Any Price by Gail Faulkner

I know I have read this author in the past, but after finishing this book I can see why I did. I’ll start off by saying I did enjoy this book, but I’ll also admit that at the beginning of the book I was having a hard time getting into it. I was having a hard time because I became a bit confused at the lack of exposition at the beginning. I know that the “man behind the curtain” is usually explained at the end, but there are at least some bread crumbs to tide you over. I felt as if I had no clue why Lore and Kenna were so drawn together and their paranormal gifts were just shoved in my face. Whether these two issues have any grounds or make any sense, they are MY opinion.

Moving on….

The more I read the more I liked Kenna. I do wish I could’ve had more of a background on her – as far as her grandmother and her family knowing their true ancestry. The same I could say about Lore. I wanted more of a glimpse into his past before he became King. What I enjoyed most was the dynamic of the Keepers. At first glance I had the impression that the Keepers were meant to “serve” the One and the Keeper of the Treasure. After reading more I was happy to discover that between the Keepers there wasn’t a caste system, they did not live to serve the One and the Keeper. It was more like a large family whom were further enhanced by the Keeper of the Treasure, Kenna, and the One, Lore.  I enjoyed the variety of secondary characters that Gail Faulkner used. Case in point, the Keeper Boris whose family originated in Egypt, but in order to survive had to assimilate by intermarrying into European culture.

The chemistry between Lore and Kenna was so intense my laptop monitor was literally smoking. I found myself chanting do it every time they had a moment alone together. GF is very good at teasing the daylights out of her readers. As for the secondary characters, the inner circle of Keepers, I appreciated the individuality of each of them. They all had their own strengths, i.e. powers, and their own personal connection to the Keeper of the Treasure. At the precise moment where I decided I needed to know where these Keepers came from and how they evolved into them GF dropped that info into my lap. I wasn’t distracted by my ‘need to know’ and that was absolutely awesome. I became so firmly invested in Lore and Kenna’s story I was literally sick to see the About the Author page.  I’m happy to report that there will be more Keepers’ stories.

I give this series starter a Medium/High rating and definitely recommend it. To me, it would make an excellent series on the Syfy channel.   Hint hint : There is room now since Eureka is ending.

Darkness Dawns ( Immortal Guardians 1) by Dianne Duvall

Once, Sarah Bingham's biggest challenge was making her students pay attention in class. Now, after rescuing a wounded stranger, she's landed in the middle of a battle between corrupt vampires and powerful immortals who also need blood to survive. Roland Warbrook is the most compelling man Sarah has ever laid hands on. But his desire for her is mingled with a hunger he can barely control . . .

In his nine centuries of immortal existence, no woman has tempted Roland as much as Sarah. But asking her to love him is impossible -- when it mean forfeiting the world she's always known, and the life he would do anything to protect.

This is my first time reading Dianne Duvall; though, I have heard her name mentioned in a few of the reader’s groups I belong to.  On reading the synopsis my first thought was oh another guardian of humanity book, but after reading an excerpt or two I decided that didn’t matter. These ‘protect humanity from the things that go bump in the night’ books are a favorite of mine. I don’t mind reading these just as long as there not the same story. The only overlap I want to read is the fact that they’re protecting humanity.

From the first page I was yanked into this story. I admit I did have to read the first few pages twice because I wasn’t sure who the villain was – the man being left for dead or the ones standing guard to make sure he was dead. I thought the hero being in trouble and in need of rescue was a good way to shake things up. Sometimes the hero is portrayed as being invincible and always one step ahead, but I appreciate a good dose of reality. My favorite character out of this entire book has to be Sarah. She was the perfect combination of damsel in distress and Xena Warrior Princess. If her back was against the wall she could defend herself, but she still would need rescuing from her Immortal Guardian lover. Roland was a runner up. DD did a good job of making Sarah and Roland the perfect couple. Sarah was open and aggressive where Roland was silent and brooding. She drew him out of his shell and the readers, as well as the other guardians in the book, were able to see a different side of Roland – the direct opposite of his previous persona.

