Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Mr. Cavendish, I Presume

Author: Julia Quinn

Amelia Willoughby is being embarrassed by her fiance and he doesn't even seem to know it. Normally being engaged to someone as lofty as Thomas Cavendish, Duke of Wyndham, would be considered enviable by any young lady and her marriage minded mama, but when you've been engaged to said duke practically from birth and have reached the age of one and twenty without being married people begin to feel sorry for you. Amelia doesn't know much about her fiance, they're practically strangers even after all these years, and has been never bothered by her fiance's lack of attention until she begins receiving pitying glances from the very ladies who should be envying her. She begins to wonder if her fiance even knows she's alive. When he begins acting strangely, not his usually stiff and upright self, and lets his guard down a bit, she begins to realize that she might just like him ... maybe even love him. Just as she's coming to the realization that she might be very happy married to Thomas, things begin to unravel and she finds that marrying the Duke of Wyndham might just mean losing the man she loves.

Thomas Cavendish, Duke of Wyndham, knows he will have to marry his long-time fiance soon, but surely it couldn't hurt anything to put it off just a little longer? When she behaves unexpectedly at a party, he gets a chance to speak with her alone, and finds that she's a bit more interesting than he ever thought possible. If an unknown cousin hadn't shown up all of a sudden to turn his world upside down, things might be going quite well. Finding out that a long dead uncle, older brother to the previous duke, married shortly before he died, leaving behind a pregnant wife who later died giving birth to Jack Audley-Cavendish and that he, not Thomas, might be the real Duke of Wyndham would be enough to send any man in to a tail spin. Thomas has an identity crisis of major proportions. All his life he's been taught and trained to be the Duke of Wyndham and if he isn't that, then who is he? What will his life become? He finds that Amelia is a good companion to him during this turmoil, but what good does falling in love with her do when she's contracted to marry the Duke of Wyndham regardless of what man bears that title?

This book is a sequel to The Lost Duke of Wyndham and, while the book can stand alone, I strongly suggest reading the first book before you read this one. I found it odd to read a sequel that basically relives the events of the first book, only through the eyes of what was originally a secondary couple. It's happened a time or two where I'm reading a book and this secondary pairing catches my attention and I wonder what's going on with them. Usually this happens when the pairing is slated for a book of their own, but I've never seen it done this way. At times I've wondered what was going on in the heads of other characters during a story and this kind of gave me that. In the first book, I though that Thomas was a real uptight tool and in the second you find out that he is, in fact, kind of an uptight tool, but there is more to him than that. I liked him a lot better once I got a look at things from his perspective. I remember that, in the first book, Amelia really annoyed me with how docile she seemed through the whole thing. Here are her father and her fiance telling her she has to marry a total stranger if he does turn out to be the legitimate Duke of Wyndham and she doesn't really say anything about it. She looks like a weak, hand-wringing ninny. You get to see her in a better light here, though I still think she could have spoken up for herself sooner. She picks up a real backbone by the end of it, though and I like that.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Kept Woman

Author: Susan Donovan

Samantha Monroe is tired of her life. The fiery red-head was once an artist, but she set that all aside to help support her husband and raise their kids. Unfortunately, 10 years down the road, her husband impregnates her, tells her he's discovered that he's gay and wants a divorce, then proceeds to disappear without a trace. She is now the divorced mother of three trying to make it on a hairdresser's salary. She's got two young teens who are always bickering and a precocious toddler who refuses to be potty trained, which causes no end of trouble in the childcare department. If she could just track down her deadbeat ex and collect the over $50,000 he owes her in back child support, things would be looking up, but after three years she's losing hope that she'll ever see a cent. When she muses tipsily to her friends on their monthly night out that being a kept woman might not be such a bad deal, she sparks an idea in Kara DeMarinis, long time client and friend of Samantha's who also happens to be a campaign manager who's congressional candidate, Jack Tolliver, has a serious image issue. Why not pay Samantha to pretend to be his fiance? She'll get to live in his fancy house for the duration, private school and college trust funds for her kids, and enough money to buy a house when the campaign is over. It's sounds insane to Samantha, but can she really afford to pass it up?

