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Posted by Grete, on May 12th, 2010  Having grown up in the human world, a place he didn’t fit in nor understand, John Matthew is finally finding his place within the Brotherhood. Trying to put his brutal and abusive past behind him, he finds brief comfort from an unlikely source. Xhex, whose own troubled past haunts her and being half symphath drives her to keep everyone at arms length. Being kidnapped by Lash, the vicious son of the Omega is the last straw and she wants vengeance. Even though John’s brief relationship with Xhex had left his heart broken, he vowed to either find her and bring her home or avenge her death. Fate has played a cruel hand in both their lives but was there a chance for both of them to find peace, or would they continue along their paths alone.
I had mixed feelings when I started Lover Mine. John has been present in the series for a long time, starting before he hit his transition into full vampire and while his history was sad, his present was getting messed up through bad choices, bad memories and a whole lot of attitude. Understandable but it still made me want to smack him upside the head. The same with Xhex too.
Now having arrived at his own book, I was soon drawn right into the story and a lot more made sense about who he has become and why he made some of the choices he did. He had started to feel whiny, sulky and annoying in Lover Avenged and I was really pleased to see him grow out of that. Xhex was a much more layered character than I expected and it didn’t take long before she had claimed her own corner of my heart, along with the other females of the series. She kicks serious ass too which I think makes her the perfect match for John!
I thought the flashes of the history of Darius and Tohrment were a really nice touch and I should have seen where that was going but it still came as a surprise, maybe because so much else was going on in the book.
I’ve probably said this in every review of the series but I still absolutely love that the other major characters from the series appear, which isn’t that surprising since it’s a tight knit group but it’s great (and sometimes painful) to see how they are doing.
I don’t know where to even start with Blay and Qhuinn. They SO belong together but while Blay accepts who he is, Qhuinn is still in denial and thinks he should be doing the female and baby route that his lineage has programmed into him. They are both so hot together and even though Blay might have moved on, I hope there is a future for them and their own book because they are brilliant characters.
The book as a whole was amazing. I absolutely loved it and even with the often horrifying and disturbing events the characters have been through, the emotion, grit and sheer balls of all the characters mean I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I need more, now!
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Posted by Grete, on April 7th, 2010 It’s giveaway time again lovely readers and thanks again to Piatkus I have a duo of Running Hot and Fired Up by Jayne Ann Krentz. There are 2 sets to be won and all you have to do is comment below and tell me what name you would give to your own secret society, when you put it together to either save the world or impose your evil genius upon it.
This giveaway will close on April 30th and names will be drawn from a hat, bowl or whatever container comes to hand!
Apologies but open to UK residents only.
I enjoyed these books and you can read my reviews for Running Hot here and Fired Up here.
Good luck!
 
**This Giveaway is now closed, no further entries will be accepted. Bear with me while I do the draw and will announce the winners later today!**
Posted by Grete, on March 3rd, 2010  Jack Winters is a direct descendant of Nicholas Winters, infamous obsession driven Alchemist. Believing himself to be the recipient of the Winters family curse, Jack needs to find his ancestor’s lamp and a woman who is a strong enough Dreamlight reader. Those two things could be the only way to save him from insanity and death. Chloe Harper tries to stay under the radar of the Arcane Society, like most in her large and diverse family but finds herself caught up when she is hired by Jack for two things. To find the Burning Lamp and with her dreamlight talent, help save him from the curse. Soon on the trail, she finds that they are trying to evade the Nightshade organisation as well as the Arcane Society and will have to make a choice who to trust.
Fired Up technically follows on from Running Hot but focusses on two new characters. I do like it when authors do this, it makes their world seem so much bigger. I thought it was a very nice touch that Grace and Luther were mentioned in passing so I got to see that they were doing well.
The story in Fired Up was just as engaging as Running Hot and I loved the new characters of Jack and Chloe. They worked really well together and the tension between them was built right from the start as a small spark of possibility. I also liked that both of them were competent and confident, no ‘struggling weak heroine needs rescuing by big strong man’ and more than a match for each other. It felt like there was a slightly larger cast of minor characters but they didn’t feel minor when they appeared, they were just as compelling and well rounded as the main cast.
The character who I should have mentioned before that links these two books together, is Fallon Jones. He’s the head of the J&J detective agency that works for the Arcane Society, and at first I thought the story was going to be leading in a different direction for him but I am glad it didn’t turn out to be so, as he’s a great character. His little event at the end made me laugh and want to applaud, and I do hope that story will be told soon.
Coming into the series late hasn’t been much of a hindrance and other than missing references to brief mentions of history, these books can easily be read out of sequence. I also didn’t realise that Jayne Ann Krentz has used the Arcane Society in stories from historical fiction, to modern and then to futuristic under different pen names. She writes as Amanda Quick for the historicals, Jayne Castle as the futuristic ones and of course as Jayne Ann Krentz for these excellent modern stories. I definitely need to catch up on those!
