TITLE: DARK LOVER
AUTHOR: J. R. WARD
GENRE: PARANORMAL ROMANCE
RATING: 4 STARS
What a great read! This is the first book in the very wildly popular Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I had friends telling me time and time again that I needed to try out this series, and yet for some reason I just kept putting it off. But once I finally got started, I couldn't put it down!
The main character, Wrath, is a warrior, a vampire, and a protector of his race. He's one of the most powerful, and a rare pure blood. Also, he is completely antagonistic towards humans. When his friend, and fellow warrior, Darius asks him to help out his half-human daughters, Wrath's first reaction is to refuse. But shortly later when Darius is killed by their enemies, Wrath feels like he owes it to his friend to help Mary.
Mary has grown up knowing nothing about the vampire world. She never knew her father and certainly didn't know that her entire world was about to change.
I really loved the world that Ward created. It was a very interesting vampire society that she set up. The enemies, the Lessers, felt a bit far fetched to me. But I quickly got sucked into the story and forgot about that fact. Some of the romance was a bit unbelievable, especially at the first. But overall a great start to a series. Also, Ward showed up some glimpses of a number of intriguing characters that I look forward to getting to know! This series has action, suspense, romance, and humor. All of my favorite things in a book!
Showing posts with label Paranormal Romance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paranormal Romance. Show all posts
3/27/10
3/26/10
On the Prowl
TITLE: ON THE PROWL
AUTHOR: VARIOUS
GENRE: PARANORMAL ROMANCE ANTHOLOGY
RATING: 3 STARS
This book is a Paranormal Romance Anthology. For those of you not familiar with anthologies, it's a collection of short stories. Typically they are designed so that you'll get it for the stories by the authors that you already love, and then you read the stories by the authors you've never read before. Hopefully, you enjoy those other stories, and then the author might get some new readers! That might not be exactly what the purpose of anthologies is, but that's always been my opinion! I have never really been a fan of anthologies. If I enjoy the story, I never feel like it's long enough. I'd much rather read a full length novel than something so short. But this month, my online book club challenged us to read a few anthologies cover to cover. So, here's my review of the first one!
Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs - I have loved this short story since the first time I read it. On the Prowl is the only anthology I've ever bought because of this story! In this story, Briggs takes a character, Charles, who plays a minor part in her first Mercedes Thompson book, and gives him his own story. It's the prequel to a spin-off series called Alpha and Omega. Although it's a different series, I do think that you really need to read Moon Called first or else you just wont understand what in the world Charles is doing in Chicago. But this is a great beginning to another amazing series. Love it, love it, love it! And always something great to pick up for a quick re-read.
Inhuman by Eileen Wilks - This was a really good story. I was impressed that Wilks was able to do enough world building in a short story so that those of us that have never read anything by her weren't completely lost. From what I understand this is the middle of a series, but not the same characters as the other books. I'll probably be adding the first book of the series to my TBR pile. But I'd rather see more of these characters, and I'm pretty sure they don't really play a major part of the other books, but I could be wrong about that!
Buying Trouble by Karen Chance - I've been a Karen Chance fan for a while, so I enjoyed this story. It's not one that you have to read her others books to get the characters and the plot, which is really nice! Although it does add some back story to Midnight's Daughter. So that was fun. Overall I really enjoyed this, and think that even those that have never read Karen Chance would enjoy it.
Mona Lisa Betwining by Sunny - I just didn't get it! I was lost most of the time. There was zero world building for those of us that have never read anything by this author, and I'm pretty sure that this story was in the middle of a series of books. Because I could tell that there was a lot of back story that I didn't get at all! If you have read her books, this was probably a great story, but not recommended if you are just trying the author out to see if you want to read her books.
I had a really hard time decided what rating to give this book. If the story by Sunny hadn't been in it, I'd probably give it a 4. But that one story really brought it down. So, I had to go with a 3.
AUTHOR: VARIOUS
GENRE: PARANORMAL ROMANCE ANTHOLOGY
RATING: 3 STARS
This book is a Paranormal Romance Anthology. For those of you not familiar with anthologies, it's a collection of short stories. Typically they are designed so that you'll get it for the stories by the authors that you already love, and then you read the stories by the authors you've never read before. Hopefully, you enjoy those other stories, and then the author might get some new readers! That might not be exactly what the purpose of anthologies is, but that's always been my opinion! I have never really been a fan of anthologies. If I enjoy the story, I never feel like it's long enough. I'd much rather read a full length novel than something so short. But this month, my online book club challenged us to read a few anthologies cover to cover. So, here's my review of the first one!
Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs - I have loved this short story since the first time I read it. On the Prowl is the only anthology I've ever bought because of this story! In this story, Briggs takes a character, Charles, who plays a minor part in her first Mercedes Thompson book, and gives him his own story. It's the prequel to a spin-off series called Alpha and Omega. Although it's a different series, I do think that you really need to read Moon Called first or else you just wont understand what in the world Charles is doing in Chicago. But this is a great beginning to another amazing series. Love it, love it, love it! And always something great to pick up for a quick re-read.
Inhuman by Eileen Wilks - This was a really good story. I was impressed that Wilks was able to do enough world building in a short story so that those of us that have never read anything by her weren't completely lost. From what I understand this is the middle of a series, but not the same characters as the other books. I'll probably be adding the first book of the series to my TBR pile. But I'd rather see more of these characters, and I'm pretty sure they don't really play a major part of the other books, but I could be wrong about that!
Buying Trouble by Karen Chance - I've been a Karen Chance fan for a while, so I enjoyed this story. It's not one that you have to read her others books to get the characters and the plot, which is really nice! Although it does add some back story to Midnight's Daughter. So that was fun. Overall I really enjoyed this, and think that even those that have never read Karen Chance would enjoy it.
Mona Lisa Betwining by Sunny - I just didn't get it! I was lost most of the time. There was zero world building for those of us that have never read anything by this author, and I'm pretty sure that this story was in the middle of a series of books. Because I could tell that there was a lot of back story that I didn't get at all! If you have read her books, this was probably a great story, but not recommended if you are just trying the author out to see if you want to read her books.
I had a really hard time decided what rating to give this book. If the story by Sunny hadn't been in it, I'd probably give it a 4. But that one story really brought it down. So, I had to go with a 3.
1/8/10
Truly, Madly by Heather Webber
TITLE: TRULY, MADLY (LUCY VALENTINE #1)
AUTHOR: HEATHER WEBBER
GENRE: URBAN FANTASY/PARANORMAL ROMANCE
RATING: 5 STARS
What a fun, enjoyable book! Great start to a brand new series! I received an ARC of this book as part of a first-reads giveaway. I am really glad that I did! FYI, the book wont actually be released until the first week in February.
This is the story of Lucy Valentine. She is a girl with a problem! Lucy comes from a long line of matchmakers. The ability to match make is literally in their genes. All of the members of her family can see the colors of people's spirits. Then, they find two people who's spirits match, and presto! You have a match. In fact, their matchmaking business has a 98% success rate. But as I said, Lucy has a problem. When she was a teenager, she was electrocuted, and now, she can't see the colors any more. Instead, she has a new "talent". Whenever Lucy touches someone's hand, if they are thinking about something that they've lost, she can see where it is. When a family issue forces Lucy to temporarily take over the family matchmaking business, she is terrified. How in the world can her odd talent help her with matchmaking?
I loved how unpredictable this book was! There was some great romance, but certainly not the type that you usually read. Also, there was a fantastic mystery that literally had me guessing all the way to the end. I kept being sure that I knew what the outcome of the mystery would be, but I was completely wrong!
This book had a bit of everything! Mystery, romance, humor, phenomenal characters that you can't help but love, and just a perfect dose of the supernatural. Give it a try! Just a little note. If you really aren't into supernatural or fantasy, you should still give this book a try. There is a supernatural element, but not a huge dose of it.
Another note - I actually classified the genres of this book as both Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. For those of you who are big into these genres, you know that those two are typically not the same book. But this book is borderline on them both. There is some romance, and it's a big part of the story. But there are also several main story lines that have nothing to do with the romance. So, I classified it as both!
AUTHOR: HEATHER WEBBER
GENRE: URBAN FANTASY/PARANORMAL ROMANCE
RATING: 5 STARS
What a fun, enjoyable book! Great start to a brand new series! I received an ARC of this book as part of a first-reads giveaway. I am really glad that I did! FYI, the book wont actually be released until the first week in February.
