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Posted by Grete, on May 29th, 2009
Posted by Grete, on May 29th, 2009
Posted by Grete, on May 29th, 2009  Samantha Ryan is a Melbourne State cop that has no memory of her childhood or her parents, the only thing she has is a child’s drawing of a woman with ‘Mummy’ written underneath. Things start falling apart when her partner Jack, tries to kill her and weird things start happening around her… and to her. When Gabriel Stern, a shapechanger of the Special Investigations Unit gets involved, she realises there is more going on than a cop gone rogue and she is right in the middle of it.
I really like Keri Arthur’s work in general, it’s exciting, easy to read and she is very good at creating characters you love and care about. But after reading and being a bit disappointed with Deadly Desire, I picked this up fully expecting to feel the same way. It’s the first book in a new series and I have to say it was really good. Maybe the freshness of all new characters and settings helped but everything felt just right. The plot was pretty good, if a little twisty at times but the pace of answers being revealed was just right and kept you reading, trying to guess what was going on. I loved the main characters, Samantha being the one who stands out the most. Definately not a heroine who gets dropped in the deep end and flounders, waiting for the guy to come and save her. She can hold her own and I think that worked really well with the character of Gabriel who is alternately confused then impressed by her. The end of the book felt very unfinished so I really hope there is a second book in the works or I will be left forever wondering.
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Posted by Grete, on May 24th, 2009  Life is never normal for Riley Jensen. Being a rare hybrid of vampire and werewolf she often finds her dual natures at odds with each other, often wanting or needing different things.. or people. Add in her Guardian duties for the Directorate, a role which she never wanted in the first place and it fast becomes a pain in the ass. When strange murders of both humans and vampires start happening, it’s up to Riley to find out if there is a link and if so, to stop the killer. But how does the mysterious and annoying Kye Murphy fit into it. With the Moon’s heat rushing through her, can she focus enough to solve the murders before any more victims turn up.
This is the 6th Book in the Riley Jensen series and I have enjoyed the previous five a great deal. They are gritty, fast paced, exciting and also quite erotic at times. However, I’m not really sure what the problem is with this one. I found it hard to get into the flow of it, kept putting it down to do other things but I did persevere and it was worth it in the end. The plot was quite good, the characters consistent but it wasn’t really until the second half of the book when it finally engages you. It almost felt like Keri Arthur had grown a bit tired of the series and nearly produced a book by the numbers, the saving grace being that she does write very well and her characters are interesting and for the most part lead you to care about them.
As a ‘just OK’ book is the exception rather than the rule for Keri Arthur, I would definitely read the next one as I do want to find out how Riley adapts to the new changes in her life.
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Posted by Grete, on May 13th, 2009  The Realm of Alera is a civilized and beautiful place, where the average person has furies at their command, elemental beings of earth, air, fire, water and metal, bonded with those who have an affinity for them. Out in the harsh frontier of Calderon Valley, Tavi is an ordinary boy in an extraordinary world. The nephew of Steadholder Bernard and his sister Isana, both with powerful furies of their own, he is seen by his peers as a freak as he commands none. Stumbling into the start of an invasion by the savage Marat, he meets Cursor Amara, one of the King’s spies and is thrust into events that could lead to the fall of Alera or the very least, the assassination of the King. Using his wits and intelligence where others would use their furies, Tavi fights to keep his family, people and ultimately Alera safe.
I’ve been a big fan of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files for a long time and was really interested to hear he was writing a fantasy based series. Fantasy was my first love but for a while now, I hadn’t found anything new that had caught my attention and imagination.
First off, I absolutely love the unique magic system Butcher created for his world. Elemental beings that bond with the Alerans, almost like pets and are used in everyday life. Fire furies that keep lights and torches burning, water furies that allow water to travel along pipes or be used to heal wounds, earth furies that can raise walls, track prey or imbue their people with greater strength and so on. The furies take on a personality of their own and become supplementary characters that enhance the story as you meet them, however briefly.
The characters are superbly written, the main cast all have depth and detail that lead you to care about them right from the start, even the ‘bad’ guys who have their own stories and reasons for choosing the path they have taken. You also have the Marat, a tribal people who the Alerans consider savages with ways incomprehensible to them. Their characters are intriguing, vastly different to the Alerans and their society rich with tradition and beliefs. When the two begin to mix, it produces often amusing exchanges as they try to learn how to interact with each other.
The story itself is wonderful, flows easily throughout the book and the pace is just right. Exciting action alongside somber, tender moments, sharing a character’s dread at something that just happened and at times I was moved to tears. It has all the elements of a story I love – heroic endeavours in the face of overwhelming odds, clinging to something you believe in no matter how futile it might seem and finding love at the bleakest of times. These are all things that capture my heart and imagination.
By the end, I was in love with the world and it’s characters and left with a feeling of having read something truly remarkable.
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Posted by Grete, on May 7th, 2009 Diets have a lot to answer for! I picked up a couple more books at Tesco this morning because I wanted chocolate.. and can’t have it. Books may be a lot more expensive than chocolate but they have no fat content 
Anyway, I got :
Married Lovers – Jackie Collins
Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend – Jenny Colgan
Happy days!
Posted by Grete, on May 6th, 2009  Stephanie Plum doesn’t usually investigate missing persons, but as a favour to her parent’s neighbour, she agrees to look into the disappearance of the lady’s great-grandaughter, seven year old Annie Soder. She disappeared along with her mother and now a variety of people are looking for her, not all of them nice. Following the trail leads to some unpleasant associations with the scary Eddie Abruzzi, someone who both Morelli and Ranger advise her to stay away from. But she needs answers. With her usual caseload of FTA’s she fast needs help and turns to Ranger, whose price might just be too high to pay, however exciting it might be.
I found this book a little more serious than the previous ones. That’s not to say it didn’t have it’s laugh out loud moments and madcap antics but the major case Stephanie deals with is a little more serious than normal. Perhaps it’s because it’s outside her normal area and that she isn’t a private detective but I found it a little hard going. Don’t get me wrong, it was very good and made a nice change of pace, just Stephanie outside of her comfort zone and having to turn to Ranger to deal with the bad guys, knowing what the price would end up being felt a little… off. All in all very enjoyable but not one of my favourites.
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Posted by Grete, on May 6th, 2009  A normal day in the life of bounty hunter Stephanie Plum – given the seemingly easy task of bringing in an elderly man up on smuggling charges, things quickly get complicated with a corpse, a retired mobster with a gun and Joe Morelli with a proposal on his mind. Then there’s Ranger with an entirely different proposition….
I feel like I am repeating myself when I review this series. Touching, exciting and often laugh out loud funny, they are just plain entertaining reads. As I start each one, I keep wondering if there is any trouble left that Stephanie Plum can get into and sure enough, Janet Evanovich lands her madcap heroine right in at the deep end. Along with the introduction of a couple more characters which I hope will become part of the series, there are the usual suspects being larger than life. Tensions between Stephanie and Ranger are definately hotting up but then things with Morelli aren’t exactly tepid either!
It’s a real pleasure to read a long running series that is so consistent in writing style, pace and characterisations and I am definately not bored of them yet.
On with the next one!
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Posted by Grete, on May 6th, 2009 It’s been a very booky couple of weeks here. They are a bit like buses…. none for ages then several come along at once!
A charity shop run, a car boot sale, a neighbour passing me some she’d finished with, and the rare event of finding a couple of books I wanted in WH Smiths made me a happy bookworm. Then my lovely husband Tony bought me a few I really wanted from Waterstones!
Anyway, here are the latest aquisitions :
The Strength of the Pack – Jorrie Spencer
Pack Challenge – Shelly Laurenston
The Wolf’s Heart – Jenna Leigh
Gallows View/A Dedicated Man – Peter Robinson
Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death – M.C. Beaton
Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet – M.C. Beaton
Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener – M.C. Beaton
Carnival of Souls (Buffy) – Nancy Holder
Feotal Attraction/Girl’s Night Out – Kathy Lette
Mad Cows – Kathy Lette
Altar Ego – Kathy Lette
Deadly Desire – Keri Arthur
Chasing the Shadows – Keri Arthur
A Madness of Angels – Kate Griffin
Orcs : Bad Blood 1 – Stan Nicholls
Memory Zero – Keri Arthur
Dark Hunter Companion – Sherrilyn Kenyon with Alethea Kontis
Should keep me out of mischief for oooh a couple of days
Posted by Grete, on May 6th, 2009
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Very young children eat their books, literally devouring their contents. This is one reason for the scarcity of first editions of Alice in Wonderland and other favorites of the nursery.
Rosenbach, A. S. W.
About BookThing! BookThing! is a website where Grete can indulge her passion for books. There are reviews covering a range of genres (paranormal romance, crime, fantasy, romantic comedy), bibliographies for selected authors, features and sometimes the odd free book giveaway!
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The Dark-Hunter Companion is written in the style of a handbook for a newly created Dark-Hunter. This book gives all the information you could need to survive, understand the whims of the gods, who to tread lightly around and most importantly how to kill soul-sucking Daimons.
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