I figured that if I wait until I have time to do full reviews of these six books, airborne porcine would be commonplace. So I decided to just do it – write a bunch of quick hits. These are all over the place as far as genre and release dates, so bear with me. Below are short reviews for:

~ A Lick of Frost (Meredith Gentry, Book 6) by Laurell K. Hamilton – fantasy fiction

~ The Kiss by Sophia Nash – regency historical romance

~ The Last Warrior by Karen Kay – American west historical romance

~ Creation in Death by J.D. Robb – Furturistic thriller

~ How to Propose to a Prince (The Royle Sisters, Book 3) by Kathryn Caskie – regency historical romance

~ Midnight Rising (The Midnight Breed, Book 4) by Lara Adrian – contemporary paranormal romance

A Lick of Frost (Meredith Gentry, Book 6) by Laurell K. Hamilton
Fantasy fiction released by Ballantine (hardcover) 23 Oct 07

This is a very good entry in the Merry Gentry world. We finally learn what Frost is and where he comes from. Plus the overall plot in this slow moving series actually moves forward in steps in this book and not in the millimeters it had before. Love the cover, too.

Grade: A

Summary:

I am Meredith Gentry, princess and heir apparent to the throne in the realm of faerie, onetime private investigator in the mortal world.

To be crowned queen, I must first continue the royal bloodline and give birth to an heir of my own. If I fail, my aunt, Queen Andais, will be free to do what she most desires: install her twisted son, Cel, as monarch . . . and kill me.

My royal guards surround me, and my best loved-my Darkness and my Killing Frost-are always beside me, sworn to protect and make love to me. But still the threat grows greater. For despite all my carnal efforts, I remain childless, while the machinations of my sinister, sadistic Queen and her confederates remain tireless. So my bodyguards and I have slipped back into Los Angeles, hoping to outrun the gathering shadows of court intrigue. But even exile isn’t enough to escape the grasp of those with dark designs.

Now King Taranis, powerful and vainglorious ruler of faerie’s Seelie Court, has leveled accusations against my noble guards of a heinous crime-and has gone so far as to ask the mortal authorities to prosecute. If he succeeds, my men face extradition to faerie and the hideous penalties that await them there. But I know that Taranis’s charges are baseless, and I sense that his true target is me. He tried to kill me when I was a child. Now I fear his intentions are far more terrifying.

Read excerpts (scroll down).

The Kiss by Sophia Nash
Historical romance released by Avon 26 Feb 08

This was a very nice historical. Some of the details surprised me – I haven’t seen too many authors deal with characters in quite so real a way before and it was refreshing. I did think The Big Misunderstanding was carried on about 50 pages too long, however. I just wanted to see the hero and heroine get together and see how they overcame their collective histories. Enough preamble already. Would have gotten an A from me if that had happened.

Grade: B-

Summary:

He had once been her cherished childhood companion, and then the man she lusted for in secret, but Georgiana Wilde hasn’t seen recently widowed Quinn Fortesque since the day he married another woman and shattered her heart. Then fate intervenes and brings the man she dreams about each night back to her . . . .

Returning to the estate on family business, Quinn would like nothing more than to turn the land over to Georgiana and leave the memories of his former life behind. But then the brooding marquis finds himself under the spell of the beauty he once left behind. With her barely concealed passions, Georgiana melts his coolly guarded heart. Suddenly his well-ordered world is in danger of crashing down. And it all began with just one kiss . . . .

Read an excerpt (scroll down).

The Last Warrior by Karen Kay
Historical sorta paranormal romance released by Berkley 4 Mar 08

Even I, Nathan Kamp’s #1 Fan, have to admit that this is a craptastic cover. Totally not the author’s fault, but I do with the publishers could have found a model who looked remotely like a Native American.

This was an okay book. The premise was a little unbelievable, and the author didn’t do much to suspend my disbelief. It was a decent poolside read, though. Nice romance and interesting time period (1892).

Grade: C+

Summary:

Many centuries ago, a village killed the children of the Thunder God. For their crime, the Creature bannished them to live a half existence in the land of mists, neither dead nor alive.”

But once in a generation, a brave is given the opportunity to save his clan. In 1892, that warrior is Black Lion

There was only one way for Black Lion to melt the Thunder God’s anger; listen for a sacred white-man’s song — and sing it perfectly with the one who introduced him to it. He joins Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and travels to London, where he encounters the daughter of two opera singers — the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. However, Suzette Joselyn is already engaged to another man…

But the two are destined to meet again when Suzette shows up in America, pregnant and abandoned by her fiance. Reunited with Black Lion she finds it impossible to turn down his offer of marriage to save her child from life as a bastard. But she doesn’t realize that her brave new husband is consumed with a mission that may force him to choose between his people and the woman he loves…

Read an excerpt.

