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9.30.2014

Chained by Night (MoonBound Clan Vampire #2)

If you touch me, I'm lost.


Chained by Night
Larissa Ione
Moonbound Clan Vampires, book two
ebook, 400 pages
Published September 30th 2014 by Pocket Books
ISBN 9781476700205

THE FUTURE OF HIS TRIBE
Leader of the vampire clan MoonBound, Hunter will do what he must to save his people from extinction—or worse, a torturous eternity as vampire slaves and subjects of human experimentation.To keep his enemies at bay, he has agreed to mate a rival clan leader’s daughter in return for peace between the clans and an ally in the looming war with the humans.

THE LOVER OF HIS SOUL
But survival comes at a price. First, Hunter must break an ancient curse by successfully negotiating three deadly tests. Then he must resist the searing passions of the gorgeous vampire warrior he despises but is bound to mate. Will Hunter stay true to his word? Or will he risk everything for the woman he really loves: the vampire seductress’s identical twin sister?

When we were last with Hunter, he was willing to tongue another man's cock in order to save his people. I remember well the hilarity, and how I could *not* wait to read the story of a man (er, vampire) who was so selflessly willing to traumatize himself for such a noble cause. What is asked of him instead, is to wed the man's daughter, thus ensuring peace between their tribes and an ally in the coming war. Too bad she's a bitch. Her twin sister, however, deemed too flawed to ever be worth a proper mating, is the one who must accompany his quest to remove the curse haunting him and any offspring his marriage would produce.

Alas, Ailyn has her own arranged mating to deal with. Just another pawn in their father's game of foolhardy alliances. But for Ailyn, her suitor is a monster of a male with a throng of too young females in his bed. She envies her sister's betrothal. Hunter may be their enemy, but the guy's hot. And noble.

Their first meeting is in the aftermath of an attack, in which both sisters are being held hostage. With Ailyn's play at decoy for her sister's benefit and Riker's military talk, they each suffer a case of mistaken identity. Hunter believes Ailyn is Rasha, and finds himself hopeful of their future given the reaction both his mind and body give to her. Meanwhile, Ailyn believes his name is Roger. Yeah, not her shining moment.

After a heated feeding to assist Ailyn's healing, the truth is out and a game of Super Mario Brothers is on. Gotta love Hunter! Even after the return to the MoonBound Clan's home, he shuns Rasha at every turn, respectfully, and yet, opens to Ailyn with every chance encounter. All the while, trusting neither of them. When the time comes to reveal the mission of their quest that will free his and Rasha's future child from the debt of a demon, only one sister is willing to accompany him. Surprisingly, Rasha's decline isn't a wholly selfish act. Although she doesn't fancy the idea of losing her child, it's not physically possible for her to travel through portals without courting death. But don't be mistaken, the bitch expects Hunter to die. She just hopes she's pregnant when it happens. A true dilemma since Hunter swears he won't even touch her with the threat of the curse in play.

I dove into this book the moment it arrived and finished it the same day. Being a four hundred page story, I can't tell you how long it's been since that has happened! But nine months is a long time to wait for a sequel, and damn, was it worth it! And over way too soon at that.

While I'm not the biggest fan of the whole jealousy rage being the final straw that brings on a mate claiming, it worked for Hunter. Certainly didn't expect this man who would give anything for his people to actually surrender everything for the woman he loved. He would've walked away. Hell, he would have run away. With her. For her. Making it a truly amazing and romantic story.

Just another work of art from Larissa Ione. 5 out of 5 stars.

Previously in the series:

9.27.2014

Running from the Pack

Available at Amazon.com

Running From The Pack
Mina Carter
ebook, 2nd edition, 57 pages
Published February 10th 2012 by Summerhouse Publishing
First published November 1st 2008
original title: Moon Madness
ISBN 9781936950676

It's never easy staying ahead of the pack, but for Penny, it might just save her life…

Since ditching her pack after an offer she “couldn't” refuse from her tyrannical pack alpha, Penny’s been on the run. Always on the move, she never stays in one place for long, avoiding other werewolves like the plague. As the full moon approaches, this one brings with it her toughest challenge yet—her heat phase. And so, rather than letting her animal instincts rule, to force her to bed the first man she comes across, Penny hatches a plan that involves a basement and chains, but sadly, the non-kinky kind.

