Now having just finished it, I am astounded at Singh’s ability to write characters that affect me on such an emotional level.  She creates a world that is modern but moulded according to her rules, where the supernatural elements are the norm.  It’s believable and fascinating the way she weaves the two together, especially as complex as the Psy-Changeling world is.

The main characters were wonderfully portrayed and felt very real; I loved the interplay between Sascha Duncan and Lucas Hunter straight from the start even though they come from such different backgrounds.

I have to touch on the Psy network.  It’s intricately created, and very impressive that I understood the basis of it easily through the story without the author having to take time out to explain it.  I felt sad that they had drastically changed themselves so much through the removal of emotion, even with their minds being connected.  Sascha had an immediate impact on me because she did feel, even though she hid it and thought it was wrong.

The Changelings again were really well created, their history and their love of nature struck a deep chord in me and while it did take me a little while to warm up to Lucas, I ended up loving him completely.

Slave to Sensation is a wonderfully emotional story about not fitting into the world you were born into, or following the path you were expected to. It’s a tale of being allowed to dream. The mixture of intrigue, corruption, love and passion delivered with a fast paced plot, made this book an amazing and enjoyable read.

It was so good, I want to read it again immediately. I can’t think of any higher accolade than that!

Rating: ★★★★★ 

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J. R. Ward has certainly raised the bar in Crave.  Her writing is just as emotional, gripping and passionate but I felt this book had a darker edge to it in comparison to Covet, the first book in this series.  The edginess is not a bad thing and it definately gave the story a richer feel.

Jim Heron returns as the fallen angel who has been chosen to try and save mankind.  I loved his character in the first book and due to that darker feel, he felt more solid, tangible and flawed;  I loved him all the more for it.

I was glad to see that the two other fallen angels, Adrian and Edward, returned to lend a hand here.  Both characters are just as complex as Jim’s and it was good to find out a little more about them.  I love the banter between the three of them and the times when things turned serious, it brought a lump to my throat.  I also have to mention Dog who we know isn’t just a dog, I’m just not sure quite what he is yet.  He’s a bit of an enigma and hopefully will be explained in later books.

I thought it was good, if a little bittersweet, to see the four ‘british’ gentlemen angels again.  They are integral to Jim’s mission and add some welcome humour but because their hands are tied and have to play by the rules they can be frustrating.  However, as frustrated as I felt at times, there is one point which was very well played and made me want to cheer.

There were a few twists in the story that I really didn’t see coming which I always like and while the ending turned out kind of how I expected, the cost was surprisingly high and quite sad.

All in all I couldn’t put it down and was thoroughly engaged right til the end.  It was wonderfully character driven and what action there was, was brutal.  One scene in particular was both spectacularly written yet horrifying at the same time.  The love scenes were very hot and, as I’ve come to expect and love from J. R. Ward, well written and emotional.

I honestly can’t wait for the next book, I NEED to know who the next soul will be!

Rating: ★★★★★ 

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So why should you read J. R. Ward?

The characters Ward creates are just phenomenal.  The main cast are the Brothers and their individual stories are the focus for each book.  What makes the series truly outstanding is the presence of the other major players through each one.  You can’t have one Brother without having them all!  Sometimes those appearances are brief and often they are integral to another’s story.

The series begins with Dark Lover and you are introduced to a world of vampires living alongside humans in secrecy.  The Black Dagger Brotherhood are a group of elite vampires, engineered by breeding to be the most powerful and best warriors to protect the race not only from exposure to the humans but also from their unnatural predators – the Lessening Society.  I love Ward’s slant on the vampire mythos, that the traditional view is mostly hogwash spread by the human media with a few truths hidden within the fiction.  The truth is humans have nothing to fear from vampires.  They can’t sustain themselves from human blood so basically, they are just another race that share the planet but in ever decreasing numbers.  There is a war on, between the lessers and the vampires and the Brothers fight night after night to keep the remaining vampire population safe, often at personal cost to themselves.  They are powerful, larger than life and very very hot!

While the plot of each book might mainly be about a character unexpectedly finding their true love (they are romance novels after all), it’s the characters that make them as engaging as they are.  J. R. Ward has such a clear and vivid way of writing that you get to know them so well and the mere mention of a name conjurs up their image in your mind and how they might act and react in certain situations.  I also have to say not once in ten books have I read a scene and thought hang on, he wouldn’t do that!.

You can feel the love and sometimes exasperation Ward has for her Brothers and in turn, shares those things with the reader.   They are all so fundamentally different and you just can’t help falling in love with them, cry for them and your heart bleeds at the sacrifices they have to make for the good of the race.

