Review: Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade

After being sent back from the light, Alona Dare - former homecoming queen, current Queen of the Dead - finds herself doing something she never expected: working. Instead of spending days perfecting her tan by the pool (her typical summer routine when she was, you know, alive), Alona must now cater to the needs of other lost spirits. By her side for all of this - ugh - "helping of others" is Will Killian: social outcast, seer of the dead, and someone Alona cares about more than she'd like.

Before Alona can make a final ruling on Will's "friend" or "more" status, though, she discovers trouble at home. Her mom is tossing out Alona's most valuable possessions, and her dad is expecting a new daughter with his wicked wife. Is it possible her family is already moving on? Hello! She's only been dead for two months! Thankfully, Alona knows just the guy who can put a stop to this mess.

Unfortunately for Alona, Will has other stuff on his mind, and Mina, a young (and beautiful) seer, is at the top of the list. She's the first ghost-talker Will's ever met-aside from his father-and she may hold answers to Will's troubled past. But can she be trusted? Alona immediately puts a check mark in the "clearly not" column. But Will is - ahem - willing to find out, even if it means leaving a hurt and angry Alona to her own devices, which is never a good idea.

Packed with romance, lovable characters, and a killer cliffhanger, Queen of the Dead is the out-of-this-world sequel to The Ghost and the Goth.

Will Killian and Alona Dare have a complicated relationship. He's alive and she's dead; she helps him manage all the other dead folks who want his help; and they're heading down a tricky road with their are we or aren't we romance. Alona has been dead for two months but hasn't changed much since then - she's still selfish and self-centered - and now things are taking a turn for the worse: her family is moving on without her and Will is starting to have doubts about her and their "purpose". When Will meets Mina, a girl who can also see (and catch) ghosts like Alona, things get even more complicated. Which will Will choose, to work for the living or the dead and will Alona still be there to help him?

Queen of the Dead is just as good (and maybe better) than The Ghost and the Goth. Kade's style and tone is pitch perfect for this YA treat of a book. There are some heavy topics addressed in QofD like mortality and morality; Will tries to figure out who is doing the right thing: is it their (his and Alona's) mission to help other ghosts resolve their issues so they can move on to who knows what or is it Mina's Order, a group of fanatical ghost-talkers who work to protect humans using methods that "kill" ghosts in ways that make him shudder when he considers what they would do to Alona. Will also learns about his father's past and abilities, something he has been desperate to know. However, Alona gets into some serious (and rather heinous) trouble on her part, leaving Will to reconcile what she's done and how he feels about her. I appreciated that there was some emotional growth for Alona here; being the center of her universe and demanding that everyone conform to her opinions and ideas was a bit trying. Even if you take into account the fact that she's really only a teenager who is a product of her environment, her attitude and outlook was pretty obnoxious. With Will on the other end of that personality spectrum, he and Alona balance each other very well and I can't wait to see what happens next. And even though it was 2 am and I couldn't for fear of waking the whole house, Queen of the Dead finished with an ending that made me want to jump up and yell "All right!"

Queen of the Dead will be released on May 31, 2011.

Review: The Vampire Dimitri by Colleen Gleason

Regency London loves a society wedding— even if there are vampires on the guest list.

Dimitri, also known as the Earl of Corvindale, should be delighted that the headstrong Maia Woodmore is getting married. His mortal ward and houseguest has annoyed—and bewitched—the Dracule nobleman too long, and denying his animal cravings grows more excruciating by the day.

Miss Woodmore’s family has a rather…complicated history with the immortals and she herself possesses a keen sensibility far beyond mere women’s intuition. Marriage will give her safety, respectability and everything else a proper young lady could wish for. Everything, that is, except passion.

In the looming battle between Dracule factions, all pretenses will shatter as Maia and Dimitri come together in an unholy union of danger, desperation and fiercest desire.

First off, I LOVE the cover. Continuing with the style of the cover of The Vampire Voss, this cover improves upon the first. The rich blue perfectly frames the intense stare of Dimitri, a rather intense man who carries many burdens on those broad shoulders of his. Maia, on the other hand, is a study in contradictions. Her body is reaching for his and her face is facing the same direction as Dimitri's but her eyes are closed. Could she possibly be conflicted? That one word is a good description of The Vampire Dimitri, for everyone wants something they can't (or shouldn't) have.