But lone wolf Cade Steele has other ideas. He's watched Penny from afar since she was turned, and now that he's found her, he's determined not to let the little she-wolf face her heat on her own. Cade is wolf enough to match her animal instinct, and alpha enough to claim her. As his mate, her body may become part of his territory, but her heart would be an altogether different matter.

When Penny’s past finally catches up with her, her ex-alpha isn't taking no for an answer this time. The question is, with their lives on the line, can Penny and Cade answer the call of the wild?


A runaway werewolf, once turned against her will, Penny left her former pack when her psychotic alpha began pressuring her to be his mate. Now, on the verge of her first heat, Penny refuses to take a mate of any kind as she sets up a plan to lock herself up until the phase passes.

A rogue wolf, living on the outskirts of Penny's old pack, Cale knows how close her old alpha is to catching up to her. He also knows the fate that awaits Penny should she not take a mate during her heat cycle. A fate that leads to madness. Breaking her magic-spelled chains, he abandons her to find someone to satisfy her nature but finds himself the only male available for the task.

When it's over, Cale finds himself unwilling to let her go.

Cale takes a beating over being with Penny. And he takes it well, biding his time, waiting for right opportunity to end it all... until Penny's alpha threatens his newly conceived pups. Then, and only then, does the guy lose his control. A bit late if you ask me.

The ending, to put it bluntly, is a stretch. There's truly no foundation to suggest that Cale and Penny would want to stay together. ...Other than their animal instincts. But even that isn't isn't given much bearing.

3 out of 5 stars.

9.26.2014

Anja's Star (Outer Settlement Agency #2)

"Then how do I keep you, huh? Tell me, because I don't know what to do."

FREE READ at Amazon.com

Anja's Star
Lyn Brittan
Outer Settlement Agency, book two
ebook, 72 pages
Published November 18th 2013 by Gryy Brown
ISBN 9780692251935

One does not lose a pirate’s spaceship.

One could have it ripped away by the captain’s idiot son, Retzi, who used it as collateral in a card game, but one does not lose it. At least, not Anja, but if the captain finds out, she’s the one who’ll be held responsible.

She has exactly two weeks to get that ship back before the authorities, the Captain or the galaxy at large, calls in their debts. If she can manage to keep Retzi focused on helping her steal it back, rather than getting her in bed, they just might have a shot at making it out of this mess.


This is a free read at Amazon.com, and if you like a whole lot of dialogue with cute banter in a sexy, scifi setting, then I definitely recommend you pick it up.

3 out of 5 stars.

9.25.2014

Mine to Possess (Psy-Changeling #4)

And the entire world stopped breathing.


Mine to Possess
Nalini Singh
Psy-Changeling, book four
ebook, 304 pages
Published February 5th 2008
ISBN 9780575100008

Clay Bennett is a powerful DarkRiver sentinel, but he grew up in the slums with his human mother, never knowing his changeling father. As a young boy without the bonds of Pack, he tried to stifle his animal nature. He failed...and committed the most extreme act of violence, killing a man and losing his best friend, Talin, in the bloody aftermath. Everything good in him died the day he was told that she, too, was dead.

Talin McKade barely survived a childhood drenched in bloodshed and terror. Now a new nightmare is stalking her life--the street children she works to protect are disappearing and turning up dead. Determined to keep them safe, she unlocks the darkest secret in her heart and returns to ask the help of the strongest man she knows...

Clay lost Talin once. He will not let her go again, his hunger to possess her, a clawing need born of the leopard within. As they race to save the innocent, Clay and Talin must face the violent truths of their past...or lose everything that ever mattered.

I'll confess. I had a very vague recollection of Clay when I turned to this book. So while I considered, briefly, skipping this installment, I couldn't very well turn down a childhood friends to lovers story. And what a story it is! The beginning had me holding my breath right alongside Clay as he chased the "ghost" of a woman thought long dead.

