RFG Recommends: Trials of Conviction

23 Dec

I am such a fan of TA White and her work and I have made no secret of my love for this series in particular. Trials of Conviction is the 5th book in the Firebird Chronicles and if you haven’t read this series yet I will say that you probably do have to go back and read the other books first in order to make sense of this one. The reading order for this series is:

  1. Rules of Redemption
  2. Age of Deception
  3. Threshold of Annihilation
  4. Facets of Revolution (you can read my review of this book here)

This series is a wonderful blend of fantasy/science fiction and romance with scenes both in space and in some strange, wonderful worlds full of alien creatures, magic and futuristic weapons and vessels. It follows Kirra Forrest, a woman introduced in the first book as a human salvager who was a former officer in what passes for the human army/alliance. Kirra has a bot best friend named Jin and it is impossible not to love Jin. He’s snarky, funny and unbelievably loyal.

The series starts with Kirra saving the lives of two children of an alien race called the Tuann. This then starts the story arc of the series and leads to discoveries of who Kirra actually is and introduces the overarching plotline of a war between humans and their allies and another alien race called the Tsavitee.

I can’t give away too much plot wise as I really don’t want to spoil anything BUT I can say that this book starts pretty much right after that cliffhanger at the end of book 4 with Kirra making plans to save the day with grim determination as she always does.

The found family trope and poor Kirra gathering more and more people who are loyal to her in spite of herself always makes me laugh and her romance with Graydon continues to grow and deepen. I love how the romance is fierce and challenging like they both are and not necessarily a soft thing of sonnets and poems:

Graydon’s face was furious, his fingers tender as he feathered a touch across her jaw. “I’m here Kira. All the way to the end. Your shelter and your anchor.”

Kira’s cheeks were wet with tears as she covered his hand with hers, “Okay.”

Graydon’s glare remained hot. “You’re such a difficult woman”

Kira’s laugh sounded clogged. “Isn’t that why you love me?”

(Trials of Conviction page 118)

There are some heavier themes of war and torture in the book although none too graphic but trigger warnings there. There is a dry humor sprinkled throughout book that helps lighten some of the more stressful moments:

Why was it that everytime she turned around in this place someone was threatening her life? Sheesh. No wonder Auntie hated the Tsavitee. They were so dramatic all the time.

(Trials of Conviction page 236)

I loved this book so much I read it all within 24 hours. I looked up at the end with my eyes blurry and my heart full. It gave me all the feels – stress, tingles, laughter, surprise you name it, I felt it. It ties up loose ends nicely and although the overarching plot is not yet resolved enough little sub plots and questions are answered that it won’t make you crazy in the meantime waiting for the next book. Five plus stars from me J

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RFG Recommends: A Court This Cruel and Lovely by Stacia Stark

24 Mar

I have a harder time writing reviews for books that I really loved because the whole time I’m low key anxious that I won’t be able to properly convey how much I enjoyed the book. This is one of those books that has taken me a while to write a review for because it was so freaking awesome I’m scared I won’t do it justice- either that or be one of those reviewers who do nothing but end all their sentences in an exclamation point (!!!!!!!!!!!!). But honestly guys, if you love fantasy romance with great world building, awesome dialogue and relatable, fully fleshed out imperfect but perfect characters then please buy this book.

I need to say that this isn’t my first book by Stacia Stark. I read ALL of her Deals with a Demons series when I was in a book slump and that series snapped me out of my reading funk within the first few pages. That series is great too so if Urban Fantasy is more your thing then definitely highly recommend. When I heard she was doing a high fantasy romance book I did do a happy dance around the room.

Our heroine is Prisca, and she lives in a little village with her mom and brother. The first chapter introduces us to her and the world they live in where if you’re caught with magic you and your family are killed by the king’s men. The world is a pretty grim one and you get a good picture of what’s happening in the first chapter in a very natural way without a giant information dump. Of course, Prisca does have magic and has to run away (sort of but I don’t want to give too much away) and when she does, she meets up with our hero, Lorian, and his not-so-merry band of men. Magic, fighting, adventure and big mysteries ensue.

