July 10, 2018

Review: Awaken the Darkness by Dianne Duvall

Reviewed by Jen

I always enjoy returning to the world of the Immortal Guardians. This eighth installment is an awesome gift for long time fans of the series. This is Stanislav‘s book. You read that right. One of the immortals believed to have been killed a few books back is actually alive! He has been buried alive for the past 2 1/2 years, ever since he was horribly wounded in the battle that killed his best friend, Yuri. He has been in and out of stasis this whole time and doesn’t remember who or what he is; he knows only loneliness and pain. Until Susan comes.

Susan is a Gifted One who moves in to the home above the basement where Stanislav is buried. He uses his empathetic gifts to prompt her to buy the house and eventually to dig him up. Susan is a telepath, so the two of them are able to communicate truths to each other that help get past what would be a mountain of fear and suspicion for most women. I mean, if most ladies were to dig up a body six feet underground and find him still living, at the very least they would call 911. Susan ends up letting Stan stay with her and nurses him back to health. [Read more…]

Filed Under: by Jen, Paranormal Romance, Vampires Tagged With: , 2 Comments
June 18, 2018

Review: Vampire’s Faith by Rebecca Zanetti

Reviewed by Jen

I cannot tell you how excited I was to discover Rebecca Zanetti’s return to the Dark Protector series. Though she kept one toe in the pool with her Realm Enforcers spinoff, those books never quite had the same magic for me as the original series. This one absolutely does. It completely re-captured the magic of those early books and I felt like I never left.

I knew from the blurb that the hero would be a Karys, but what I didn’t know was how he would fit in with the family I knew and loved from the previous books. Would this be a prequel? Were we jumping forward in time? I knew I had never heard of a character named Ronan before. Turns out, it’s the best scenario of all. This book pics up about seven years after the last Dark Protectors book. Ronan is an ancestor of Dage– long dead to most of the world, his existence almost erased. [Read more…]

Filed Under: by Jen, Demons, Paranormal Romance, Vampires Tagged With: , 1 Comment
June 12, 2018

Review: Ocean Light by Nalini Singh

Reviewed by Jen

I have mixed feelings about this book, which I hate to say because I am such a huge fan of Nalini Singh. But the degree of Insta love here was just insurmountable. It colored my ability to enjoy the first half of this story to such a degree that it made it difficult to connect to the characters or the romance for a very long time. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that with shifters, a mating instinct requires acceptance of a quick connection. But the hero here is human and he was the biggest offender.

Let me back up. This is Bowen’s story. The leader of the Human Alliance has some serious issues to overcome. Not only was he shot up in a previous book, but his brain is in danger of shutting down because of the chip he had implanted. Bowen is deathly afraid of a Psy manipulating his mind and the chip prevented that. But now it is degrading and death is knocking on his door. [Read more…]

Filed Under: by Jen, Paranormal Romance, psychics, Shifters Tagged With: , Leave a Comment
May 18, 2018

Review: Planet Dragos by Thea Harrison

Reviewed by Jen

This last novella in the Dragos & Pia POV reminded me quickly of why I fell in love with the Elder Races in the first place. It’s been an age since the last time we had a full length book featuring these two, but Thea Harrison has given us a half dozen novellas over the years to keep us in the loop with their relationship and growing family. With this story, they are visiting Las Vegas to see Rune and Carling get married. Pia is very pregnant with baby number two –and everything goes to hell when someone with an axe to grind with Dragos kidnaps her to hurt him.

The book isn’t very long and I don’t want to spoil the particulars, but I will say that I really enjoyed returning to this world and these characters. Dragos is so fascinating to me. He’s the alpha among alphas, so much of a dragon, even when he’s wearing his human skin. Yet his love for Pia shapes him. He worships her; he would burn the world for her, and more to the point, he could. It’s awesome. I love Pia, too. She has her own brand of strength. Though her husband has been around for thousands of years, and she is less than 30, she has a lot to teach him about other ways to see life and the world. And the best part is that he listens. [Read more…]

Filed Under: by Jen, djinn, Dragons, novella, Paranormal Romance, Shifters Tagged With: , Leave a Comment
April 17, 2018

Review: The Thief by JR Ward

Reviewed by Jen

With her Black Dagger Brotherhood books, JR Ward has excited me, enraged me, made me fall in love, and occasionally made me scratch my head. This is the first time she has left me completely cold. The installments in the main series (less so with the spinoffs) generally have so many subplots, there is at least one that I’m interested in. Not here.

I wasn’t terribly intrigued by Assail and Sola when they were first introduced. Here, they were downright anemic. Assail had been going crazy from his withdrawals from cocaine for a while now. We could hear him screaming in the background of the past few books. As this one begins, though, he is in a coma and on the verge of death. His cousins track down Sola to talk him back from the Fade. There is nothing sexy about a man clinging to life. This was equally true in the novella which directly preceded this. The best Ward could say was that the man’s boner was undiminished by his illness. No matter that he is skin and bones; he is bald; he can’t use the bathroom or bathe himself. But his junk works and is as big as ever. Hallelujah.  [Read more…]

Filed Under: by Jen, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Vampires Tagged With: Leave a Comment
April 11, 2018

Review: His Wicked Charm by Candace Camp

Reviewed by Sara

Do you like the opposites attract trope? How about Historical Romance? What about mysteries with paranormal elements?

