all which makes for a less than fun read since it is a romance novel.

The rest of the Pride members came across less as a supernatural group trying to avoid persecution and dissection by humans and more as a holier than thou cult. The concept that they could be wrong about something - anything! - was just never considered. The rigid policies enforced by the Board are apparently bent routinely and yet they didn't see anything wrong with kicking out a fifteen year old who was considered "less" than the other shifters. Then they have the audacity to say that she's family and has a responsibility to help them? Does shifting cause brain damage because that's the only way that kind of logic makes sense.

As a 'find the killer' mystery, it's good - and full of action. But I doubt I'll be picking up the next novel in the series as the characters just leave too much to be desired and without a main couple I can root for and empathize with, I can't enjoy the books.

Blood of the Pride was published in print by Carina Press on February 1, 2013. It was previously available as an e-book from February 2012.

Synopsis

When a severed rabbit's paw is delivered to her office, outcast cat shifter Rebecca Desjardin recognizes the summons home. One of their own has been murdered--and a shocking photo published in a local tabloid--and her Pride needs Rebecca, now a private investigator, to track down the killer.

Investigative reporter Brandon Hanover wants to find out who slipped the photo of the half-shifted cat-woman under his door, marking him as a suspect in her death. Determined to stay one step ahead of the sexy journalist, Rebecca reluctantly agrees to partner with him to find the real murderer. But as their mutual attraction heats up, Rebecca finds it harder and harder to keep Brandon from discovering the existence of the shifter society--and her own true nature.

When the search leads them back to the Pride, Rebecca must attempt to Change for the first time in years to face the killer, and save the man she loves...

Shiver review

Shiver by Lisa Jackson is a fast paced romantic suspense novel and I found it to be very good as a suspense thriller but found it lacking as a romance. As evidenced by the official synopsis in which the main female character is not even mentioned, the romance seems to be almost a second thought as opposed to a main part of the story.

The chemistry between Montoya and Abby, the female lead, is not even remotely convincing. Montoya is a fairly typical cop character - he's smart, intuitive, tough, and tenacious. He's painted as a bit of a ladies man but I didn't really see that in the story. Abby is a bit of a pushover - she seems to forgive too easily and is willing to do just about anything to keep the peace, regardless of how bad it is for her emotionally. Additionally, Abby and her sister, Zoey, seem to be less intelligent that I'd like or maybe it's just that they are lacking in common sense. They know there is a serial killer on the loose, Abby at least knows details of the investigation, and yet neither of them bothers to mention several fairly obvious incidents that involve the killer to the police? It seems a little less than realistic.

I do have to say that as someone who reads a lot of romantic suspense and mystery novels, I usually have a very solid idea of who the killer is by half way through the book. Not in Shiver - the killer was a complete surprise to me. Jackson does a good job of giving some possible, and one probable, blind for suspects but not in such a way as to make the reader feel like it should have been one of the blinds - just as good foils for the police and the reader to follow.

Shiver is the third novel in Jackson's New Orleans series and is followed by Absolute Fear, which I'll be reading shortly.

Synopsis

Detective Reuben "Diego" Montoya is back in New Orleans. Thanks to years of working with the dark side of society, his youthful swagger is gone, replaced by a determined, take-no-prisoners stride. He'll need every bit of it, because a serial killer is turning the Big Easy into his personal playground. The victims are killed in pairs --"no connection, no apparent motive, no real clues". Somebody's playing a sick game, and Montoya intends to beat him to it. As more bodies are found, Montoya's in a desperate race to find a killer whose crimes are getting more terrifying and closer all the time. Plunging deep into a nightmare investigation will uncover a shocking revelation. For the past is never completely gone. Its sins must be avenged, its wrong righted. And this time, Detective Reuben Montoya may pay the price.

Beauty's Beast review

Beauty's Beast by Jenna Kernan is the fourth, and last, book in the Tracker series but it's the first book by Kernan that I've read. It was okay - I don't feel the need to go back and read the first three books in the series but it was interesting and full of action.

Samantha was not a character that I really understood. She was too sheltered and didn't seem to have any self-respect at all. At the same time, she was brave and willing to sacrifice herself for the good of mankind. Alon was practically schizophrenic - he seemed to have an almost split personality. But he was good to his core even if he didn't think so. Alon was pretty much a quintessential tortured hero type. Samantha's parents and brother really irritated me. I found them to be self-righteous and completely unsupportive of their daughter/sister for the majority of the novel. Yet she remained completely loyal and supportive to them. My favorite character was Aldaria, Alon's sister, who was smart, strong, willing to take risks with her heart, but also not willing to be a doormat or pushover for love. She would have made an exceptional main character for her own novel.

