Review: The Witch's Daughter by Paula Brackston

My name is Elizabeth Anne Hawksmith, and my age is three hundred and eighty-four years. Each new settlement asks for a new journal, and so this Book of Shadows begins…
In the spring of 1628, the Witchfinder of Wessex finds himself a true Witch. As Bess Hawksmith watches her mother swing from the Hanging Tree she knows that only one man can save her from the same fate at the hands of the panicked mob: the Warlock Gideon Masters, and his Book of Shadows. Secluded at his cottage in the woods, Gideon instructs Bess in the Craft, awakening formidable powers she didn’t know she had and making her immortal. She couldn't have foreseen that even now, centuries later, he would be hunting her across time, determined to claim payment for saving her life.
In present-day England, Elizabeth has built a quiet life for herself, tending her garden and selling herbs and oils at the local farmers' market. But her solitude abruptly ends when a teenage girl called Tegan starts hanging around. Against her better judgment, Elizabeth begins teaching Tegan the ways of the Hedge Witch, in the process awakening memories—and demons—long thought forgotten.
Part historical romance, part modern fantasy, The Witch’s Daughter is a fresh, compelling take on the magical, yet dangerous world of Witches. Readers will long remember the fiercely independent heroine who survives plagues, wars, and the heartbreak that comes with immortality; to remain true to herself; and protect the protégé she comes to love.

If ever there was a time on this planet to be a witch, the seventeenth century wasn't it. The Salem Witch Trials went on in America in the latter half of that century as well. How awful it must have been for those people (and their loved ones) who were accused and executed for no other reasons than paranoia and mass hysteria. Everybody knows that there are no such things as witches, right?

In The Witch's Daughter, Bess learns the hard way that there are such things as witches. In the beginning, she lives in the village of Batchcombe, England with her two siblings and parents and fancies herself maybe being a lady someday. But all that changes after the plague rampages through and takes most of her family and many others, leaving distraught mothers wandering the town, mourning their children and hating Bess' mother for being left with a daughter. Soon after, Bess' mother is hanged for being a witch, leaving Bess to turn to a man who she is certain can't be trusted, Gideon Masters. With him, Bess learns that she is a real witch like her mother, and has plenty of power. Gideon wants that power for himself and wants Bess to be his mate/partner/so-called equal but after Bess catches him in the woods one night, doing all those naughty things with demons that evil warlocks like to do, she escapes and tries to put Batchcombe and Gideon behind her. Now immortal, Bess changes her identity and traveling around to Whitechapel, London during Jack the Ripper's terror and the frontlines of WWII, working to help others like a good witch should but knows that trouble is right behind her. Almost four hundred years after her family's tragedy, Bess is comfortable in a small town in England and against her nature, befriends a teenage girl who wants to learn about Bess' craft. Complacency makes Bess worry, however, and when Tegan meets a boy who monopolizes her time and attention and works to poison her relationship with Bess, Bess starts gathering her weapons for a final showdown with Gideon.

The Witch's Daughter seemed daunting to me at first; three hundred pages of (what appears to be) tightly-spaced ten point font is not something you can just rip through in one sitting but that's pretty much what I did: read it all in one evening, right after dinner. It started a bit slowly but once I got to the first flashback about Bess' village, I was hooked. Told mostly through flashbacks in between bits of the present, The Witch's Daughter is a compelling story about what inner strength really is.

Review: The President's Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth

The ultimate secret. The ultimate agent. Nathaniel Cade returns.
For 140 years, Nathaniel Cade has been the President's Vampire, sworn to protect and serve his country. Cade's existence is the most closely guarded of White House secrets: a superhuman covert agent who is the last line of defense against nightmare scenarios that ordinary citizens only dream of.
When a new outbreak of an ancient evil-one that he has seen before-comes to light, Cade and his human handler, Zach Barrows, must track down its source. To "protect and serve" often means settling old scores and confronting new betrayals . . . as only a centuries-old predator can.

What would our world be like if monsters of the supernatural persuasion were real? What if terrorists could use them to strike at their enemies instead of using bombs? Frankly, I think this world is a scary enough place already without dealing with bugaboos like the ones that Zach and Cade deal with on a regular basis. After finishing The President's Vampire, I was more than a bit thankful that this world hasn't reached this level of crazy just yet. At least, not that we know of.

In Blood Oath, Farnsworth showed us what might happen if some evil mastermind used super-zombies made from the bodies of dead American soldiers to try and invade the White House. In The President's Vampire, Zach and Cade come up against something just as deadly but potentially more dangerous: a highly infectious virus that turns humans into reptile killing machines called "snakeheads". Engineered by "The Company", a black government agency that is run and staffed by people who are chosen specifically for their mal-adjusted sociopathic personalities, this virus is spread by biting or scratching and works instantly to transform its host into a ravenous, slavering monster within minutes. Cade has been working since the 1920's to eradicate the snakeheads but they keep popping up periodically all over the globe. Now that The Company has decided to join the game, the snakeheads are even deadlier than before and with certain politicians working in the background to make sure that Zach and Cade fail, underground government installations hosting experiments made of nightmares, and a plot to set the snakehead creatures loose on a shopping mall full of unsuspecting humans, The President's Vampire is a governmental conspiracy run amuck, stuffed between two book covers.

While I liked Blood Oath (click HERE to see my review) just a tad more than The President's Vampire, the charming aspects of the former are still present in the latter, much to my delight. That Farnsworth frames Cade with people and events that exist in the real world make these books feel somewhat plausible; using different names for the current administration is the biggest concession I could see that makes this fiction other than the, you know, supernatural monsters. I had begun to wonder who would be up next with the cameo appearances though. (TPV stars Bin Laden and John Wilkes Booth, and explains how JFK's assassination was an inside job.) All-in-all, The President's Vampire is another great read and I am already wishing for the next one in this entertaining series.

Review: Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth

ONLY ONE MAN CAN SAVE US… AND HE’S ALREADY DEAD.