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Posted by Grete, on January 28th, 2010  Mira Hoskins believed her whole life that her parents were killed in a car crash when she was a child. When a tall, handsome stranger rescues her from being attacked in her home, he tells her she is actually a powerful Air Witch which she finds a little hard to believe. Her powers were kept secret from her to keep her safe from the evil organisation who really murdered them, their powers drained so demons could be summoned. Fire Witch Jack McAlister has been sent by The Coven, the ruling body for Witches, to keep her safe and escort her to the Coven before she can be taken and used for the same deed. One slight problem is that Air and Fire have a natural overwhelming attraction and Jack is forbidden to give in to the fire raging within him. Mira struggles equally with the power that threatens to consume her and rather than the balancing of their elements that time together should have brought, the fire burns ever brighter.
Apparently I have a soft spot for secret societies of people with special powers living within our mundane world and fighting the good fight against their evil counterparts. Add in hot men and gutsy women and I’m hooked.
Witch Fire piqued my interest by hitting all those spots and ramped it up with a good story, passionate scenes and well rounded characters. I loved Mira and Jack, they worked really well together and were believable as a couple, even as Mira learns the truth about who she really is. The love scenes were pretty steamy and exciting but not excessively written and it did amuse me that most of the book took place in just three locations. I actually also found that quite impressive. The plot itself is quite simple but I don’t think that’s a bad thing as I feel the story is mainly about the main players. I liked the elemental ‘magic system’, it was intuitive and creative, and along with the wiccan ideals and practices made a sturdy base to build it all from.
I did feel the premise lacked originality, which only left the characters and their interactions to help the book stand out from the crowd. Saying that however, Witch Fire did have a lot of heart. I felt Anya Bast wanted the readers to love her characters as much as she did, in that she succeeded.
Looking forward to reading more in this series!
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Posted by Grete, on January 5th, 2010  About J. R. Ward
With law school, working in healthcare and chief of staff of an eminent academic medical centre in her background, she is now one of the most loved writers of paranormal romance. A woman of many passions – Writing, her husband, her golden retriever and her coffee pot!
http://www.jrward.com/
My Comments
Having read and reviewed Covet, I decided to delve into what else J. R. Ward had written. I like to start at the beginning of a series, even if it isn’t strictly necessary, just because I like to know where a character has come from or what has shaped them into the person they are. The Black Dagger Brotherhood books are very tied in together and while you could read them out of order, it would be a shame to miss out on the multiple plot threads running through from where they first started in Dark Lover. It was actually a book that surprised me a lot and clicked with me right from the start. The characters are powerful, sexy, rough and ready and very appealing, the writing style very crisp and clean, easy to read and very engaging. Add in a good story to that mix and you have a set of books you will want to read right through one after the other and be left wanting more. Superb paranormal romance at it’s finest!
Bibliography
Black Dagger Brotherhood
Fallen Angels
Posted by Grete, on January 5th, 2010 Zerosum is the hub of Rehvenge’s turf. Drug-lord, pimp and half amoral symphath, Rehvenge looks after what is his very well and takes care of anyone who threatens that. Struggling to keep his darker half subdued, he is approached by one of the council aristocrats with a contract to kill Wrath, the King of the Vampires. If his dual natured secret was leaked, he would be arrested and deported to the Symphath colony. After meeting Ehlena, a Nurse at Havers’ clinic who causes his vampiric half to become ascendant, he realises things have to change.
With the council in a panic over the recent spate of murders by the Lessening Society, the Brotherhood and Wrath being hard pressed to protect the civilian population, it only seems to be a matter of time before they suffer another loss. Emotions run high when someone they thought they would never see again returns, but will he be able to stay?
When I realised the central character of this book would be Rehvenge, I wasn’t sure what to think. As a minor character throughout all the other books, his actions weren’t always good and at the time I picked up Lover Avenged I didn’t particularly like him. I thought it would be a major task for J. R. Ward to turn him around for me, maybe too major. One day I’ll learn! History plays such a big part in making anyone who they are – what they’ve been through, what they’ve achieved and a common theme for paranormal romance, what they’ve sacrificed. Learning Rehvenge’s history and all the things he has done for his family and friends made me re-examine what I thought I knew of him. I can’t say I ended up loving him as much as the rest of the Brotherhood but definitely as someone worthy of affection and respect.
Rehvenge is a character that on closer inspection is neither a good nor bad guy because he can’t be, his dual nature ensures that. What he is though is someone who cares deeply about those he is close to, tempers his darker side as much as he can with his vampiric half and while his choice of career may not be what can be termed as ‘good’, within it, he makes it as safe and look after everyone as much as possible. Except himself that is. When you learn what he has to do to keep his secret and his family safe, your heart goes out to him. Ehlena I liked from the beginning and her situation and father’s illness made me sad for her. I couldn’t help but admire her guts and backbone which, along with her compassionate nature and ability to see Rehvenge through unbiased eyes, made her an awesome female character. Their interactions were really well written and I found myself hope it would work out for them, even when I was sure it wouldn’t.
I also have to say, this book is almost a two in one. There is a lot more side story going on with the Brotherhood and several threads that have been brewing over the last few books are resolved here. The book itself is about twice the size the others are and I can only assume they were threads that needed to come into play but not enough on their own to be in their own novel. Whatever the reason, it worked and while there were a lot of things being resolved, several new ones have been put into play and I can’t wait for the next one!