I think it’s very important to point out that this book is NOT chocked full of love scenes. If plentiful sex scenes are a necessity to you then you would NOT enjoy this book. Personally, sex scenes are a necessity, but there doesn’t have to be one in every chapter. I can honestly say I could’ve done with one more, but I still loved this book. There was enough scheming, conspiracy and conflict that I was satisfied.

I was intrigued by how DD explained the guardian’s existence, tying it in with vampirism and attributing it to being a virus that not everyone can survive. I was especially intrigued by the fact that the leader of the guardians, Seth, had some secret knowledge about their origins but kept it to himself for the ‘greater good.’ The fact that your chances of being successfully transformed into a guardian is dependent upon your status as psychically gifted or not reminded me of another author’s series, but that’s where the similarities ended. These psychic individuals are not just mates for guardians, but are potential guardians themselves. I also thought it was great that Seth had a connection with each of the guardians as well as the potentials. He could tell when a potential guardian was born, when one was converted and when one died. If there was any doubt on how heavy Seth’s burden was this clarified it. I am already anticipating his story. All in all, this was a good read and I recommend it and the series.

Lisa Renee Jones - The Legend of Michael (Zodius Series)

HE IS A LETHAL WEAPON...
One of an army of human soldiers injected with alien DNA, Michael is a legend within this new race, split between good and evil. Untamable, he has walked on the dark side and returned to the light. Feared and misunderstood, he leaves everything behind, including the one woman destined to be his mate.

HE IS HER ENEMY...AND HER DESTINY...
Cassandra holds the key to Michael's power, and his pain. With loyalties divided and against insurmountable odds, Cassandra's heart propels her to Michael's side-but can her love do anything but destroy him...

No ordinary woman can control a creature such as Michael, and only one thing is clear-the world will never be the same...

I was given this title by a fellow member of one of the many yahoo reader’s groups that I belong to. As soon as she mentioned soldiers, alien DNA and mate I knew that I would enjoy this book. I love the super soldier idea coupled with mate bonding as a by-product. In my opinion the best part of this book is the deeply embedded tension between Michael and Cassandra. If nothing else happened in the book the fact that Cassandra’s father, General Powell, created the immunization that altered Michael’s DNA is enough. I was unsure how the soldiers would treat Cassandra because of the fact that her father made them the way they are.

I enjoyed the pace of this book. Things moved pretty quickly before slowing down to the ‘meat and potatoes’ of the book. From their initial meeting, to their dating, and finally to their separation I wasn’t sure where the story was headed. I knew there was going to be a revolution from the military men altered with the alien DNA, but I had no idea Lisa Renee Jones would twist the revolution to split the men in two – Renegades vs Zodius.

I think starting this Zodius series with Michael’s story was a great choice. Michael, the Dark One, is supposed to be the boogeyman of the super soldiers. It impressed me how deep-seeded General Powell’s dislike for Michael goes, but what is even more amazing is the deeper you get into the book the more you see why he despises Michael. It’s not just because Michael is pursuing a relationship with Cassandra, but there is a full laundry list of reasons. I also like the fact that there is more than just one villain. There’s the obvious, General Powell, with his ‘save the U.S. agenda by any means necessary’ and coming out of nowhere is a super soldiers named Adam who has developed the ability to communicate with wolves. The fact that their enhanced abilities originated from an alien sample stored at Area 51 is the perfect basis for this series. Using Area 51 means Lisa Renee Jones didn’t have to create any involved alien back story she just used a pre-existing government cover up to explain the idea of super soldiers.

If you love sexy soldiers, smart women (no damsels in distress NEED NOT APPLY), and struggles for power in present day United States – you’ll love this book. Although, technically I didn’t pick up on any evidence that this was present day events. In other words, this could be happening in the future for all the reader knows.