After years of abuse at the hands of her foster parents, Talin is eight when Clay loses control over his beast and literally tears her foster father apart, leaving a young, severely traumatized Talin covered in the blood, organs, and bodily tissue of the deceased. Clay is taken to prison, mercifully transferred to juvie, while Talin is sent to another family that offers her the safety of a home she's never known before. But the trauma remains and she's forced to ask that when Clay is released, to tell him she was dead.

It's the destruction of that news that sends Clay off, and into the hands of the DarkRiver Clan, where he is finally able to learn of the culture of the leopard changelings. Something long denied him, being the half-changeling son of a human mother.

Her having run from him, still terrified to this day, tears at Clay's heart but it's the revelation of the countless men she's slept with that brings him to his knees. She's tainted and broken, far from being his once strong, best friend Tally. What's worse- Talin is slowly dying.

*This* is the book I've been waiting for in this series. It's predecessors can't hold a candle and hopefully the goodness bleeds into those that will follow because this, this was good!

4 out of 5 stars.

Previously in the series:

9.17.2014

Caressed by Ice (Psy-Changeling #3)


Caressed by Ice
Nalini Singh
Psy-Changeling, book three
ebook, 384 pages
Published September 4th 2007 by Penguin Group
ISBN 9780575095700

As an Arrow, an elite soldier in the Psy Council ranks, Judd Lauren was forced to do terrible things in the name of his people. Now a defector, his dark abilities have made him the most deadly of assassins - cold, pitiless, unfeeling. Until he meets Brenna...

Brenna Shane Kincaid was an innocent before she was abducted - and had her mind violated - by a serial killer. Her sense of evil runs so deep, she fears she could become a killer herself. Then the first dead body is found, victim of a familiar madness. Judd is her only hope, yet her sensual changeling side rebels against the inhuman chill of his personality, even as desire explodes between them. Shocking and raw, their passion is a danger that threatens not only their hearts, but their very lives.

Judd Lauren defected from the Psy's way of life with his brother, two nieces, and one nephew. Expecting death, yet hoping the children would be spared, the Lauren family approached Hawke and his pack for sanctuary. Of which they were granted.

Brenna was the last victim of the Psy serial killer that was hunted by Lucas's pack in book one. She survived, but with devastating damage done to her mind. She can't bear to shift. And the only man whose presence she can stand is Judd's, despite the lack of a mate bond between them. But to touch, to even feel, has deadly effects on Judd's body, a residual insurance from his training as a Psy Arrow, the Psy's mythical assassins.

That doesn't stop the man from becoming the best lover so far in the series.

In the midst of a flameout, Judd discovers the pain that holds him hostage to Silence is linked directly to his powers, and therefore, equally drained. For that one brief reprieve, he takes full advantage of being with Brenna. Afterwards, he vows to do whatever necessary to make it more than a one time event. Also, to never surrender Brenna to another. Whether she find her true mate or no.

When Judd does eventually break from Silence, tearing down the walls that keep him from losing control and possibly killing everyone, it's rather
a dull event. I expected a bigger impact than what came across as disassembling some childish lego configuration. Seriously, that was all it took? Leaving behind a trip wire in return. That's it?

3 out of 5 stars.

Note about Hawke... He was seven when he met the little girl he believed would be his mate one day. He was ten when he lost her to death.

Previously in the series:

9.15.2014

Cloak and Silence (The League #7)


Cloak & Silence
Sherrilyn Kenyon
The League, book seven
ebook, 204 pages
Published July 8th 2013
ISBN 9781491089286

One of the fiercest soldiers the Phrixians have ever produced, Maris Sulle has been an outsider the whole of his life. He grew up with a secret that cost him everything- His birthright, his family and his military career. In all his life, he’s only had one love and he has sacrificed his own happiness to see his best friend reunited with the woman he loves. But now that his good deed is done, he feels lost and adrift. Even though they do their best to include him in their new family, he’s once again on the outside looking in.

