Tag Archives: paranormal

Let the right one in by John Ajvide Lindqvist

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Cover Let the right one in by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Not your ordinary vampire romance

In a nutshell:

Short synopsis: Oskar meets a strange girl in his apartment complex. At the same time strange murders take place in his suburb of Stockholm.

Language I read the book in: English. Translated from Swedish by Ebba Segerberg

Did I like it? Yes. A lot.

For people who: love vampires, but not the schmaltzy smooching, don’t mind a little gore.  

My thoughts: 

When I started reading I vaguely knew what was coming as John has read the book and watched the two movies and had told me a little about it. But I was not prepared for this wonderful coming of age story, combined with gore, vampires, great side characters and an overall great atmosphere. Every person in this book has a distinctive personality and the writer took his time to develop each of them. We get to know the story from various points of view and this worked very well – even though I normally don’t enjoy character jumping too much. Apart from a few people, everybody was really likeable – which is quite an achievement considering the atmosphere in this book is dark, dreary, violent and not a happy one. Everybody has problems, everybody is fighting, and it still is an uplifting story!

What I particularly liked was that a lot of the side characters had facets that you normally don’t find in books. A glue sniffing boy with a problematic background has a great sense of humour (I really felt for Tommy in many ways. Not only does he have to spend the night with Hakan in a dark cellar, he also has to put up with insufferable Staffan, which is only slightly less unsettling). Drunken bums are very well educated, literate people (how many people you know can tell that the corresponding cat to Thisbe should be named Pyramus?). I loved them all.

The vampire angle was done really well, gave vampires a bit of a new spin and was quite exciting to read about, even though I found a few situations quite disconcerting and not for the faint of heart. But not the nightmare inducing kind either, at least not for me.

I do have a couple of complaints though. The end was disappointing. The conclusion of the book was done way too quickly. After writing five hundred odd pages and after developing the relationship between Oskar and Eli slowly and in depth, the author creates an end of one page That is unacceptable. It is cut off from the previous chapter, like a time lapse where some important things were forgotten to be told. I prefer stories to fade out slowly instead of coming to an unexpected halt.

Second I feel cheated. I battled my way through a lot of unsavoury scenes all the while hoping for Johnny and his mates to get their comeuppance and then when they finally do I don’t get to savour every detail, but have to read it in a witness report the length of a couple of paragraphs! Sorry, but this just does not do it! I was deprived of my satisfaction and I did not like that.

Other than that, this was a pleasure to read. Now I must get the short story “Let the old dreams die” to find out what happened next. I am glad the author wrote it because during reading I got this nagging thought that maybe Eli is just having Oskar around as the new caretaker, and I need to know that this is not so. 

Product info and buy link :

Title Let the right one in
Author John Ajvide Lindqvist
Publisher Quercus Publishing
ISBN 9781847248480
I got this book from we already had it lying around
Buy link Buy Let the right one in

If you click on the buy link above you will be taken to The Book Depository.co.uk. If you buy the book through this link I will earn a small commission. You can find my general affiliate links to The Book Depository, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com here.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.

B.P.R.D. Being Human by Mike Mignola and others

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No, I still am not reading graphic novels. This is another review by John.

being_human Blurb:

Mike Mignola”s strangest heroes, in their earliest adventures! In terrifying tales of witchcraft and the undead, Abe Sapien, Roger, Liz Sherman, and Johann Kraus learn the ropes as agents of the Bureau For Paranormal Research and Defense! Abe reels with the guilt of surviving a mission that killed more experienced agents, Roger goes on his first adventure with Hellboy, Liz tells the story of how she killed her family, and Johann Kraus dies!

 

 

 

In a nutshell:

John read it in: English

He liked it:   Yes     

For people who like: graphic novels for mature readers, tales of the supernatural, Hellboy

John’s thoughts: 

This is another welcome anthology of short stories featuring the characters of the B.P.R.D. The collection consists of three longish strips and one very short one.

We have encountered references to Liz Sherman’s past, specifically her unintentional killing of her family, and to Johann Krause’s unfortunate demise during the Ghengdhou disaster previously over the period the B.P.R.D. stories have been published, but both were not dealt with in any great detail, and there were blanks in the narrative. This book seeks to fill in those gaps and does so relatively well.

The Liz Sherman story, whilst interesting, is possibly the weakest of these  stories in that we see how the terrible tragedy happened, but as the event unfolds it turns out there’s not actually that much to it at all, and the accidental burning of her family does not play the central role in the story that one expects.

Also there does seem to be a lack of emotion at the centre of the story as it is related, with the central harrowing event not having any deep emotional resonance even with the characters. In fact the episode reads more as a coming of age story than as something which mars her life. The main event here is how she and Bruttenholm deal with the haunting of a local community, and is standard B.P.R.D. fayre. This is a world in which magic and witchcraft exist and witches on the whole are a bad lot. The witch theme is often revisited and this is no different as  we encounter a witch haunting a local priest in the story.  Still, although I feel the key event in Liz’s life perhaps could have been dealt with better on the whole it is well written and enjoyable.

The Johann Krause story for me was much better than that featuring Liz Sherman. I feel this story could only have been written now with the character of Krause having been fully developed over the series. The villain of the piece is interesting, and the story emphasises the determination of Krause supporting the character’s arc quite well. His reasoning for donning the survival suit are both believable and unexpected. The end frame of this piece is a brilliant image that brought to mind the iconic image of the Priest in the Exorcist. The composition of that end frame is quite superb and hints at the outcome between Krause and the villain more clearly than a 5 page story. Absolutely wonderful.

The shortest piece in the anthology -  ‘Casualties’ -  is a sort of throwaway story, only a few  pages long but somehow very satisfying. For me this underlines the title of the anthology ‘Being Human’. The characters are stating the obvious but it has a nice emotional heart at it’s centre. I always enjoy these stories where we are given glimpses of the characters questioning their actions and reasoning it out. These always build on the human element, and enrich the characterisation, and although short, these type of stories are often amongst the most enjoyable.

The last strip features Roger the Homonculus who was killed earlier in the series. I like this aspect of the B.P.R.D. where the reader can revisit characters who have left the B.P.R.D. universe, often tragically. We encounter Professor Bruttenholm in the Liz Sherman story as well of course. I like the way there is no reset button on the death of a major character, it is a breath of fresh air amongst comic books where the reset button is pressed way too often. Usually we find these characters being revisited in their new stories earlier in their timeline way before the events that led to their demise come about. This is the case in this story featuring Roger and Hellboy. Roger always came across as a reluctant hero, and this aspect of the character is underlined here once more. The only problems I have with these sort of stories are the outcome and the fact that there is no consequences for the actions of a character, as if nothing takes place in the real world. Well, this is the Universe of Hellboy so I suppose this is to be expected.

This is a tale of revenge  where a practitioner of Voudoun has come to exact a terrible price for the misdeeds of others. It left me with a bit of a nasty aftertaste. Of course denouements in comics are often violent so I shouldn’t be surprised, endings are often throwaway as well with things quickly resolved. I was personally sympathetic to the antagonist and I feel the point of the story, which was somehow to help Roger grow and appear human, although he isn’t, could have been handled a bit better. Sometimes it is hard to see the reasoning behind how these stories develop – probably it’s a sign of the times – but not in a good way.