The premise of the book is good but what makes this novel great is the writing. The world can be dark and as with any fantasy novel there are sad moments but Stacia Stark is SO good at peppering witty dialogue and entertaining character thoughts that it keeps the novel from sinking into totally depressing territory. There is a found family aspect where the not-so-merry band of men and Prisca form a bond while travelling.

Prisca is a refreshingly realistic heroine- she’s smart and stubborn BUT she’s not perfect. She has fears that she has to overcome. Lorian can be a bit of an ass BUT as the book goes on you realize there’s a lot more to him than meets the eye. One of my favorite things though was the banter between the two of them, the sexual tension builds and builds and in between there’s witty dialogue:

I rolled my eyes “The Queen’s lady and the handsome prince. Of course they’re gossiping.”

His gaze returned to my face. “You enjoy the way I look?” His eyes glittered and for a wild moment I wanted to pluck them from his face.

My cheeks burned. “Yes, yes your face is very symmetrical. An incredible achievement.”

He stared at me. Then he threw his head back with a laugh. The sound was the best thing I’d ever heard.

“You could convince the gods they were little more than peasants with that sharp tongue of yours”

See? So good. The whole book is peppered with dialogue like that, between not just the hero and heroine but between all the secondary characters as well. Special mention goes to the letters between Lorian and his brother which provided several laugh out loud moments in between tense scenes and life or death situations. The book finishes one plot point so doesn’t end on a terrible cliff hanger BUT this is definitely the first book in a series with an overarching plot point of magic oppression and corrupt kings that will need to be addressed in the next books.

From the frequency of release dates of her past books, I’m sure we won’t have long to wait for book 2 in this series and I’m really looking forward to it. Let me end this review by putting in those annoying exclamation points that I was very careful to not overuse in previous paragraphs. I LOVED this book! Highly recommend!!! Go out and get it!!!!!!! Phew 😊

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RFG Recommends: Facets of Revolution

29 Sep

Reading long anticipated books is always a little scary. As much as I really look forward to them I also worry that maybe, just maybe, I’m expecting too much from a book and author and am doomed to disappointment. Book 4 of TA White’s Firebird Chronicles was one of my most anticipated books of 2022 and blew all my sky-high expectations out of the water.

I discovered TA White’s books via a recommendation from another all-time favorite author(s), Ilona Andrews. I fell into her worlds and in love with her writing. My all-time favorite series of hers though is the Firebird Chronicles. It’s space opera sci-fi/fantasy/romance all in one and I am totally here for it. There’s the “found child and family” trope and a slow burn romance that is funny and not sickly sweet at all.

The main character is Kira Forrest, a human woman (or is she?) who is a very reluctant heroine. She tries to blend into the crowd but can’t seem to prevent herself from helping those in need. Her life changes after she saves the life of two children who are part of another race called the Tuann. From there we are introduced to alien races, space adventures, alien world adventures, funny drones and giant dragon-like creatures called the Luong.

Kira’s back story is tragic and we slowly learn more about her childhood and early adulthood as the books go on. In spite of the sometimes heavy theme of war, the books are not dark and heavy at all. TA White does an excellent job of balancing the heavier themes with hilarious dialogue and close relationships between characters.

The cast of surrounding characters are so well fleshed out and just as memorable as Kira and help show her character development book by book.

This fourth book goes straight into the last book’s cliffhanger and then just keeps going. A number of big questions are answered and there is a lot of action with the serious moments balanced out by witty banter and laugh out loud moments. For those who haven’t read the previous books, this is not the book to start with. Although each book has its own story arc there are overarching stories that run through all four books and starting on the fourth book will do the series a disservice. Here’s the reading order below:

  1. Rules of Redemption
  2. Age of Deception
  3. Threshold of Annihilation
  4. Facets of Revolution

Five star read for me- I finished the book and had to force myself not to go back and read it again right away. Highly recommended!

