My Roomie is working on her 4th year in the Pacific Northwest, after moving to Seattle from Florida. Aura is a big fan of Christine Feehan, and the Carpathian characters she has been writing about since the late 90’s. Many times Aura has suggested I might like the series because it is contemporary, rather than historical. I’ve thought about it, but my TBR shelf was stacked with other authors at the time, and I figured I’d pick up Christine eventually.
Christine’s Wild Rain was just on the shelves when I bought it at the airport after I’d forgotten to bring a book along on a business trip. I really enjoyed the story and her writing style was easy to follow. Wild Rain is the first in a series of books about shape shifting cat people, and I look forward to the next in the series expected out later this year.
Aura splurged on an audio book version of Dark Prince, the first in the Carpathian series and was listening to it in the car one day when we were shopping.. uh, I mean running errands. The characters sounded interesting and I was intrigued by the parts I heard. Aura has offered her copies of the books to me many times, but I have always turned her down – I can be hard on paperbacks - thinking I would pick up my own copies when I was ready to read.
On a trip to the book store with the boyfriend and his kids, Aura picked up a copy of Dark Prince for me – little sneak – so I could read it whenever I was ready, and some how it ended up on the top of my TBR pile.
From the beginning of the book there was intense non-stop action. And too much sex. Yes, you hear me right, too much sex. Unusual for me to say, but I was about ready to put it down and find something else when I shared my thoughts with Aura. She said that she’d heard somewhere (perhaps even from the author herself) that the published version of Dark Prince was not the book Christine had written. I know publishers and editors often take certain liberties, and I really wanted to see how the story ended so.. kept on reading.
It was fascinating the way the author jumped form one characters head to another, yet the printed page did not offer any indication of the move form one character to the other – not even so much as and extra space between paragraphs. At times, with all the action, it was hard to follow who’s thoughts were who’s. Characters seemed to appear without much introduction, though the reader was supposed to understand and accept them without suspicion. That fact also made me uncomfortable and caused confusion.
I enjoyed the story and the adventure – but the writing, mechanics and flow of the book was a bit disappointing. I’m still not sure if I like the main characters. Raven started out as likeable, and when she confronted the vampire hunters in the forest I was with her every step. It was believable that when she first met some of the other Carpathians, she could hear their thoughts and it made her crazy… but it was really too much to expect that they’d have control all the time when they were around her, I didn’t buy that. I know that Mikhail is a prince, and old school, but he felt like an over bearing macho man, and I don’t think I can say that I ever really liked his character. He didn’t seem to let Raven grow and adjust to the changes, but his over protective assuming attitude was way beyond alpha male for my taste.
I felt there was much of the detail missing, and want to know more. I have to continue to remind myself this was the first in the series, perhaps the first book Christine published. I do want to read more, and plan to, but I think it will be a couple months before I visit with the Carpathians again. Withholding judgment on the series until I’ve read more.
The book Aura bought also had a novella length story from an anthology as a 
bonus feature. Guess I’m going to visit the Carpathian Mountains sooner than I thought. Dark Descent ~ initially part of The Only One Anthology ~ started with a bang, literally - with Traian fighting vampires and Joie was shot on the job, but the writing and syntax was much easier to read after struggling through Dark Prince. The characters jumped off the page and while I wanted to know more about the special gifts of Joie and her family, the shorter story was more cohesive and solid, and I would think that’s because the author is now very comfortable with the world she’s created and the publisher will print the heart of the book, not just the sex and action sequences. I hope that the story started here will be more fully explained in the series – there are still so many unanswered questions.
It is very apparent Christine knows the craft of writing and has good stories to tell. I think it will be easy to move past the disappointment from the first book and enjoy the series as the tale of the Carpathians unfolds. I will, however, read them in order of publication, including the other novella stories, because there was information in Dark Descent that will probably color the books about some of the characters already introduced but their full stories yet untold. I don’t think it was a good idea to include Dark Descent with Dark Prince.
The title alone made me pick it up, and the potential for paranormal had me taking it home. In Deep Voodoo was a delight to read though I did complain to my Roomie that there was not enough sex in the first 2/3 of the book. However, the mystery of who killed the ex-husband and the journey to find the real killer made up for the lack of steam between the sheets.
The suspense in the story along with the comic timing had me fit to be tied when I left the book on my desk over the last weekend. The characters remained fresh in my thoughts until I was able to pick up the story again on Tuesday after working from home on Monday. I was giggling at my desk during lunch at one particularly funny....
“Doing the research on dimethyl sulfoxide. The chemical has, shall we say, a checkered past.” He put a fork full of tofu in his mouth, then stopped, grimaced, and swallowed.
“It grows on you,” she said encouragingly.
“I bet this stuff would grow on just about anything,” he said, turning to the salad.