The females of the series are just as much of a revelation and again so very different from each other.  Each has their own strengths and weaknesses that make them the perfect foil for the jaded and battle-weary Brothers.  Sassy, fierce, loving and brave, each one finds her way into your heart just as easily.

So if you love amazing and emotional stories with flawed yet solid warriors (did I mention they were also hot?) and the females that are more than a match for them then you should read J. R. Ward.  I dare you not to fall in love with them!

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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!

Rating: ★★★★★ 

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So what do you do when you have devoured everything she has written?  Here are some recommendations for other authors in the same genre or with a similar style who I also love, and hopefully you might too!

J. R. Ward

Another author with a long running series, who has an amazing ability to bring her characters to life and into your hearts.  Features vampires, hot men and sassy women, who could ask for more?

The following authors also write supernatural romance/urban fantasy but they are not quite as epic in scope as Sherrilyn Kenyon or J. R. Ward.

Keri Arthur

Keri Arthur’s ‘Riley Jensen’ Series are a great addition to the genre, with a gutsy, sexy heroine who is half-werewolf, half-vampire.  The ‘Nikki and Michael’ vampire series has action as well as romance and the ‘Damask Circle Trilogy’ are definitely recommended reading too.

Patricia Briggs

For some werewolf love, Patricia Briggs brings the ‘Mercy Thompson’ Series to life and  is an excellent, engaging, action packed read.  Recently she has started on the ‘Alpha and Omega’ series from the same world, with two great characters who started out in a short story and are proving just as engaging.  Lighter on the romance side than Kenyon but the story makes up for it.

Karen Chance

The ‘Cassie Palmer’ clairvoyant series has a bit of mystery going on, even with the numerous supernatural elements and makes for an exciting, sometimes heated mix. In addition to the main series, Karen Chance has recently begun a spin off series featuring the daughter of one of the main cast, which is shaping up to be a good read.

Kelley Armstrong

The ‘Otherworld’ series is going from strength to strength and Kelley Armstrong has a great way of telling stories through different character’s viewpoints.  It starts with werewolves in Bitten and goes through several great characters who are witches, demons, sorcerors and necromancers.  I love how she crosses their paths with other characters and often sets up the scene for following books as minor plots in the current one.

Rachel Caine

Two excellent series so far – ‘The Weather Wardens’ and their abilities to control the elements along with the enigmatic Djinn and her Young Adult series ‘The Morganville Vampires’.  Both are excellent reads and highly recommended.

Kim Harrison

Witches, vampires, pixies oh my!  The ‘Rachel Morgan’ series is a  good solid read, inspired titles, humerous at times yet has its extremely poignant moments.  Fast paced, full of action and definitely one to read.

Karen MacInerney

‘Tales of an Urban Werewolf’ are an easy, interesting and fun series to read.  Doesn’t take itself too seriously but packs a punch when it needs to.

Carrie Vaughn

The brilliant ‘Kitty’ series (a misnomer since it’s about werewolves) just keeps getting better and Carrie Vaughn brings kick ass Kitty to life with style and panache.

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So why should you read Sherrilyn Kenyon?

I am continually astounded by her ability to tell not only a great story, but by the worlds and supporting characters she creates with the different series.  With each book, someone who might have been a minor character in a previous story becomes the focus.  You learn their history and ride along with them as their present unfolds and you genuinely feel part of it.  The characters are always compelling, interesting and flawed and it’s those three things that keep you reading and eager to pick up another of her novels.

The Dark-Hunter world is like a web with a different strand for each person but with one character in the middle who holds it all together.  He appears in most of the Dark-Hunter books and finally had his own story told in Acheron which was outstanding.

While Sherrilyn is (thankfully!) a prolific writer, I’ve never felt she churns out the same material for the sake of it.  I feel the love she has for her characters in every book and they are all emotional, very engaging and unique.  How she keeps all the characters straight when they cross paths continually I’ll never know but it amazes me.

Her male characters are hot, charismatic, dangerous, sensual but flawed and yes you’d expect that considering it is romance after all, but she also creates strong, determined and often ferocious women who you both love and can empathise with a great deal.  The mix is explosive and very exciting and it’s the superb characterisations of both that bring them to life in your mind and utterly hook you.

So if you want books that you will absolutely fall in love with, you should read Sherrilyn Kenyon and my favourite series of all, the Dark-Hunters.