Wrangled and Tangled: A Blacktop Cowboy Novel by Lorelei James

Blurb courtesy of Amazon.com :

Janie Fitzhugh and Abe Lawson have long been divorced and living apart. Now she's back in town, a changed woman-making cattleman Abe want to wrangle an invitation to her bed...
To get his dream ranch, Renner Jackson has partnered with spoiled daddy's girl Tierney Pratt. She thinks she can handle this cowboy, but Renner won't make it easy. Little do they know they will be entangled in ways neither dreamed possible?

If you can’t say anything about Lorelei James (LJ) you have to say that she can sure write hot love scenes. I am a regular reader of LJ and I know that I need to make sure that my fan is in working order and my icebox is full. Her love scenes are NUCLEAR blow your ears off hot. I have no idea how to describe her love scenes; sometimes they’re hard core f*$&ing and sometimes they’re hot sex, but regardless they’re hot as Hell.

The best thing about this book, in my opinion, is the fact that its two couple’s (Janie/Abe & Renner/Tierney) story and not just one. Janie and Abe is a previously married couple and their story is about the two trying to find their way back to each other. Tierney is a financial advisor whose father is backing Renner’s cowboy resort and the two are like oil and vinegar. They rub each other raw just by being in the same room together.  Out of the two I was more interested in Tierney and Renner. The minute it was mentioned Tierney tossed a drink in Renner’s face I knew I loved Tierney. She was a shy spitfire. She didn’t take any of Renner’s crap and stuck to her guns. I think Tierney was my favorite character of them all because of her personality. She threw herself into everything wholeheartedly. If she believed in something, relationship or work, she gave it her all. She didn’t let her inexperience hold her back.

As for Abe and Janie, I wasn’t 100% on their team. At first, I wasn’t totally on board with Abe’s about face in the sex department. But the more I read the more I agreed with his metamorphosis. He and Janie were young when they married and hadn’t explored, nor developed, their sexual desires completely so if you think about it that way then Abe’s preferences are believable. I wasn’t a fan of Janie because of self-centered she was. It seemed as if everything should revolve around her. She didn’t know what was going on with Abe because she was too self-absorbed to see it. She didn’t seem to take any accountability for the breakup of her and Abe’s marriage.  Even though she was young when it happened she was still walking around with the frame of mind that none of it was her fault. I give LJ kudos for creating such a realistic, life-like character because we all know someone as one-track minded as her.

The pace of the book goes pretty fast, but not so fast that you can’t keep up. LJ does an excellent job of separating each couple’s story. I was never confused when reading. As far as the two couples interacting with each other, they do a time or two, but for the most part their stories and struggles are separate entities.

I give this my high rating for the sexy cowboys, never say day female characters and hot love scenes.

Found by Evangeline Anderson (Book 4 in the Brides of the Kindred series)

Official Book Summary:

A warrior with a scarred heart who doesn’t know how to love. And the woman who must teach him how before it’s too late…

The son of the evil AllFather, Xairn is filled with conflicting emotions. On one hand, he has finally gained his freedom and cut the ties that bound him to his race and the sadistic male who is his father. But doing so has unleashed feelings in him Xairn would rather keep buried. Desires that he prayed would never manifest now rage through him and they are centered on one woman alone…

Lauren Jakes is the long lost cousin Liv and Sophie never knew they had. Abducted by the Scourge, she formed a connection with Xairn more meaningful than any other in his life. But though Lauren thinks she knows him, there is more to the huge Scourge warrior than she comprehends. A nightmare childhood and a cruel father have scarred Xairn’s heart almost past the point of healing. But that is nothing to the secret inside him—the forbidden desires coded into his very DNA itself, which urge him to commit unspeakable acts in order to sate his newly awakened hunger.

Now a conflict is brewing—both in Xairn’s soul, and aboard the Fathership where the twisted AllFather has hatched a new, malicious plot to bring his estranged son home. Can Xairn resist the brutal lust growing within him? Can he fight against his very nature which urges him to dominate and control any female he mates? Can Lauren heal his heart before the AllFather’s trap closes on both of them?
And can she teach him how to love before it’s too late?

