Books, fantasy, Mystery, Out of the Box Blogs, paranormal romance, steampunk, Urban Fantasy

Lake Silence by Anne Bishop

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I hate to just come back to blogging to a negative note, fortunately I read Burn Bright and Lake Silence back to back. Let the love fest begin! First, the blurb:

In this thrilling and suspenseful fantasy, set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Others series, Vicki DeVine and her lodger, the shapeshifter Aggie Crowe, stumble onto a dead body . . . and find themselves enmeshed in danger and dark secrets.

Human laws do not apply in the territory controlled by the Others–vampires, shapeshifters, and paranormal beings even more deadly. And this is a fact that humans should never, ever forget . . .

After her divorce, Vicki DeVine took over a rustic resort near Lake Silence, in a human town that is not human controlled. Towns like Vicki’s have no distance from the Others, the dominant predators that rule most of the land and all of the water throughout the world. And when a place has no boundaries, you never really know what’s out there watching you.

Vicki was hoping to find a new career and a new life. But when her lodger, Aggie Crowe–one of the shapeshifting Others–discovers a dead body, Vicki finds trouble instead. The detectives want to pin the man’s death on her, despite the evidence that nothing human could have killed the victim. As Vicki and her friends search for answers, things get dangerous–and it’ll take everything they have to stay alive.

After my last post I feel as if everyone is looking at me and thinking..

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So I was nervous, what if I didn’t like Lake Silence? Should I just stay silent? Not to worry

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I LOVED IT!!!

Anne Bishop has managed to introduce a whole new set of characters for us to meet and start to become attached to, in a world that is familiar yet in a place that is not. It’s perfect because, though we know a lot of the terms, like terra indigene or elders, the rules have changes some since the Great Predation, some humans still go along blindly (like idiots) but most understand and fear. It’s nice to see the scarier side, and the humans who you are getting to know actually fearing those bigger and badder characters. I love that the elders and elementals are right there watching everything, adding an extra creep factor even for the terra indigene, I love the idea of possibly being part of and getting to see a place like The Jumble being formed and built, I even like Sproing (especially the Sproingers).

I loved this book. I just can’t stop saying it. I was worried that I wouldn’t like the new characters because I was so attached to Simon and Meg and to their world but, this gave me just enough of the familiar that I didn’t feel lost and just enough new that it felt like somewhere different.

Thank you Anne!

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Books, fantasy, paranormal romance, Reviews, steampunk, Urban Fantasy

Burn Bright by Patricia Briggs

Wow. I am so sad because Patricia Briggs has been one of my top 5 authors for a long time. This is going to be hard. First the blurb..

They are the wild and the broken. The werewolves too damaged to live safely among their own kind. For their own good, they have been exiled to the outskirts of Aspen Creek, Montana. Close enough to the Marrok’s pack to have its support; far enough away to not cause any harm.With their Alpha out of the country, Charles and Anna are on call when an SOS comes in from the fae mate of one such wildling. Heading into the mountainous wilderness, they interrupt the abduction of the wolf–but can’t stop blood from being shed. Now Charles and Anna must use their skills–his as enforcer, hers as peacemaker–to track down the attackers, reopening a painful chapter in the past that springs from the darkest magic of the witchborn…

THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS

Alright now that everyone has been warned let’s talk about the book.I didn’t like this book and allow me to explain why.I felt that characters I have grown to love were changed on a whim or to suit a new plot, let’s go through them each:

Anna was mean in the beginning of the book though she has always been kind and sweet. She does something to Leah (I know Leah is suppose to be the bad guy, but Anna is suppose to be the Omega and above all this) to hurt her emotionally. She knows it will make her feel terrible,and she does it for spiteful, petty reasons. It makes her appear bitchy and childish. Then she has a conversation with Charles that makes her appear manipulative. Isn’t Anna suppose to be sweet and kind? But wait we are constantly reminded how smart she is, at nauseous amounts. By chapter two I started to dislike her and she started to grate on me.

Leah the lead bitch is suddenly dumb though she has survived as the Alphas mate for centuries. I liked Leah better horrible. And the destruction of other characters to try to defend her was worthless.

Charles is a murderer, he killed a submissive without even talking to him and we all know submissive wolves can’t disobey dominant, and is a complete ass. That everyone is so terrified of him is getting old, aren’t dominates suppose to protect those weaker than they are? So why does everyone live in fear of him?