Jack Tolliver loves his playboy lifestyle and he's not the least bit ashamed of that. He can't get enough of beautiful women, especially red-heads, and has no intention of settling on just one. Due to an unfortunate moment that was caught on video, however, the whole world knows he's a shameless womanizer. As if that weren't bad enough, Christy Schoen, former lover and anchor for Capitol Update has got it in for him. What they say about a woman scorned definitely applies to Christy. She's made it her mission to expose every one of Jack's indiscretions and destroy his political career. Jack's cavalier attitude towards women does not sit well with female voters and family values groups. When the current senator for his state steps down unexpectedly, Jack realizes that this is likely his last chance to be elected. All he has to do is clean up his image, but when Karen DeMarinis suggests he "rent" a fiance, he's pretty skeptical. When he find out she has kids, he's totally against it, but in the end realizes that he has no choice if he's to have a hope in hell of getting elected. He's pretty sure this will all be a huge disaster, but he might be able to pull it off if he can play the doting family man and keep it in his pants until after the election. Then again, maybe he can talk a certain red-head into making their arrangement a little more ... personal.


The thing that most bugged me out of this whole crazy plot was Samantha's ex. He lives on the run because he doesn't have the money to pay child support. That's totally believable, but what gets me is that in all that time he hasn't tried to keep in any kind of contact with his kids. At first he gives the impression that he never even thinks of them. Then the phone calls, which alerts him that he may have been found, gets him to thinking about them and wanting to see them again. When he's told Sam's engaged, the man starts getting all crazy over the possibility of Jack adopting his kids. Most people don't adopt their step-kids, especially not when they're older, like Sam's were. Seems a bit irrational, but since he seems to be missing his kids and doesn't want them to become some other man's, it makes one think that he's realized that his kids are the most important thing in his life and that he may be sorry for what he's done. Then he turns around and blackmails Sam, takes money that was meant to be fore the kids, and tries to wreck things between Sam and Jack. The man's mind made more swings than a pendulum. The only time he seemed the least bit sympathetic was when he was playing Sam. Hated that character. HATED. The reason for Jack's womanizing was understandable, but really lame.

Monday, September 28, 2009

The Rogue Hunter - Lynsay Sands

I'll state outright that I'm a sucker for anything Sands. I've read all her Argeneau books and I love her historicals. I really enjoy the humor in her books. They never fail to entertain. I know some people get caught up in the fact that she uses some modern language in her historicals, but I get a kick out of it.

The Rogue Hunter is about Garrett Mortimer, an enforcer for the Council. He's the immortal equivalent of a cop. He's been sent up to cottage country searching for a rogue immortal who's been biting people instead of bag lunchin' it like they're supposed to. Samantha Willan is on a much needed vacation with her sisters and ends up in the cabin right next door. She's an overworked lawyer recovering from a recent relationship disaster and definitely not looking for a man. Garrett suspects she might be his life mate and is less than thrilled. He's looking for a knock out with voluptuous curves, think Jessica Rabbit, and Sam is too skinny, flat-chested, narrow hipped and chronically clumsy to fit his bill. Between Garrett's partners, who think he's lucky to have found his life mate and Sam's sisters, who think she needs a vacation fling, Sam and Garrett keep getting thrown together.

This wasn't my favorite Sands book. It might actually be my least favorite. It just wasn't on par with the Argeneau series. The mystery just wasn't that interesting and pretty easy to figure out, which, depending on how good the rest of the story is, might or might not be a deal breaker for me. In this book I found it annoying. I both liked and disliked the main characters. I found Sam more annoying as the book went on. Her personally just seemed to grate on me. Mortimer seemed just a bit too uptight at times and it bugged me that he was so stuck on the superficial things he wasn't happy about in his life mate. It's his life mate for crying out loud! Some vampires never get that, but he's too busy complaining to himself about her looks to be happy about it. GAH! Also, the dialog wasn't as funny as I've come to expect from this author.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Today is the Greatest

Only not really. I've got the flu and have been ridiculously sick for days now. I won't be posting an book today. I didn't get much reading done this weekend. Between the ALS Walk4Life on Saturday and just plain being dog sick and sore all weekend, I only got one book read and nothing written down. Will resume book blogging once I feel better ... ish.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Dogs and Goddesses

Author: Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stuart, Lani Diane Rich


Abby Richmond, Daisy Harris and Shar Summer are descended from three of the seven ancient priestesses who served the goddess Kammani Gula. After their goddess was defeated by another goddess and banished from our world, their ancestresses sealed themselves in Kammani's temple and slept until their temple was re-opened. They waited, prepared and tried to raise their daughters to serve when their goddess returned, but they passed on and their daughters, not believing that the goddess would ever come, put away the traditions and raised their daughters with no knowledge of Kammani or what might be expected of them when she returns. Return she does and with it the powers of her priestesses who become minor goddesses in their own right. Of the seven women called Abby, Daisy and Shar are the most powerful, and the most suspicious of Kammani and what she wants. This does not sit well with Mina Wortham, the priestess carrying the power of death, descended from the one family who kept the old traditions, who feels she deserves to be the post powerful and prized by her goddess as she is the most faithful.The three, however, are too busy trying to control their new powers, freaking out over their suddenly talking dogs, and trying to deal with the men who have suddenly appeared in their lives.