If you said yes to any of these you’ll probably really enjoy Candace Camp’s latest release, His Wicked Charm.

Lilah Holcutt is everything a proper lady should be. She is well-mannered, logical, even-tempered and never breaks the rules. When her best friend gets married, she’s introduced to the Moreland family, better known as the Mad Morelands. The Morelands don’t care about convention; they believe in following one’s passion and are *gasps* suffragists. Con, Lilah’s best friend’s husband’s twin brother, is the worst of these. He’s a joker, a flirt and, for some reason, has turned his attention on her. [Read more…]

Filed Under: by Sara, Historical Romance, Paranormal Romance Tagged With: , Leave a Comment
April 9, 2018

Review: Drop Dead Gorgeous by Juliet Lyons

Reviewed by Elle

I admit, I have a soft spot for vampires. I hadn’t read a vampire romance for awhile, so when I was offered this one for review, I easily accepted, despite not reading the first book in the series. This book stands alone well, so you can definitely jump in here without reading the first of the Bite Nights series.

Mila is a bit of an adorable mess. Her last boyfriend dumped her to go back to a wife and family she knew nothing about. Down on her luck, she tries the hot new dating site V-Date. Yes, the V stands for Vampire. They’re out of the coffin, living in society and open to dating.

Mila’s night out becomes a bit of a drama, when her Vampire date tries to kill her. Lucky for her, Inspector Vincent Ferrer happens to be around to save her. One look at Vincent’s (Hemsworth look-alike) face, is almost enough to erase Mila’s near death experience from memory. Only problem is, he’s a Vampire too. Oh, and the killer isn’t giving up that easily. [Read more…]

Filed Under: by Elle, Paranormal Romance, Vampires Tagged With: Leave a Comment
March 29, 2018

Review: Dearest Ivie by JR Ward

Reviewed by Jen

Confession time: I’m not sure I can ever quit JR Ward. Time may prove me wrong, but even though her books can be over the top, trite, silly, or even downright infuriating, I keep coming back for more. Because sometimes, she pulls off sexy, captivating, and emotional along with–or instead of–the stuff that drives me crazy. Case in point: I actually worried that the hero of this book was going to die. Hell, Ward has killed a heroine before. Add to that, I had a really hard time getting into the story. Yet despite that… and even some other issues… I read it all in one sitting and didn’t want to put it down in the second half.

As advertised, this is set in the BDB world, but it’s not a Black Dagger Brotherhood story. None of the brothers make an appearance, but the king gets a shout out and we do see some familiar faces from the main series. It’s enough. [Read more…]

Filed Under: by Jen, novella, Paranormal Romance Tagged With: 1 Comment
March 9, 2018

Review: How to Flirt with a Naked Werewolf by Molly Harper

Reviewed by Joanna

Mo is the daughter of outrageously maniacal hippies, and so damaged by their overbearing nature that, at age twenty-nine, she relocates north to Alaska to get away from them. She needs a period of small-town living to feel normal, and settles into the little town of Grundy, working in the local diner as short order cook.

But Grundy has one resident who has an even stranger background than Mo does. Cooper is definitely not normal. He’s the naked werewolf from the title. At least he’s naked the day he turns up at Mo’s cabin with a bear trap around his leg.

Ah, I do love a good shifter story, particularly a refreshingly gentle sort of tale, as this one is. A few dramatic things happen, but really only as a background plot to allow the characters’ story to progress. The nutshell of this yarn is a woman with her own complicated backstory meets a werewolf, and they have a amusing time falling in love. [Read more…]

Filed Under: by Jen, Paranormal Romance, Shifters Tagged With: Leave a Comment
March 7, 2018

Review: Hooked on a Phoenix by Ashlyn Chase

Reviewed by Shelly

The premise of a Phoenix is one of my comic book weaknesses. So when I saw this blurb my eyes got a little big. And my excitement got a little carried away, then I was reminded that there’s going to be insta-love (not a fan of) but I was already committed so I went with it. Plus, a new to me author is always a good thing.

I feel as if I’m missing something. Maybe because this an advance reader copy, I’m not sure. Parts of the story line almost reads out of order. I feel like there’s something that I’m missing. Maybe that’s going to get more flushed out in the future installments or maybe it just is. As I read more and more paranormal, I understand there’s a world that’s either established or will be established. I’m not sure where we’re going with this one. The world building in this seems to be based on contemporary times with the paranormal setting but it’s choppy in its delivery. [Read more…]

Filed Under: by Shelly, Dragons, Paranormal Romance, phoenix Tagged With: , Leave a Comment
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