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RFG Recommends: Catching London by MV Ellis

24 Jan

CATCHING_LONDON_forjpegs

I really, really enjoyed the heck out of this book, a definite 4 star read for me.

I loved how the author built the relationship part of the love story separately from the sexual chemistry. Very modern language and the whole rock star thing aside, it really was at its core a classic love story. There were no aliens or shifters or even evil, scheming, murderous exes. The conflict was all internal and about their feelings for each other.

I also liked that although he was a ROCK STAR (in big bold letters) the conflict wasn’t mainly because of his money or lifestyle- it was about London’s fear of being hurt/rejection.

I loved both the hero and heroine even though there were parts of the book where I wanted to throttle them both. Hats off to the author for being able to show them as flawed, human and annoying and then being able to pull them back into likeable/ loveable characters- I’ve read books where characters go too far into unlikeable and nothing they do ever brings them back.

I like how the dialogue was realistic and modern and fit with the story. My only negative comment about the dialogue is that sometimes there was a little too much (for my personal taste) of the natch, dayum and cray-cray and other very modern MTV type words going on, but I’m almost 40 and not a rock star so that could just be me being old-fashioned. All in all would recommend this book and author.

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New Autobuy Author: Mariana Zapata

28 Aug

I read Wall of Winnipeg (WoW) at the end of last year and all I could think was: How could I not have discovered Mariana Zapata before this?! Her writing style really, really works for me. In a few short months, I’ve bought her entire backlist including audiobooks and have read all of them – TWICE.

WoW is the story of a girl named Vanessa and it starts with her being the long suffering personal assistant of the greatest defensive player in the fictional NFO (An American Football League). Aiden Graves, the Wall of Winnipeg, is a fantastic football player but a really meh boss.

She resigns and he tries to get her back not as a personal assistant but as his wife because he’s Canadian and needs to marry an American to stay in the country and play. There are no big surprises in terms of the plot and it kind of sounds like that movie “The Proposal” with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds but with the roles reversed. But you know what? I picked up the book and could not for the life of me put it down.

This is the thing that I think many non –Romance readers don’t understand about the Romance genre; yes plot is important and a lot of them may seem similar but there are so many different ways to tell a story that even though things may look similar on the surface there are thousands of extraordinary journeys you can take to get to the end of the tale. MZ really delivers on the feels- the ups and downs and laughs and sighs- I actually hugged my iPad to my chest when I finished the book and then proceeded to text all the other romance readers in my life to tell them to buy it.

I went on to read Wait for Me and loved it even MORE than WoW and then I bought Kulti and was thrilled to see it was about a female soccer player. I could not have been happier. Many dollars and only a few days later I was very money and sleep deprived but boy did I have stars in my eyes. And all those people I texted? They also went out and started buying her back list.

I LOVE her slow burn style of asshat into swoon worthy hero. She builds the relationships between hero and heroine piece by piece and scene by scene until the sexual tension is screaming off the pages. At the same time, you see how much the main characters like and respect each other so genuinely that the HEA is a deep sigh, heart hurting kind of moment. And the dialogue? Laugh out loud, snort through your nose funny or heart wrenchingly real. This is an author whose work I will buy without even reading the back blurb on the book. It’s an A for all the books on her back list.

 

 

 

 

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Review: Wolf’s Challenge by Christina Lynn Lambert

26 Feb

 

wolfs-challenge-c-lambert

Taking risks, especially risks of the handsome male variety, is currently out of the question for Sydney Reid. She will make no exceptions for tall, gorgeous Derrick Porter. Never date a player-it’s rule number one in Sydney’s book, and the charming lawyer constantly devouring her with his eyes is every inch the reason. Despite her best efforts to keep Derrick in the friend zone, sparks fly between the two of them, and Sydney isn’t entirely sure she wants to throw water on the flames.