I have been anticipating this story from the moment Lauren was introduced into this series. I can admit I was super excited mainly because Lauren is half African-American. I was able to identify more with her. I will start this review by saying if you are unfamiliar with the Brides of the Kindred series go back to the beginning and start with Claimed. You, speaking to the interested readers, will be lost if you have not read at least the first or second book in this series. Some books can be read as stand-alones, but this is not one of them. For maximum appreciation of the characters, their struggles and the climax of this book it’d be best to have some familiarity with the characters.

The best thing about this book is the price. With the increase in e-book piracy Evangeline Anderson has tried her best to make it unnecessary for people to pirate her material. You can’t beat $2.99. And with that being said on with the review.

The length of this book is a hard core fan’s wet dream. Long, strong and full of the delicious bits that categorize a book as re-readable. What are the juicy bits? SEX. ACTION. MURDER. CONFLICT.FRICTION.PRESSURE.DREAD. It’s all in here. One thing that Evangeline Anderson is good at is breaking up predictability. After reading the book summary, some may be under the impression that the book is about Xairn and Lauren exclusively. It’s not just about Lauren and Xairn finding a way for her to get home to Earth and for them to be together. It’s so much more than that. Yes, the end game is for Lauren to be reunited with her family on Earth and for Xairn to be free of his enemy of the galaxy evil father, but there is so much that happens in between. If you are familiar with this series then you will appreciate the reappearance of characters from the previous books in the series. If you wanted updates on the lives of these characters, as I sure did, they have their moments.

Out of all of the books in the series, this one and Claimed are a tie for my favorites. I went into reading this book with the idea that this was a hopeless love affair. Xairn’s father, the Scourge AllFather, was pure evil and he had deep-seated issues thinking that he was hard-wired the same way. Xairn was my favorite character in the entire series. The struggle outside of him had nothing on the struggle going on inside of him. There was such pressure and fear that he would turn out to be like his father that it made him such a perfect mate for Lauren.

As far as Xairn being Scourge (a despised and reviled race), I give Evangeline Anderson major kudos for incorporating BDSM into the Scourge culture. I thought how the Scourge distorted the idea of Alpha males and dominate personalities into this cruel, misshapen society was a great angle to work. And because Xairn had never acted on his the BDSM lifestyle that is so much a part of his race I could not wait to see how he’d unleash it on Lauren.

The one thing I do have to mention is that the number of “complete” sexual encounters between Xairn and Lauren is not plentiful. There’s a lot of sexual suffering and abstinence going on between the two before they finally get down to the get down. In my opinion this was not a bad thing, but it was more than a little frustrating. I do understand the why of it, but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with. When they finally do handle it let me tell you sparks are flying off the page. Those two are hot as Hell. Xairn is Alpha to the T and Lauren is submissive enough to make things interesting.

I for one enjoyed this book and after contacting her via email I’ve discovered the series will continue. So I will stick around for the next in the series.

Available for purchase at All Romance Ebooks

Finding the Lost by Shannon K. Butcher



After another search through my TBR list I found Finding the Lost Book 2 in the Sentinel Series by Shannon K. Butcher (SB). This is my first time reading this author and I can't say that I wasn't impressed.SB created such a fantastic world that I could feel every bit of tension, action and pain involved. I give her a ten just for injecting the correct amount of angst and unrequited love between the characters.

Andra is not your quintessential paranormal romance heroine, small and in dire need of protection. Her character does in fact need protection, but Andra is capable on her own. She's tall, buff, independent and possesses a drive to destroy all monsters like the ones that destroyed her family. The monsters responsible, the Synestryn, attacked her younger sister as well as murdering her mother and baby sister. Because of this Andra has dedicated her adult life to searching out and rescuing missing children.