A special thank-you as well to J. R. Ward for Tohr. I was in tears anytime he came up!
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Posted by Grete, on January 4th, 2010  Phury, twin to Zsadist is slowly killing himself. His drug habit is spiralling out of control, he’s in love with his twin’s wife and he’s hearing a sadistic voice in his head. It’s only a matter of time before he self destructs completely. Having sacrificed his freedom already for Vishous’ happiness, he is now supposed to be the Primale, the Vampire race’s primary male to help refresh the gene pool with the Scribe Virgin’s Chosen. Yet he remains celibate, as he has been since the vow he took when he went to rescue his twin. Cormia is the Chosen who has been put forward as his primary female, having lived and grown up in the Scribe Virgin’s domain, never having been to the ‘other’ side, she is confused by the role that has been placed on her. She finds she wants more than the simple life laid out for her but can Phury put enough of himself back together to fulfill his duty or will Cormia be sent back to the Scribe Virgin’s domain and resign herself to never living out her dreams.
I actually found this book very bittersweet. Phury has been such a constant presence in the series and witnessing him slowly spiral out of control has been very sad. Until now he’s always managed to pull himself back from the edge and I thought it would end up being resolved very quickly at the start of this book so that other events could take place. I was wrong and it ended up being a very powerful and poignant journey with Phury and the fight for his life and mind. Cormia is such an innocent having grown up in the scribe virgin’s realm and had never experienced life as we know it. It was refreshing seeing certain things anew through her eyes, even such a simple things as colours.
At times I did want to shake both of them and point out the obvious but really, those parts were well done given what both characters had been through and their individual insecurities. It’s easy to see what is right in front of someone else’s face, your own, not so much.
By the end I felt I’d read something special and been through an emotional journey that had sorrow, joy, sheer guts and above all, love.
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Posted by Grete, on December 22nd, 2009 Thanks to everyone who commented and apologies to those outside of Europe who wanted to enter.
The 4 books will be going to :
Sue Aitken
Tracey Risebrow
Donna Barrie
Jade Elliott
Congratulations and I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did!
Posted by Grete, on December 17th, 2009  Vishous lives up to his name, in battle, in the bedroom, in the Brotherhood. It’s the only way he knows how to be. Gifted or maybe cursed with a hand that can cause death or healing, it seems he is doomed to be paired forever with Butch, his best friend and the Brother he fears he is in love with. After being shot and nearly killed by a Lesser, he is accidentally taken to an ER where Dr Jane Whitcomb is on duty. After starting emergency surgery, she is shocked to find her patient is something other than human and when the Brotherhood arrive in a hurry to bring him to their own medics, Vishous insists on Jane being brought along. For a human Jane is tough and used to being in charge of her own life and work and being held captive albeit comfortably doesn’t sit well with her. Something about Vishous intrigues her and for some reason she brings out the bonding instinct in him. Can Jane be the one to help Vishous overcome his tortuous past and is he something to do with an odd event that happened in her childhood. Only time will tell, and time is running out.
I’ve always loved the character of Vishous and the quirky banter between him and Butch. Definitely up there as one of my favourite Brothers. The confusing love he feels for Butch too tugs at my heartstrings and I’m glad it gets resolved in this book. Jane’s character is sassy, no nonsense and you can’t help but admire her when she, as a human stands up to the Vampiric Brothers in the matter of medical issues. She knows her work and woe betide anyone, even Wrath who gets in the way. That Vishous is a Dominant sexually was really well handled and I have to say very exciting. This only gets more so when Jane enters the picture and being such a strong willed personality herself, sparks fly. I couldn’t help but cry at the big event at the end of the book and the resolution, it was very creative, well written and emotional.
As always there is more going on in the book than just the central characters, I love that there are always threads running from other books as the other Brothers and their lives are always involved too. Keeps you glued to the pages with no mercy!
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Posted by Grete, on December 16th, 2009  Butch O’Neal is a former Cop and the first human to know of the existence of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Not only does he know it exists but is welcomed as a friend and ally. Being human, he is kept apart from the nightly battles the Brothers go through with the Lessening Society and becomes increasingly frustrated at being unable to help. Reckless with is own life, frequently drunk and disorderly and impossibly in love with someone he can’t have, the course of his life changes forever one extraordinary night when he risks all to save a civilian.
Being the fourth book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series makes Lover Revealed no less passionately absorbing and emotional as the first three. It was really good to see Butch as the central character as I was wondering how he was going to continue to fit in with the Brothers when he was ‘only’ human. It seemed only a matter of time before he self-destructed and having liked the character right from the first book, it was the last thing I wanted to see. I have to applaud how J. R. Ward resolved the issue and his helpless love for Marissa, seeing him become what he always wanted to be. Himself.
I also loved the transition of Marissa from the obedient reserved aristocratic doormat she started as, into a woman who was worthy of being a Warrior’s mate. Butch himself goes through several realisations about himself and every time you think it will mean his death, he comes through from sheer balls, force of will and the love of the Brothers, especially Vishous. Another brilliant installment of the series!
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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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