Can Derrick convince the shy, sexy Sydney to give him a chance, something more than her elusive “maybe”? More importantly, should he? Derrick has a few secrets, the least shocking secret being that he can transform at will into a powerful wolf. He’s still trying to forgive himself for being at the wheel during the accident that killed his son. Losing Sydney when she learns the truth might break him, but he’s pretty sure not having her would be just as bad.

And with an obsessed stalker on their tails, more than their hearts are at issue.

I really like paranormal romance. I like reading about characters and their relationships and emotions all with the added benefit of some kickass world building and the supernatural. I think that the best paranormal romances are those whose main focus is still the relationships and the growth of the characters as people in spite of the fact that they may drink blood, have super strength or go furry once in a while. Some of my favourite authors, Ilona Andrews and Nalini Singh for example, do this particularly well.

The first few chapters of this book drew me in immediately as the focus was on the characters and their internal struggles. There’s a prologue that hints at a tragedy in the hero’s past that shapes his internal conflicts. There’s not as much dedicated to the heroine’s past at first but her history of some very bad luck with past relationships slowly unfolds and it becomes clear why she’s so gun shy when it comes to relationships.

I really liked the first half of the book. I loved the “meet cute” of the hero and heroine via a well-meaning matchmaking friend who also happens to be a coach of a running club so both of them are forced to run/train for a race. I enjoyed the focus on the characters and how they fought and then gave in to their attraction all the while sweating and forcing their legs to go that extra mile. Given my own love/hate/love relationship with exercise I really like reading about other people (fictional or otherwise) suffering through it as well.

The dialogue was natural and not stilted and the tension build up in the first part of the book was done really well. It read like a really interesting contemporary where the main character happened to turn furry once in a while instead of the paranormal elements being the focal point to the detriment of the story.

However, I did feel that the book did take a turn somewhere in the middle into crazy town. I like a certain amount of crazy sauce in my books as I love escapism but I did feel that there were one too many elements inserted into the plot that the book could have done without and it would have streamlined the book a bit and kept the focus on the relationship between Sydney and Derrick. There were also chapters that were told from the point of view of the antagonist and this is never my favourite thing to read- but that is just a personal taste for me and does not reflect at all on the writing of the author.

All in all I liked the book and I really liked the first few chapters. I would definitely read this author’s work again because I liked her characters and the way she writes dialogue. Given my different reactions to the different parts of the book I feel that I need to give two ratings. I’d give the first half of the book a B and the second half a C.

Note: I was provided a copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review

 

 

 

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Review: Until We Collide by Charlotte Fallowfield

19 Oct

I love romantic comedies. Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, Kristen Ashley’s Rock Chick Series and Bridget Jones’s Diary are some of my favourite books of all time. When I was approached by this author and asked to review her romantic comedy book it would be fair to say I was pretty excited.

until-we-collide

What do you do when the guy you’re in love with is seeing someone else?

That’s the dilemma facing Paige Taylor. All of her life she’s only ever had eyes for the gorgeous Alec Wright, but despite their undeniable chemistry, their timing has always been off. Fast approaching her thirtieth birthday, Paige despairs of ever finding love and a happy ever after. Her best friend Poppie tells her that she can either watch life pass her by, or grab it with both hands. She convinces Paige to throw herself back into the dating pool, or she could be waiting for Alec forever.

What Paige didn’t expect was the catalogue of dating disasters to follow. A neck brace, jelly fish, stitches, flashing and an encounter with a gorilla were some of the most memorable. Despite some downright hilarious, humiliating and cringe worthy dates, her biological clock is ticking and Paige is determined to keep trying until she finds the one.

Was Alec Wright always her Mr. Right, or is he still out there waiting to be found?

Join Paige in her quest to find the ultimate prize. Love.