Dimitri is a lousy vampire. He's been devoting his existence to searching for a way to break his pact with Lucifer because he wants to be free of it in the worst way. He doesn't drink human blood and hasn't for about a century. He's not a man-whore like Voss and rarely succumbs to his unseemly urges. He does have one weakness (other than his Asthenia, a physical object each vampire has as their own version of kryptonite): Maia Woodmore. She drives him crazy with her demands and questions yet makes him want things like love and companionship and to make love. With HER. However, Maia is engaged to be married and her fiance has decided to finally come home from gallivanting across the Continent to fulfill his promise to her. To Dimitri, this is both a relief and a disappointment of the greatest degree, for ever since a night several years before when he saved Maia from ruin, he hasn't been able to forget her.

For her part, Maia is drawn to Dimitri as well, even after she discovers he's a vampire. She's been waiting for too long for her fiance to come home and make her respectable but now with Dimitri in her life, she's finding that she doesn't miss him as much. Maia is the oldest sister of the three and because she's not psychic like her sisters she's made herself into the boss of everybody. With their parents dead and their brother AWOL, somebody had to look out for her younger sisters and make sure they marry well. Now that Angelica is set to marry Voss and her youngest sister is still young and stashed away in Scotland, Maia's future is staring her in the face. So, who will she pick, Dimitri or her fiance?

I think I liked Dimitri's story a bit more than Voss'. No particular reason why but there is just something about a tortured man who is searching for redemption, isn't there? The villain here comes at them from the same angle as in Voss' book but for slightly different reasons even though the effect is the same: forcing Dimitri to deal with his past and to work with Maia. The Vampire Dimitri is a historical paranormal romance that doesn't fail to deliver.

The Vampire Dimitri will be released on April 19, 2011.

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: My One and Only by Kristan Higgins

Divorce attorney Harper James can't catch a break. Bad enough that she runs into her ex-hubby, Nick, at her sister's destination wedding, but now, by a cruel twist of fate, she's being forced to make a cross-country road trip with him. And her almost-fiancé back at home is not likely to be sympathetic. Harper can't help that Nick has come blazing back into her life in all of his frustratingly appealing, gorgeous architect glory. But in Nick's eyes, Harper's always been the one. If they can only get it right this time, forever might be waiting—just around the bend.

With My One and Only, Kristan Higgins has firmly cemented her already solid place among my list of favorite writers. This book had me laughing and crying (when Harper cried, I cried), shaking my fist and my head, and cursing the extra blank pages in my egalley copy since it added extra seconds while I "turned" the pages. Even though I've now read My One and Only, I'll definitely be buying my own copy when it comes out.

Harper James is a mess. Well, her personal life is anyway; she's a successful divorce attorney with a home on Martha's Vineyard. She's been dating a hunky local firefighter for a few years now and even though Dennis doesn't make her heart beat faster, she's decided that it's time for them to settle down. She even buys her own ring and proposes to him (much to his dismay) but is saved by the bell when her baby sister calls with the good news: she's getting married again for the third time! And not to just anybody but Harper's ex-husband's brother! Harper's marriage went down in flames over ten years ago and she hasn't been face-to-face with Nick since. Now she's got to see him at a wedding of all places? Harper's a "realist" when it comes to marriage and likes to quote all the stats that apply to anyone she feels needs to hear them. When she gets trapped at the lodge after the wedding and needs a ride to the airport, how can she say no to Nick when he offers to drive her himself? What could happen?

I loved this book. Harper and Nick are one of the most realistic couples I have seen in a book in quite some time. So much in love with each other but unable to stay together, Harper and Nick are the Queen and King of Misunderstandings. He takes her for granted and she can't figure out how to get his attention, they stay married for six months before something awful happens and they divorce. The thing is, marriage is a partnership, not an arrangement, and while they loved each other they obviously weren't ready to be married. We see their relationship through Harper's eyes and heart but Higgins shows this story from each perspective. She makes everything involving them seem so simple yet so complex and that's what I appreciated most about My One and Only. Ultimately, this a sweet love story about two people finally finding themselves ready to be with each other that is cleverly packaged in a cynical wrapper. 

Kristan Higgins writes some of the best women's fiction out there, she really does. My One and Only is her best yet in this reader's opinion and will be released on March 29, 2011.