Zach Barrows is an ambitious young White House staffer whose career takes an unexpected turn when he’s partnered with Nathaniel Cade, a secret agent sworn to protect the president. But Cade is no ordinary civil servant. Bound by a special blood oath, Cade has spent more than 140 years in service to the president, battling nightmares before they can break into the daylight world of the American dream.
Immediately Zach and Cade receive their first joint assignment: one that uncovers a shadowy government conspiracy and a plot to attack the Unites States with a gruesome new biological weapon. Zach soon learns that the world is far stranger, and far more dangerous, than he ever imagined . . . and that his partner is the least of his problems.. (from chrisfarnsworth.com)

If you are a regular reader of My Book Addiction (thanks, btw), you may be surprised to know that I am a fan of Tom Clancy's books. Vince Flynn, too. (Sadly, I have learned more about the inner workings of our government from their books than I did in my high school civics class.) Sure, they can be a bit dry with the technical details but give me a capable man who has to save the world and I'll be happy. At any rate, when I saw the description of Blood Oath, I knew I had to read it. It sounded like a modern cross between Tom Clancy and Bram Stoker and I was so excited about the premise that I preordered the hardback version. This is not something I do regularly - buy new hardbacks of new authors - but I had such a good feeling about it. My gut told me that this would be a good book and fun read and it was right.

Zach considers himself to be hot stuff. Barely out of college, he works in the White House and has frequent face-to-face meetings with the President. After one little bitty drunken mishap with the President's daughter in the Lincoln bedroom, he finds himself face-to-face with a completely different kind of power, the kind that has nothing to do with politics: a vampire. Suddenly, Zach's world is upside down and he's given a difficult choice - work with Nathaniel Cade, aka the President's Vampire, or else. Working with Cade is a sink or swim mentality; there is no training, just on the job learning. Soon, Zach learns that Cade is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the supernatural and his first job involves chasing after Johann Konrad, aka Dr. Frankenstein (as in the original, the doctor from Shelley's book). A group of middle-easterners are taking terrorism to a new level with Konrad's help and it's Cade's and Zach's job to stop them.

I liked Blood Oath for several reasons. One, Farnsworth made Nathaniel Cade a product of his time; he is dated (to an extent) and uses old phrases like, "no soap" and "twenty-three skidoo". Using these old colloquialisms embarrasses Cade and humanizes him, makes him seem more real and not just a killing machine. Two, this book isn't just about a vampire that deals with "human" problems. Cade travels the globe fighting nasty supernatural threats in today's political climate, not the least of which is Dr. Konrad, who makes Dr. Mengele look like Strawberry Shortcake. There are all sorts of beings in Blood Oath, fantastic and monstrous alike. And three, this is just a well-written, well-plotted book that kept my attention from cover to cover. The sequel, The President's Vampire, will be out on April 28, 2011.

Other reviews:
Ms. Bookish
Jenn's Bookshelves
The Vampire Librarian

Review: Aftertime by Sophie Littlefield

Awakening in a bleak landscape as scarred as her body, Cass Dollar vaguely recalls surviving something terrible. Having no idea how many weeks have passed, she slowly realizes the horrifying truth: Ruthie has vanished.
And with her, nearly all of civilization.
Where once-lush hills carried cars and commerce, the roads today see only cannibalistic Beaters—people turned hungry for human flesh by a government experiment gone wrong.
In a broken, barren California, Cass will undergo a harrowing quest to get Ruthie back. Few people trust an outsider, let alone a woman who became a zombie and somehow turned back, but she finds help from an enigmatic outlaw, Smoke. Smoke is her savior, and her safety.
For the Beaters are out there.
And the humans grip at survival with their trigger fingers. Especially when they learn that she and Ruthie have become the most feared, and desired, of weapons in a brave new world….

Aftertime by Sophie Littlefield is not just a postapocalyptic novel about a world where humans are turned into zombies, it is about a mother's quest to find her daughter and to atone for her past.

Cass has no idea what day it is or why she's alive. Weeks after zombies known as "beaters" infested California and began roaming around for live flesh, she wakes under a tree with wounds consistent to a beater attack. Then she remembers that the beaters grabbed her less than twenty-four hours after she got her toddler daughter back. The question is: why isn't she now a beater too? "Before," meaning before the world changed, Cass was a recovering alcoholic and had lost custody of her daughter to her estranged mother and current husband. She was sober and trying to reestablish her life by working steadily and staying clean. Now, losing Ruthie a second time has turned Cass into a woman with one goal and Terminator-like determination: find her little girl and get her somewhere safe. Along the way, she sees what civilization turns into when the PTB are no longer around to keep order - groups like the Rebuilders, militia-types who decided that they're the ones who get to reestablish society in their own image or the Convent, a group of zealot nun wannabes who have cloistered themselves in a baseball stadium and worship the zombies (sort of). The silver lining may be found in Smoke, the man who joined her on her quest.

Aftertime is a rather gruesome read. Zombies shuffle around, nibbling on those part of their bodies that they can reach with their mouths. They become a mockery of humanity with some of the random things they would do as if life were normal again like playing with dolls or trying to do yard work. However, they're not the real enemy in this book, humans are. Devious, greedy, and sometimes downright evil, some of the humans in Aftertime are a disgrace. Cass, however, is not. I liked her and I liked Aftertime. The sequel, Rebirth, will be released on July 19, 2011.

Review: The Vampire Voss by Colleen Gleason

Voss, also known as Viscount Dewhurst, relishes the sensual pleasures immortality affords. A member of the Dracule—a cabal of powerful, secretive noblemen marked with a talisman that reveals their bartered souls—the mercenary Voss has remained carefully neutral…until Angelica. Angelica Woodmore possesses the Sight, an ability invaluable to both sides of a looming war among the Dracule. Her very scent envelops Voss in a scarlet fog of hunger—for her body and her blood. But he is utterly unprepared for the new desire that overcomes him—to protect her.
Now Voss must battle his very nature to be with Angelica…but this vampire never backs down from a fight.

As a big fan of Colleen Gleason's Gardella Chronicles series, I was superexcited to try out her newest vampire series, The Regency Draculia. The cool part is that this time around the vampires aren't necessarily the bad guys.

Voss lives how he believes a real vampire should: he spends his time seeking pleasure, be it by blood or sex or otherwise. Voss's real business is secrets - collecting and selling them - and is more than a little interested to find out that a vampire hunter and ally named Chas Woodmore has gone AWOL and left his sisters' care to Voss' rival and fellow vampire, Dimitri, Earl of Corvindale. What he's really looking for is the Woodmore sister who has the Sight; Angelica can see, by touching an object belonging to someone, where (but not when) that particular person is going to die. She's been using her ability throughout the ton to make money by foreseeing what will happen to young ladies' marriage prospects. What Voss, in all his arrogance and indifference, doesn't expect to ever happen is that he will come to actually care for Angelica, enough to risk his life for hers.