This book starts off with a very young Paige Taylor, still in her last year of high school and already madly in love with Alex Wright. Both are from a small town in England and I thought the author set the scene very well. I could picture the quaint village and smell the crisp, clean air. She also sets up the characters in the story right from the start and it soon becomes apparent that poor Paige is a bit of a klutz and that the humor in this book was going to be very slapstick, at the expense of our poor heroine who can’t seem to catch a break where embarrassing situations are concerned.

Throughout the book, and Paige’s life she and Alec keep bumping into each other but the timing never seems quite right and I did keep going until the end wondering if she was going to end up with Alec or if someone else was going to swoop in and grab our heroine’s heart. I enjoyed the story and most of Paige’s little mishaps made me smile and chuckle.

There were however, a few things I didn’t like about the book. I’m a huge dialogue girl. Give me a hard to believe plot line where reality has to be suspended and I can go with it as long as the dialogue is smart and funny. Bad dialogue takes me out of the story faster than most anything and there were parts of this book that took me right out of the story.

“I just graduated from Leeds University, fingers crossed I’ll achieve my BA honours degree in photography. My portfolio was so strong that I’ve already been offered a job in the fashion industry, training under a prolific photographer, John Graves…”- This made me snort a bit because I don’t know many people who talk like that. Although I can see what the author was trying to do here as with a couple of sentences you do learn a lot about the person speaking.

On the next page though, the author pulled me back in again with this little piece of dialogue:

“Please, I’m Paige calamity Taylor. You’ve seen me in action. I’m the girl who gets sprayed with cow poo, falls in rivers and gets coated with mud, and snorts water all over her date. I’m not model material.” That was funny and again, gives a lot of information about the character but in a more fun and easy way than in the previous page.

Here are the other things that I DID like. The book was well-edited in that there were no glaring grammatical errors or typos. I liked the premise of the book and there were parts that were straight out HILARIOUS. Some of the fixes that Paige got herself into made me laugh out loud. I really liked her relationship with her best friend Poppy and how there was never a time that she forgot her friend or neglected her because of romance.

I don’t want to give away too much as a huge part of the fun in this book is wondering the whole way through if Paige and Alec are going to end up together and you’ll have to read it to find out. All in all, it wasn’t a perfect book but it was an enjoyable one.

Final Grade: C+

 Note: I received a free copy of this book from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review

 

 

 

 

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Review: Bending Bethany by Aria Cole

7 Aug

I knew I had to read this book when I saw that it was about a soccer player. It’s been a long time since I’ve participated in a book tour or requested an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of a book due to  real life getting in the way of reading and reviewing as much as I would like to. However, the premise of this book was too cute to pass up so with pictures of hot soccer players kicking goals in my head (Ole, ole ole!) I put my hand up to do a review.

The words on the cover of the book pretty much explain the plot:

bending bethany A Cole

The story is about Bethany, a shy Biology major, and Jensen, a star soccer player. They have a one night stand and the rest of the book is about Bethany being pursued very ardently by Jensen.  I’m not a huge reader of New Adult books but I found myself liking this book in spite of its genre.

I liked the relationship between Bethany and her sister Taylor, and how the whole big sister/little sister dynamic was different from usual in that Taylor was the older sister but was actively encouraging her little sis to get into more trouble. I liked that Bethany was shown to still take her studies seriously- there was no throwing it all away for love. Without giving too much away, I like how Jensen wooed Bethany so well. There were more than a few very sweet moments/grand gestures in the book that made me smile.

bending Bethany 8

There was a stark contrast between the sweetness of the way Jensen pursued Bethany (and really pursued is the word, the boy worked hard for it) and how racy the language got in the sex scenes. On the spice-o-meter I’d put this book just over the 50% line where the orange starts turning into red.