In the collection overall the writing is a bit of a mixed bag, the artwork is immaculate, of course, with some very beautiful page compositions. For a long time fan of the B.P.R.D. the anthology is a pleasant interlude between the developing major arc. Although I have some minor reservations with one or two of the stories, still, it  is certainly the case that the Universe of the B.P.R.D. and Hellboy remains the most detailed and interesting in the comics milieu at the moment, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes comics aimed at the mature market.

Product info and buy link :

Title B.P.R.D Being Human
Author Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, Scott Allie, Richard Corben, Ben Stenbeck,Karl Moline, Guy Davis, Andy Owens
Publisher Dark Horse Comics
ISBN 9781595827562
I got this book from Netgalley
Buy link Buy B.P.R.D.: Being Human
More info All B.P.R.D. products at Dark Horse Comics

 

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? John would love to hear other opinions.

Hellboy:House of the living dead by Mike Mignola & Richard Corben

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And now for something completely different. As announced some time ago I have procured a reluctant enthusiastic  guest reviewer. John is an avid comic reader (he does read other stuff as well, don’t worry) and his review of “Hellboy: House of the living dead” is his first post here. I am amazed at the shortness of his review actually, normally he is pretty long-winded and once he starts talking he never shuts up. I am sure he will find to his usual lengthy self soon enough.

hellboy_1 Blurb:

Devastated over the loss of his luchador comrade to vampires, Hellboy lingers in Mexican bars until he’s invited to participate in the ultimate wrestling match with a vicious Frankenstein monster!

 

 

 

 

 

In a nutshell:

John read it in: English

He liked it:     Yes     

For people who like: Hellboy, supernatural stories with unusual twists and turns

John’s thoughts: 

This is a follow on to a recent story in ‘Hellboy: The bride of Hell and Others’. The short story was titled ‘Hellboy in Mexico or A Drunken Blur’ and was one of the best in that Hellboy collection. Mike Mignola mentioned that there was at least one other Mexican wrestler story to be released so I kept my eye open.

It does at a cursory glance look like Mike Mignola  has a thing about Mexican wrestlers, probably not really an obsession but maybe the start of one. For which I am thankful. This is a really good addition to the Hellboy collections. The story is superb, and again somewhat ambiguous. I like the twist at the end. The Hellboy universe is full of monsters but it is also full of mad doctors, mad being the operative word, I like it. I read an early review copy of this book but I will definitely be buying it for my collection when it is on general release. This will be a well thumbed book.

A word about the art. Richard Corben is a marvelous artist and his very idiosyncratic style is perfectly suited to this book. Those stories Richard Corben illustrates I am always drawn to. His characters are grotesques, but grotesques infused with life, the images just leap from the page, full of action and a style that is extremely appealing. I hope to see more Hellboys drawn by Mr Corben. All things considered this graphic novel is definitely up there with the best of the Hellboy series and I highly recommend it.

Product info and buy link :

Title Hellboy: House of the living dead
Author Mike Mignola & Richard Corben
Publisher Dark Horse Comics
ISBN 978-1-59582-757-9
I got this book from Netgalley
Buy link Buy Hellboy: House of the Living Dead
More info Other Hellboy products at Dark Horse Comics

 

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

Fantasy cast for the BDB brothers

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Through a twitter post by Suzanne Johnson I came across a fantasy cast for the Black Dagger Brotherhood brothers at Heroes & Heartbreakers. I haven’t talked about the BDB series for quite a long while, since I lost interest after book six as it was a big disappointment. The Insiders Guide was not meeting my expectations either, so I gave up reading it altogether.

Now some girls (I assume) have put together a list of possible actors for the various parts. Definitely nice to look at, however, once more I need to comment on V. That poor guy always seems to pull the short straw.

What on Earth did they think picking Owain Yeoman for V? Inside qualities are nice and good, but the image of him is a turn-off. Besides, doesn’t V have a goatee? I can’t imagine that guy having one, sorry. Unfortunately I have no alternative suggestion either. But I do know what he looks like when I see him. Owain Yeoman is not it.

Of the other guys the choices for Rhage and Butch make sense, but who does stand out of the crowd is Wentworth Miller. This is not the first time I have heard talk about him as a potential cast for Z and it is obvious that he should when you look at this picture of him in the German GQ. Perfect, or what?

Demon’s Dance by Evey Brett

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Blurb:

Wanting to live freely as a human, half-incubus Tristan flees the Wardens. Broke and starving, he accepts Cory’s offer of a paid photo shoot, never dreaming he’d find a man with whom he could be aroused and erotic in his own body without having to submit to his demonic half.

Psychically sensitive Cory didn’t meet Tristan by accident; he volunteered to find the beautiful, exotic man for his patron. Cory had never before been able to touch a man without discomfort and soon can’t stop, but the hotter the sex gets, the more he can sense the darkness Tristan is trying desperately to escape.

Cory will do anything to keep Tristan safe, even if it means going against both his patron and the Wardens. Cory must learn how to soothe the demon—and to love the man within.

My thoughts: 

The blurb sounded nice enough and you don’t see too many incubi in books, even though you would think for erotica they would be the perfect protagonist.

However, the story did not live up to the blurb. No, that’s not true, the blurb doesn’t say anything that is not in the book, however, it leaves out a few things that made reading this book quite unsatisfying.

Let’s start at the beginning. Poor Tristan, half incubus, half human, is left in the care of a promising warden, assigned to him by Blanco. The warden turns out to be a sadistic jerk who uses and abuses Tristan continuously. Eventually Blanco comes to his aid (more about this later) and Tristan manages to get away from the “sheltered” life that he has known so far. He wants to live a normal life.

What bothered me?
(By the way, for better understanding I am saying “incubus/incubi, when in the book the term for the half incubus/half human beings is “cambion”).

  • Cory, a talented, yet unsuccessful photographer, catches Blanco red-handed while killing someone, but in order to be left alive himself he agrees to find Tristan for Blanco. What follows now is so strange and appalling that I really needed to wrap my head around it in order to talk about it in a way that makes sense.
  • Cory takes Tristan, who is homeless and totally screwed up, in and takes nude pictures of him. The nature of the pictures gets more explicit in the course of the book, mainly at the request of Blanco. Why Blanco requests nude pictures doesn’t interest Cory in the least.
  • Cory, I can only repeat it, an unsuccessful photographer, who explicitly says to Tristan that he does not have many models which is why he is so grateful for Tristan posing for him, has a large collection of nude or pornographic photos of various men. Where do all those men come from? Who are they?
  • Cory keeps a laptop Blanco has given him on at all times so that Blanco can watch what is going on in his apartment, this includes sex scenes. Naturally Tristan knows nothing about this.
  • Cory masturbates in front of his laptop for Blanco for a few hundred dollars. He reckons, since Blanco has already seen him sleep with Tristan, what the heck?
  • Blanco, who is supposed to protect the incubi, in fact he has sworn an oath to do so, let’s Tristan be abused for years and does not step in, because he was distracted by the suicide of his own protegé. He admits that he failed Tristan, but makes up for it later by killing the abusive warden. What about the oath that he broke? Shouldn’t there be repercussions?
  • The wardens, who are supposed to protect the incubi from society and their inner demon, don’t think anything of exploiting the incubi’s sex driven nature by pimping them, renting them out as escorts, dancers in clubs or porn stars.
  • Cory’s career is furthered by Blanco who organizes a show for him. As it turns out his work, mostly his pornographic work I might add, is being shown in the “ghetto” for the incubi. Almost all the guests at the show use his photographs for sexual stimulation there and then. Is this the sort of career an aspiring photographer who wants to get his name out is aiming to have? Shooting porn pictures for the sexually overactive?
  • Cory eventually decides to become a warden in order to help Tristan. He reaches that goal by being touched sexually by Blanco (who very much desires Cory) and in return by touching Blanco. How that would empower him to deal with an incubus and his demon is beyond me.