The vampires of the Regency Draculia are all men who have traded their souls to Lucifer for immortality and all the usual vampire tricks. That naughty boy Lucifer takes advantage of certain men when they are at their most vulnerable (and usually in dreams). Afterward, the vamps discover their "Lucifer's Mark", a physical manifestation of the pact they made with Lucifer for their souls that runs down their necks and along their upper backs. It pains them if they refrain from proper vampire behavior; it is a constant reminder of what they gave up, who they gave it to, and how he wants them to behave. In addition, each vampire has a weakness to something tangible, their own kryptonite, if you will. It's an interesting vulnerability and a source of information that Voss gathers ruthlessly. In a society of equally lethal men, what would be paramount to knowing how to defeat all your enemies?

Colleen Gleason writes vampires in a Regency setting so well that I hope she continues in that vein (ha ha) indefinitely. Despite his tendency to be all about me, me, me, I liked Voss and was happy for him in the end. Angelica was a fairly typical heroine for this genre; her ability is really the only aspect that makes her stand out. The ending neatly wraps up the storyline for this couple with a Buffyverse Whistler-type angel popping up here and there to "guide" Voss on his way to redemption. All-in-all, The Vampire Voss is a satisfying romance and I can't wait to read book two of the Regency Draculia series, The Vampire Dimitri.

The Vampire Voss will be released on March 22, 2011.


Other reviews:
Among the Muses
A Great Read
Reading the Paranormal

Review: Insatiable by Meg Cabot

Sick of hearing about vampires? So is Meena Harper.
But her bosses are making her write about them anyway, even though Meena doesn't believe in them.
Not that Meena isn't familiar with the supernatural. See, Meena Harper knows how you're going to die. (Not that you're going to believe her. No one ever does.)
But not even Meena's precognition can prepare her for what happens when she meets—then makes the mistake of falling in love with—Lucien Antonescu, a modern-day prince with a bit of a dark side. It's a dark side a lot of people, like an ancient society of vampire hunters, would prefer to see him dead for.
The problem is, Lucien's already dead. Maybe that's why he's the first guy Meena's ever met whom she could see herself having a future with. See, while Meena's always been able to see everyone else's future, she's never been able look into her own.
And while Lucien seems like everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, he might turn out to be more like a nightmare.
Now might be a good time for Meena to start learning to predict her own future…
If she even has one.

First off, can I just say that I think I'm in love with Meg Cabot. I finished Insatiable early yesterday evening and was so caught up in her style of writing that I whipped out Every Boy's Got One and promptly devoured it. I plan on raiding my local public library for her other titles on Monday. Insatiable isn't my first Meg Cabot, you know. I also read and thoroughly enjoyed She Went All the Way awhile back but was slightly discouraged by the proliferation of series YA in her backlist. I saw The Princess Diaries and didn't feel like reading the books. Don't get me wrong - I'm a BIG fan of YA fiction. I just was just in the mood for big girl books at the time.

So. Insatiable has it all: a love triangle, vampires, vampire hunters, a soap opera, and haute couture. I was worried at first as it took me a while to get into it; my life hadn't allowed me much time to read in the past few days since I started Insatiable and I hoped that it was me, not the book. Well, I can tell you that it was, indeed, me, and not the book. Once I sat down with it today, Insatiable grabbed my attention and held on for dear life. (This would explain why we didn't get to eat our dinner last night until 8 pm.)

Is it too cute to pick a name like Meena for the heroine in a vampire novel? Almost, though it did constantly remind me of "Mean-a Irina" from season six (?) of Project Runway. (I was disappointed that she won. Anyway...) Meena isn't mean-a, in fact, she's anything but. She goes out of her way to save people by giving them "advice," thus hoping to help them thwart Death and prolong their lives. It's hard for her to manage her ability most days since people don't generally like it if you try to tell them when they're going to die. It's for this reason that she's drawn to Lucien Antonescu; just as Sookie Stackhouse prefers vampires for their mental silence, that she can't see Lucien's death is relaxing to Meena. Relaxing, that is, until Alaric Wulf, a handsome Palatine Guard Vampire Hunter straight from the Vatican, shows up to lop off the head of the Prince of Darkness, a.k.a. Lucien, and spills the beans on who Lucien really is. This puts Meena right smack in the middle of a vampire war and the aforementioned love triangle for Alaric finds that he's drawn to Meena, even if she is a vampire minion, albeit a pretty one.

The only aspect I could have lived without was Meena's brother, Jon. The victim of corporate layoffs, he mooches off his sister while dreaming of being a cop for the NYPD. He has neither the fortitude nor the athleticism he would need to pull it off and when he hears about what Alaric does for a living, he sets his mind to becoming a vampire hunter with all the enthusiasm of a teenage girl at a Justin Bieber concert. Unfortunately, he has no idea what he's doing and generally makes every situation worse. He's critical of Meena without being unkind and she puts up with him. I know he was probably meant for some comic relief but he just got on my nerves.

The story in Insatiable moved along at a good clip; there wasn't any lag in the plot. I was so relieved to find out that this is the first in a series - there wasn't much of a resolution - as I liked this book so very much. It felt more like, That's All for Now, Folks! We'll See You Later! Oh yes, they definitely will. The sequel, Overbite, will be released on July 5, 2011.

Review: The Painted Darkness by Brian James Freeman

When Henry was a child, something terrible happened in the woods behind his home, something so shocking he could only express his grief by drawing pictures of what he had witnessed. Eventually Henry's mind blocked out the bad memories, but he continued to draw, often at night by the light of the moon.

Twenty years later, Henry makes his living by painting his disturbing works of art. He loves his wife and his son and life couldn't be better... except there's something not quite right about the old stone farmhouse his family now calls home. There's something strange living in the cramped cellar, in the maze of pipes that feed the ancient steam boiler.

A winter storm is brewing and soon Henry will learn the true nature of the monster waiting for him down in the darkness. He will battle this demon and, in the process, he may discover what really happened when he was a child and why, in times of trouble, he thinks: I paint against the darkness.

But will Henry learn the truth in time to avoid the terrible fate awaiting him... or will the thing in the cellar get him and his family first?

Written as both a meditation on the art of creation and as an examination of the secret fears we all share, The Painted Darkness is a terrifying look at the true cost we pay when we run from our grief--and what happens when we're finally forced to confront the monsters we know all too well.

Clocking in at 171 pages with what looks like a fourteen point font, I was underwhelmed at first sight by the length of this book. When I checked it out at the library and the lady handed me this little scrap of a book, I was surprised. This is the shocking and scary book that, if the hype is to be believed, will knock me out of my socks? What is it they say about assumptions?

