Book Review: The Kure

The Kure

By: Jaye Frances

Published By: CreateSpace (9/16/2011)

Buy itat B&N.com or Amazon 

Source: Provided by the  Author 

Audience: 18+ Paranormal Romance

Author Interview & Giveaway with Laura Kaye

One of my favorite authors, Laura Kaye, stops by the Nest! She was also my guinea pig as I've never interviewed an author before, particularly one of my favorites, which was a little intimidating. So I channeled my inner James Lipton, and asked her a few questions. 

(Just picture me pensively stroking a fake beard and trying to look serious;) 
Please leave a comment on this post to enter to win an E-copy of Laura's latest, In The Service of The King, Book 1 in the Vampire Warrior Kings Series.
(Don't forget to read my review of it here)

My Book Boyfriend: Tristan Knight

We decided that Thursday needed a little pizazz and stumbled on this meme while hanging out at one of our favorite blogs, A Book and a Cupcake. So we took ourselves over to The Unread Reader to see what it was all about and join the fun. The Unread Reader features this meme on Wednesdays, but we figured moving our participation to Thursday wouldn't hurt anything. We'd love it if you'd leave a comment if you participate in this so we can check out your book boyfriends as well. 

 

My Book Boyfriend of the Week is Tristan Knight, the heart-stopping hero of Kristie Cook's Soul Savers series and current star of my dirtiest fantasies. 
(What's that, you say? Don't know about this series? You can read my reviews here, here and here. And you better keep yourself tuned in, because I have Devotion in my hot little hands, and its coming S-O-O-N.)
My ideal Tristan is Charlie Hunnam.

Appearance:

* Large, hard body with a chiseled chest and six pack abs and 6'2"

* Noticeably gorgeous in face and form

*Hazel eyes, a wide ring of emerald green fading into the deep brown with gold flecks

*Flawless facial features: Square jaw, full lips, golden tan

*Sandy brown hair, longer on top and streaked by sun

Book Review: Purpose

Purpose

Book 2 of the Soul Savers series

By: Kristie Cook

Published By: Ang'dora Productions, LLC (August 7, 2011) 

Buy it at B&N.com 

Source: E-copy Provided By Author

Audience: 18+ Paranormal

My Thoughts:

My first thought was absolute avarice! I was positively gleeful to find out what happened to Tristian and Alexis. I wasn't quite crouching over my Nook, and hissing "My precious" like Gollum in LOTR, but that's highly likely to happen when I get to Devotion. As you can see from the previous posts, my obsession this week has been the Soul Saver series, beginning with Promise and also including Genesis, and Purpose does not disappoint!

Book Review: Genesis

Genesis

Prequel novella to the Soul Savers series

By: Kristie Cook

Published By: Ang'dora Productions, LLC (October 20, 2011) 

Buy it at B&N.com (Only 99 cents!!!)

Source: E-book Owned by Reviewer

Audience: 18+ Paranormal

My Thoughts:
If you've seen my review of Promise, the first book in the Soul Saver series, then you know it's my current obsession. And there is nothing my inner nerd loves more than to go back to the beginning, to where it all began, who was involved, and WHY. If you were to ask me if you should read Genesis first, I myself am a little surprised by my answer: 

No. I don't think you should know more than Alexis does when you get into Promise, or I feel like the impact of her frustration and confusion loses its punch. I feel like it belongs where I haphazardly read it, and that's between book 1 & 2.  But on to Genesis!

Book Review: Promise

Promise
Book 1 of the Soul Savers series
By: Kristie Cook
Published By: Ang'dora Productions, LLC (May 26, 2010) 

Buy it at Amazon

Source: E-book Owned by Reviewer

Audience: Adult


My Thoughts:
I.Am.Hooked. I'm head over heels, sleep deprived, and obsessed with this series. I can barely get through this review, so I can get the next book. I ignored all but the basic needs of my family for two days (though I received no complaints about pizza for dinner) to devour this book. But don't worry, I won't short you, kittens. Because you guys are the awesome and because I want you to get into this series.   Let's do this.

Book Review: Elijah, Book 3 of Nightwalker series

Elijah

Book 3 of the Nightwalker series
By: Jacquelyn Frank
Published By: Zebra (December 18, 2007)

Buy it at Amazon

Source: Mass Market Paperback Owned by Reviewer

Audience: Adult

The Characters:
This series and its characters' development just keeps getting better and better. We also get introduced to a few other elements of the Nightwalker world in the previous book, Gideon (My review is here), including vampires and  lycanthropes. Enter our heroine, Siena, Queen of the Lycanthropes, whose peaceful reign is a stark contrast to her war mongering late father's. Siena is sensual, instinctual and puts her people first. She is a queen in every sense of the word, and her innate good qualities show themselves subtly, as do her not so flattering ones.