Bran is a pedophilia who at some point fell for a 2-16 year old. That is when Mercy lived in his pack. And if you are thinking I read to much into the story or that’s not what Patty meant, nope a Goodreads reviewer emailed her assistant and someone asked her during a signing. It’s exactly what she meant. Basically, everyone should have stopped asking for more on Bran and we got what was coming to us. Oh and he is suddenly too weak to handle problems in his own pack? Seriously..this is Bran now???

Then the rules of the world keep changing, Charles tells a story of how he couldn’t disobey his father because he’s alpha. Then Charles gets mad at another wolf for not disobeying his alpha. What? Literally the same thing. It’s like in this book Anna and Charles live by a different set of rules and judge people who do the exact same things that they did.

I thought that this might be a fluke, I know Patty has had some terrible emotional things happening but all the feedback I’m getting is it’s not, Mercy will never know but everything is true and it won’t be changed. This is a second series/author that I have followed for over 10+ years that I might be losing. I hope she changes her mind.

Books, fantasy, Mystery, paranormal romance, Reviews, Romance, Urban Fantasy

Cold Sight by Leslie A. Kelly

Hey everybody,

The Blurb: Aidan McConnell once used his special psychic abilities to help find the missing. But after the media made him the scapegoat for a child’s death, he retreated from the world and became a recluse. Lexie Nolan is a small-town reporter with big vision. She was the first to connect a series of disappearances among teenage girls to a serial killer…but nobody will listen to her. Lexie is in desperate need of help from the sexy psychic who’s an expert in finding people. And even though Aidan loathes the media, he can’t help being drawn in to the passionate, beautiful reporter. Nor can he resist helping her on this particular case. Because he knows the latest missing girl. And he knows time to save her is running out.

My thoughts:  I really enjoyed this book. I believe it is the first book I have read by this author and I have just finished book 3 of this series (review coming). The suspense is well-written as is the romance, but the romance takes a little bit of a back seat to the suspense story, which I am fine with. The suspense tale was very interesting and the romance is more “tell than show”, which can be quite refreshing instead of intimate scenes every few pages (although I don’t mind those either)! LOL

Another thing I really enjoyed was the interaction between the ESP detectives. They are very supportive of each other and their abilities and I look forward to sharing my thoughts on those books as well.

Happy Reading,

Debra

Books, fantasy, paranormal romance, Reviews, Romance

The Vampire’s Accidental Wife by Kristen Painter

IMG_0250Hey everybody,
The Blurb:   Welcome to Nocturne Falls, the town that celebrates Halloween 365 days a year. Las Vegas headliner and vampire Desdemona Valentine is one cool, collected diva on the outside. On the inside, she’s petrified of falling in love after her last relationship nearly killed her…literally. Protecting her wounded heart makes for a lonely life, but she has her fame and fortune to keep her company. Who needs anything more? Julian Ellingham does. One look at Desdemona on stage, and the vampire is smitten. She initially ignores him, but his relentless pursuit pays off when a wild night ends in a Vegas wedding. Finally, Julian has everything he wants while all Desdemona wants is…a divorce. Julian sweet-talks Desdemona into letting him prove his love, but his time is running out. Especially after someone repeatedly tries to turn his bride to ash. When Desdemona flees Vegas for the spooky streets of Nocturne Falls and Julian’s protection, he’s more than willing to help out. But can he convince Desdemona to trust him, or will ‘death do us part’ become a reality?
My thoughts:  Another visit to one of my favorite little towns–Nocturne Falls. This book tells the story of Julian and Desi, both vampires. Julian’s family is a founding family of Nocturne Falls and Desi is a performer in Vegas. Her show has her pretending to be a human pretending to be a vampire! Julian meets her, falls in love, her not so much because of her tragic past, getting drunk and getting married in a little Vegas chapel! What’s not to love? Then, problems start. Not only does Desi not want to be married although she likes Julian, but she has a stalker determined to find her and destroy her life. Enter Julian to take care of his wife. He moves her to Nocturne Falls in order to keep her safe and woo her hopefully. We get to see all our favorite NF residents throughout the book and how the whole town joins in to help care for Desi. This book contains Ms. Painter’s brand of humor that Nocturne Falls is known for and the quirkiness of this little town. These stories siimply make me smile and we all need a story to do that for us.
Happy Reading,
Debra

 

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