This is a book all about tension. Henry's past and present is being unfurled - to both the reader and Henry himself - in bits in pieces as each chapter flips back and forth from a day in Henry's childhood to what is happening now. In the chapters involving the past, we all learn about a particular snow day where Henry wandered away from his babysitter's home and into the woods. In the chapters involving the present, Henry is an adult, married and the father of a three-year-old boy. He and his wife get into a fight over his painting which results in her leaving with their son on a trip to her parents'. Henry is alone in the house, painting as usual, when creepy noises emerge from the basement. Each time the chapters flip, the suspense is ratched up another notch; we're left wondering about Henry and his sanity. How much is real and how much is imaginary? Is it feasible that there could actually be a monster in the basement or are the memories of what happened to Henry on that fateful day when he was five manifesting themselves into something best treated with pharmaceuticals and a rubber room?

Comparisons to Stephen King abound for Brian James Freeman and rightfully so. Aspects of The Shining are certainly deserving here though plotwise they're light years apart. In both The Shining and The Painted Darkness, the main characters have activities that turn into fugue states (Jack's writing and here, Henry's painting); they are set in massive snowstorms, thereby limiting or wholly eliminating the possibility of escape and isolating them from the rest of the world; they see and talk to things/people who aren't really there (or are they?); the boiler is practically a character in its own right in both and are instrumental in the climaxes of both books; both Jack and Henry each have wives and a son. I was also reminded of King's short story, "1408" from Everything's Eventual, where a reporter checks into a supposedly haunted hotel room and barely lives to write about it. By the end of "1408" I realized my mouth had been hanging open. By the end of The Painted Darkness, I was confused but rather impressed that Freeman managed to squeeze so much into so few pages but it was really the pace that did it. Fast-paced and frantic, this book moves fast in a relatively short time span.

My only complaint is the illustrations. They didn't do anything for me in that their presence didn't affect my pulse. Monochromatic pictures of too-neatly-written words dripping blood seemed somewhat unrealistic, if that is at all possible. Also, the illustration of Henry as an adult make him look like a kid with a mustache. (I realize that was probably the idea and that they were probably going for the symbolism but I could have lived without it.)

The Painted Darkness is a big meaty punch wrapped in a little book. Is Henry batshit crazy or the owner of a completely overactive imagination that is still punishing him for the guilt he's repressing over his father? I believe it's more like something along these lines: just as with Tootsie Roll Pops and how many licks it would take to get to the center of one, the world may never know.

Review: Taken by Lilith Saintcrow

Sophie never believed she was special. Avoiding a violent ex, she can't remember the last time she truly felt safe. Then vampires murder her best friend and Sophie is kidnapped by a dangerously sexy shape-shifter. Zach insists that Sophie is a Shaman—someone with a rare gift for taming his savage side—and he needs her to help him save his pack. Now, with a malevolent enemy closing in, Sophie and Zach must risk everything on a bond that may be their only salvation...

I am not generally a series romance reader; Harlequin has plenty of imprints I like but I tend to stay away from Nocturne and the like as it doesn't give me enough bang for my buck, so to speak. The stories tend to be too short for my tastes (usually less than 300 pages or so) and before I know it, I've finished the book and am left wanting. However, when I heard that Lilith Saintcrow was going to be writing for them, I knew I had to try it out. I was not left wanting.

Lilith Saintcrow has a way with words. Her books are definitely not what I would consider to be mainstream; she doesn't really write romances and her UF books have a touch of the strange to them. For example, she chose to write about weres in Taken but instead of the usual, garden variety werewolf, she picked the carcajou, a wolverine. (Carcajou is actually French for wolverine.) Saintcrow's books are weird, yes, but that appeals to me and thus I enjoy them. I also enjoy her contributions on deadlinedames.com; she has a way of breaking down a subject and explaining writing without being boring or professor-ish.

Taken got a three and a half star rating on B&N.com and four stars on Amazon and while that isn't so shocking, I was surprised by the reviewers who claimed that Taken is "not really a romance" and "Slooooooooow". Now, I was surprised by the lack of nooky in Taken; there is no penetration here, not even after the curtain falls at the end of a scene. (Except for probably after the ending. I'm just assuming.) There is a bit of kissing but there's no real romancin' going on and if you've read the book description, you'll figure out why: Sophie is damaged and Zach's a good guy in a tight spot. He understands that slow and steady and TRUE will win his race and I found it refreshing to see a woman like Sophie find a place where she belongs and fall in love with a man she can trust without the all too typical sex her up style I've found in so many romances where the men use their sexuality to bind a woman to them like a drug. (I'm not generalizing here, just sharing what I've read.) So yeah, Taken ended up being more PG-rated rather than R but this reviewer is okay with that.

Hexbound by Chloe Neill

Synopsis:

Lily Parker is new to St. Sophia’s School for Girls, but she’s already learned that magic can be your best friend…or your worst enemy.

They say absolute power corrupts absolutely. Turns out, even a little magic can turn you to the dark side. That’s why Lily has to learn how to control her newly discovered paranormal abilities, on top of avoiding the snobs who think they run her school, nursing a crush on a cute sophomore with a big, werewolf-y secret, and fighting the good fight with her best friend Scout as they take on Chicago’s nastiest nightlife—including the tainted magic users known as Reapers.

Then Lily’s invited to a private meeting with Sebastian. He’s hot, powerful, and offering to help her harness the magic flowing in her veins in a way no one else can. He’s also a Reaper. Lily can’t hide her suspicions. But she’ll soon find out that the line between good and evil isn't always clear…

My thoughts:

There are strange things happening beneath the streets of Chicago, supernatural type things involving slimy creatures, vampires and reapers. I’m rather glad I don’t live there. This is the second book in the Dark Elite series and while this book is geared toward teenagers I couldn't help but enjoy it. My favorite part of this story (and series) is the unlikely friendship between Lily and Scout. By day, they are ordinary teens attending school at St. Sophia’s. Once night comes, they must use their special powers to help keep Chicago a safe place to live. Lily has only recently learned that she can do firespell which allows her to manipulate light and power. Scout is not just a spellcaster but also a spellbinder which is quite rare. Their magic is only a temporary gift, lasting from puberty to around the age of 25. Lily and her friends spend their nights searching through the underground tunnels for reapers, teenagers that refuse to give up their magic and feed on other’s souls to hang onto their power. There is always plenty of action going on in this story along with the mystery as to what Lily’s parents are really doing in Germany.

Then there is Sebastian, who I think is the most intriguing character in this series. He showed up briefly in Firespell and left me wanting to know more about him. He is tall, dark and handsome and happens to have the same magical powers as Lily. Unfortunately he is a reaper, one of the bad guys. Or is he? Can there be good reapers? All I know is that Sebastian could have killed Lily in Firespell but didn’t. Then he gave her some much needed information in this story. Whose side is he on? It’s a good thing that I happen to like books that leave me with questions for they tend to stick in my mind longer. There is no word yet on when the next book in this series will be released. This was a fun read.

