Book Reviews: Demonica Books 1 through 4

I have very much enjoyed these stories. I just started the fifth story, but I thought I would write quick reviews for the first four and the mini-book. Thank you to Rheana, Jen, and Eli for helping me read all of these and your recommendations. I needed brain candy to distract me and these are fantastic for that.

Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione
A wonderful story which I read second. I made a mistake when I borrowed it from a friend. She lent me a book so I read it. I had no idea I had asked for the wrong book. So although I read it second, it was a great book. In Pleasure Unbound, you meet Eidolon, said Eye-duh-lawn, a demon doctor running an underground hospital for paranormal creatures such as himself. We also meet Tayla, a slayer, who's job is to put paranormals like Eidolon into the grave. It's a very fun Romeo and Juliet or Buffy and Spike kind of story. You meet Eidolon's brothers who are just as crazy, grumpy, volatile, and adorable as he is. I just love a big, burly, macho guy who turns into a puddle of goo because of his woman or a cute animal. Eidolon has all of that and more. Tayla is a wonderful sparring partner and I really enjoyed how tough she was and how she handled the brothers.

Desire Unchained by Larissa Ione
Desire Unchained was the book I accidentally read first because I got the names mixed up when I asked to borrow the books. So while I was reading it, my comments are all similar to "What the hell is going on?" But, think about it this way... there were a lot of plot points and world building pieces that have a lot of structure built around Eidolon and so when you read the second book staring his brother Shade, you can see why I was so confused. Shade is a wonderful character. He's gruff and angry, he's been tortured his entire life and when his sister is killed, he just can't cope with the emotional turmoil. He wants to kill or be killed and in walks Runa, a lethal werewolf and ex-girlfriend. Shade wakes up in a dungeon chained up next to his ex, whom the last time she was around, she was a sweet human he had just torn up emotionally. Now he sits beside her, a werewolf, not only is she pissed at him, but they're both very concerned because they're inprisoned by the person who wants them dead and who killed Shade's sister. This was an emotional story, but also very hot. Runa was a great leading lady. She's fierce and gives as good as she gets. I love that in a heroine.

Passion Unleashed by Larissa Ione
Oh, Wraith. Have I mentioned how much I love big ol' bad boys with hearts of gold? Wraith is that guy. He's big and mean and lethal. His life has been horrid, tortured from the moment he was conceived and kept in horrible conditions in such a miserable way. My heart broke hearing him explain his life before his brothers found him. Throughout the story, while Wraith is trying to help/hinder an apocalypse, we learn a little more about Wraith while he is with Serena a blessed human who is charmed with protection because she was chosen by God to protect part of Heaven. Unfortunately for Serena, Wraith needs her dead. I'm sure you can see where we're going. Serena needs to be safe, Wraith needs her dead, angels want to protect her, angels want to kill her,  demons want her dead, demons want her alive, all the while Wraith wants to hate her, but she's practically perfect and gives him a ration of shit that he doesn't want, but loves it. It's a really fun story and the ending is traumatic and shocking, but also awesome. I really liked this one a lot.

Eternity Embraced by Larissa Ione
This is a mini-story surrounding two Guardians or slayers. Andrea and Kaden. Kaden wakes up after a raid on a vampire nest and finds himself in a cell turned into a vampire. Bummer for him since his job is to kill demonspawn like himself now. He tries to figure out a way to help himself when his lover and fellow slayer comes to kill him. They promised each other they'd put the other out of their misery if this situation ever came about... unfortunately, he doesn't want to die, he kind of likes vampy-ness and Andrea doesn't want to kill him because she really loves him even though she promised him that it was just sex between them. Insert awesome, naughty, dirty story here. :)

Ecstasy Unveiled by Larissa Ione
Mmm... Lore. So Wraith is my number one demon, the others all have their greatness. Lore is in the top five :) He's grumpy and grouchy, he acts like everyone owes him a favor and most of all, he wants to keep his sister safe. Yeah, twin sister Sin. Fun name. So Lore feels like he needs a favor and owes favors left and right. This makes him a very complex character. Someone's paid him to kill the Demon brothers' human bestie, Kynan, but Kynan seems to have a guardian angel named Idess following him around and making Lore's hit much more complicated than it should. See where this is going? These are fun stories, but they are kind of predictable. Idess is badass and hot, fiesty and lethal, and pretty funny even though she has quite a chip on her shoulder and a very sturdy chastity belt in place. Lore is a sex demon who desperately needs to save his sister by killing a human who just doesn't seem to want to die. Lots of fun inside!