Creation in Death by J.D. Robb
Futuristic thriller released by Putnam (hardcover) 6 Nov 07

I’m an Eve & Roarke fan from way back (Roarke = dark chocolate in my fantasies). I feel CiD is the least “romantic” of all the In Death books. It is definitley more a “thriller” than a “romantic suspense”. I also get less of the “futuristic” sense in this book than is evident in the other In Death entries. Nevertheless, the tension is very high throughout and I really had the feeling of “time running out” the whole time I was flipping pages faster and faster. Terrific read.

I was a little disappointed by something that Eve asked Roarke to do at the end, though – it seemed dishonorable to me and a little out of character. But it’s something I think will likely create an interesting problem for our hero and heroine in future books.

Grade: A

Summary:

NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas keeps the streets of a near-future New York City safe in this extraordinary series. But even she makes mistakes, and is haunted by those she couldn’t save-and the killers she couldn’t capture. When the body of a young brunette is found in East River Park, artfully positioned and marked by signs of prolonged and painful torture, Eve is catapulted back to a case nine years earlier. The city was on edge from a killing spree that took the lives of four women in fifteen days, courtesy of a man the media tagged “The Groom”-because he put silver rings on the fingers of his victims.

When it turns out that the young brunette was employed by Eve’s billionaire husband, Roarke, she brings him in on the case-a move that proves fitting when it becomes chillingly clear that the killer has made his attack personal. The victim was washed in products from a store Roarke owns, and laid out on a sheet his company manufactures.

With the Groom’s monstrous return, Eve is determined to finish him once and for all. Familiar with his methods, Eve knows that he has already grabbed his next victim. Time is running out on another woman’s life.

And chances are he’s working up to the biggest challenge of his illustrious career-abducting a woman who will test his skills and who promises to give him days and days of pleasure before she dies: Eve.

Read an excerpt.

How to Propose to a Prince (The Royle Sisters, Book 3) by Kathryn Caskie
Historical romance released by Avon 26 Feb 08

I mostly didn’t like was irritated by this one, but it was readable. The heroine kept insisting that the hero was her soul mate (not in so many words, thankfully) and that they would be married, all because of a dream she keeps having. Perhaps I would have believed it more if the author hadn’t kept hammering it in, over and over again. The heroine comes off as a little desperate and the hero a little callous.

I REALLY hated some of the details at the end. They made me want to say “then why the f__k have you dragged your characters through all that crap!?” – but the author wiggles out of it at the very last. Barely.

Notwithstanding the teeth-grindingly irritating details, it’s another poolside read if you’re a fan of light historicals. Not awful, but not great.

Grade: C

Summary:

If the tiara fits, wear it! And that is exactly what Elizabeth Royle intends to do. After all, if you can’t be acknowledged as the daughter of a prince, the least you can do is marry one.

When Elizabeth Royle, youngest of the notorious Royle sisters, comes face-to-face with her future husband, a man she’s seen only in her dreams, she nearly swoons–especially when she discovers he is a prince. But her ecstasy is short-lived as she quickly learns that the man she longs for is soon to be betrothed to someone else–a princess no less. A lesser woman would give up, but Elizabeth is a Royle, after all.

Refusing to surrender her dreams of a royal wedding, Elizabeth takes the position of lady-in-waiting to the princess, determined to get close to her perfect match. But the lover she desires is not who he seems…and only once she discovers the true man behind the crown will she find the perfect love she’s been longing for all her life.

Read an excerpt.

Midnight Rising (The Midnight Breed, Book 4) by Lara Adrian
Contemporary paranormal romance released by Dell 25 Mar 08

This was a good entry in this series. However, I don’t recommend it if this is your first foray into it. I liked how Adrian made the hero a little more “human” – well, as human as an alien vampire can be, I suppose. Good read with some interesting twists.

Grade: B

Summary:

In a world of shadows and dark, consuming hungers, desire is the deadliest weapon…

For journalist Dylan Alexander, it began with the discovery of a hidden tomb, thrusting her into the center of a gathering storm of violence and secrets. But nothing is as dangerous as the scarred, lethally seductive man who rises from the shadows to draw her into his world of dark desire and endless night.

Fueled by pain and rage over a shattering betrayal, the warrior Rio has pledged his life to the war against the Rogues. He will let nothing stand in his way—least of all a mortal woman with the power to expose the entire vampire race. For an ancient evil has been awakened, and a stunning darkness is on the rise. Suddenly Dylan is powerless to resist Rio’s touch, even as she uncovers a shocking link to her own past. And now she must choose: Leave Rio’s midnight realm, or risk it all for the man who has shown her true passion and the infinite pleasures of the heart. . . .

Read an excerpt.

And that’s it for now folks! I have a couple of others, but I’m saving those for a “themed” post (can you say, “Kresley Cole is a Goddess”? I knew you could).