Ture has spent his life hiding from everyone around him while trying desperately to fit in. His family, the world, you name it. Badly hurt by everyone he’s ever known, he trusts no one except his own best friend. And honestly, he can’t understand why he trusts her. Nor can he believe her when she describes a loyalty between friends the likes of which he’s never seen.

But when he is in his darkest hour, he’s saved by a hero he thought only existed in novels. A man who is every bit as scarred and mistrusting as he is. One who has no interest in being dragged into another relationship with anyone.

Having spent his life as a living study of doomed relationships, Maris is well aware of the courtship and fiasco that invariably follows. Still, there is something about Ture he can’t resist. Something that won’t let him walk away when he knows he should.

But when old enemies return to threaten them both, they either have to stand together or die alone.

M/M isn't usually my thing. I've read a few over the years, but I'm a person who finds too much beauty in the joining of the male and female body to be lured by anything else. I'm also heterosexual, so there's that, too. That said, this is The League we're discussing. It's too good, too profound, to pass up whatever the minor details may be. So here it is, Maris and Ture's story, the best friends of Darling Cruel and Zarya Starska-and if you haven't read their story, you must start there.

Shorter than the rest, Cloak & Silence stays true to The League's theme with two people who've lost hope in ever finding someone to share a romantic life with. Someone who won't betray him, like all the others. The difference? It's the first (and only) male/male of the series and while many, including myself, give praise to Kenyon for branching into such territory, sadly, M/M is not what Kenyon does best.

Short, clipped, and rushed, Maris and Ture still manage to discover the unexpected. For Ture, he finds some men are worth their weight in gold. For Maris, he can love beyond Darling.

The smut is probably the worst part of the story. It's understandable. Hetero female being the author and all. I'm honestly in awe of those women who are capable of writing such intense, erotic stories about men. Or anyone who can take something of which they have no experience whatsoever with and still manage to take the reader into the character and give them an all encompassing firsthand experience. You won't find it here though.

3 out of 5 stars.

Previously in FIRST GENERATION of the series:

9.12.2014

Born of Silence (The League #6)

Funny how that was the only promise
someone had ever made to him that they'd kept.
Not the one to love or protect him.
Just the one to make him regret every breath he took.


Born of Silence
Sherrilyn Kenyon
The League, book six
ebook, 436 pages
Published May 1st 2012 by Grand Central Publishing
ISBN 9780446573320

Death Stalks Them All...

Kere is the second most infamous member of the shadow organization known as Sentella. An explosive engineer who strikes terror into the hearts of the League, the bounty on his head is truly staggering. No one knows his true identity.

The daughter of a traitor, Zarya Starska grew up hard on the back streets of hell- her family hunted to the brink of extinction. But Zarya dreams of a different life and a different world. A world where the harsh hand of the Caronese emperor doesn’t destroy his subjects. As a Resistance leader, her goal is to topple the government that needlessly ruined the lives of her family and comrades-in-arms. In this deadly quest, the only person she can trust is a mysterious man known only as Kere.

By The Light Of Day...

Kere has a dark secret and a brutal past. As he aids the Resistance, he’s actually working to bring down his own family- the Cruels- so named for the viciousness in their blood that runs so deep, no other name would do. Born and bred from one of the oldest and noblest families in the United Systems, Kere’s real name is Darling Cruel. And the one thing he wants most is to see his uncle, who stole the crown by murdering his father, pay for his crimes.

If You Tell A Lie Long Enough, It Becomes The Truth...

In order to protect his mother from execution, Darling’s entire life has been built on a lie that he dare not breathe a contrary word about. His hands tied by his uncle’s cruelty. No one has ever seen the real him. No one except Zarya. She’s the only person he’s ever fully trusted with the truth. But when she betrays him by allowing a weapon he designed solely for her to be used against him, all bets are off.

The Hero Is Now The Monster...

Betrayed to the deepest level, Darling becomes an enemy even worse than his uncle. His goal is not only to reign, but to kill every Resistance member he can find. He won’t rest until all of them are dead and that includes Zarya.

The Twisted Hand Of Fate...