If there was one thing I do wish is that there was a little more character development for Jensen, I would have liked to see more of his soccer playing and his back story. That said, this read like a long novella so the length of the story didn’t lend itself to much of a backstory for either character. What you DO come away with though is that Jensen is a really good guy, not afraid to go after what he wants and work hard for it.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable book that was easy to read, was well edited and BONUS had an epilogue which showed their happily ever after. It wasn’t perfect, but the story was so cute and the characters so likeable I devoured the book in one sitting on a Sunday night. This is my first book by Aria Cole but she caught my attention with this book and I will definitely be looking out for her next one. B-

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RFG Recommends: The Obsession by Nora Roberts

27 May

The Obsession NRoberts

I have made no secret of my love for La Nora. The woman is a romance writing MACHINE. For a full list of her very impressive collection of work you can check out her website here:

http://www.noraroberts.com/

She writes stand-alone romance/romantic suspense novels, series books that are straight up contemporary romances or those with a paranormal twist (I think the Smart Bitches Trashy Books site calls them, ParaNoras, heh) as well as an Urban Fantasy series that she writes under the pen name JD Robb. This UF series centres around a cop in a New York of the future named Eve Dallas who may be one of my absolute favourite urban fantasy heroines (along with Kate Daniels) and the hero, Roarke well, if he isn’t one of your ultimate book boyfriends after reading these books then… we can no longer be friends. Really.

The Obsession is one of her stand-alone romantic novels with a suspense element. Let me preface my love for this book by stating that NR has published around 33 stand-alone novels and although my love for her work is (seemingly) boundless I have to admit that of the 33 there were some that were awesome (Birthright, Montana Sky, The Search, Angels Fall among others) and some that were good but I probably didn’t bother re-reading (Black Hills, The Liar, The Reef). This probably comes down a little bit to personal taste and a little bit to the fact that she is such a prolific author that some of her books may come off as a little more formulaic than others.

I was afraid to read this book as I didn’t particularly like the last stand-alone book she published, The Liar, as it didn’t grab my attention the way a really good book is supposed to. Also, the premise of The Obsession book is dark- very dark. So if kidnapping and rape is a trigger for you keep far, far away. NR handles it very well and descriptions aren’t too graphic but the book IS about a serial rapist and murderer so Rainbow Bright this book is not.

“She stood in the deep, dark woods, breath shallow and cold prickling over her skin despite the hot, heavy air. She took a step back, then two, as the urge to run fell over her.” 

Naomi Bowes lost her innocence the night she followed her father into the woods. In freeing the girl trapped in the root cellar, Naomi revealed the horrible extent of her father’s crimes and made him infamous. No matter how close she gets to happiness, she can’t outrun the sins of Thomas David Bowes.

Now a successful photographer living under the name Naomi Carson, she has found a place that calls to her, a rambling old house in need of repair, thousands of miles away from everything she’s ever known. Naomi wants to embrace the solitude, but the kindly residents of Sunrise Cove keep forcing her to open up—especially the determined Xander Keaton.

Naomi can feel her defenses failing, and knows that the connection her new life offers is something she’s always secretly craved. But the sins of her father can become an obsession, and, as she’s learned time and again, her past is never more than a nightmare away.

In spite of the dark subject matter of the book I really, really loved it. The story sucked me in and the pacing was really good. There were quite a few chapters devoted to Naomi in her growing up years and it never felt like an overly extended introduction or padding for the book but a natural progression of her development from that pivotal moment in her life when she discovered her dad was a serial killer to how that then reverberates through her life in so many ways and for so many years.

Naomi was one of the best things for me about this book. I adore books with strong female leads (hence my love for romance novels) and this one is a doozy. She’s naturally cautious as life has taught her to be but never falls into brittle or bitter. Every time I think about the chapter where she is only 12 years old and discovers her dad’s victim it gives me goosebumps. The fact that she didn’t then curl up into a whimpering ball in horror and instead helped the victim speaks volumes about this character at an age where her only concern should have been getting her first pimple.

NR does the tough but reluctantly kind heroine very well and this one gets dragged kicking and screaming into making friends, being part of a community and having a dog. Speaking of the dog- some of the BEST scenes in the book revolve around that dog. In spite of the dark history, there are laugh out loud scenes in this book that make it so easy to read.