Review: Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic. (www.the-folly.com)

I meant to get this review written in time for this book's release date of yesterday here in the states so shame on me. Midnight Riot is the most fun I've had when reading a new urban fantasy author in quite some time. I knew I was going to like it when I read this line from page five (my copy is an ARC mind you), when Peter realizes that the witness he's questioning is, in fact, a ghost: "Right, I thought, just because you've gone mad doesn't mean you should stop acting a policeman." I just love that British stiff upper lip.

Peter Grant is a nice guy. He's the mixed race son of a has-been jazz musician heroin addict and an African woman who has an office cleaning business. He's open-minded and considerate and has a crush on his fellow cop and friend, Leslie. He's intelligent and an affinity for science. Peter has his hands full pretty quickly right off the bat: much to this relief, he gets assigned to Nightingale, the Detective Chief Inspector who handles all the supernatural cases but is still respected by his peers (I appreciated that Aaronovitch didn't make Nightingale or Peter into "Spooky" Mulder); he becomes a wizard's apprentice and moves into Nightingale's building; and there's a murderer running amok, killing indiscriminately (or so it seems) and making people's heads implode, putting Peter right in the middle of the action, much to his dismay. There's lots of action in Midnight Riot, although very little of it is pretty (women and children are not exempt). The victims become possessed and be uncharacteristically and unreasonably full of rage (from page 120 from my ARC):

   I turned just in time to see Dr. Framline charge up the street brandishing a stick half as tall as he was. Behind him came his date from the gastropub, yelling his name in confusion. I ran as fast as I could, passing the woman quickly, but there was no way I could make Dr. Framline before he reached his target.
   The courier didn't even put an arm up to defend himself when Dr. Framline clubbed him hard on the shoulder with the stick. I saw the man's right arm jerk brokenly and his hand lose its grip on the bike, which began to topple sideways.
   "The more you take," yelled the doctor, raising the stick again, "the better it is for you."

The lack of buildup to these attacks made them seem all the more senseless and awful for me and overall, that's a good thing. For the reader, anyway. There is the occasional history lesson that pops up in Midnight Riot but as they came from Peter's humorous point of view, I didn't mind them.

I wish that the PTB has stuck with the UK title for Midnight Riot - Rivers of London. Midnight Riot has meaning too but Rivers of London feels to me to be more appropriate. That would mainly be because of all those "gods and goddesses" of England's riverway structure, like Mama Thames and the Old Man of the Thames, who keep popping up. Peter is made into their intermediary; into his lap falls the responsibility to be arbitrator of their differences to get them to come to an agreeable treaty to prevent a war between the two camps. England would not have fared well if Peter failed.

Midnight Riot is a police procedural with a supernatural twist. With an unusual (to say the least) villain and an appealing protagonist, this book was an enjoyable read. I have preordered the sequel, Moon Over Soho, out on March 1, 2011.

Accidentally Yours by Susan Mallery

Synopsis:

Wanted:
-Single mom seeks billionaire's pocketbook to fund dying son's research cure. Will seduce if necessary. Blackmail is not out of the question. Miracles welcome.
-Cynical billionaire seeks working mom with a heart of gold for PR campaign to improve his standing in the community. Must be willing to attend social events. Anyone looking for love need not apply.
It seemed like the perfect match…until the unthinkable happened.


My thoughts (audiobook version):

Kerri Sullivan is a single mom who is willing to do absolutely anything to get the money needed to continue the research for a cure for her nine year old son, Cody who is slowly dying from Gilliar’s disease. She goes after Nathan King, a billionaire who had lost his son to the same disease 6 years ago, blackmailing him into donating $15 million. Nathan had no interest in getting involved. He already had to endure seeing his child die from this disease, he didn’t want to experience it again. But Kerri wouldn’t take no for an answer...

This is a heart tugging story about sacrifices, faith and a mother’s undying love. I hope that if I ever find myself in a situation like this, that I would be as strong and determined as Kerri. The dialog was witty (laugh out loud funny at times) and the romance between Kerri and Nathan was beautiful and unrushed. The other characters I found endearing were Nathan’s chauffeur and his boyfriend Lance and of course Cody who was adorable and so brave. Be prepared to laugh and cry, this is a wonderful story.

Narration: I was impressed with Therese Plummer’s narration. This was an emotional story and she really made the characters come to life for me.

Review: American Vampire by Jennifer Armintrout

He's the good kind of vampire...sort of.

Buried in the Heartland is a town that no one enters or leaves. Graf McDonald somehow becomes its first visitor in more than five years…and he was only looking for a good party. Unfortunately, Penance, Ohio, is not that place. And after having been isolated for so long, they do not like strangers at all.

Jessa’s the only one to even remotely trust him, and she’s desperate for the kind of protection that only a vampire like Graf can provide. Supplies are low, the locals are ornery for a sacrifice and there’s a monster more powerful than Graf lurking in the woods. New men are hard to come by in this lonesome town, and this handsome stranger might be Jessa’s only hope for salvation.

Even if she has to die first…(from netgalley.com)

In American Vampire, Jennifer Armintrout boils down humanity to its worst and then adds a vampire. It's not saying much that the vampire is the best of the bunch, is it?

Penance is cut off from the real world, a la The Twilight Zone, and the people who live there are hunted by a monster. Graf starts out his accidental visit to Penance with plans to suck everybody dry. He doesn't think much of humans, it appears, but ends up having to ingratiate himself on Jessa lest he end up sleeping, or rather baking, in the trunk of his little sports car. Jessa wants no part of him; life in Penance is hard enough without having to stretch supplies that much more. The people of Penance have regressed back to the Salem witch trials; outsiders are not accepted and suspicions run high. There's not much reason in Penance and it's a very scary place, even without the monster.

I liked American Vampire but not quite as much as I had expected. The plot was interesting, certainly unlike anything else I've read lately even if it was a bit predictable, especially the ending. Graf comes off as a jerk more often than not but redeems himself by the end. Jessa is sad, desperate, and defeated enough to throw out all her self-respect but who wouldn't be under the circumstances? In the end, I felt that American Vampire lacked the same spark that I saw in The Turning, book one in Armintrout's Blood Ties series.

American Vampire is available on Feb. 22, 2011.

Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours.