She bit back a smile. “So what did you learn about the chemical?”
“It’s a by product of wood pulp, used commercially in paint thinner and antifreeze.”
She made a face. “I thought the man in the square said it was used to preserve body organs.”
He nodded. “The medical grade of the substance was used for organ transplant preservation in the 1960s, but there were side effects, and the close kinship of the chemical to harsher commercial grades made it suspect. Apparently the cheep and potentially harmful grades were popping up at roadside stands and general stores.” He grimaced. “I image it tasted like this tofu.”
She laughed. “But it’s good for you.”
“What is it exactly?”
“It’s made from soy bean milk.”
He scratched his temple. “And I didn’t even realize soy beans had nipples.”
She bust out laughing; he was so…male.
I have wondered myself about how they milk soy beans, I’m glad I’m no alone not knowing… uh.. yes.. moving along.
I’m pleased to say I was surprised to find out who the killer was, I should have seen that coming but maybe I was too fixated on the lack of sex to see it clearly. I like to be surprised, it doesn’t happen often. While checking out the author site, I discovered there are several other titles that sound like they’d be a lot of fun to read.
I’ve added Stephanie Bond to my growing list of authors to look for at Half Price Books, and I’m sure I’ll be traveling to the Full Price store near me in October when the follow up to Voodoo comes out.
Teresa Medeiros is known for her historical story lines having only recently ventured into paranormal. I’m not big on historical novels, though after reading the ‘blurb’ for several of her books on her website, there are one or two that intrigue me. Magic, time travel and betrayal are the elements for a fascination tale from the past into the present called Breath of Magic. My Roomie recommended this book to me when I said I needed something a little different than the contemporaries I’ve been reading lately.
With a bang the story takes off on a wild ride, keeping in the realm of possibility but still teasing the depth of my belief that there is magic in the world if you know where to look for it. After being catapulted from the simple Puritan life to the decadence of New York City the young Witch Wannabe discovers it might be easier to return to the past and face those who would put her on trial than to suffer the distain of the man she’s fallen head over broomstick in love with.
I enjoyed the way the characters in the present interacted as if they really had known each other since childhood, and the painful twist of mistrust that followed the lovers through their courtship and beyond was well crafted. There were times I wanted to toss the hero off the top of his mighty tower for being a jerk, and yet his tenderness and growth brought tears to my eyes in the end.
I discovered there is a follow up to this story and now I’ll be on my way back to the book store to track it down. There are also a couple other paranormal titles on Teresa’s shelf, if you like vampires. I here they’re pretty good and look forward to starting another Medeiros title soon.
Julie Ortolon has been on my must buy list since I read Lead Me On. LMO is the middle book in the series about siblings, ghosts and treasure with a whole lot of adventure and humor. I loved it and highly recommend it. After reading that series, I bought every Ortolon book I could find and even shared them with my Mate’s mother and now she’s hooked too. I was very pleased to hear she had another series in the works, A Perfect Trilogy. Almost Perfect is the first book in this new series where three friends make a pact (you might call it a bet) to take chances and follow their dreams.
The main characters in Almost Perfect are high school sweethearts now in their late 30s, that had a lot of growing to do before they would be ready to settle down. Through the story they find out things about each other they didn’t know to ask when they were younger, yet as much as they’ve grown there was much for them to learn together.
The characters were real enough, thought it was sometimes hard for me to read through the misinterpretations without wanting to scream “say what you really think, idiot” as the characters communicated. Misunderstanding and assumptions plagued their reintroduction of the characters from the beginning, but that was their biggest hurdle to overcome. At times the story was almost like a sitcom (which I no longer watch) where you can predict what stupid thing the character is going to do next and must agonize with them then as they try to pull themselves out of the mega mess they’ve created. The thing that kept me reading was that these were very real life messes, not a “Friends” or “Cheers” storyline with intentional lying and deception.
Dreams are important, as are love and trust. These are lessons hard learned by the couple as they struggle to understand how they fit into each others lives after 20 years apart. The supporting cast of characters are vibrant and worthy of their own stories. I look forward to finding the next two books in the series to see what kind of mess the Doctor and Nanny fall into as they fulfill the requirements of the pact.
I have another book by Kat Martin on my TBR Shelf, in the living room. But I found the Deep Blue title in the $1 bin at 1/2 Price Books so I couldn't pass it up. I have read the backs of several of Kat's books, and they seem like a good adventurous read.
My first impression of this book, however, was that I was not going to enjoy it this author. My main objection is the choice of adjectives used to describe the people of Jamaica and what seemed like the constant re-use of the characters first and last names or descriptions of things that were already firmly set in my mind. One of the minor characters that appeared several times was always described with very black skin and bright white teeth - but I remembered that from the first introduction to the character.