This is the story of Lucy Valentine. She is a girl with a problem! Lucy comes from a long line of matchmakers. The ability to match make is literally in their genes. All of the members of her family can see the colors of people's spirits. Then, they find two people who's spirits match, and presto! You have a match. In fact, their matchmaking business has a 98% success rate. But as I said, Lucy has a problem. When she was a teenager, she was electrocuted, and now, she can't see the colors any more. Instead, she has a new "talent". Whenever Lucy touches someone's hand, if they are thinking about something that they've lost, she can see where it is. When a family issue forces Lucy to temporarily take over the family matchmaking business, she is terrified. How in the world can her odd talent help her with matchmaking?
I loved how unpredictable this book was! There was some great romance, but certainly not the type that you usually read. Also, there was a fantastic mystery that literally had me guessing all the way to the end. I kept being sure that I knew what the outcome of the mystery would be, but I was completely wrong!
This book had a bit of everything! Mystery, romance, humor, phenomenal characters that you can't help but love, and just a perfect dose of the supernatural. Give it a try! Just a little note. If you really aren't into supernatural or fantasy, you should still give this book a try. There is a supernatural element, but not a huge dose of it.
Another note - I actually classified the genres of this book as both Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. For those of you who are big into these genres, you know that those two are typically not the same book. But this book is borderline on them both. There is some romance, and it's a big part of the story. But there are also several main story lines that have nothing to do with the romance. So, I classified it as both!
1/3/10
Undead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson
TITLE: UNDEAD AND UNWED
AUTHOR: MARY JANICE DAVIDSON
GENRE: PARANORMAL ROMANCE
RATING: 4 STARS
This was an extremely funny story, unlike any vampire book I've ever read! It starts out with Betsy, short for Elizabeth, telling the readers about the worst day of her life. “The day I died started out bad and got worse in a hurry.” It’s her birthday, she gets fired from her job, her cat runs away, a freak snowstorm in April cancels her birthday party, and she gets hit by a car and killed. The problem is that she just can’t stay dead!
Betsy is so unlike ANY other vampire I've ever read about! Picture the main character of legally blond, add a good portion of that annoying 7 year old that enjoys bugging everyone, (example: Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?) and you get Betsy. She's so annoying, and ditzy that you just have to laugh at the things that she says and does. Plus her mind takes her off on these tangents that have nothing to do with the situation at hand, and they happen at the most inconvenient times. Sometimes it's like you just want to slap her and say, "Hey! ADD girl, focus! Someone is trying to hurt you; it's not the right time to be thinking about your shoes!" Throughout the entire series, I’m constantly wondering what else can possibly happen to this girl.
Anyways, I thought that the book was extremely funny! Of course, part of that might have been that I was listening to it on audio book, and the actor played the part of a spoiled, ditzy blond perfectly! If you are looking for a good laugh, read these books!
AUTHOR: MARY JANICE DAVIDSON
GENRE: PARANORMAL ROMANCE
RATING: 4 STARS
This was an extremely funny story, unlike any vampire book I've ever read! It starts out with Betsy, short for Elizabeth, telling the readers about the worst day of her life. “The day I died started out bad and got worse in a hurry.” It’s her birthday, she gets fired from her job, her cat runs away, a freak snowstorm in April cancels her birthday party, and she gets hit by a car and killed. The problem is that she just can’t stay dead!
Betsy is so unlike ANY other vampire I've ever read about! Picture the main character of legally blond, add a good portion of that annoying 7 year old that enjoys bugging everyone, (example: Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?) and you get Betsy. She's so annoying, and ditzy that you just have to laugh at the things that she says and does. Plus her mind takes her off on these tangents that have nothing to do with the situation at hand, and they happen at the most inconvenient times. Sometimes it's like you just want to slap her and say, "Hey! ADD girl, focus! Someone is trying to hurt you; it's not the right time to be thinking about your shoes!" Throughout the entire series, I’m constantly wondering what else can possibly happen to this girl.
Anyways, I thought that the book was extremely funny! Of course, part of that might have been that I was listening to it on audio book, and the actor played the part of a spoiled, ditzy blond perfectly! If you are looking for a good laugh, read these books!
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