All in all, apart from Tristan, who was a character who was constantly pushed around by people who “wanted the best for him”, I thoroughly disliked the main characters. Cory sold himself out for his career. Blanco failed at his job, failed Tristan in a big way and has no valid excuse whatsoever. The way the wardens dealt with the incubi and their demons made no sense to me. The overall feel of the story was disturbing. I can’t recommend it in good conscience.

 

Title Demon’s Dance
Author Evey Brett
Publisher Carina Press
ISBN 9781426891090
Buy link Buy Demon’s Dance

Tooth and Nail by Mary Calmes

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Blurb:

Nineteen-year-old Dylan Shaw is possibly the most beautiful thing Malic Sunden has ever seen. After Malic rescues Dylan from an attack, Dylan makes it very clear that he is more than interested, but Malic won’t even consider sleeping with Dylan because of his age. Malic is sure he’s not good enough for Dylan, who has his whole life ahead of him, and can’t conceive of burdening Dylan with his secrets.

But the darkness in Malic’s life won’t be denied, and soon Dylan is drawn into the dangerous paranormal world that is Malic’s reality. Malic fights tooth and nail to push Dylan away, to keep him safe… no matter that Dylan is the key to Malic’s strength and the only hope for his future.

My thoughts: 

This is book two in the Warder series and we already know Malic from the first book His hearth. There he is introduced as a loner with a tense relationship with Ryan. He seems to be the only warder left without a hearth, so now it is his turn.

I found the story was quite different from the first one. Where the first one solely focuses on the relationship between Ryan and Julian, here Malic is constantly out fighting and, as a consequence, getting into one trouble or other from which his friends have to rescue him. That Dylan is always there somehow and won’t be driven away is somewhat a side product. Malic wants him, but then again doesn’t, and can’t make up his mind what to do with him. I found this a bit over the top. For a notorious bad boy he was decidedly too good (aren’t they often?) and just couldn’t bring himself to get together with Dylan for fear of hurting him. I kept thinking, for Christ’s sake, now, go already!

Other than that it was an interesting sequel as it gave more insight into the world, how the guys fight, what other creatures are out there etc. And Malic is quite delicious, which is always a good thing.

I am wondering, however, whether there will be another instalment. Two books is not very much, considering it is called a series, but it seems all the boys are taken, so who is left? Unless, maybe, more and other beings come into play. We will see, I suppose.

Title Tooth and Nail
Author Mary Calmes
Publisher Dreamspinner Press
ISBN 978-1-61581-692-7
Buy link Buy Tooth and Nail

His Hearth by Mary Calmes

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Blurb:

Julian Nash should be excited: he’s just earned a huge promotion at work and is going out to celebrate. But his happiness fades when he discovers his date cheating on him an hour before. Suddenly alone when everyone knows he’s supposed to have a plus one, Julian is set for a long night until longtime acquaintance Ryan Dean bails him out of the embarrassing situation. During dinner, they discover they have more than just friendship between them: there is mutual admiration and heated attraction. But getting to know Ryan better—and finding a place in his life—will bring Julian frightening surprises and paranormal danger he never expected or dreamed existed.

My thoughts: 

I had somehow missed the “paranormal danger” part when reading the blurb. So after about one third of the book I was wondering what the rest of it will contain. There didn’t seem to be any problems to overcome between Ryan and Julian, there was great chemistry, no misunderstandings etc. etc. So I had another look at the blurb and noticed there must be something else waiting.

So, basically the first half of the story is a romance without anything extraordinary to happen. However, all of a sudden, a rather upsetting encounter takes place in Julian’s kitchen that changes the scenario quite a bit. He and Ryan go from run of the mill contemporary couple to rather intense and different.

There is not much of a side plot apart from the romance. It is rather short and a quick read. I enjoyed reading it very much and am already in the middle of the second instalment of the “Warder Series”, “Tooth and Nail”.

Title His hearth
Author Mary Calmes
Publisher Dreamspinner Press
ISBN 978-1-61581-572-2
Buy link Buy His hearth

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

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Blurb:

In a world that denies emotions, where the ruling Psy punish any sign of desire, Sascha Duncan must conceal the feelings that brand her as flawed. To reveal them would be to sentence herself to the horror of "rehabilitation"- the complete psychic erasure of everything she ever was….

Both human and animal, Lucas Hunter is a Changeling hungry for the very sensations the Psy disdain. After centuries of uneasy co-existence, these two races are now on the verge of war over the brutal murders of several Changeling women. Lucas is determined to find the Psy killer who butchered his packmate, and Sascha is his ticket into their closely guarded society. But he soon discovers that this ice-cold Psy is very capable of passion-and that the animal in him is fascinated by her. Caught between their conflicting worlds, Lucas and Sascha must remain bound to their identities-or sacrifice everything for a taste of darkest temptation…

My thoughts: 

So I finally jumped on the bandwagon and read Slave to Sensation. I have been very curious about this book, but always found the title quite unappealing. But I have read so much praise for it that I finally got it on my swap site and went for it.

Don’t let the title mislead you. Sascha is by no means a “slave to sensation”. She is an interesting character, since she has never known emotion and yet her ability is worth nothing without it. However, she is still her own person and does what she thinks is right. She is not ruled by her desire for sensation.

I was very impressed with the world building. The world of the Psy was well developed and explained and a good contrast to the world of the changelings. I always had a liking for unemotional characters and I loved the Psy and their ordered, tidy world. I also liked their counterparts, the changelings with their emotions flaring up and their structures where family or pack is everything.

Sascha and Lucas meet for business and how it went from there was nicely done. To me everything that happened made sense, the side characters were introduced well, not overwhelming the plot but enough to make me want to find out more about them, especially Dorian and Hawke.

With the ending and the solution to the problem that occupied Sascha for a long time – a solution, by the way, that made sense and was not something far fetched – Nalini Singh has opened a lot of possibilities for other stories between Psy and changelings. I can’t wait to read them.

 

Title Slave to Sensation
Author Nalini Singh
Publisher Berkley
ISBN 978-0425212868
Buy link Buy Slave to Sensation

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

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image

Blurb:

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf–her wolf–is a chilling presence she can’t seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It’s her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human–or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

 

My thoughts: 

Even though I am not into YA in general I read Shiver along with Carin because I have heard a lot of good things about it. I like the "lovers who can’t stay together due to circumstances" topic, so I was not disappointed with the general idea of the story.
Grace and Sam have been in love for what seems like forever, even though they didn’t know each other in person. Very romantic. I liked the uncomplicated plot without many twists and turns which made for a quick and pleasant read, I suppose this is quite typical of a YA story where there are not obstacles at every corner (and given the situation there could have been A LOT of them).

I already said in my update #1 of the readalong that I didn’t get the Fahrenheit degrees at all, which supposedly took some of the building tension away. In retrospect I am pretty sure knowing my way around Fahrenheit wouldn’t have made a big difference. OK, it got colder and change was coming closer – I got that without the exact temperature info, especially since the indicators of when Sam would change were more than unreliable anyway.
It seemed the wolves changed at random, yes, based on the seasons, but nobody knew exactly when they would change, when they would change back, when they would stay a wolf for good etc. I found this quite confusing. It wasn’t as if with the temperature reaching a certain point the change would invariably happen, so I am not sure what the temperature was supposed to tell us exactly.

The fact that Grace’s parents were totally oblivious to the fact that Sam was practically living in their house was strange to say the least. OK, they left Grace pretty much to her own devices but how can parents be so clueless and uninterested? This could have been one source of conflict that was not fully explored here. Grace deals with it in her head, but never confronts her parents.

I have heard from someone that a few people have complained about Grace having no backbone. I really have no idea where those people are coming from. I liked her. She was matter-of-fact, independent, reliable and quite practical when it came to helping Sam out in tricky situations or when she was with Jack and had to think of a way to get help for herself.

Another thing I had also read somewhere before was that Sam was constantly writing song lyrics reflecting his emotions. That sounded rather interesting, but somehow I didn’t particularly care for them. The choice of poetry that Sam read to Grace was equally unsatisfactory to me. I love poetry but Rainer Maria Rilke wouldn’t have been my first choice if I wanted to introduce someone to either poetry or German.

One side character I particularly liked was Isabel, Jack’s sister. Even though at first she is the condescending, rich and spoilt girl with her little dog in her purse, she later turns out to be helpful and sincere. Her snappy way and bitchy attitude could not hide the fact that she is a good person after all. From what I read she will be also a major character in "Linger", the sequel to "Shiver", and I am really looking forward to reading more about her.

I’m not sure whether I liked the ending. First of all, the whole cure theory and the execution of administering it was more than dubious. Was it realistic how Isabel got the blood? Was it realistic how they got them all to the hospital and out again? That all sounded very half-baked and it was happening too fast.

The re-unification of Grace and Sam was, well, nice, but I was missing some sort of explanation as to what happened to him after he ran away. Grace assumed he was dead, and then, all of a sudden, he returns and that’s it? That was anticlimatic. I can only hope that "Linger" will pick up exactly at this point and will deliver what I have been missing. 

 

Title Shiver
Author Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher Scholastic
ISBN 978-0545123273
Buy link Buy Shiver

 

Want to read what others think about this book?

Read Carin’s review of Shiver. Her thoughts went along a totally different line.

Here is Leeswammes review of it.

And this is what Iris has to say about it.  

Chachic’s thoughts on it.  

Soulless by Gail Carriger

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imageBlurb:

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire — and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.
With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London’s high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

My thoughts: 

This is the first book I read for my Steampunk challenge. Everybody talks about the Parasol Protectorate series, of which this is the first book with Changeless and Blameless to follow. Two more sequels, Heartless and Timeless, will be released in the next two years.

Since this is the first steampunk book I have ever read (except a m/m novella which I don’t count here) I have no idea how to rate it as far as the steampunk factor is concerned. It is set in an alternative Victorian London; werewolves, vampires, ghosts and other supernatural beings have come out years before and are now an official, if not 100% popular, part of society. The plot revolves around mysterious appearances and disappearances of supernatural beings and it is up to Alexia and Lord Maccon to detect what is going on (if only by accident and with the help of a few delectable dandies).

Alexia is a preternatural, the only one known in fact, who can neutralize supernatural powers merely through touch. I found this an interesting twist. In no paranormal story I have read so far did I come across anybody who could negate the supernatural at all, let alone this easily. Her interactions with her paramour-to-be were delightful. Both thoroughly dislike each other – or so they think – and that made for some very agreeable banter.

The other main characters are all fleshed out and, if not likeable, at least believable. The typical werewolf – vampire differences are in place. The vampires are refined to foppish, the werewolves down-to-earth to rough and boisterous. I absolutely loved Lord Akeldama and his drones. I hope I will see more of them in the future.

One thing I could have done without were the descriptions of the experiments in the club. I hate that sort of thing and I would have known that those scientists were rather crazy, fanatical and dangerous without reading all that. So I skipped some of it, even though I am sure I missed out on some great machinery ideas that way.

The idea to lock Alexia into the cell with the biggest werewolf gave a chance to throw in a lovely scene between her and Lord Maccon. Strange how people in love are inclined to kiss and pet even in the worst circumstances. But then, I suppose they were locked in and could only wait. So what better pastime than to make out?

I very much enjoyed reading Soulless and will definitely continue with that series. If you like the paranormal, romance (not too explicit), an element of humour and a lot of entertainment, get it!

On Gail Carriger’s website you will find a page about Alexia’s London, along with sketches of characters and outfits, deleted scenes and more. A nice addition to the reading experience.

Title Soulless
Author Gail Carriger
Publisher Orbit Books
ISBN 978-0316056632
Buy link Buy Soulless

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? I would love to hear other opinions.

WANT TO KNOW WHAT OTHERS THOUGHT OF THIS BOOK? HAVE A LOOK AT:

Heather at Books and Quilts 

Perilous Partnership by Ariel Tachna

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Blurb:

A year after the end of the war that brought them together, Raymond Payet and Jean Bellaiche have found a balance in their relationship: Jean drinks only Raymond’s blood; Raymond sleeps only in Jean’s bed. The demands of their public roles as president of l’Association Nationale de Sorcellerie and chef de la Cour of the Parisian vampires keep them busy dealing with fallout from the war and the alliance, particularly the not-always-successful partnerships between vampires and wizards.

The foundation of an institute to research and educate wizards and vampires about the implications of the partnership bonds only adds to those responsibilities. When political factions, both vampire and mortal, oppose their leaders’ decisions, the stress begins to affect Raymond and Jean’s deepening relationship. And when political opposition turns to vandalism and then to violence, they’ll have to find a way to reconcile their personal and professional lives before external and internal forces pull them apart.

My thoughts: 

If you liked the Partnership in Blood series as much as I did you will enjoy this spin-off. However, it is much different from the previous four books. Why?

It mainly concentrates on one couple, Jean and Raymond, instead of telling the stories of various couples. We meet Orlando and Alain, Sebastien and Thierry and others, but the main focus is on one couple. All the others are only side characters about whose lives we learn only very little if anything.

The story is less energetic. The war is over and there is no immediate danger to fight against. Therefore the pace is slightly slower until some occurrences force everybody to get out of their happy living routine and try to find out what is going on. There are some obstacles to overcome in regards to their plans with the institute, but they are not that big an issue.

The main couple is an established one. Jean and Raymond have been living together for some time and now they have to deal with how to shape their future together. There is no new love interest to pursue, no discovering the personality of someone new. Some anxiety, yes, but not the usual “I’m falling in love, does he love me back” kind.

Once I got my mind wrapped around all this, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this “sequel”. And it is a sequel as well as a spin-off. It picks up after the war with Raymond being the president of l’ANS and a new institute to be opened to research the partnerships in more depth. At the same time it is supposed to educate wizards and vampires on how partnerships work and help them to  find partners if they wish.

I had a problem with that education. It is a good idea to tell people beforehand what they are getting into, however, the instructors are not as open as I would have wished them to be. L’ANS is accused at some point of pandering, which is, of course, ridiculous. However, after those accusations Thierry points out that all partnerships (maybe with the exception of Marcel and M. Lombard, but they are a different league) turned sexual at one point, regardless of the previous preferences of the persons involved. Wouldn’t that be a very important aspect that needs addressing in those educational classes? It seems that all they tell the “students”, though, is that people can decide if they want to form a partnership before an actual blood exchange by checking if they are compatible in other ways. They say that they are in control over how the partnership develops. Nobody ever mentions that once blood is exchanged chances are you will have a sexual relationship. Even Jude and Adele who were NOT compatible in any way and hated each other’s guts had a sexual relationship, if you want to call it that.

At one point Raymond came over as the old prejudiced guy I thought he had shed. When Jean offers the Aveu de Sang his reaction was way over the top. He could have said, he will have to think about it instead of answering in such a dismissive way. Did Orlando treat Alain like cattle? I found this comparison with the branding quite unfair and harsh. It would have befitted a researcher of Raymond’s calibre to stop and think and maybe get an opinion of someone who knows before declining in such a rude manner. Jean must have considerable thick skin to not walk out the door for good after such a rejection.

Apart from those minor things it was a great continuation of the series which I liked a lot. I don’t know whether there is anything more planned, but the ending does not immediately suggest another spin-off or sequel. I really would have liked to see Adele and Jude come together. But that would have probably been a task to difficult even for Ariel herself :) .

For readers who liked the Partnership in blood series, this is a must read. To all newcomers I recommend to read the previous four books first, otherwise you won’t get much fun out of this one.

Title Perilous Partnership
Author Ariel Tachna
Publisher Dreamspinner Press
ISBN

978-1-61581-634-7
Buy link Buy Perilous Partnership

Upcoming Partnership in Blood spin-off

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I have to admit that I never have a look at upcoming releases in any shop, so I totally missed the fact that Ariel Tachna is going to release a spin-off of the Partnership in Blood series in October. How exciting!

The book is called “Perilous Partnership” and continues the story of Jean and Raymond. When I started reading the series I didn’t think I would ever say that, but Raymond has really grown on me and now I love him to pieces.

I am so looking forward to reading that. The blurb promises some serious trouble, so I expect an exciting read once more.

Extinction by Carol Lynne

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Blurb:

Professor of Environmental Science/Wildlife studies at UNLV, Jack McBain has spent his adult life trying to track a legend overheard during his youth. Born and raised in the Canadian Province of Newfoundland, Jack remembers his grandparents telling stories of a race of people eradicated by European settlers in 1829. According to the legend, the Beothuk people didn’t die out as first thought, but were transformed into wolf shifters.

When Newfoundland wolves began to appear in great numbers, the European settlers began killing them under the guise of population control. In 1910, the last of the Newfoundland wolves was shot, making them one of the few extinct species of wolves in the world.

Following spotty leads, Jack begins to track what he believes are Beothuk/Newfoundland shifter wolves. His search leads him to the Lake Mead National Recreational Area outside of Las Vegas. There, on Spirit Mountain, he finally comes face to face with not only the shifter he’s been looking for, but the man of his dreams he didn’t know he needed.

My thoughts: 

I only know Carol Lynne’s writing from the two Cattle Valley books that I read recently and thought I’d try something different by her. And, wow, different this was. I don’t know whether it was for the better or worse, though.

But first let me say something about Resplendence Publishing’s so called “Heat Levels”. They have 5 heat levels that go from “heat behind closed doors” (Diamond) to “intense, hotter than hot” (Fire Opal). “Extinction” is rated that last level. However, it seems ALL same sex romance books are in that category, obviously because of the contents being offensive to some (my assumption, they don’t say that explicitly). So, if you buy a m/m romance at their shop your book will automatically be rated “Fire Opal”. I didn’t know exactly whether this means the heat is “hotter than hot” or whether it is simply in that category because of the potentially offensive contents (unless of course ALL m/m books are that heated anyway).

Let me get this straight, I don’t mind a heat level up to the roof, but if about 85% of the book are sex scenes I tend to get a bit bored. This is what happened here, I actually found myself skipping over sex scenes desperately trying to find the next scene with other content.

For all intents and purposes the plot was interesting and could certainly have been elaborated on. Unfortunately Carol Lynne decided to keep explanations to a minimum, just barely enough so you could understand what was going on, and filled the rest of the story with sex.

I really liked the first few pages, but then it quickly turned around to being monotonous.  I never even felt a real connection between Jack and Toby. The whole story. even though the idea is a good one, was –in my eyes- badly executed.

Title Extinction
Author Carol Lynne
Publisher Resplendence Publishing
ISBN 9781607350408
Buy link Buy Extinction

Gods behaving badly by Marie Phillips

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gods

Blurb:

Being a Greek god is not all it once was. Yes, the twelve gods of Olympus are alive and well in the twenty-first century, but they are crammed together in a London townhouse-and none too happy about it. And they’ve had to get day jobs: Artemis as a dog-walker, Apollo as a TV psychic, Aphrodite as a phone sex operator, Dionysus as a DJ.
Even more disturbingly, their powers are waning, and even turning mortals into trees – a favorite pastime of Apollo’s – is sapping their vital reserves of strength.
Soon, what begins as a minor squabble between Aphrodite and Apollo escalates into an epic battle of wills. Two perplexed humans, Alice and Neil, who are caught in the crossfire, must fear not only for their own lives, but for the survival of humankind. Nothing less than a true act of heroism is needed-but can these two decidedly ordinary people replicate the feats of the mythical heroes and save the world?

 

My thoughts: 

When I read the blurb I found the idea that the Greek Gods are living in contemporary London trying to find back to their original splendour highly original. Unfortunately my husband burst my bubble when he told me callously that Tom Holt had a similar idea a long time ago, only it’s not a ramshackle building in Hampstead Heath but the Sunnyvoyde Residential Home for Retired Deities (Odds and Gods).

This didn’t dampen my spirit though. I still find the idea fascinating, especially since I know a bit about Greek mythology and found the characterizations of the various Gods extremely amusing and fitting.

Apollo who has to try to make a living as an oracle on a trashy TV show with elderly ladies his only audience, Aphrodite making a little money on the side working on a phone sex line, Dionysos owning a seedy club where he plays the DJ and sells his delicious wine to the hip youngsters, the Gods constantly bickering, it was all too funny. There are so many small, delightful ideas in the story that I found it very entertaining and hilarious.

One point that I found slightly strange was that I couldn’t relate to the romantic couple at all, in fact, I thoroughly disliked them both.  For me they stayed faceless and inconspicuous. I wasn’t fond of Alice, an unobtrusive girl with a university degree who works as a cleaner because she likes cleaning (I definitely cannot relate to that) and neither did I find Neil attractive. Not because he didn’t look like the typical romantic hero, but because he just didn’t stand out for me in any way at all. The most remarkable thing about those two was that they were totally unremarkable. I understand that they were meant to be that way, but even unremarkable people have some depth, hidden secrets and whatnot and those two just didn’t, at least I never noticed. Yeah, ok, they loved each other and Neil was willing to go to the underworld for Alice, but I have seen better things than that. Or, if those things were not really better, they were pulled off with more panache. Neil was just too boring.  And so was Alice.

I found the last part of the story was kind of slow and anti-climatic. The solution to the Gods’ problem was so obvious and so easily achieved that it was sort of unbelievable.

As for the title, I don’t agree with it. The Gods don’t behave badly at all, at least not more than you would expect them to. They just behave like the ordinary Greek God that you know and like. If their behaviour is supposed to be bad they definitely have to kick it up a notch or two.

Summary (courtesy of Carin B. who expressed my feelings better than I did): I enjoyed it, but felt kind of blah at the end. Thanks Carin for helping me out! 

Title Gods Behaving Badly
Author Marie Phillips
Publisher Little, Brown and Company
ISBN 0316067628
Buy link Gods Behaving Badly

Touch of a Wolf by Jez Morrow

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Blurb:

On a rebound from his cheating lover, Matt Winter has sex in a Philadelphia alley with a man packing a gun and sniffing like a coke addict. When Matt’s stranger from the alley lets himself into Matt’s apartment through the window, Matt learns that the man has a badge to go with that gun. Detective John Channing of the Philly PD has been passing as a dirty cop.
Channing needs a safe place to get himself clean and sober so he can be a credible witness in court against a murderer. And he wants sex. The anonymous encounter was not enough for either of them. As Channing goes into withdrawal the hallucinations start, but it’s Matt who wakes up in bed with a wolf. Matt doesn’t believe in werewolves. But then, he doesn’t believe in love at first sight either…

My thoughts: 

I hate anonymous sex scenes. Whenever I come across one I get bored and skip it. Anonymous sex just does not do it for me. This is what I thought anyway. After reading the first few pages of Touch of a Wolf I have to re-consider my last statements though. I was impressed. That scene with two strangers in some dark alley in Philadelphia was more intimate and intense than a lot of “conventional” ones and drew me right into the story.

And then I just couldn’t stop reading. I totally loved Touch of a Wolf. Matt and John (even though he is mostly referred to as Channing) were great characters. The plot just flowed, turning slightly improbable towards the end in my eyes, but that didn’t matter in the least.

The wolf angle was done slightly differently than usual. Not only was it not an issue between the two men, the wolf existence was introduced somehow like in passing as if it was no big deal. There were problems being a wolf, especially being one that’s been around for a while, but nothing a smart computer savvy man couldn’t fix. Which brings me to the only question about this story. How did Matt turn from a researcher who hated tampering with files into such an accomplished forger? Looking at his considerate counterfeiting skills you would think he’s never done anything else. But I didn’t want to let this trifle spoil the overall enjoyment and accepted it in stride. Touch of a Wolf is a love-at-first-sight story, road movie and wolf-man wrapped up in one great package.

One drawback was the editing, however. I noticed punctuation marks at the wrong place, sentences that should have been negative were positive etc. The book deserves better than that.

Even so. This was a great read. Jez Morrow has some more were stories out, I MUST go and check them out.  Highly recommended.

 

Title Touch of a Wolf
Author Jez Morrow
Publisher Torquere Books
ISBN 978-1-61040-457-1
Buy link Buy Touch of a Wolf

Wolf at the Door by Christine Warren

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Blurb: Sullivan Quinn didn’t travel 3,000 miles from his native Ireland and his wolf pack just to chase rabidly after the most delectable quarry he’s ever seen. Quinn is in America on a mission—to warn his Other brethren of a shadowy group willing to use murder and mayhem to bring them down. But one whiff of this Foxwoman’s delicious honeysuckle fragrance and he knows that she is more than a colleague or a conquest…she is his mate.

Anthropologist Cassidy Poe is a world-renowned authority on social interaction, but the overpowering desire she feels around Quinn defies every ounce of her expertise. Working by his side to uncover The Others’ enemies poses risks she never expected—to her own safety, to those she loves, and to her heart, as every encounter with Quinn proves more blissfully erotic than the last…
Now, with no one to trust but each other, Quinn and Cassidy face a foe that’s edging closer every day, threatening to destroy the life they’ve always known, and the passion they’ve just discovered…

My thoughts: Somehow I must have overlooked that this book is by the same author as “Fantasy Fix”. Had I known this I probably wouldn’t have gotten this book, since Fantasy fix really got on my nerves. However, I liked “Wolf at the door” quite a bit. According to amazon both books belong to the Other series and Fantasy Fix (now called One bite with a stranger) is book six, while Wolf at the door is book 1. Fantasy Fix was written much earlier and as far as I can remember had no references to the Others at all, but maybe the re-release is quite different from the first one.

Anyway. I liked the point of departure in the story. The Others are not only weres and vampires but practically everything you can think of. Faeries, brownies, selkies, animi, gargoyles, you name it, the Others got it. They are now threatened to be exposed to the humans and have to take action in order to prevent this, possibly by anticipating the opponents’ move and “unveil” themselves.

That plot was not a very complicated one, still didn’t get resolved completely by the end of the book. The Others did find out who was pulling the strings, but the direct enemy never got exposed and the way it looks they won’t be in the next book either. Doesn’t matter, I still enjoyed reading this story, mostly for the humour in it. Cassidy’s wisecracking towards the end was a bit over the top for me, but still nice to read.

As far as the romance goes, it took up a fair amount of the book and there wasn’t much doubting, angst or anything. The chemistry was immediate, Quinn (why he was always referred to as Quinn I didn’t get, his first name is Sullivan) had made up his mind about Cassidy from the start and she didn’t take long to come around to the fact that there is something more meaningful between them than just a fling.

A nice and entertaining story. I checked the following books for a sequel about Richard, the selkie, but it seems no such luck. Richard is the character I’d have like to read more about. Oh, well, I think there are more Others books to come.

Wolf at the Door is available at amazon

And hell itself breathes out by AR Moler

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Blurb: Evan Garrett is a psychic DC homicide cop, and his latest case is triggering all his instincts. When one murder becomes two, he can’t help but start connecting the dots, putting cases and clues together. He’s not the only one, though. John Bentley, director of Special Investigative Services, a tiny government agency attached to Homeland Security which deals with darker realities, and his team are soon on the case, and they bring Evan and his special skills on board.
Both bisexual, Evan and John find they are attracted to each other, even as they work together to solve this string of murders which keeps growing in scope. Their serial killer seems to be moving toward darker and darker deeds with every murder and ritual performed. Can John and Evan find solace in each other, even as murderous men and demonic forces threaten not only their own team, but the city as well?

My thoughts: OK, this is going to be lengthy, because I have several issues with the mystery part of the book. For me the book is divided into two parts, topic wise, even though they are entwined. One is the investigation, which takes up a big chunk of the book, the other is the romance between Evan and John.

I totally liked the book, but when reading mystery stories I usually expect a fair amount of investigating that comes to some sort of conclusion.

If you don’t like , don’t read on!

 

Absolute beginners vs. fledgling demon worshippers

If the investigating team was worth that name they would have found the killers way earlier than they did. Instead they were only reacting to yet another body. There is an obvious clue early on, however, our investigators don’t think of connecting things. The first victim was a professor at Holsinger college, the building where the interrupted killing took place was owned by a board member of Holsinger college and one of the victim’s last customers (whom he had an argument with) was a rich, spoilt kid who goes to Holsinger college. Even to me that looks rather suspicious, but that connection was not only dismissed but almost forgotten. They know that the killers have tons of money available, but when later a fake Goth kid with a Rolex (!) buys a knife for another killing – still nothing.

When the demon gets to run around the city they don’t seem to take any measures to prevent further harm. I don’t know what standard procedure would be with a demon on the loose, but I would assume (and hope) that some precautions are taken to find him or maybe warn authorities about a possible danger.

I would have expected a federal agency to investigate in a more professional manner and to be able to put two and two together much quicker than they did.

There are a few other little things that bothered me. How did John for example come up with the name of the demon the sigil is related to? 5 minutes earlier he hardly knew what a sigil was and all of a sudden he says that it is connected to the demon Telaroth. That didn’t make any sense to me.

On the other hand the college boys really have no clue what they are doing. They are dangerous, I’m not saying they aren’t, but they are bumbling about leaving clues all over the place. One of them borrows the key to the yard from his buddy. How come the buddy doesn’t come forward and say that he gave the key to Derek? After all a terrible crime had been committed there soon after.

Why a demon would impart his knowledge to such three dorks I don’t know. The demon seems to have a mind of his own, so I would assume he differentiates at least to a minor degree as to whom he entrusts with  the knowledge of power. I’m not familiar with demonology, but the story suggests that, as long as you recite from a book and have a couple of tools, you are able to conjure a demon at will. Is it really that easy?

Budding romance

I liked the romance part of the story. It developed slowly and their working relationship gave Evan and John a good chance to get to know each other before anything happened. The psi angle gave it a nice touch, so I enjoyed that.

The two guys were nice characters, even though I was tempted a few times to tell John to get a grip. If you are in his line of business you must be aware that you will suffer loss and there is no need to blame yourself for all and everything.

Oh, btw, before I forget, the mystery is only a mystery to the police and SIS. The reader knows from the first page who is responsible for the killings as s/he accompanies the culprits along their path throughout the book.

If you like mystery mixed up with romance and don’t expect Hercule Poirot’s little gray cells to be at work, then you will enjoy this.

Available at Torquere Books

Unleashing Angel by Mel Spenser

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Blurb: Brian is a land surveyor sent on a job to a remote area of southeast Arizona for a month-long work assignment. There he meets Angel, a college student, home for the summer and helping his family with their campground style motel where Brian stays. Brian realizes that he’s jumped into relationships a little too quickly in the past, but finds it very hard to resist Angel, who’s just his type. Even though he knows he should take it slow, Brian can’t seem to stay away.
Angel has a secret though. He’s a werewolf. Not only that, the werewolf gene is triggered by having sex for the first time. Angel is ‘unleashed’ when he and Brian have sex. Can Brian come to terms with being in love with the most powerful werewolf rural Arizona has seen in decades? And will Angel be able to fit into Brian’s urban lifestyle? Or will a series of misunderstandings, hurt feelings and bruised egos keep them apart?

My thoughts: I chose this story because I like weres (who doesn’t?) and the storyline sounded interesting. “Unleashing” someone promised quite a bit of action in my eyes. I’m not sure whether I expected too much, but my expectations were not quite met

If you don’t like SPOILERS, don’t continue reading!

I liked the storyline and the way the tension between Brian and Angel built up was nicely done. However, when it was finally released I just didn’t feel it. Sorry! The first love scene almost felt like “by appointment” to me, well, not really, but they sort of agreed to do it in a way that just didn’t do it for me. The others felt rushed and there was almost always some issue or other standing between them that needed resolving. Somehow the guys never explored or expressed their feelings for each other in a satisfactory way. As for “unleashing” Angel, apart from some allusions that Angel exuded power, that aspect was sadly neglected in my eyes. After all it is the title of the book so I expected that it would have been elaborated much more than it was.

A lot of time was spent misunderstanding each other without giving the other one a chance to explain – admittedly there wouldn’t be much of a problem otherwise, but the situation was just going back and forth. First Brian treated Angel that way, then it was the other way around. The werewolf issue mentioned in the blurb didn’t exist between Brian and Angel at all, I’m sorry to say. Brian has no clue about what or who Angel is until the very end and then comes to terms with it easily.

A couple of things didn’t make much sense to me:

  • Why would Carmen wait for Angel if he so obviously shows no interest in her? OK, it was an unspoken agreement between whoever that they both would marry one day, but that seemed pretty unlikely given Angel’s unwillingness. Shortly after it became clear to her that he’s never going to marry her – and he expressed that thought to Brian very early on, so I would assume he told others as well – she should have moved on instead of sitting there waiting for him to come around.
  • Why would Brian take Angel to his place without being certain Sam was gone? This had no impact on the story because he WAS gone, but what if he hadn’t moved out? And that WAS a possibility with him.
  • The idea of Carmen that she could “turn” Angel if only she could get Brian out of the way is just ridiculous.
  • I didn’t understand the motivation behind opening Brian’s letter. Besides the fact that doing so is rather dubious in itself it seemed out of character and put Hector in a pretty bad light, he had no reason to distrust Brian and therefore why would he insist on opening the letter?

I enjoyed the story to a certain extent but it won’t be anything I’ll read again.

Available at Torquere Books

Sucks and Blows by Storm Grant

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Blurb: Dr. Cary Drewel is a dentist in trouble. The loan shark who financed his equipment is threatening to break both his arms if he doesn’t make a payment. Hoping to attract the orthodontia-ready Twilight crowd, Cary distributes a flyer advertising his new practice: Vampires Our Speciality!
Then sexy Pierce Sharpe walks into the clinic holding one of the flyers. Pierce is starving, unable to eat due to his impacted teeth. But even pale and shaky, Pierce makes Cary’s pulse race and his smock tent. Imagine Cary’s surprise when he asks the man to, “Open, please,” and discovers Pierce just might be the real thing!

My thoughts: Vampires with tooth problem: that alone is already hinting at a not too serious sort of story, and this very short one is no exception. A fun read. Cary excels at corny puns and when I thought I’d read enough of those I couldn’t believe that even Pierce, the cool vampire, comes up with a name like “Vlad, the Inhaler”, :-) . The problems of Cary were swiftly dealt with and both guys can go home looking forward to a fun night. Quick and entertaining.

Available at Torquere Books

Upcoming Twilight novel

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A lot of people will be pleased to hear that a Twilight novella will be coming out in June. “The short second life of Bree Tanner” will be released in hardcover for 13.99$ on June 5. However, her dedicated fans can read an online edition for free at http://www.breetanner.com/  between June 7 and July 5. They say you won’t be able to print it from there.

The story is about Bree Tanner, a vampire in Victoria’s newly raised vampire army against the Cullens. I can’t say I remember the character, but I’m sure hardcore Twilight fans will know all there is to know about her so far.

Here you can find Stephenie Meyer’s press release.

German readers can find some info at Spiegel online. The German version will be released on the same date as the original version, its title will be "Bis(s) zum ersten Sonnenstrahl – Das kurze zweite Leben der Bree Tanner".

Reparation in blood by Ariel Tachna

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The war is at a fever pitch with both sides stretched to the limit, when the dark wizards score a shocking victory and capture Orlando St. Clair. Haggard with worry and grief at the separation from his lover, Alain fears that even if they find Orlando, the vampire’s heart and mind may be far too broken to save.
Knowing the Alliance teeters on the brink, Christophe Lombard, the oldest, most powerful vampire in Paris leaves his self-imposed seclusion to join the fight. Alain’s lost friend Eric Simonet, who betrayed him to join the dark wizards, is faced with a choice between revenge and redemption. And Jean, enraged by Orlando’s capture, faces the most agonizing decision in his unlife as the final battle looms: Will their actions lead to the shattering of the Alliance or the salvation of the world?

Finally I read the long awaited last instalment of the Partnership in Blood series by Ariel Tachna, “Reparation in blood”.

It is quite some time ago that I read “Conflict in blood” and even longer that I read the two previous books (I reviewed Conflict in blood in May 09). I know now that I should have re-read it before reading this. Some situations that were mentioned I had totally forgotten and they left me wondering what people were talking about. I strongly recommend that you re-read at least the third book in the series before you start with this one. Not because you won’t be able to enjoy Reparation in blood but simply in order to get the most out of it.

I’m not going to go into how much I like the series or Ariel’s writing. I already said enough about that in my previous reviews. I’d rather comment on some things that happened in the book instead.

Right on the first page it is clear that Alain is beside himself. Like in the last book I found the difference in how Alain and Orlando kept themselves up astonishing. I would have thought it would be just the other way around. As it happened Alain was a complete wreck, snarking at people, using language I’d never have expected from him and generally acting irrationally and unreasonably (even if all this was understandable). Orlando, however, was strong, withstood Serrier and kept cool and calm.

The main pairings again play important roles and develop their relationships into something more or, like in the case of the love/hate couple Jude and Adele, into a strictly business partnership. Those two might have found their match, but how that match will ever turn out positively I don’t know.

David and Angelique finally overcome their misgivings and find each other. This was done in such a sweet way that those two quickly became one of my favourites of this book.

Monique and Antonio didn’t play a big part in this book at all. Monique was mentioned a few times, but only by people on the other side as the prime example of a successful defector, and a bit later on when we hear about her sentence after she was tried.

What I liked was the fact that the war was not dragged out ad infinitum, but ended somewhere in the second half of the book. A lot of time was spent on describing how things were wrapped up and how people dealt with loose ends. In fact I found that the war ended rather abruptly. I didn’t mind that, but I would have expected a longer battle. Once the milice finally found Serrier’s hiding hole, however, they made short work of him (with some help admittedly).

After the war we hear more about the aveu de sang together with Thierry who learns something about it he doesn’t like too much. All the time I was hoping along with him, only to see my hopes crushed in one sentence.

Lots of things get wrapped up nicely. Eric’s friendship with Alain and Thierry gets, well, re-established might be too strong a word, but at least they get over the animosities and maybe will find back to how it used to be.

The extorris Couthon is dealt with swiftly, something, I’m sure, every reader wanted to see. One of the most interesting points was a short flashback into Orlando’s past that told us more about his first days as a free vampire after Thurloe was executed.

Vincent’s trial takes place as well, so we see a glimpse of what the future will bring to him and Eric.

There is an epilogue which I liked a lot. It finishes Alain’s and Orlando’s story off, so we won’t have to deal with them again. I loved the couple from page one, but in the second half of “Reparation in blood” they became too sweet for me. I didn’t think that was possible, but, yes, it was.

Ariel is writing a sequel about one of the couples, set about a year after the war, she said. So what couple could that possibly be? As far as I am concerned I’d like to know more about either David and Angelique, but even those two seem to be in sync now and don’t need any further exploration. So I’d settle for the couple I love to hate, Jude and Adele. Their situation is not clear at all, we have no idea what their future as a couple (if they ARE a couple at all) will be like and there is enough tension and potential for conflict to keep the story going.

So, as the last book in a series, it brought everything to a satisfying end, but leaves enough room for more. I’m looking forward to it.

If you are interested to read my thoughts about the first three books in the series, you can find them below: 
Alliance in Blood
Covenant in Blood
Conflict in Blood

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Twilight fan strikes back

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We all know that Twilight fans can get a bit rabid when they see their favourite author or one of their heroes threatened. Now another one, a certain Kayla Patterson has come forward to give Universal a piece of her mind, explaining what she thinks about plagiarism.

Latino review has received the following letter from Kayla, addressed to Universal studios concerning their recent release “The Wolf Man”:

To whom this may concern:
This movie was a complete waste and I feel that it offends ALL Twilight Fans around the world, that including myself. For one, it was a COMPLETE remaking of the Wolf Pack from the Twilight Saga: New Moon. It gives the werewolves a bad name and makes them look like some deformed mutation of a rabid dog. I actually started to like werewolves after seeing Jacob Black and all his awesomeness on the big screen at the movies. That was until I saw your crappy remake of what you call to be a "were wolf". I don’t see how you live with yourself for making it the way you did. If I made this movie, I would be ashamed to even admit that I owned it. How can a werewolf be killed with a silver bullet? Better yet, have you saw the transformation of the man that is "supposed" to be the wolf? He sits in some chair and his entire body turns in to some mutated freak. If you would watch the transformation of Jacob Black, (Taylor Lautner) he doesn’t come close to looking as fake, cheap and or mutated as the wolf man.  You tell me, who looks to be the better werewolf. Your stupid Wolf Movie didn’t even make the top Movie for the charts; Valentines Day WITH TAYLOR Lautner! Get that this is MY oppinion and I felt I wanted to express it because I saw that your email was on your site. I wanted to let you know this is what i thought of the wolf man that sucks.
FREAKIN LAUTNER DID!

 

The letter is accompanied by a couple of pictures that show very clearly what is obviously a ridiculous copy and misinterpretation of a werewolf and what the real thing is supposed to look like.

Isn’t this just brilliant? Poor Kayla! She has given Twilight fans an even worse reputation than they already had. But wait – we’re not done yet. If you look a bit further below you will find a comment by a Poly Cruz that is just as good as the original article. She says:

Even though I am a huge twilight / Taylor Lautner fan I have to say that they didn’t completely rip off twilight. As you all know (If you read the twilight books) that at the end of  Breaking Dawn, Edward said that Jacob’s pack were shape shifters, not werewolves. So they are not technically ripping off Twilight.

 

I wonder if Edward fans go equally nuts over Dracula. Anyway, this whole discussion made my day. Everybody knows that the first appearance of a werewolf in film or literature was Seth Green as Oz in Buffy, which technically makes Joss Whedon the inventor of werewolves. Just kidding!