Daisy is attracted to Noah Wortham at first sight, but can she trust a guy who's working for Kammani and who's family has been taught to serve Kammani from the moment they're born? And what if Noah's feelings for her aren't real, but a product of the chaos magic swirling all around her?

Abby's powers keep drawing Professor Christopher Mackenzie to her despite the fact that the genius math professor who hears the voice of a long dead mathematician in his head wants nothing to do with anyone who might distract him from his equations. Abby is none too happy that her magic keeps pulling her towards a man who is upright, cold and just plain frustrating.

Shar literally has a man appear in her life. He is the god king Samu-la-el, raised by Kammani and destined to be sacrificed. She'd been attracted to his likeness before, but it was nothing compared to the man. How can she let herself fall for him when he serves Kammani, sleeps with any woman who wants him and was in love with her grandmother, Sharrat?

I originally thought this book was an anthology. Imagine my surprise when I cracked this book to find that it's a book told from the perspective of several women in the book and written by all three authors in concert. I think each author wrote one of the three female leads, but I'm not sure. I really liked the story, though I'll admit that Shar's parts of the story were my favorite, followed by Abby, but Daisy bugged me a bit. Of all the guys and relationships in the book, Noah was the one with the least conflict and the least reason for Daisy to doubt and yet she was the one who made the biggest mess of things. Abby's was a close second as far as emotional mess goes, but in her case it was warranted. Christopher was so socially inept that he did the worse thing he could have done to hurt Abby without really meaning to. I was really glad when he finally pulled his head out of his ... ahhh ... books and went after Abby. I think, had I been Shar, my biggest issue with Sam would have been the fact that he had been in love with her grandmother, whom she apparently looks exactly like her, and that he occasionally called her Sharrat. Most especially when he called her by that name as he was holding her and kissing her. Apparently Sharrat wouldn't give him the time of day because she was all about serving Kammani. I'd have some trouble believing he was really in to me and not just using me as a substitute for the woman he loved.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Lover Beware

Anthology


Magic in the Wind - Christine Feehan

Damon Wilder is a genius. He's spent years working for the D.o.D. on defense systems. This has gotten the attention of several terrorists groups and foreign governments. When Damon and his assistant are kidnapped and tortured for information, Damon manages to escape even though he was gravely injured, but not before his assistant is killed in an attempt to make Damon talk. He can't let go of the guilt over his assistants death. He retires to a small town looking to find peace and a place to call home, but the sense of impending doom follows him and he can't seem care about anything. Suddenly the town is abuzz because someone named Sarah is coming back and Damon find himself intently curious about this mystery woman and looking forward to her return.

Sarah Drake works for the government and has been assigned to protect Damon Wilder. She's also something of a witch, as are her sisters and all of their female ancestors before them. She finds Damon living in her home town and and if that isn't coincidental enough, the gate to their home opens for him, fulfilling the first part of a family prophecy that will lead all seven Drake sisters to their destiny. He's grumpy and a dark aura of death clings to him, but Sarah is drawn to him. If she can keep the bad guys from kidnapping Damon and if she can figure out how to get Death to stop following him, she just might be able to sit back and enjoy her fate.

Damon's character tickled me. He was like a crotchety old man in the beginning, then Sarah comes along and suddenly we begin to see him as a brilliant, attractive man who just isn't good with people and happens to have a physical impediment. Sarah's character is intriguing. She works for the government, protecting people from bad guys and kicking ass, but on the flip side she's a nurturing type who's kind to everyone in town and they all think she'd never hurt a fly. I'll be honest, though, there were parts there that were a little too syrupy for my taste.


Hot August Moon - Katherine Sutcliffe

Anna Travelli is a profiler for the F.B.I. She works with a secret unit of the F.B.I. that teaches people with certain psychic abilities to find serial killers and violent criminals. Now she's been assigned to a serial case that takes her back home to New Orleans and has her working with the Jerry Costos, D.A., ex-boyfriend, and the only man she's ever loved. The serial killer is torturing and killing prostitutes, but he knows who Anna is and he's thinking about setting his sights on her.

Jerry Costos has just lost his godson to a serial killer. He wants this guy bad enough to call in the F.B.I. The local cops are none to happy about it. When the profiler they send turns out to be Anna Travelli, the woman who broke his heart and whom he's never gotten over, he's not so sure he made the right call. She's keeps going in to dangerous situations without back up and wreaking havoc on his emotions. There's something going on that she's not telling him and he's determined to get to the bottom of it. Things between them are as electric as ever. If he can convince her to give them a second chance, he might get a chance at happiness.