But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal. (from kierstenwhite.com)

Evie isn't normal. She has no family and lives in a government facility. Her best friend is a mermaid who lives in a big fish tank and has to speak using a machine like Stephen Hawking. She works for a company that gathers up supernatural creatures like vampires or werewolves; her job is to find and tag them so that they're "neutered," or no longer able to harm anyone. She is starved for teenage interaction and obsesses over a television show akin to 90210. Evie is a kind person who only wants to be good. And don't forget, normal.

At first, I wasn't sure what to think of Evie. Sometimes worldly but more often naive, she jumps when her "boss" and surrogate mother, Raquel, says how high. She has to occasionally fend off her faerie ex, Reth, stalker that he is, and this makes her seem, well, normal. But then she wanders around IPCA's facility, blithely going along, not questioning anything. This is basically her life until she catches an intruder, a shape-shifter boy named Lend, who is breaking into Raquel's office. He and Evie hit it off right from the start even though the IPCA has him in a cell and wants to know what his agenda is. Lend helps Evie open her eyes to what her life is like and moreover, to herself. Is she human or not? Why is she always so cold and what is she to IPCA - an employee or an inmate? By the end of Paranormalcy, I had a much better sense of Evie and so did she.

Paranormalcy is a nifty little YA novel. It took me only a few hours to read it (just finished this evening, actually) but it kept my eyes riveted to its pages throughout. I could have lived without some of the more stereotypical teenage stuff like the prom but with a heroine who aches to be a typical teenager, what else could I have asked for? With an interesting (if not a bit predictable) plot and a likable heroine, Paranormalcy is a good addition to the YA genre.

The next chapter in Kiersten White's trilogy, Supernaturally, will be released in Fall 2011.

Review: Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

Rose Hathaway has always played by her own rules. She broke the law when she ran away from St. Vladimir's Academy with her best friend and last surviving Dragomir princess, Lissa. She broke the law when she fell in love with her gorgeous, off-limits instructor, Dimitri. And she dared to defy Queen Tatiana, leader of the Moroi world, risking her life and reputation to protect generations of dhampir guardians to come.

Now the law has finally caught up with Rose - for a crime she didn't even commit. She's in prison for the highest offense imaginable: the assassination of a monarch. She'll need help from both Dimitri and Adrian to find the one living person who can stall her execution and force the Moroi elite to acknowledge a shocking new candidate for the royal throne: Vasilisa Dragomir.

But the clock on Rose's life is running out. Rose knows in her heart the world of the dead wants her back...and this time she is truly out of second chances. The big question is, when your whole life is about saving others, who will save you? (from dust jacket)

Well, it's over. (Sort of.) Last Sacrifice is last in Richelle Mead's five book YA series about vampires. A question I kept asking myself as I was reading Last Sacrifice: Why am I reading Last Sacrifice? Did I expect an ending different from the one I got? If you are a fan of this series, what did you expect? Here's what I figured would happen (and did), in very general terms:

1. Rose would end up with Dimitri. Duh! You don't spend four angst-filled books pining for the man you can't have to give up on him by the end. Poor Adrian. He didn't have a hope in hell from the very beginning. I really liked him and hope to see more of him in Bloodlines, the Vampire Academy spin-off.
2. Rose would be exonerated. Duh! She didn't do it. And Richelle Mead would probably fill us in on who did.
3. There would lots of big reveals and surprises. Duh! There has to be SOMETHING to fill up those gaps between those adoring gazes Rose gets from Dimitri (and vice versa). 
4. Everybody (except the murdered and murderer and Adrian) would get their HEA. Duh! 

Last Sacrifice is a decent end to a decent (but not great) series. As I figure to be the case with most of the other readers, I kept reading because I wanted to see Rose and Dimitri reconcile. I wanted my payoff! It was worth it to put up with Rose for that long; I find her immature and irritating most of the time. I was actually surprised (and disappointed in) the identity of Titania's murderer; I felt betrayed too. I liked him/her! (Ha! Not telling!)

Bloodlines has a release date of August 23, 2011. Will I be reading it? Probably, yes. Mead's website claims that it will be written in third person, we will get to see what happens to Sydney, and that Rose will be making an appearance. Please, may be have some more Adrian? Please?

Review: Once Upon a Scandal by Delilah Marvelle

Lady Victoria Jane Emerson left behind her girlish notions of romance when Jonathan deserted her without a backward glance. Now the time has come when she must finally choose a husband, and she has vowed to marry someone who will never break her heart.

Jonathan Pierce Thatcher, Viscount Remington, has returned home, free of all his family’s debts. Only to discover that by some miracle he has been chosen to vie for the hand of his beloved Victoria. To convince his only love to once again believe in the magic of love and the promise of desire will be his greatest challenge yet. And one he cannot fail!

Delilah Marvelle is making one heck of a splash into the world of historical romance with her Scandal series. They're not technically her first books but these are definitely getting more attention in the mainstream market. Once Upon a Scandal is the second in this series and I found it to be just as good as the first.

Victoria was less than a year away from her coming out season in London when Jonathan made a play for her heart. A complete romantic, Jonathan wooed her with sweet words and only one kiss. They were already friends but he wished to have a promise from her before he left for Venice that she would wait for him to return. It should have been seven to ten months, tops, but instead he was gone for five years. And he wouldn't tell her why he couldn't return. From Victoria's perspective, it felt like he dumped her as an afterthought. He stopped replying to the letters she wrote and forbade her cousin, his best friend, from telling her the truth about him. It broke Victoria's heart, a heart that was already fragile after losing her mother and twin brother years before, and so she never married. Fast forward five years. Victoria's father is dying from tertiary-phase syphilis and doesn't even remember her. She is informed that three men have agreed to vie for her hand in marriage and she must marry one before her father is too ill to stand at her wedding - her inheritance depends upon it. Guess who shows up that night to be one of the three? Jonathan. Victoria has to speak to each for an hour before making her decision and than marry them within a week. How does someone make a decision like this, especially with these circumstances? Where has Jonathan been the last five years? And does Victoria still love him?

Delilah Marvelle does not make life easy for her couples, does she? (See my review for Prelude to a Scandal.) I consistently find it appalling, the way that women were treated back then for I do not doubt that this scenario was likely forced upon some poor girl back then; possibly now too. Many men also didn't have it all that easy either, I suppose. Anyway, Once Upon a Scandal is a bittersweet love story. The sex theme is back, too, in a different incarnation, yet still applied to the man in the equation. Sexual abuse in literature or fiction is generally forced upon the woman and I appreciated that Marvelle is turning the tables on that. (Not that I like reading about sexual abuse in any fashion.) I also liked that Jonathan's version of romance didn't involve sexing up Victoria, exactly, as well as his devotion to her and their love. On the flip side, I felt that the villain, Marchese Casacalenda, was rather uneven. He does all these horrible things (i.e. rape, murder) because his influence and money has bought him impunity and then at the end, he voluntarily acquiesces and accepts bodily harm? That felt inconsistent and didn't make sense. On the whole though, I found Once Upon a Scandal to be a riveting story.