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I’m not sure how I missed this in the series but I did!  I thought I’d read all of the current Dark-Hunter books and when a friend pointed out I was missing one I was very (and pleasantly) surprised.  It’s like finding something sweet and yummy in the back of the fridge when you were craving it and thought you had run out

I’m always astounded by the world Sherrilyn Kenyon has created for her Dark-Hunter series.  How she keeps it all straight is mind-boggling and yet continues to slot in more history of characters and their place in her godverse.  I’d met Sin and Katra in other books and had wondered why they hadn’t had their story told.  Silly me!

The book is a good one, has Kenyon’s unique writing style and ability for bringing her characters to life and into your heart.  The story is engaging and the action only lets up for those brief, tender moments she writes so well.

Thoroughly enjoyable and a great addition to the series (even if it is book 13 of 18 and I missed it!)

Rating: ★★★★★ 

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This is the first book by Christine Feehan I have read and I have to say my initial impressions were not good.  I found it hard to get past how incredibly mysogynistic and chauvenistic the male characters were.  I found it offputting and felt it was just an excuse for them to finally meet their soulmates after centuries of loneliness and then suddenly after being that way for hundreds of years would be a changed man, loving and giving and treat the female character as an equal.  I’m not sure what the underlying message was supposed to be, and it bugged me.

Having got that out of the way, the story was engaging, the characters interesting and the whole Carpathian society and ‘world’ is rich and diverse.  The plot was quite intricate leading to greater empathy with the major characters and a better understanding of their way of life and perhaps why the male Carpathians are the chauvenists they are.

There are quite a few steamy scenes which I felt were modern in setting but quite old fashioned in description and that does make it a change from your average paranormal romance.  It’s not a bad thing, just different and succeeded in creating an emotive experience for me as the reader.

The pace was good in general although there were a few parts where it felt slow.   I found myself wanting it to move along which it invariably did and I was swept up into the story again.

All in all it was well written and engaging, just the chauvenism I found hard to get past and while that won’t stop me reading more by Christine Feehan (this being the 17th in the series so I have a way to go once I read Book 1!), I will be expecting it next time.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

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Kelley Armstrong lives with her husband and three children in Ontario, Canada. She is a full time writer and is not afraid to have a photo taken by her youngest child as her author picture!

http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com

My comments

Dime Store Magic was the first book I picked up, thinking it was the first of the series and I fell in love instantly. The vibrancy and humour of the characters was very attractive, their world so different yet so similar to our own. It was a complete surprise when I picked up Bitten believing it to be the next book and found it was from the perspective of a completely different character. I realised then that Kelley Armstrong had a unique way of writing. She created the ‘Otherworld’ universe and then chose key characters from within it to narrate their stories, sometimes crossing paths with the others, often fighting their battles alone. She has quite a few stories published in anthologies which fit in with the series, along with the treat of several original stories on her website – which is well worth having a look at.

Bibliography

Otherworld Series (in chronological order)

• Bitten
• Stolen
• Dime Store Magic
• Industrial Magic
• Haunted
• Broken
• No Humans Involved
• Personal Demon
• Living with the Dead – Read my review
• Frostbitten – Read my review
• Waking the Witch
• Spell Bound

Otherworld Anthologies/Contributions

• Men of the Otherworld
• Tales of the Otherworld
• ‘Chaotic’ in Dates from Hell
• Angelic (UK Kindle Novella)
• Counterfeit Magic (UK Kindle Novella)

Free Online Fiction by Kelley Armstrong

http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/free-online-fiction/

Darkest Powers (Young Adult Otherworld Series)

• The Summoning
• The Awakening
• The Reckoning
• The Gathering

Nadia Stafford (Crime)

• Exit Strategy – Read my review
• Made to Be Broken – Read my review

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Finally his story has been written and I couldn’t put it down. Rather than it being told as a memory, you are taken through his life and the things that he endured that made him the man he is today. You understand so much more about him and the choices and sacrifices he had to make. It was brilliantly written and when his history is done and it switches to the modern Ash that we know and love, you can’t help empathising with him and fearing that this time he will come completely undone and have no way back. The character of Tory ties in with several others as has happened a lot in the other books, a facet of Kenyon’s world that I love and I wonder how on earth she manages to keep them all straight. You can’t help but love Tory, her determination and fierce loyalty are ultimately the things that Ash is drawn to and feel there would be no one more perfect for him, if they can endure the obstacles that are put in their path.

As I said before, I couldn’t put this book down and it was a fantastic book of the history of the Dark-Hunters and their lives. I loved it and am extremely happy that my fears were unfounded and this is not the end of the series. I can’t wait for the next book!

Rating: ★★★★★ 

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