This story was real interesting until I got to the end of it and realized there was no kind of resolution. Not for the romance between the lead characters and not with the serial killer. It was all a set up for the book Bad Moon Rising. I've never read it because the complete non-ending of this story just annoyed me no end. I thought the characters were interesting and I found the premise of psychics working as sort of profilers for the F.B.I. very interesting. This story just didn't deliver a satisfactory ending.


After Midnight - Fiona Brand

Jane O'Rilley is a widow. She spent the last seven years caring for her sick husband and the last four months of her widowhood avoiding Michael Rider, the man she's been secretly in love with since the moment she first laid eyes on him seven years ago. She feels she can't be with him because it would be like betraying her husband. She feels guilty enough that Michael kissed her once years ago before going off on a potentially deadly mission and that she spent months worried about him while her husband lay sick in bed. If she can avoid Michael and find out who's been secretly watching her and creeping around her property, everything will be fine.

Michael Rider is a retired S.A.S officer. When he met Jane O'Rilley all those years ago he was happily married and looking to start a family. Then, suddenly, all he could think about was Jane. His marriage ended and he took mission after mission, staying out of town and away from Jane as much as possible. Now Jane's husband has passed and he's retired so that he can finally claim Jane for his own. Someone is breaking in to people's homes and attacking women in his home town and Michael finds himself labeled as a suspect because he's got weapons and fighting skills, but it just might take those skills to catch the real criminal before he kills again.

I found this story a little hard to believe in places. Jane's character is very believable as the woman who avoids the man she loves because she feels guilty that when her husband was alive she was in love with another man and only staying with her husband out of duty because he needed her while he struggled with cancer. I found Michael's character a little harder to swallow. Here you have a man who stopped sleeping with his wife because he wanted another woman. He fell in love at first sight with this other woman and pretty much gave up on his marriage. Apparently he didn't love the woman he married enough to move away from the source of temptation and seek marriage counseling. Nice! Then he spends years celibate while patiently waiting for her husband to die. He's so hot that women are throwing themselves at him, but he's saving himself for Jane and never has so much as a hook up in seven years. Seriously?

Only Human - Eileen Wilks

Lily Yu is a homicide detective investigating a recent rash of murders apparently perpetrated by werewolves. She's no strange to the paranormal, but catching a killer who's DNA can't be reliably typed by forensics is going to be tough. Still, she's not sure if working with Rule Turner, poster boy for lycanthropy and prince of the local clan, is the best idea. Not only are his looks and charm a big distraction, but she's not sure she can trust him to tell her the truth about who the killer is.

Rule Turner is heir to the Chief of Clan Nokolai and the public face for lycanthropes in the area. He suspects that a rival clan is looking to not only cast suspicion for the murders on his clan, but scuttle a bill that will give lycanthropes certain rights while making them subject to human law. He's working with the police in hopes that he'll get to the killer before he causes any more problems for his clan. He's willing to lie and manipulate the police to make sure his clan gets a hold of the killer first. It would be easier if he wasn't absolutely sure that Lily Yu was meant to be his mate.

This was the precursor to the World of the Lupi series. I love Lily and Rule. Hell, I've loved the entire series! Go read it!

Miserable

I'm so sick right now that I feel almost zombie like, no cravings for flesh or organs though, so that's good. The next to updates will be romance, because I already read them and just need to blog them, but the one after will likely be some sci-fi, the old stuff. My vintage sci-fi books are like comfort food. I'm thinking it will be Way-Farer by Dennis Schmidt.


Wednesday, September 9, 2009

He Loves Lucy

Author: Susan Donovan


Lucy Cunningham is an ad exec who's just landed the biggest account of her career. Unfortunately the client is a fitness club and the campaign involves trying to lose 100 lbs in one year by working with their star trainer, Theo Redmond. The upside? She earns $1,000 for every pound she loses. With that kind of money she can realize her dream of opening her own ad agency. The downside? Having to get up at 4 AM every day, keeping a food journal, giving up Milk Duds and being tortured by Trainer Ken, or "Theo-dorable" as apparently every woman in town calls him. She's going to give it her best and hopefully not embarrass herself by drooling all over Theo. The guy is smoking hot, looking perfect in every way, but shallow jocks who's greatest concern in life is making sure they don't run out of hair gel just are not her type. Certainly not since that humiliating fiasco with a football player back in college that caused her to put on all the weight in the first place.