I did enjoy the action in Beauty's Beast a great deal. From almost the first page, there is attack after attack, fight after fight, but all with a purpose. The action moves the plot along quite well by helping the characters come to epiphanies and realizations they might not have been able to get to without the push.

If you enjoy books based on Native American mythology and with a lot of action, you will likely enjoy this book. I prefer characters who are more self-aware and more self-assured than Samantha and Alon.

Beauty's Beast will be published on April 2, 2013 by Harlequin.

Synopsis

He was the son of her sworn enemy… and now the only one who could save her

Samantha Proud doesn't think her life could get any more complicated—or tragic. Since she dared to save a human boy from evil spirits, Nagi, the Ruler of Ghosts, has been actively stalking her family. Still, she never expected well-meaning Thunderbirds to scatter them to the four winds, dumping her at the feet of Alon Garza, a gorgeous Halfling, for safekeeping.

Alon has never met anyone like the sensual shifter who has just been literally dropped into his woods. Because of who he is, he never wanted to be with a woman for more than one night. Now, to keep Samantha safe, his only choice is to claim her. But will his desire expose the dark truth he's been fighting for so long?

Arbella: England's Lost Queen review

Arbella: England's Lost Queen by Sarah Gristwood is a biography of a less popularly known figure in the Elizabethan era. Arbella Stuart was third cousin (I think that's correct) to Elizabeth I and first cousin to James I. She was, at one time, a serious consideration as heir to Elizabeth's throne. For anyone interested in that era of British history, this biography is a good addition to the field and gives a great deal of detail on a person who hasn't been written about in as much detail as the more well known figures such as Elizabeth, James, Robert Dudley, and others whose names are recognizable to popular audiences even today.

Gristwood writes with an amazing amount of detail and uses a prodigious amount of source quotes. Arbella seems to have left a large number of letters from which to pull information and, as a possible contender to the throne, her name and events in her life were topics of gossip and letters by a variety of officials of the era - from Cecil to James to foreign ambassadors. Like most documentation from that time period, there are gaps in what has survived and conflicting information slanted by whoever wrote it for their own political purposes.

Arbella's life is a rollercoaster with seemingly more downs than ups. Her fate rests entirely in the hands of others and yet she attempts to take control of her own destiny several times. Her royal blood makes her both incredibly valuable and equally dangerous, cutting her off from both of the avenues for which she was raised - ruling and marriage. Her attempts to get won or the other are met with hostility by both Elizabeth and James. Arbella seems at all times to keep one eye on her political ambitions which can never help her marital cause. Her family member's ambition is an equal part of the problem as, much like Jane Grey, Arbella is blamed for the plots of others - though neither woman is without ambition.

Arbella: Englad's Lost Queen seems to be the first biography by Gristwood and she does a fair job of it - it's a well-written and engaging read but Alison Weir's works of the same time period remain my favorites to this point. It may simply be that Gristwood has not found her stride yet and I'm certainly going to read more of her work.

Synopsis

An extraordinary life lost in history: the compelling biography of Arbella Stuart spans both Tudor and Stuart courts and encompasses espionage, a clandestine marriage, imprisonment and eventual death in the Tower of London.

Arbella Stuart was the niece of Mary Queen of Scots and first cousin to James VI of Scotland. Acknowledged as her heir by Elizabeth 1, Arbella's right to the English throne was equaled only by James. Raised under close supervision by her grandmother, but still surrounded by plots -- most of them Roman Catholic in origin -- she became an important pawn in the struggle for succession, particularly during the long, tense period when Elizabeth lay dying. The accession of her cousin James thrust her into the colourful world of his extravagant and licentious court, and briefly gave her the independence she craved at the heart of Jacobean society. At thirty-five, however, Arbella's fate was sealed when she risked everything to make a forbidden marriage, for which she was forced to flee England. She was intercepted off the coast of Calais and escorted to the Tower where she died some years later, alone and, most probably, from starvation.

This is a powerful and vivid portrait of a woman forced to carve a precarious path through turbulent years. But more remarkably, the turmoil of Arbella's life never prevented her from claiming the right to love freely, to speak her wrongs loudly, and to control her own destiny. For fans of historical biography, Arbella is possibly the most romantic heroine of them all. Hers was a story just waiting to be told.