Zarya is the only hope to reach the heart of the man her people once considered their ally. A man who hates her with a fury so great that she knows it’s just a matter of time before he kills her. But if she can find the part of him that once trusted her, the part of him that once loved her, she might be able to save not only her own life, but those of her people.

It’s an impossible mission.

Too bad she doesn’t play the odds.

Nothing like a marriage proposal between secret lovers to get a story started. From there... how do I even begin?

Darling Cruel and Zarya Starska met when they were mere children. She was five. He, seven. Their fathers were allies, and friends. Until Darling's uncle murdered his father, the man's own brother, and proceeded to destroy everything Darling ever knew. Zarya's father was declared a traitor and her family became outlaws. Meanwhile, Darling did any and everything imaginable to spare his mother and his siblings the wrath of his sadistic uncle, even claiming to be gay in order to spare his mother's life when her lover was caught sneaking from the their family's private rooms. A lie that would crucify him. A lie, even we the readers have believed up until now.

But, in truth, Darling has loved a woman for two years now. A woman who leads the Resistance against his uncle. With Zarya, he finds the only peace he's ever known.

When Darling's endurance to his uncle's hatred becomes exhausted, and damn if that should have hit its limit years ago, he puts together a plot to finally challenge his guardian for right to take his place as governor-that is, emperor, of his people. Being under the age of thirty, he is still considered a minor in their culture but he is, firstly, determined to see his siblings safe from a harmful retaliation. As he goes to secure his sister, Lise, they are attacked by members of the Resistance acting outside of Zarya's command. Lise is left for dead. Darling is taken for a ransom that would never be paid.

For five months, Darling suffers at the wrath of the rebels.

Unbeknownst to Zarya.

With Nykyrian and Syn, we know their pains through their histories. Their memories. With Darling, we are with him through much of his suffering as he survives it. The rest, that which came before, will tear at your heart as more and more of his heinous past in unburied. It's sickening, the depths to which humans are capable of. To know that this, here, is a work of fiction. But somewhere, to someone, it is their reality.

When at last, Darling is freed from his hell, chaos ensues. And no one that has ever harmed him or his is safe from the bloodbath. Even Zarya, whose voice outside his chamber of torture haunted for so long, finds herself sold as a concubine by Jayne's doing.

This story, more so than any of the rest, truly tired my soul. I'm a cynic. I lost faith in the world long ago. And yet, to experience characters like Kenyon's men who have endured depths of pain and agony in ways I could never in a million lifetimes come close to, and to watch them come away with more compassion and gentility than any human being I've ever known or could ever hope to know...let alone possess for myself... It may be fiction. A Sci-Fi fantasy. But it's more inspiring than any other story I've ever heard told.

5 out of 5 stars.

Darling and Zarya being betrothed from the very beginning... Such sweet irony.

Darling, Nykyrian, and Caillen all throwing off their helmets, their very disguises, at the end... Shocking.


Previously in FIRST GENERATION of the series:

9.11.2014

Visions of Heat (Psy-Changeling #2)

I tell you I'm dangerous and you want to put knives near me?


Visions of Heat
Nalini Singh
Psy/Changeling, book two
ebook, 356 pages
Published March 6th 2007
ISBN 9780425215753

Used to cold silence, Faith NightStar is suddenly being tormented by dark visions of blood and murder. A bad sign for anyone, but worse for Faith, an F-Psy with the highly sought after ability to predict the future. Then the visions show her something even more dangerous - aching need...exquisite pleasure. But so powerful is her sight, so fragile the state of her mind, that the very emotions she yearns to embrace could be the end of her.

Changeling Vaughn D'Angelo can take the form of either man or jaguar, but it is his animal side that is overwhelmingly drawn to Faith. The jaguar's instinct is to claim this woman it finds so utterly fascinating and the man has no argument. But while Vaughn craves sensation and hungers to pleasure Faith in every way, desire is a danger that could snap the last threads of her sanity. And there are Psy who need Faith's sight for their own purposes. They must keep her silenced - and keep her from Vaughn.