All of these books are in the vein of Black Dagger Brotherhood and the like. Paranormal elements, romance, erotica, mystery, and thriller elements weave in and out of fun, dark, fast paced stories.  I really enjoyed these stories and they kept my mind busy. I think the best part, beyond the hot lemons and fun action scenes, is that there is a great deal of world building involved and an incredible amount of research and planning that Larissa put into these stories. She's built a demon world, but she's also laced in so many religious tidbits and historical facts that it's almost believable that there are humans running around that are actually demons. If they look and love like the Demon brothers, bring it on :)

I'll review number six, Sin's book, Sin Undone, as soon as I finish. I'm looking forward to learning about the sister no one ever though could exist. She's full of piss and vinegar and that's always nice to see!

Monday, What are you reading?

Reading is Cool! I don't need to tell you chicks that, and dudes if there are any out there :)

So what am I reading right now?

How gorgeous is that cover?

I just started Camille by Tess Oliver on Sunday, and it's wonderful! I was initially drawn in by the cover, so beautiful! And the title. The name Camille has always been one of my most favorite names of all time.

Camille is a girl in England, I'm guessing it's around the turn of the century but it's never said, but that's my guess. And Camille lives with Dr. Bennett and they hunt werewolves. Already intrigued, no? And one night while they're out a hunting, a boy gets bit while they're trying to save him from a werewolf. Enter Nathaniel Strider, a Scottish rogue with a penchant for thieving and charming. He's naughty and adorable and about to become a werewolf. Unless, a certain young lady and her doctor guardian can decipher her father's journals and save Nathaniel from becoming their next target!

Go get it! It's on Amazon right now for .99! :D

Book Review: Black Dagger Brotherhood 5: Lover Unbound by J.R. Ward

Okay, so yeah, read this one in about 5 hours and sobbed my eyes out for the last 20 pages.

And when I say sob, I don't mean delicate, feminine little ribbons of saltwater softly trailing over flushed cheeks... no this was a torrential, cathartic, snotsobbing-style weeping. It wasn't pretty.

Vishous' story was so full of pain... I thought Zsadist's story was painful... it was. This mounted that pain and made it it's bitch.

God, my stomach still hurts.

The ending was fantastic and I adored the tête-à-tête that was V and Jane co-mingling and challenging each other. It was such a beautiful, real, raw love story. Add the mother stuff, well, for those of you who know me in real life, this all really affected me.

Vishous' story is just poignant. I don't want to say more and ruin others reading, but this was an extremely good one.

I think V's story and Z's story are by far my favorite so far.

Can't wait to read on!

Book Review: Beautiful Creatures by @KamiGarcia & @MStohl

What can I say? I loved this book! And not just because my girl Michelle Hodkin sent me a book that Kami and Margaret signed for me!

I really enjoyed getting to know Ethan and Lena... I really wanted to know them. From very early on I was attached to both of them. Some books take me a while to care about a protag, but in this story, I wanted to know them and I did really care about what was happening from  very early on.

Lena is strong, but she is self-conscious as well. She's passionate and beautiful, but she's also temperamental and has a lot on her mind for a teenage girl.

Young Ethan stole my heart pretty fast as well. He's so head over heels in love with Lena, the Caster girl down the road. He knows that he shouldn't, but he does. His dreams of her haunt him before he even knows who she is, but when he meets her, he knows she's a missing piece and will do anything to help her. Even die.

The young language and fun conversations weave perfectly within the spell casting and otherworldly beings that seem to find their way to Ethan and Lena at every turn.

And then there are the humans. They cause more problems for Lena and Ethan than the creatures! The bigoted Southern town is a character in and of itself mixed with nuts, loons, and Daughters of the Revolution. I kept picturing Ethan's best friend Link's mom as Loralie's mom, Emily, from Gilmore Girls.

I truly enjoyed this story immensely. I wish that I'd had more time to dedicate to sitting down and reading it in one sitting rather than over an entire month. It is a long one, but it is definitely worth it. Kami and Margaret have a way with words and the demonic :)

I loved being wrapped up within a fun YA Romance that was mixed with the paranormal mystery. It was a fun mix and it worked very well. It really is a great mind vacation!


Now I need Beautiful Darkness! Michi, you wanna send me that one too?!

What just happened here @maggiestiefvater?

So I didn't want to watch the teaser until I knew there were no spoilers because I am STILL reading Linger... I am making it linger because it feels like forever until Forever comes out... see what I did there.

So anyhoo. I was promised if I skipped to 1:20 I'd have no spoilers, so I did that. I watched from there on.

WTF?!

See for yourself. And remember, no spoilers!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G9QKfR8cGc&w=480&h=390]

So what do you think? If you've read Linger, don't tell me to read. I'm reading. If you've not read Linger, skip to 1:20! Then come back and tell me what you think.

I want to finish Linger so badly, but I hate waiting!!!! Ugh!

Review: Across the Universe by @BethRevis Tantalizing and terrifying.

Woah.

So I am not a big SciFi person... My childhood his riddled with dad and I watching Star Trek on Saturday mornings and we watched Star Wars together, but that is about where my Science Fiction background begins and ends. When my book girls started talking about this book, it sounded intriguing as well as having a kickass title. When several girls started an ARC tour of the book so we could blog about it as it was coming out on 01-11-11, I jumped on the list. When I got it and saw how big it was last weekend, I really was concerned if I'd be able to finish it.
SciFi's just not my thing, I'm really on a YA and Historical Fiction kick right now, it will distract me with all the technical stuff and I'll forget the plot... yeah, no. That is not at all what happened.

I started it yesterday midday. I finished it a few minutes ago.

I read in the car, at hockey, while making chicken soup from scratch with my stepmom all while convincing her to read it, curled up on the couch with Bella dog and the kitties, and in the tub tonight while trying to destress.

This book is awesome. And not like, "Yay, good yarn, kept the groundlings entertained for a while" good. This was frexing awesome!

The characters are very well drawn and even though it all happens over a matter of days, you get an entire lifetime, or three, in the pages. I immediately fell in love with Amy, the female lead character, and slowly warmed to Elder, the male. The point of view flips between the two which is something I'm glad to see more and more since I'm doing it in my own novel. I'm glad I'll not be the lone weirdo, or simple freak, as Amy is referred to in the book.

There are a lot of emotions riding throughout this story and on several occasions I was startled by the harshness and brutality that was considered "normal" on the Godspeed spaceship. The Season and the Fourth Floor had me completely disgusted and enthralled. I was also started to find myself agreeing with Eldest, the late Elder, and Elder. I know that's confusing, read the book, you'll get it. I was truly horrified by Eldest, but yet I understood his actions. I was scared by the way the late Elder behaved but also in the way I thought of how he had a semblance of the right idea... I could empathize with his choices. Then there is Elder, who you want to hug and smack repeatedly through the book. Especially at the end. He's been put in this integral role; that he never wanted, that he's not prepared for, and none of this is his fault. He does struggle so much, but yet, as Amy describes, he has this innocence and kindness muddled with the Leadership that's bred into him. I kept thinking "mancub" while reading.

There are a few scenes that I saw coming and was happy I could figure it out ahead of Amy and Elder. There are a few curveballs in there thanks to Beth's ability to turn a phrase and catch you off guard. Harley... wow. Such a wow.

The entire time you are on this stunning emotional rollercoaster. You are up with Amy who is strong and fragile, you are down with her as well when she's totally broken, but trying to stand on her own two feet in a situation that I can not totally comprehend. All the while there is a cunning, fascinating mystery thriller wrapping around an incredible social message threading it's way through this tale of power, love, strength, vulnerability, passion, anger, friendship, and peace.

If we don't have the sky, where are we?

If we can't help each other, who are we?

If we don't have truth, what do we have?

Mazel Tov Beth! You did an incredible job! And while I left with many a question, I enjoyed this book immensely. I may pick up another SciFi in the future! Care to write a sequel to help me with all the damned questions still ricocheting around my cerebrum? I hear murmurs of there being more, but no real facts... Beth? Anyone? Bueller?

Go pick it up. If you like a good mystery thriller, you won't be sorry! And check out Beth's site- bethrevis.com and the book site as well, a lot of fun stuff, including several prizes for pics of you with your book! I'm still looking for the secret page, if anyone has a cheat, hook me up!

This book is Bella approved :)

@MichelleHodkin's book cover!!!!!! SO PROUD OF MY GIRL!

I am so incredibly proud of my friend Michelle and I love Mara. I've read this already and I know it will be an incredible tale for YA and Para-thriller fans a like!

Here's my review from a while back after I had beta'd the novel-

I am one proud momma. My friend Michelle Hodkin is official. I always knew she would be :)
Look out YA world, here comes the enigmatic Mara Dyer and her incredible boy wonder, Noah Shaw. Michelle's cast of friends and family create a dynamic tapestry that envelopes you in a world of mystery and laughter. Her words grip you by the throat and heart and don't let you go til the adrenaline-pounding end. I'd like to tell you more, but I'd fave to kill you!

PREORDER AS SOON AS YOU CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!