The Perfect Scandal, starring Marquis Moreland, one of Victoria's suitors, is the final book in this series. I will definitely be reviewing that one as well.

Once Upon a Scandal can be found in stores on January 18, 2011. The Perfect Scandal will be out on February 15, 2011.

Review: Prelude to a Scandal by Delilah Marvelle

Marriage is not the end of desire...

Lady Justine is willing to trade her good name, her reputation and her place in London’s gossip-hungry ton to secure her father’s release from prison. But when the notorious Duke of Bradford counters her offer with a proposal of marriage, the stakes grow higher still. For while the smoldering lord is famous for his conquests, the man is oblivious to both her devotion and her charms. And Justine is soon afraid she has wagered all for naught…

Are you ready to be scandalized?

I have been looking forward to Delilah Marvelle's Prelude to a Scandal ever since I read the article on her in RT Book Reviews magazine. Finding new authors to get excited about is one of my favorite things to do EVER and so I couldn't wait to get a copy of this book.

The Duke of Bradford is a man who needs a wife that can handle him and his problems and Lady Justine is his perfect match, the liberal-minded daughter of a scandalized scientist who writes research papers discussing the sexual habits of animals and landed himself in jail. She needs money and influence and he needs a wife. It certainly doesn't hurt that Bradford has been obsessing about Justine for years and Justine is infatuated with him as well. She's the type who can keep him on the straight and narrow and I appreciated her for it. I liked Justine even more when she gave him her copy of How to Avoid a Scandal, the ladies' guide for navigating society without trouble. That took spunk.

Not surprisingly, the main topic of this book is sex. Sex addiction to be more specific. In most romances of this particular genre, sex is a focus but it's relatively normal as it's fun for the main characters; but here the main man is fighting his compulsion for his sanity. It takes a careful writer to treat this scenario without judgment and compassion and Delilah Marvelle is more than up to the task, her treatment of Bradford realistic. On the whole, Bradford is a decent man but when his compulsions take over, he's crude and thoughtless. He feels shame for his lack of control and has changed his rakehell ways to become master of his own domain.

Delilah Marvelle packs quite a bit into the first book in her Scandal series. I am looking forward to reading books two and three, Once Upon a Scandal and The Perfect Scandal, respectively.

Prelude to a Scandal is now available in stores.

Audiobook Review: Vision in White by Nora Roberts

The first book in the Bride Quartet—following the lives and loves of four friends who run Vows, a wedding-planning company. Wedding photographer Mackensie “Mac” Elliot is most at home behind the camera, but her focus is shattered moments before an important wedding rehearsal when she bumps into the bride-to-be’s brother…an encounter that has them both seeing stars.

A stable, safe English teacher, Carter Maguire is definitely not Mac’s type. But a casual fling might be just what she needs to take her mind off bridezillas. Of course, casual flings can turn into something more when you least expect it. And Mac will have to turn to her three best friends—and business partners—to see her way to her own happy ending. (from noraroberts.com)

The book:

Weddings are not my thing. I mean, they're lovely and they always make me cry but when I got married, it was in a courthouse and I was happy with that. Thrilled, in fact, because planning anything on that scale gives me hives. For that reason, I had avoided this series.

Nora Roberts has written more than one trilogy where three friends end up working together to create a multi-faceted company, for example, the Key Trilogy. For what it's worth, Vision in White is a trademark Nora Roberts book filled with female solidarity among strong women and handsome men who are their perfect matches. There is humor along with a personal crisis for Mac that allows Carter to ride in on his white horse. The thing is, there's no adversity here, at least none that isn't in the form of bridezillas. In the trilogies, there is a goal, something that bonds everyone and brings them together. Even her annual standalone novel has a goal in it. True, these four women in the Bride Quartet are life-long friends who own a company together, but it didn't feel the same.

I liked this book, liked it enough to pick up book two, Bed of Roses, but maybe not enough to want to see the whole series through to the end. (She always saves the real ballbusters for the end and Parker seems to fit that to a T.) So far, it appears that each book will be similar enough to make me feel like I'm reading the same book four times over with different wallpaper in each.

The audiobook:

Emily Durante narrated Vision in White and even though I've not had much experience with audiobooks I felt that her performance was missing something though I can't put my finger on exactly what. Her voice was pleasant enough but I laughed out loud the first time I heard her voice for Carter. All the male voices, actually. The female voices, with the exception of Mac's mother, all sounded pretty much the same. It occurred to me several times while listening that I might have enjoyed Vision in White a bit better if I had actually read a hard copy. Listening to Vision in White was a pleasant enough distraction while driving or doing things around the house but I didn't really dig it.

Review: Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord by Sarah MacLean

Since being named "London's Lord to Land" by a popular ladies' magazine, Nicholas St. John has been relentlessly pursued by every matrimony-minded female in the ton. So when an opportunity to escape fashionable society presents itself, he eagerly jumps - only to land in the path of the most determined, damnably delicious woman he's ever met.

The daughter of a titled wastrel, Lady Isabel Townsend has too many secrets and too little money. Though she is used to taking care of herself quite handily, her father's recent passing has left Isabel at sea and in need of outside help to protect her young brother's birthright. The sinfully handsome, eminently eligible Lord Nicholas could be the very salvation she seeks.

But the lady must be wary and not do anything reckless and foolish...like falling madly, passionately in love.

Sarah MacLean's debut, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, knocked my socks off. Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord was good but didn't make 'em twitch.

Isabel is already beautiful if not one step above poverty and the last thing she wants is a man. Nicholas is successful and wanted by every eligible respectable (and some not) woman in London. So my question is: why did MacLean go so completely opposite of NRtBWRaR? I wouldn't expect her to write the same book over and over but she found a formula that worked for her. This book wasn't even set (mostly) in London. TWtBAWLaL didn't have the same spark and the romance bits felt a bit repetitive but not necessarily boring.

The third book in the St. John series, Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart, comes out on April 26, 2011. I have high hopes for that one as I want to see Juliana, the illegitimate half-sister to Ralston and Nicholas, kick some haughty duke butt because that guy definitely needs a kick in his butt. Once you've read Ten Ways to Be Adored When Landing a Lord you'll know who. And why it's got the perfect title.