After Lucas and Sascha uncovered Enrique, Psy Council member, as the serial killer targeting female Changelings, his death was brutal and bloody, the pieces delivered to the remaining members. Which... leaves a vacancy needed to be filled. The two of the possible candidates? Faith NightStar, and Kaleb Krychek. Kaleb comes later. This, is Faith's story.

An F-Psy, Faith is one of the most successful of the Psy with Foresight powers, having made her people billions of dollars. Because of such, she is heavily protected, and managed, within a safehouse near DarkRiver territory. As Faith's visions turn to images of murder, discovering her own sister the victim, Faith makes the reckless decision to abandon her home in search of answers. Answers she hopes to find from the rogue Psy, Sascha Duncan.

These Psy-Changeling books are rough for me. They have their moments when everything is good and yummy, and then, it all turns so boring that I just want to roll over and pass out. I began the series after picking up book thirteen. Pages in I realized this was not a world one just dives into. I needed a foundation. I needed book one.

So I grabbed up the entire series thus far, and I don't know if I'll make it through every one, but I can say, they're worth the attempt.

3 out of 5 stars.

Previously in the series:

9.04.2014

Born of Shadows (The League #5)


Born of Shadows
Sherrilyn Kenyon
The League, book five
First generation, book three
ebook, 432 pages
Published April 26th 2011 by Grand Central Publishing
ISBN 9780446573245

For Caillen Dagan, a defiant soldier of fortune, survival isn't a right, it's a brutal daily battle. Moving through the Ichidaian universe like a wraith, his brushes with the law and death are legendary. But when an act of rare heroism reveals his hidden birthright, he's forced into a world much more dangerous and cold-hearted than the bloody streets where he was raised-one of obscene wealth and lethal politics.

Ferocious and determined, Desideria serves as an official bodyguard for her queen. Born of questionable genetics, she will do anything to prove herself worthy of the weapons she carries and the position she's won by combat. But when she uncovers a ruthless plot to assassinate the queen and overthrow her country's government, Desideria is caught in the crosshairs.

With assassination contracts out on both of them, Caillen and Desideria must learn to fight together or die alone. And if they fail, their governments will fall into the hands of an unimaginable evil.

I was hesitant in reading this book because Caillen, who was but a distant secondary character up till now, managed to royally piss me off in Born of Fire. And well, there's nothing like the revelation that his birth name is Kaden (also my son's name) Radek de Orczy that can put a man firmly on the road to redemption. I'm such a sucker.

Caillen Dagan is Shahara's youngest sibling, adopted when he was just a toddler. And he knows nothing about it. Having allowed himself to be taken into custody so that his sister, Kasen, could escape her pursuers, Callen ends up on death row and after a time, moments away from a beheading. He is saved, miraculously, by a man claiming to be his real father. A man who is also an emperor. And, too, a good man. Caillen accepts his new role in the world with reluctance. He hates everything around him. All but the man who calls him son. And for him, he does try to cope, with Darling Cruel and friend, Maris, helping along the way.

The youngest daughter of the Qillaq queen, Desideria has only just earned her place among her mother's guard, and quickly uncovers a plot for both their deaths. When she tries to take action, it's Caillen who stumbles upon a fight for her own life and the two end up in an escape pod. Totally unintentional.

Desideria was an amazing compliment to Caillen, and truly his saving grace. She brought out the best of that notorious manwhore and made him, surprisingly, loveable. As their escape pod becomes a target of its own, they're forced to crash onto the closest planet, home to Andarions. Most of the time spent there is in hiding where, basically, it's a time out to talk. Syn and Shahara did the same and it's quite an effective strategy. Enjoyable and, in the case of Caillen's rant on his ex, all the more entertaining.

Luckily enough, it's the Hauk brothers, Dancer and Fain, that come to Caillen and Desidara's rescue. As well as Syn, Shahara, and Caillen's other two sisters. Great scene, btw. The twist at the end, or revelation that it was, was a big Yay! for me. It's not something I expected, but Caillen's story ended up a great one. A 5 out of 5 stars.

Previously in FIRST GENERATION of the series: