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 |
Strange Fortune is a fantasy adventure about a great quest for a religious artifact. Even though it is quite different from my comfort zone reads I liked it a lot. Head on over to Three Dollar Bill Reviews to read my review of it.
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.
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 |
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 |
I’m pretty excited because my first post for Three Dollar Bill Reviews is up. Check out my review of “Spoils of War” by Aleksandr Voinov & Raev Gray, a mythological short story featuring Achilles and Ares.
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 |
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
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 
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
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