Aside from my love of the heroine, I think what also makes this book so good is the cast of secondary characters, from the builder and his wife, to Naomi’s uncle and his partner all the way to the darn dog there was so much likeability built into this book it almost fell into the too cute for words category. Of course then you have Xander Keaton, mechanic and band member. Xander falls into the more gruff, tough talking NR hero mold than the affable, easy going one but somehow manages to charm the literal pants of cautious Naomi anyway. Here’s an excerpt of the two of them having a disagreement in Chapter 20 of the book:

He crossed over, sat beside her again. “You’d have slept with me. I saw that the first time you came into the bar.”

            “Oh, really?”

            Not yet settled but getting there, he picked up his beer again.

“I’ve got a sense about when a woman’s going to be willing. But if you believed all that crap all the way though, this wouldn’t have turned into a thing.”

            “It wasn’t supposed to.”

            “A lot of good things happen by accident. If Charles Goodyear hadn’t been clumsy, we wouldn’t have vulcanized rubber.”

            “What?”

            “Weatherproof rubber-tires, for instance, as in Goodyear. He was trying to figure out how to make rubber weatherproof, dropped this experiment on a stove by accident, and there you go, he made weatherproof rubber.”

            Baffled,she rubber her aching temple. “I’ve completely lost the point.”

            “Not everything has to be planned to work out. Maybe we both figured we’d bang it out a few times and move on, but we didn’t. And it’s working out all right.”

            The sound of her own laughter surprised her. “Wow, Xander, my heart’s fluttering from that romantic description. It’s like a sonnet.”

And then there’s this funny interaction in Chapter 24:

“As a matter of fact, I’ve been looking at grills online.”

            You can’t buy a grill online.” Sincerely appalled, he stared at her –with some pity. “You have to see it, and-“

            “Stroke it?” She offered a bright smile. “Speak to it?”

            Appalled pity turned on a dime to a cool disdain that made her want to laugh. “You have to see it,” he repeated.

Rating: A 

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RFG Recommends: Fae, Fashion and Fun with Coyotes

9 Apr

Fighting Fae Series by Amelia Hutchins

First off, have a look below at the covers of the books. Aren’t they pretty?

I don’t remember how I first heard of these books. Due to several really bad experiences I’ve been a little leery of spending my hard earned money on a new author. I was intrigued by the back cover blurb of book one though and there were enough good ratings for me to give it a try. I’m SO glad I did.

AH has a way of sucking you into her stories. Her characters are larger than life, emotions are high and there is enough of an overarching mystery going through the books that I just had to keep reading- I think I finished all 3 books in less than 5 days. Afterwards? Definite book hangover territory. I must have started and stopped 5 different Urban Fantasy books looking for the same crackalicious hit and not getting it.

This is an urban fantasy series that centres around Synthia (Syn for short) and her dealings with the Fae, in particular, a Tall, Dark and Sexy Fae named Ryder. In books and movies I’ve found that Fae fall into either of two camps- the small, cute tricky ones and the ones that are like Legolas in Lord of the Rings but on steroids like a 2.0 version. AH’s fae definitely fall into the Legolas 2.0 category.

Word of warning: don’t leave these books around where curious little minds may find them and try to sound out the words. These books are sexy and oh-so dirty. They made me blush and there’s not a lot that can make me blush nowadays. You have been warned!

 

Anything by Lauren Layne

How did I not hear of this author before?! I started with her Stiletto series books and LOVED them. They had everything I look for in a contemporary novel- humor, heat, great dialogue and enough female friendship moments to warm the heart.  The Stiletto series centres around 4 women who work in a popular glossy women’s magazine (Cosmopolitan is what immediately came to mind) and their lives and loves. Each book tackles one amazing heroine and her journey to her HEA. These girls are cool enough that you love reading about them but are imperfect enough not to be annoying.