Other reviews:
Everybody Needs a Little Romance
Petit Fours and Hot Tamales
Tracy's Place

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: The Perfect Scandal by Delilah Marvelle

If there is anything Tristan Adam Hargrove, fourth Marquis of Moreland, has learned to avoid, it’s scandal. For the dark and dashing lord is not only an honorable gentleman who would never seduce a woman for his own gain, he is also the author of How to Avoid a Scandal, the infamous red book that has swept like wildfire through the better part of London society.

When a raven-haired beauty arrives as his new neighbor, he knows better than to succumb to the desire he feels. He knows little about her—only that she is high born, a protégé of the Crown and completely unsuitable for the base passions he hides from the world. If only he had never glimpsed the vulnerable beauty one fateful night. If only her lips were not so ravishingly red. If only it were not already too late to save her and himself from the untamed passion he is about to unleash in the name of love.

Delilah Marvelle wraps up her Scandal trilogy with a third story involving dashing men with unusual sexual proclivities and the women who love them with The Perfect Scandal, a daunting romance between a complicated man and a passionate woman. This may be my favorite of the trio; Tristan and Zosia complement each other very well and the subject matter, as with the first two books, is handled in a compassionate manner.

Tristan has some dark secrets, aspects of himself he is ashamed of and terrified of sharing with anyone. He has isolated himself, a masterful trick for a man living in the bustling city of London as well as being one of the most well-known members of the ton. His grandmother tries to run his life and choose the woman he'll marry; his parents died when he was young in a sort of double suicide after his mother's long battle with madness and depression and she raised him after the fact. After he meets the unconventional Zosia, Tristan realizes that he has a long way to go before he can love her as she deserves.

Zosia is from Poland. She's a half-Russian countess from a family who perished in a tragic fire that caused her to lose part of one of her legs, Zosia is in hiding from the hated Russian aristocracy who wish to marry her into their ranks. Marrying an englishman will give her even more protection from Russia and King George himself has promised to find her a suitable husband. Then, she meets Tristan, her next door neighbor, and decides that he is the one for her, even if it takes some convincing on her part.

As I mentioned, Tristan and Zosia may be my favorite of the three couples in this series. Their romance was (as always) a bit naughty but they both are giving people who want the best for each other. I liked how much inner strength Zosia had and how unconcerned she was for propriety; she would more or less holler at Tristan out her bedroom window and seeing him get so disturbed by her doing this was amusing. Tristan, as the writer of that infamous book about scandals, is the essence of proper. It was a relief to see him finally, shall we say, let his hair down.

Delilah Marvelle has greatly impressed this reader with this trilogy. Not many historical romance (or otherwise) writers have the deft hand she possesses when it comes to sensitive subjects (rape, sexual addition, cutting, bondage). I will definitely read more books by this author in the future.

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: Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

At the tender age of twelve, Gideon Crew witnessed the brutal murder of his father, a scientist wrongly framed by the US government, and shot down by police during a hostage crisis.

More than twenty years later, Gideon finally gets his revenge and fulfills the promise that he made to his mother on her death bed to clear their family name.

He brings down the man who destroyed his father. But then a mysterious witness steps forward to confront Gideon on his crime - and to offer him the chance of a lifetime...

I look forward to the new Pendergast novel by Preston and Child every year and in 2011, they will have two new books to offer: Cold Vengeance, the next Pendergast, out in August; and Gideon's Sword, book one in a new series about a man named Gideon Crew.

Gideon is a genius and a retired art thief. He's also a con artist and a pretender and can become anyone in the wink of an eye. He has a legitimate job that he keeps for fun (and rent money) at the Los Alamos National Lab testing parts that are used in nuclear devices. He is not especially close to anybody.

Revenge takes up most of Gideon's time at the beginning of Gideon's Sword. His mother made him promise on her deathbed that he would make the man who murdered his father pay for it and also know who it was that hurt him. Afterward, Gideon is approached by a man with a request: come to NYC and listen to a proposal. A private company that does contract work for the government wants Gideon to retrieve some ultra-sensitive information from a Chinese national who is flying to the US against his country's wishes. Needless to say, the job becomes very complicated very quickly. Gideon enlists the help of an old acquaintance and a prostitute to complete his assignment.

Gideon's Sword reads like you're watching an action movie. There are car chases, international locales, government conspiracies, secret agents, and assassins. Exciting and, at times, unbelievable, this book is a lot of fun. The rights have already been bought by Paramount and Michael Bay so look for a movie in a few years.

Gideon's Sword will be released on February 22, 2011

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: The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa

In less than twenty-four hours Meghan Chase will be seventeen. Although, technically, she won’t actually be turning seventeen. Having spent the past year in Faery gives her the benefit of not aging.

However, Meghan’s been banished from Faery for choosing her dark prince, Ash, over the will of her powerful father, Oberon, King of the Summer court. Now Meghan, her winter prince and prankster best friend Puck try settling into a normal human life, first near New Orleans and later in a magical cottage provided by Leanansidhe, Queen of exiles. But her time in this makeshift home, and more important her time with Ash, doesn’t last as the feys of Summer, Winter and Iron courts soon track them down. She thought they’d left Faery behind forever, but pressing matters cause the three exiles to be summoned to war.

A new alliance is made, along with a few contracts, of course, and Meghan, half Summer faery princess, half human, is pressed to choose Fey over her mortal beginnings. Will she abandon her human heart for an iron will that will help her survive?

For as Meghan Chase can confirm—in real life, unlike books, faery tales don’t
necessarily have happy endings. (from netgalley.com)

As with the first two books in Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series, The Iron Queen doesn't disappoint. This is a compelling YA series and The Iron Queen in particular is written with a light but deft hand; the romance doesn't get too sappy and the action is exciting but not overwhelming. It is all too common these days for YA romances to become heavy-handed and Bella and Edward-ish and so for this series - which does have a love triangle - to manage to avoid all that is impressive. Also, Ash is way cooler than Edward. (Pun totally intended.)

The Iron Queen picks up shortly after the end of The Iron Daughter. Meghan and Ash have been exiled from Faery and are wondering what they're going to do with themselves when they are thrust back into the war with the Iron Fey. There is still a false king leading the opposition and he is winning. The iron glamour is spreading throughout Faery like a cancer and it is only a matter of time before Faery is completely fouled. The summer and winter courts ask Meghan to do the impossible a second time: kill the Iron King.

I can't say this enough: the concept behind this series is so unbelievably cool. Julie Kagawa is telling a story that we should all listen to: technology is taking over the planet and we're going to be sorry one day. Environmental politics aside, The Iron Queen is clever, sad, and sweet. I absolutely can't wait for The Iron Knight, book four and written from Ash's perspective. Here's hoping for next summer!

The Iron Queen will be out on January 25, 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.

Review: Tempest's Legacy by Nicole Peeler

After a peaceful hiatus at home in Rockabill, Jane True thinks that her worst problem is that she still throws like a girl - at least while throwing fireballs. Her peace of mind ends, however, when Anyan arrives one night with terrible news . . . news that will rock Jane's world to its very core.

After demanding to help investigate a series of gruesome attacks on females -- supernatural, halfling, and human -- Jane quickly finds herself forced to confront her darkest nightmares as well as her deepest desires.

And she's not sure which she finds more frightening. (from Hachette's website)

Tempest's Legacy is the third chapter in Nicole Peeler's wholly entertaining Jane True series. I am in love with these books. I can't get enough of them! Peeler's sense of humor, which I get a daily dose of as I'm one of her Twitter followers, makes her books a treat to read and with each new book the series gets better and better.

Reading Tracking the Tempest and Tempest's Legacy back-to-back was fun. There's lots of character development here; Jane gets stronger and more self-aware with each book. And on the man front, well, I love being right and I was when I said this in September: "I am curious to see what happens next between Jane and Ryu AND Jane and Anyan. Something tells me that the vampire won't be here to stay. Not for very long anyway." I am definitely for Anyan all the way.

I'm also liking Peeler's storyline involving "halflings," or the children of humans and purebloods. Jane, Anyan, and Ryu investigate the murders of people who worked in fertility clinics and are connected to the hideous torture and research done on purebloods. It did seem after a while that Jane's fixation on one particular individual was borderline obsession, i.e. Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, and I began to wonder if she shouldn't just give it a rest. Don't worry, Jane hasn't lost her grip on sanity yet.

Obsession aside, I laughed all throughout this book. Giggles, guffaws, and chuckles were aplenty. My favorite line from page 128: "If I pee my pants I am going to be so pissed..." I can't wait to read book four, Eye of the Tempest, to see what's in store for Jane and her friends.

Tempest's Legacy will be in stores on January 1, 2011.

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.