Theo Redmond had to drop out of medical school when his parents died, leaving him with custody of his 16 year old brother, Buddy, who has Downs Syndrome. Now he works as a personal trainer at the Palm Club during the week and as a bouncer on the weekends to make ends meet. This ad campaign that Lucy Cunningham cooked up bight just be his way back in to med school. He'll get $1,000 for every pound he helps her lose. With that kind of money he can pay for school and help for to care for Buddy. It won't be easy, losing 100 lbs in a year with nutrition and exercise is unusual, but if he can keep Lucy focused and motivated they just might make it. Unfortunately, spending so much time working closely with Lucy, whom he's liked from the first, is making it hard for Theo to keep things strictly professional. He's got to though because aside from the no-dating-clients rule, once he starts med school again he won't have time for a relationship, and the last thing he wants is to hurt Lucy or make her hate him because he's never around.


I really like that Theo liked Lucy and thought she was pretty before she started losing the weight and that he found himself attracted to her well before she all that weight. I thought Lucy was great, when she wasn't making making assumptions and obsessing over the slump buster thing. I loved Buddy! He was so positive and well adjusted. I liked the way things worked out between Lucy's sister, Mary Fran, and her husband. I thought it sucked that Lucy's brother, Dan, and her supermodel friend, Gia, didn't too long. I guess it was kind of a far fetched pairing. I liked that Dan took it so well. Normally I try no to put many spoilers in my little chatty bit, but as far as the lead characters were concerned, I didn't have much to complain about. I enjoyed the book quite a bit. Here was a story about an overweight heroine who wanted to lose the weight, put in the hard work, and did it. I don't think that you have to be thin to be healthy, happy, or beautiful, but if being overweight is making you feel unhappy or effecting your health, then something should be done about it. I think reading a book where the heroine sets out to do just that and gets it done, is inspiring.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Night's Touch

Author: Amanda Ashley

Cara DeLongpre is the adopted daughter of two vampires. When her teenage bio-mom went in to labor in an alley the vampire couple stopped to help her and she told them to take the baby or she'd just leave it in a dumpster. Thus did Cara come to have vampire parents, her mother always having wanted children, but not being able to have them as vampires do not have babies. So Cara has grown up in the dark, figuratively, not literally because her parents have never told her about them being vampires. They're always had staff to look after her during the days and made up explanations for not being able to be in the sun or eat food. So now she's in her 20's, a librarian and still living with her parents. Her parents are protective to the point that she's had a bodyguard since she was 12. She doesn't really understand why she needs a bodyguard or why her parents don't want her to move out, but it's really starting to chafe. When she decides to check out a club called The Nocturne, she meets Anton, a charming stranger who asks her to meet him again and she agrees, not knowing that he is her family's enemy. Years ago Anton's father nearly killed her mother and tortured her father before her father finally killed him. Anton was born after his father's death, but Anton's mother has raised him with thought of revenge and they're looking to use Cara to get it.

Vince Cordova made the mistake of picking the wrong woman for a one night stand. While the sex was amazing, it wasn't worth being turned in to a vampire for. Mara, an ancient and powerful vampire, drained him to near death and gave him the choice, die or live on as a vampire. A year after that night, Vince isn't so sure he made the right choice. He's had to distance himself from his family, a loving close-knit bunch, he can't trust himself to sleep with a woman and he's struggling to retain as much of his humanity as possible. When he spots Cara siting alone at the bar of The Nocturne, he knows that she's trouble. Can vampires fall in love at first sight? All he knows is that he needs to steer clear, because a girl like Cara needs a man who will marry her and give her a family. A mortal man she can grow old with. When he sees her reaction to finding out her parents are vampires, he's sure that she could never be happy with him. Unfortunately, no matter how many times he tells himself to stay away, he just can't seem to do it for long and she doesn't seem to be able to keep away either. When her father's enemies put their plans in to action, Vince can't help but want to be there for Cara.