I then moved to her New York’s Finest books which have the very suggestive titles of Frisk Me, Steal Me and Cuff Me. Don’t be fooled by the risqué titles though – LL does great relationships. This series centres around one family and the byplay between siblings and parents (and one very feisty grandma) was just as delicious as the hero and heroine’s journey towards happily ever after. This series centres around brothers who are cops and a sister who is a defense attorney so there is an element of suspense/mystery as compared to her Stiletto series but the main focus is always the relationships.

If you’re a fan of Jill Shalvis and Julie James I HIGHLY recommend this author. I was thrilled to realise I had a backlist to go through and they’re a perfect pick me up after a hard week of work.

 

The Fae War Chronicles by Jocelyn Fox

I started the first book of this series because it was free and it had the word Fae in it. Clearly, my expectations weren’t too high at the outset. I wasn’t sure I would like it as the first few chapters read a little contemporary YA but things start to get interesting a quarter of the way into the book and you have an epic, fantasy setting with an evil (?) queen, quests, strange creatures and warriors. There is a bit of a romance but it’s more of the build towards one than an actual romance.  The writing and editing of the book is polished and there are no glaring mistakes or typos that will take you out of the story. In the end, offering the first book free was a great marketing tool as I proceeded to buy the second book and started following the author on Facebook just so I would know when the third book was released.

Here’s a short description of the first book, The Iron Sword :

Tess O’Connor has never fought in a duel, ridden a Fae steed descended from a dragon, or touched taebramh, the magical substance that gives mortals dreams. She has never faced down a garrelnost or traveled the hidden mysterious pathways between the mortal world and the realm of the Fae. She has never felt a magnetic attraction to a perilously handsome Sidhe knight with eyes as deep and impenetrable as the ocean. Tess O’Connor stopped believing in fairy tales as a child when her father died…but all that changes when she discovers that her best friend Molly is half-Fae—and has been summoned to the Unseelie Court by Queen Mab herself. The Queen of Night and Winter sends Finnead, one of her trinity of Named Knights, to escort Molly to Court, willingly or unwillingly. Mab believes that Molly is the fulfillment of a prophesy, the half-Fae child foretold to become the bearer of the Iron Sword, a legendary weapon that could mean the difference between victory and defeat for the Fae in their struggle against an ancient evil. While Tess quickly learns she is no match for the shadow spreading through the Fae world, she refuses to let her best friend face it alone; and as the first mortal in Queen Mab’s court in over five hundred years, she must use all her quick wit and tenacity to keep herself and Molly alive in the beautiful, dangerous Fae world as they hurtle toward the war that could destroy it…

I loved the second book from the get go. I found it an even stronger book overall and it really starts delving into epic fantasy territory which I love. The third book is due out soon and I can’t wait.

Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega Series (audiobooks)

No, I HAVEN’T been living under a rock. I have been aware of the sheer awesomeness of Patricia Briggs and her Mercy Thompson world series for some time now but I have to admit that I discovered the books, read the first six in the series in maybe a fortnight and then put them aside for a while (long enough for books 7,8 and 9 to be released apparently) but THEN I bought the audiobooks and wow, am I loving me some Adam and Mercy all over again.

I’m not even going to describe the books themselves because if you read Urban Fantasy then Patricia Briggs is probably someone you are already familiar with. Anyone familiar with her writing knows that her world building is fabulous and just that touch dark, her heroes and heroines are imperfect but so very good at the core and her dialogue is always sharp and well written.

What I will say (which I have said before) is that listening to a book is a very different experience from reading it – at least for me.  I hear things I may have missed reading and I find that I end up liking books even  more after listening to them and this is the reason why I only ever buy audiobooks that I’ve already read.

These books are narrated by Lorelei King and I love her. She has a very understated way of speaking that never seems overly dramatic or overwrought although poor Mercy doesn’t have an easy time of it in these books. Her male voices in particular are really good. Knowing that she is narrating a book would definitely make me think about buying it.

 

 

 

 

 

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