Review & Giveaway: Bloodshot by Cherie Priest

Raylene Pendle, (AKA Cheshire Red), a vampire and world-renowned thief, doesn't usually hang out with her own kind. She's too busy stealing priceless art and rare jewels. But when the infuriatingly charming Ian Stott asks for help, Raylene finds him impossible to resist - even though Ian doesn't want previous artifacts. He wants her to retrieve missing government files: documents that deal with the secret biological experiments that left Ian blind. What Raylene doesn't bargain for is a case that takes her from the frozen outskirts of Minneapolis to the mean streets of Atlanta. And with a psychotic, power-hungry scientist on her trail, a kick-ass drag queen at her side, and Men in Black popping up at the most inconvenient moments, the case proves to be one hell of a ride.

This is my first book review from the loot I brought home from NYCC 2010. Yes, I am that lazy.  But guess what? I'm giving this one away to whoever wins my first giveaway! I'm so nice.

So, Bloodshot. It felt a bit uneven to me and took me a long time to get into it. There was a period between pages fifty and 100 where I considered calling it quits but I am glad I didn't because things really pick up after that. And I have to say that pairing up a vampire and a former Navy SEAL drag queen was definitely something new for me. When I read that line on the back about the "kick-ass drag queen" I immediately got a picture of Sally Sweets in my head from Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. (Sadly, I haven't run across that many drag queens in my books.) Adrian is no Sally, let me assure you. Not even close.

Raylene is a contradiction. She's an eighty-odd-year-old vampire who is a discriminating thief and surrogate mother for two runaway kids who live in an old building she owns where she stashes all her stolen goods. She's thoughtful and paranoid. She also kills without compunction, for either food or in battle. At the beginning and with the exception of the two kids, she's all alone in the world. She doesn't know the real names of her fellow thieves/mercenaries/etc. and only generally has conversations with one of her best clients, a man who lives across the country. By the end, she has friends. A family, almost.

I mostly liked Raylene and I know I liked her sense of humor. I think Cherie Priest was trying to make Raylene a total badass but she fell a little short and sounded a bit dated to me; repeatedly referring to the government as "Uncle Sam" sounds old. She has the vamp skills and all but the paranoia and anal-retentiveness of being super prepared made her somehow seem diminished, not sure of herself and ready to roll instead of confident. She's tenacious though, I will give her that.

Despite my issues with Raylene, I did like Bloodshot enough to want to find out what will happen in the next book. I want to know what happens with Ian and Sister Rose, as well as find out more about Raylene's history with the vampire Houses. Sounds a bit like Chloe Neill's Chicagoland vampires series setup. Cherie Priest has created an more than interesting world with Bloodshot and I hope to see more of it in the future.

Bloodshot will be released on January 25, 2011.

About the giveaway: Anyone who would like my copy of Cherie Priest's Bloodshot should leave a comment with your name and email address between now and November 30, 2010 to enter. The winner will be chosen at random. I will mail Bloodshot to the winner personally.

Review: Nicola Cornick's Scandalous Women of the Ton trilogy

Over the past year, I've become a fan of Nicola Cornick and so when I saw that Netgalley.com was offering Mistress by Midnight as an egalley I quickly requested it, bought Whisper of Scandal from B&N, and picked up a paperback copy of One Wicked Sin when I saw it at Target. This first trilogy, called The Scandalous Women of the Ton is about all the usual Victorian historical romance things but they're done well enough that I didn't mind that they're not all that original.

Whisper of Scandal starts off this series with Lady Joanna Ware. Joanna is the society darling widow of a famous explorer who is lauded for his discoveries and has a reputation of a saint. The saint's colleague, Lord Grant, is forced into a situation with Joanna when a provision in her husband's will grants her and Lord Grant custody of his illegitimate daughter, a small child who is living in an orphanage in northern Russia, near the Arctic Circle. Alex (Lord Grant) has many strong (read: negative) opinions about Joanna and her lifestyle but it's not until he gets to know her that he realizes just how unhappy her life really was with her husband. Joanna and Alex are both well-written characters, each as strong and vulnerable as the other, and I liked them both.



One Wicked Sin features Lady Joanna's supposed best friend, Lottie Cummings. Lottie spent most of Whisper of Scandal sleeping with every man who caught her attention and her husband had finally had enough. She has since been divorced and disowned by her family; now she's a prostitute in a brothel.  When she is approached by Ethan Ryder, a devastatingly handsome Irish illegitimate son of a duke who is prison for fighting against England for France who wants her to be his mistress and come live in the small village in which he is sequestered, she realizes she can't say no. She also realizes that she won't be able to keep her heart from falling for Ethan. Ethan has other ideas including using Lottie as a diversion for his real passion: dismembering England's prison system. There is some weak political intrigue here but it didn't add anything worthwhile to the plot. Lottie and Ethan are two desperate people who left me a bit cold; their romance was pretty sad and while I was happy for them by the end - which had a rather ridiculous rescue - I didn't like them all that much on the way.


Mistress by Midnight wrapped up this trio with Merryn Fenner, Lady Joanna's younger sister. Merryn is a bluestocking, the English version of a nerd, and leads a double life: when she's not attending lectures and poring through books she works secretly for an inquiry agent to gather evidence against Garrick Northesk, Duke of Farne and Lord Grant's half-brother, for the murder of her and Joanna's brother Stephen in a duel years before. Stephen had been sleeping with Garrick's wife and ended up fatally wounded by gunshot. Merryn has been obsessed with her belief that Garrick shot Stephen in cold blood, not in the alleged duel, and should be brought to justice. Of course, she hadn't counted on her attraction to Garrick, also a childhood crush of hers, and finds it extremely difficult to maintain her hatred the more she is around him. Garrick is keeping a huge secret, one that would shatter Merryn's love for her brother, and he can't bear to be the one responsible for breaking her heart. I liked these two a bit more than Ethan and Lottie, but was disappointed in Merryn. Consumed by her grief for the brother she'd put on a pedestal, she sacrificed everyone else's feelings in the process, including Joanna's. For all her determination, she is quite naive and easily manipulated. If you're going to do your worst to ruin a man you'd better have done your homework and she didn't. Merryn came off as a stubborn child, one who would have cut off her nose to spite her face, and I didn't like her which surprised me; the other glimpses of her in the first book gave me another impression. I did like Garrick, a fairly honorable man put into an awful position. Otherwise, the mystery and drama were pretty good and kept me wondering until the happily ever after ending. Cornick's website (go HERE to see it) has hinted that there will be more in this series next year.