I believe this is a sequel, but I've not read the first book. Please to keep that in mind. I'm sorry, but Cara was not just TSTL, she was too damned stupid to exist! She's been raised by vampires, but never suspected what her parents are? She supposedly loves books and yet she can't see the similarities between her parents and vampires? Then, when someone clues her in to the fact that her parents are the undead, does she confront her parents and ask them what the deal is? Noooo, that would be too logical! Instead she packs a bag and runs for a hotel because her parents are bloodsucking monsters and because her parents, who've never been anything but loving to her, might have some nefarious designs on her. Then when daddy tells her that her boyfriend is also a vampire she refuses to believe it, even though she's never seen him eat or out in the sun either. This after she keeps meeting with Anton even though her instincts keep telling her he's not right. Her parents are the brightest bulbs in the box either. Here is Anton, looking soooo much like their dead enemy, Anthony,with the last name of the woman who was obsessed with Anthony. Anton and his mother now run the coven that worked with Anthony to hurt their family and it never occurs to them to find out what these people are up to? Or what Anton might want with their daughter? Vince was a little more understandable. At first he didn't want her to know he was a vamp because of her reaction to finding out her parents were vamps, then it got harder and harder to tell her because she would feel betrayed by him. He didn't feel he could offer her what she deserved and he thought the best thing was to leave her so that she'd find someone who could. Unfortunately, he wasn't very good at being unselfish because he kept coming back. I applaud the nobility of wanting someone you love to have everything they've dreamed of, even if it means you'll be miserable without them, but it only counts if you have the guts to stick to it. If you keep coming back and hurting that person again you are basically jerking them around emotionally. It makes you an spineless jerk who needs to be punched in the junk IMHO. And, of course, she forgives him for all this way too easily. It was all a bit much for me, as far as my ability to suspend disbelief goes.

Friday, September 4, 2009

The Power of Two

2176 - Book 4

Author: Patti O'Shea

Captain Jake Tucker is a U.C.E. Special Forces officer. He grew up as part of a Sentonian cult where children are taught to use blades as soon as they can hold them, but when he was of legal age, he escaped and eventually joined the military. When he was selected for the Quandem project, he wasn't particularly thrilled, but he soon became used to his "anchor" being in his head. Having his anchor sending all the latest intel straight in to his brain via implant really gives his team an edge out in the field. After five years of working together he's come to rely on his anchor not just for intel in the field, but as a friend and confidant. He's not the sort of guy to open up to people so having a built-in partner and friend there to share his thoughts with and to just be there for him in though times is working pretty well for him. So what if his best friend is just a computer?

Captain Cai Randolph is a U.C.E. Special Forces officer.She's the genius child of two brilliant research doctors. When she was 13 her parents sent her to U.C.E. school and then disappeared. She believes they've been kidnapped by Elliot Marchand, a rich man who wants to use her parents' research in nanobiology for his own purposes, though no one seems to believe her. At 16 she was recruited by the military for the Quandem project because her brain wave patterns matched one of their field operatives. She was sent through Special Forces training and joined the project as an anchor. Five years later she and her "receptor" are the only Quandem left. Seems that when an achor overloads the brain implants there are varying levels of brain damage that occur and an anchor who's receptor died committed suicide. Now Cai believes she's found where her parents are being held and has maneuvered her way in to being sent out in to the field with her receptor and his team on a mission to her parents location. One small problem, her receptor thinks she's a computer and he will not be happy when he realizes that not only has she never told him otherwise, but that she's been in his head during some of his most private moments since she was just a girl.

I've read the whole 2176 series series before. It's a toss up between this book and The Legend of Banzai Maguire for which book in the series was my favorite. I liked the way the relationship developed between Jake and Cai. There was already a lot of history between them when they met face to face so they had a jump start, but it also created issues to be worked through. Jake was understandable angry that the computer he's been sharing his thoughts with for the last few years is actually a living person. He feels he's been lied to. Jake's also kind of embarrassed because for the first year or so he was not able to block Cai during certain moments and she was only 16. Then there's the fact that he's got to take her on this dangerous mission when she's never been in the field. Part of their cover is that they are lovers. This requires a lot of time spent in close quarters and he can't seem to keep from getting distracted by his attractive anchor. For her part, Cai doesn't want to lose Jake's friendship. Being a genius didn't win her any friends in school and since joining the Quandem project she spends most of her time on the computer or talking to Jake. She has no real friends other than Jake and she's afraid that he won't be able to forgive her for not telling him she was human or that now that he does know he just won't feel comfortable talking to her like he used to. She was attracted to Jake, but because of her negative self-image it never occurred to her that he might be attracted to her. She was so sure he couldn't be attracted to her that she failed to see the signs and so Jake thought she wanted things to be platonic. I thought it was funny that Cai was practically rolling her eyes at the lame over the top lines Jake was feeding a barmaid yet totally missed out on the fact that some of Jake's team mates were flirting with her pretty hard. I was kind of interested in Nicole and Tony, the Quandem pair that was working for Elliot Marchand. I would have liked to find out more about them and what happened to them after the everything.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Dark Protector

The Paladins - Book 1

Author: Alexis Morgan

Devlin Bane is one of the world's best kept secrets. Devlin is a Paladin, born to fight, die and rise to fight again in defense of Earth until madness takes them. Deep in the earth there is a barrier between our world and another. The Paladins call the denizens of that world the Others. The Others are pale, sensitive to light, and come across the barrier crazed and looking to kill. Activity in the tectonic plates brings down the barrier from time to time and the Others come charging across. Lately they've been coming through in larger numbers and no one knows why. When the traitor responsible for that increase decides that Devlin might be a threat to the operation, they order him killed, but getting a Paladin to actually stay dead is the hard part. After the first attempt to end him, Devlin takes longer to resurrect than normal, which leaves his Handler concerned. He hates the tests and scans, but doesn't mind so much spending time with his attractive Handler.