Book Review: Jacob, Book 1 of the Nightwalker series

Jacob
Book 1 of the Nightwalker series
By: Jacquelyn Frank
Published By: Zebra (December 1, 2006)

Buy it at Amazon

Source: Mass Market Paperback Owned by Reviewer

Audience: Adult


The Characters:


Jacob the Enforcer is an Earth Demon whose responsibility is to protect humankind and Demons alike. It's only twice a year that Miz Frank's demons are vunerable to lunar based, maddening lust. It is during those times that Jacob has to punish his fellow Demons to protect his race as well as the human race. When Isabella, literally, falls into his arms, Jacob is competely overwhelmed by his feelings for her, and he has never been tempted before in all his centuries. Nonetheless,  he was just sort of flat and uninteresting for me.

Book Review: Sins of the Heart

Sins of the Heart
Book One, the Otherkin trilogy
By: Eve Silver
Published By:HQN Books
Buy it at Amazon
Source: MMP Owned by Reviewer
Audience: Adult

My Thoughts:
Ok, first and foremost, I want to give a big old shout out to Darhk Portal, my monthly book club group started by my friend Rina. We have some lively and occasionally saucy discussions in there, and I’ve found several series that are on my Keep Reading list, including this one.

I really liked it. It wasn’t an “OMG!!! Must rush out and buy the rest NOW!”, but it was an interesting, if a bit confusing world. I would have liked more background on the characters – It was very vague and not in ‘it’s a supposed to be vague, then all will be revealed’ way, more like‘the editor wanted it under so many words and something got cut’ way.

Book Review: Pride & Prejudice: Hidden Lusts

Pride & Prejudice: Hidden Lusts
by Mitzi Szereto
Publication date: July 2011
Publisher: Cleis Press
Buy it at Amazon
Source: Author
Audience: Mature (It is erotica, people.)

My Thoughts:When I got a text from Tevya, asking me if I wanted the Pride & Prejudice erotica, I all caps'ed her in response and said "YES! ME ME ME!". Why you ask? Am I just a smut monger? Yes and no. I think works like this, as well as Pride, Prejudice and Zombies, and even fan fiction are really fun genres, as well as challenging ones. You try writing something that is your own creation, while sticking to the confines of the original author's characters - It's not easy. P&PHL did that very well, in my humble opinion.

Book Review: Immortal Rider

Immortal Rider
 Book 2 of the Lords of Deliverance series
By: Larissa Ione
Published By: Grand Central Publishing (December 1, 2011)
Buy it at Amazon

Source: Mass Market Paperback Owned by Reviewer

Audience: Adult

Book Review: Halloween Fantasies

Halloween Fantasies
By: Katie Salidas
Published By: Rising Sign Books, LLC.
Publiciation Date: September 14, 2010
Buy it at Amazon (Currently only .99 cents! DO IT!)
Source Provided by Author
Genre: Adult Paranormal Erotica





My Thoughts:I was slightly disappointed when I opened up the e-book to find it was only 68 pages on my Nook. As I would find out the were some of the best written and hottest 68 pages I have read lately -So then I was really disappointed it was so short!

Book Review: Frost Moon

Frost Moon

Book One, The Skin Dancer Series
By: Anthony Francis

Published By: Bell Bridge Books
Publication Date: 04/06/10

Buy it at Amazon

Source: Galley provided by Publisher via NetGalley

Audience: Adult

My Thoughts:

This book grabbed me and my ever wavering attention right on the first page with this quote:

"I first started wearing a Mohawk to repel lowlifes - Barflies, vampires, Republicans and so on...."

SNERK. As you can tell, the tone is all attitude and badassed-ness from the jump. The sharp and witty dialogue is consistent from the first page to the last. The world is a fresh and gritty take on the supernatural world and it's aptly named dwellers the Edgeworlders. The vamps, the weres, the magical and mundane worlds all collide and co-exist in Atlanta, where Dakota Frost, the bi-sexual tattoo artist and skindancer is busy being awesome. Now, I will warn you - There is no smut, but there is plenty of sexual tension between Dakota and just about everyone. The cast of characters is incredibly well written and well formed, from the vamp ex-girlfriend to the secret agent man Fed who's trying to track down a killer.

Book Review: Dead Reckoning

Dead Reckoning

Book of #11 of the Sookie Stackhouse series
By: Charlaine Harris
Published By: Ace Hardcover
Release Date: May 3, 2011
Buy it at Amazon
Source: Owned by Reviewer
Audience: Adult


SOME VAGUE SPOILERS FOLLOW!

My Thoughts:

First off, I would like to say that after the disappointing premiere of True Blood a few weeks ago, which I previously enjoyed for it's veer from Miz Harris's written work, I was glad to get back to Sookie's world where it's not all bastardized and freaky. (Andrea, remember the Sweet Valley High Confidential debacle? Like that.) Additionally, since this is the first time I'm reviewing this series, I want to say how much I like these books. Not love, just like. Its a fun world, and Charlaine Harris has a hilarious turn of phrase. I call these my ultimate beach reads. (Not that I am usually anywhere near a beach unless I have SPF 150.) They're easy to read, and occasionally sexy, but I'm not up at midnight, frantically begging my Nook to act right and download the blessed ebook. (That will be me on July 12th, for the release of A Dance with Dragons, so stay tuned!)