The book begins with Andra in the process of rescuing a missing 6 year old boy. Little does she know that Paul, a Theronai warrior (a.k.a a Sentinel) charged with protecting humans, has been searching for her. He is searching for her because she belongs to a bloodline of women that have the ability to absorb the power stored inside of Theronai warriors. This is a fatal illness for the Theronai because if they do not find their chosen mate the power inside them which makes them so powerful will inadvertently kill them if it doesn't find an outlet. Paul’s character is first introduced in an extreme amount of never-ending agony and only Andra can relieve it.

Talk about down to the wire. Will Andra accept him in time to save his life? If she's a potential mate does that mean Nika is? The more I read the more questions I had and the more helpless I felt for the Theronai. All of these warriors are fighting for the good of humanity and they are each on the brink of death unless they find their mates. Andra’s little sister Nika, the one attacked by the Synestryn, was psychically injured by this attack and Andra hopes by absorbing Paul's power she will be able to save Nika. And as such I wasn't surprised when she so readily accepted Paul's power. She hopes that by absorbing enough of his power she’ll be able to heal her sister.

If you're looking for something that is non-stop in your face-doesn't-give-you-a-moment-to-calm-down-action then look no further. There's major tension and suspense between Paul and Andra, there's suspense with the Nika issue, there's suspense within the Sentinels and the issue of limited mates...there’s a veritable smorgasbord of tension. I feel the best plot devices this series possesses are the Sentinel tattoos and how quickly the Sentinels can feel relief when they meet their mates. Each Sentinel has a tattoo of a tree complete with leaves and the closer they approach a fatal build up power the more leaves fall from their tree. In essence the warriors with the least amount of leaves are the warriors whom are at Death's door. Once a Sentinel finds his mate and they touch, the pain created by the power build up dissipates in preparation for the transference of this power.

There is so much to love and appreciate in this series. Though, I started with book two I do plan to go back and read book one. So before anyone asks I wasn’t lost by jumping in the pool at two. There was enough exposition so that I was able to catch on quickly. There was also enough character development that the reader will be ensnared enough to want to read the rest of the series.



In Bed with a Highlander by Maya Banks



To be completely honest I have read Maya Banks before, but was never really impressed. I definitely changed my opinion after reading In Bed with a Highlander.

IBwaH is the story of Mairin Stuart and Ewan McCabe. Mairin is the niece of the King of Scotland and has been living her life in hiding. This all comes to an end when she is stolen from the convent she lived in and held hostage for her dowry and holdings. She escapes with a help of a young boy Crispen, only to be rescued by the clan McCabe.

The first thing I noticed was the similarities between this book and Julie Garwood’s “Ransom.” I can’t go into too many details without posting a spoiler, but suffice to say I thought the two were very similar. Not carbon copies, but pretty similar.

I loved Mairin’s sassiness and her determination to not back down. She was brave without being foolhardy. I fell in love with her character as soon as she put herself between harm’s way and Crispen. When she was introduced to the clan I appreciated how fast the clan did NOT warm up to her. In many stories the heroine is introduced to her new or future family and is opened with loving arms regardless of her connection to the villain of the story. For this book, that was not the case and I appreciated that realism. A group of people struggling to survive shouldn’t be so accepting of someone they do not know. Another piece of realism I appreciated and applauded was how fast Laird McCabe presented himself as a suitor for Mairin. Once it became known who she was and her importance, Laird McCabe became as ruthless and as opportunistic as expected. I didn’t want his character to beat around the bush and act as if he didn’t really need Mairin and the resources she provided when he actually did. The best thing about Ewan’s character was his honesty. He was always truthful even when it could better aid his cause. The villain was everything you expect him to be. Sneaky, conniving, dishonest and cowardly. The best thing about this book is that every problem did not have an easy solution.  The discord between McCabe and the villain Laird Cameron and Mairin’s part in it all was not easily solved by the King of Scotland. In fact, the “King’s” involvement only adds to the struggle between these three.

I enjoyed this book and plan to continue the series to see how Ewan’s brothers end up.

*Sorry for the short review, but life currently has its claws in me.