Dr. Laurel Young is what's known as a Handler. She's in charge of stitching the Paladins' wounds up whether they're living or dead, seeing them through their resurrections, and making the decision as to whether they're sane or if they need to be put down. Laurel is proud of her work and has dedicated her life to finding a way to cure or stave off the descent in to madness that all Paladins eventually succumb to. She hasn't had to kill any of her charges, but she dreads it, especially where Devlin is concerned. She knows that her feelings for Devlin would get her removed as his Handler if anyone knew and she can't risk that. Devlin is the Paladin who's lasted the longest without going crazy and her best chance to find what can save the Paladins.

When Laurel has to put down a visiting Paladin, she's grief-stricken and goes home early to deal with her feelings. When Devlin hears about it from Dr. Neil, Laurel's boss, he slips off quietly to go to her place so she won't be alone. Devlin tries to convince Laurel to quit being a Handler, he's afraid she can't deal with having to kill her patients, but Laurel believes it's only right that she cry. Paladins are unsung heroes who often times have no one close to them who will shed tears over them. Their fellow Paladins will grieve their loss, but they see this as the inevitable end to all their lives and more inured to it. After she cries herself to sleep in his arms, Devlin decides to hold her until she wakes. When she wakes in his arms, Laurel can't resist kissing him. When their mutual attraction ignites, Devlin ends up spending the night. Unfortunately, this is not lost on the man looking to take Devlin out. He believes he's found the perfect bait to lure Devlin in to a trap.

This one's a re-read for me. I originally read it a couple of years ago. Devlin did the whole I'm-not-good-enough-for-you-so-I-must-push-you-away thing, but considering that every Paladin that ever lived has ended their lives either at the hands of their enemies or insane and put down like animals by their Handlers, he had a very valid basis for believing they would have no future and any relationship would only bring Laurel more grief. Especially when one considers that, as his Handler, it would be Laurel making the decision to put him down, Laurel giving him that shot, and Laurel watching him die chained to a steel table writhing like a mad man. It's a good thing that Laurel is a strong willed woman and not about to let Devlin push her away. She's not naive, she knows what his life is about. She's patched him up and been there during his resurrections enough to know how dangerous being a Paladin is and, though she dreads the probability that Devlin will go insane and she'll have to make that call, she strong enough to love him regardless of what the future may bring.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

FYI

I've eaten up my 8 day cushion and am now having to read and post. This means that some days I won't be able to post, either because I've not finished reading a book or haven't had time to write it up. I'll do my best, though and hopefully the weekends will afford me time to keep up. We'll just have to wait and see.

The Fire King

Dirk & Steele - Book 9

Author: Marjorie M. Liu

Karr died 3,000 years ago. He's been trapped in a nebulous underworld of dreams, memories and nightmares. So when he awakens in his tomb to find it full of shifters, enemy to his people, and humans pointing strange weapons at him, he is disoriented and angry. He is attacked and fights back, but he is paralyzed by their strange weapons, rendered unconscious and placed in restraints that would kill him if he shifted. Karr is a chimera. Chimera are the offspring of two shifters who are of different natures. Karr's mother was a dragon and his father a lion. Chimera inherit the shapes of both parents and are therefore considered unstable. It's like they are pulled in three different directions and some lose their minds becoming violent and a danger to all. Chimera are also stronger and faster than shifters. When a prophecy came down that the chimera would destroy the shifters, those who already saw them as abominations used it as justification to attack the chimera. This set off a bloody war that lasted for centuries. Karr has no knowledge of how much time has passed and when the shifters send in a human woman who can speak his language, he's sure they're trying to get some sort of information from him. He can trust no one.

Soria has a psychic gift for languages, which is what originally led her to work with Dirk & Steele. After a recent traumatic event that left her missing most of her right arm and feeling abandoned by Roland, her boss and the man she loved, she's decided to strike out on her own and is looking forward to a job as a UN interpreter. When Roland calls her because Dirk & Steele really needs her, she's not happy to oblige, but she does it anyway. From the start she's concerned that Roland isn't using the agency's people for this job and he seems to be withholding information from her. Roland has hired mercenaries and is working with a group of shifters led by a dangerous woman. She's angry when she sees what condition the guy she's supposed to communicate with is in, but she's wary of him because she knows he's dangerous. When a band of mercenaries attacks the facility holding Karr, Soria has to make a choice, set him free or let him be taken, maybe killed. They escape together and even though Karr knows he can't trust her, she's the only one in the world he can communicate with. She's willing to help him because he was alone, in danger, and unaccustomed to the world.