Moving on. It took me a while to get to this one, but when I did, it was more of Sookie, and less of the three ring circus of everyone else. (Were pun intended.) I like that, however, major problem - The latter part of the series has continuity problems. Things that have been discovered or told in book 3 or 4 or 7, are mentioned in Dead Reckoning with a completely different scenario. Example: Eric found out about Sookie being part fae in All Together Dead (book 7) and was genuinely (?) surprised, however, in Dead Reckoning, its stated that Eric and Sookie's fae grandfather Niall have had dealings for years, including Eric keeping Niall informed on Sookie's life. I don't know if this is an editing thing or what, but it is really annoying when I'm trying to get into a book, and an inconsistency tugs at my brain and won't rest until I run to the bookshelf or Google to sort it all out. I'm not going to even get into the dangling, random storylines just thrown out there and never resolved. It reminds me of a slip showing and its a personal annoyance.

Book Review: The Darkest Secret

The Darkest Secret
Book 7 of The Lords of The Underworld series

By: Gena Showalter

Published By: Harlequin
Release Date: March 29, 2011

Buy it at Amazon

Source: Owned by Reviewer
Audience: Adult - Mature

My Thoughts:
I really enjoy this entire series, so that bumped up this particular book from a solid three birdies to four. Amun’s book is the 7th and latest book in a world that is ever changing, and always interesting. (Random aside: there is also a tie-in/crossover/whateveryoumacallit with Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series – The two authors are close friends. Can you spot Nix? I want to see it in the comments!) I like that the characters, the setting and the premise is something different and new. I keep using this word, but it’s a refreshing change from the run-of-the-mill paranormal romance. They’re also really hot and sexy without being super graphic. The dialogue between most of the characters, particularly the Lords and William or Anya the (minor) Goddess of Anarchy, is absolutely hilarious.

Book Review: Caressed by Moonlight

Caressed by Moonlight 

(Rulers of Darkness #1)

By: Amanda J. Greene 

Published By: Entangled Publishing 

Format: EBook 

Buy it at Amazon
Source: Provided by Publisher 

Audience: Adult

My Thoughts: 
Overall, I enjoyed this story. However, the editing was an absolute nightmare - I'm not sure if it was solely the PDF I received, but I hope that isn't the copy that will be purchased. Unfortunately, I found it so distracting that I could only give Caressed by Moonlight 3 birdies.

On the characters:
I found Victoria a bit annoying, and a little underwritten. I could have done with a bit more of her thought processes - She just seemed rushed and sort of flat. Dorian on the other hand, is fantastic! As the centerpiece character for a genre geared to women, he is just as he should be - Masculine, complex, and enticing, yet doesn't give away all the mystery right up front. The future heroes and heroines of the series were fairly easy to spot, which is a plus for me as a reader - It gives me something to look forward to. (I'm looking at you, Falcon)

Book Review: Blood Rock

Blood Rock

Book Two, The Skin Dancer Series
By: Anthony Francis
Published By: Bell Bridge Books

Publication Date: July 29th, 2011

Buy it at Amazon

Source: Galley provided by Publisher via NetGalley

Audience: Adult

My Thoughts:

Ok, as you may know, this series grabbed me from the first book. Well the second of the series went above and beyond my expectations and then some. I gave Blood Rock a whooping 5 birdies, and while I didn't WANT to put it down, my family kept insisting they needed food or clean clothes and other assorted nonsense. Pfffttt. But I digress. The story is gritty and true to life as Dakota feels her way around motherhood and increasingly messy romantic relationships and vampire politics. We also get to meet her dad and the master skin dancer who taught her, as well as learn a little more about her back story, and watch her move forward. No date has been set for the final installment of the trilogy, Liquid Fire, but I will be happy to let you know when I know.  

Book Review: Satisfy Me & Bliss

Satisfy Me & Bliss
The Malone Brothers series, 
Books 1 & 2

By: Madison Scott

Published by: Liquid Silver Books

Format: eBook

Buy it at here and here

Source: Provided by Author

Audience: Mature Audiences (18+)

My Thoughts:

Now everyone knows I’m sort of the smut monger of the Nest. When I was given these books, I was like “Game on! Let’s see if these are actually hot.” And boy….are.they.ever. 

But the Malone brothers are not just smutty man candy - there is sharp, witty dialogue from realistic and vivid characters. Miss Scott’s writing is crisp and quick, with an edge of fun and humor that doesn't “dumb it down” or become cheesy. My one complaint is that I needed to be sitting in Antarctica when I read these, not in the deep South where its already hot enough. 

Book Review: Awakened By Blood Series

Awakened By Blood series

By: Marie Treanor 
Buy them at the below Amazon links: 
Book 1 -Blood on Silk 
Book 2 -Blood Sin
Book 3 - Blood Eternal
Genre: Adult, Paranormal Romance
Published By: Signet Eclipse 

Source: Provided by Publisher & Bewitching Book Tours
(And I'm keeping them!)

Welcome, my ghouls! Happy Halloween! I've brought you a series review of a fantastic series  and also look for the author's guest post later today! These books are better than candy, and much easier on your waistline.