As another example of beating the information over the readers head, a car is mentioned in detail in the beginning of the book - color, make, model and the reason for the silly thing being part of the story, YET every time the car was mentioned in the story, it seemed like 3 out of the four points were mentioned again as well. This was frustrating to me. Unless the plan was to repaint the vehicle, blow it up or take it off the island - there was no reason to repeat that it was an old blue, Toyota Corolla that was kept on the island for the purpose of running them around while they were there so it was not necessary to hire a taxi or rental car every time they were in port. DUH! On my death bed, I'm going to remember it was an old blue Toyota Corolla. I can't even remember what my Soon-to-Be Ex-husband's first car was, but this, I will remember. I'm not sure why I felt the need to do a mini-rant about this annoyance, but I feel better now, having typed it.
After I pushed past my annoyance the story was very engaging. Pirates and treasure have always held a fascination for me, even before being introduced to Captain Jack Sparrow. The adventure and excitement of the story pushed me along and I often found myself transported to the aqua colored waters where untold treasures could be found just below sand. The tale was gripping and I was very pleased to find that I didn't have any unanswered questions at the end.This appears to be the last in a trio of books about the Sinclair sisters. I found a couple of text errors (wrong sister's name) that caused a wee bit of confusion during my adventure, but because my copy was a first printing, I'm sure they've already been corrected. I think I'll read the other book on my TBR shelf and see how I feel before making the decision to add Ms. Martin to my list of 'must have' authors. I do recommend this book, for folks who like suspense there is plenty of it. Readers who devour tales from Cherry Adair will enjoy this story too.
My roomie has several Roxanne St. Claire books on her TBR (To Be Read) shelf, and she's been on a Historical bent of late, but she'll come round eventually. I picked up Killer Curves at 1/2 Price Books during my last visit, after reading the chapter one blurb on the author site. (I spent a bit of time reading the available excerpts and was thrilled to find even one book by this author on the shelf.)Right off the starting line I didn't want to like the female lead, but it was out of my control by the end of the first chapter. With the difference in the up bringing of the two main characters, it could have been difficult to find a common ground, aside from the natural physical attraction. This common ground was one of the aspects I enjoyed the most in the development of the female lead. The sex was GREAT, steamy and exciting, while the base emotions and motivation was easy to believe, didn't seem forced. The cast of secondary characters was vividly drawn, leaving each firmly fixed in my mind between scenes. The action on and off the track was fast and I don't recall a time when there was too much drag. I'm looking forward to the other titles Roxanne has to offer, and will be visiting the NEW bookstore near me in the very near future. This author is on my 'must have' list.
Michelle Rowen is a new author currently working in Pranormal Romance, and her first book is called Bitten and Smitten. As excited as I was at the prospect of finding a new FAV to add to my list, I was a little disappointed in this book. The main female character is likeable and there is a lively group of seconary characters that were very well written. When my roomie asked me what I thought the first words that came to mind were 'not enough sex.' Not enough? Try none at all. This is fine, and would have been ok, if I had felt the two main characters had spent enough time together learning about each other to know their own feelings. It's not like they had different story lines that didn't cross, it was just not enough for me. I enjoyed the book, for a 'sweet' romance with a lot of violence, and the numerous Buffy the Vampire references were good for a number of laughs. I wanted more from the hero, but thankfully didn't spend much time at all wondering how the female lead could "be so dumb!" I could suggest this book to someone who doesn't like a lot of steamy action between the characters (but I don't know any) and I could even suggest this as something my teenage daughter might read. I will seek out Michelle Rowen's next book, and then decided if the belongs on the FAV list.
I just finished reading the most current Dark Ones book by Katie MacAlister ~ Sex, Lies and Vampires.
It was a fun read, with plenty of all title elements. Katie's books are exciting because they jump right into the action and it helps to suspend reality for a bit. From each initial encounter for those not inducted into the other-realm of it all, the blend of humor and danger, sorrow and sex is right on the mark.
With very little effort it's easy to find your way to the world where Dark Ones must find their Beloved to save their soul, while mortals must work to fathom the reality of Ghosts, Wards, Mummies, Curses, Charms and Demons - let us not forget the Demons.
I have enjoyed all three books in this series and anxiously await number 4, Even Vampire get the Blues - due out in May 2006.
My Roomie is working on her 4th year in the Pacific Northwest, after moving to Seattle from Florida. Aura is a big fan of Christine Feehan, and the Carpathian characters she has been writing about since the late 90’s. Many times Aura has suggested I might like the series because it is contemporary, rather than historical. I’ve thought about it, but my TBR shelf was stacked with other authors at the time, and I figured I’d pick up Christine eventually.
bonus feature. Guess I’m going to visit the Carpathian Mountains sooner than I thought. 