With Roland acting strangely, Soria's friends at Dirk & Steele being kept in the dark, a shifter "ally" who keeps switching sides, a powerful shifter with an old grudge who'd like to kill all chimera and an enemy neither of them could possibly expect after them both and no one to back them but a couple of scary mercenaries, they're running out of time to solve the mystery of why Karr is alive after thousands of years and whether any other chimera exist in this world where most shifters don't even know chimera ever existed and don't think a crossbred shifter could even survive.

I loved Soria. I loved her strength and her will to survive. She was forced to make a horrific choice to survive once, one that I don't think most people could make, and she's had to deal with the consequences, both physical and psychological. She stuck by Karr even when he refused to trust her and sometimes purposely hurt her feelings because she had a good heart and it was the right thing to do. Karr was quick to recognize her good qualities, even though at first he was afraid it was part of some plan to get information from him and recapture him. He came to trust her, even though he didn't want to. It was Soria's strength that made Karr determined to survive as well. Karr helped Soria accept herself and her missing arm. Helped her feel that she was still a whole and beautiful woman. She really needed that in her life. The hero and the heroine were very good for each other. Koni had a very small part in this book, but I really liked it. Hell, he saved the day when you get down to it. I can't wait for him to get his own book.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Some Like It Wild

Author: Teresa Medeiros

Pamela Darby and her half-sister, Sophie, are in dire straits. Their mother was a beautiful actress and they've grown up in the theatre, but now it's burned down, killing their mother in the process and leaving the girls alone without a home. When their mother's solicitors delivers to them an old letter that their mother had from the Duchess of Warrick explaining to their mother, an old friend of the duchess, that she was leaving her husband and taking their baby with her in to Scotland, Pamela begins to believe that the fire was no accident and that someone set out to murder their mother for that letter. After all, with the duke offering a reward for the finding of his son and someone who stands to inherit a lot of money if the duke's heir is never found, there are plenty of suspects. With a noble set on making Sophie his mistress, the possibility of reward money and finding clues as to who may have murdered their mother, Pamela and Sophie take to the Highlands in search of the duchess and her son. When they come across news that the duchess died before reaching her family in the highlands Pamela decides that any man of appropriate age and coloring will do, but where to find such a man?

Connor Kincaid is a Highlands highwayman looking for any way he can avenge himself on the English. After the brutal death of his parents at the hands of the English, Connor was left in charge of the clan. After years of leading his clan in dangerous raids, trying to get enough money to rebuild the clan, Connor decides to leave before he brings destruction down on the clan. Now he robs coaches and lives with a band of criminals. When he's told that a carriage with no out-riders and only one coachman will be coming down the road carrying two young English ladies covered in furs and jewelry and likely fat purses, he figured they were ripe for the picking. What he found were cheap furs, paste jewels, nearly empty purses, a pretty young blond, and a feisty, curvy brunet with a gun and a persuasive plan. If they can pull it off not only would it be the ultimate revenge for a Scotsman to steal an entire dukedom, but he might even escape his fate to meet the hangman's noose. Now he just has to keep whoever killed Pamela's mother from killing him and try his damnedest to keep his hands of Pamela ... or talk her in to putting her hands on him.


I loved both of these characters. Pamela was smart, cunning, daring, and funny. She took big risks, with all their lives really, but it payed off. I liked that she had the guts to do everything she did after her mother's death. Connor was every bit Pamela's equal. He was a hardened criminal, but he wasn't unnecessarily cruel and he treated Pamela and her sister with kindness, even when he didn't have reason to. He protected them from his fellow criminals and, though he didn't think he had much to offer her, he didn't fight his feelings for her. In fact, it was a bit the way around later in the story when certain truths are uncovered. Pamela pushes Connor away for his own good, even though this makes them both utterly miserable. The side story with Sophie and the duke's cousin, Crispin, was cute. I felt so bad for Crispin because of how Sophie was treating him. It was obvious he was besotted with her. It was also pretty obvious who murdered Marianne Darby almost from the second you meet the duke and his family. I really enjoyed this book. Both the hero and the heroine where just such fun to watch together. Teresa Medeiros is one of those authors who I can usually count on for a good read.