Janet Webb’s review of New York To Dallas: an In Death novel by J.D. Robb
Futuristic thriller hardcover released by Putnam Adult 15 Sep 11

I was so excited to have an opportunity to review this book. I have every single one of the In Death books and I re-read the futuristic series frequently, especially the earliest ones. J.D. Robb has created a world populated, at its heart, by a stronger-than-life heroine, Eve Dallas, and her gazillionaire Irish husband Roarke. What did I learn from New York To Dallas? First lesson: never, ever, ever take Eve and Roarke away from their home in New York City, at least not for almost the entirety of the book. New York hasn’t changed that much, in Robb’s 50-years-into-the-future-vision: it’s still the pulsating, vibrant, down and dirty and master of the universe center of the world, and it’s the heart and soul of Eve and Roarke’s world.

Monster McQueen escapes from prison and the first thing he does is gets a message to Eve. He’s out for revenge. Leaving trusty Peabody in charge, Eve and Roarke fly to Dallas, where McQueen has escaped. Readers know that Dallas, the city, is Eve’s childhood home and it’s the stuff of continuing nightmares for her. Brutally abused by her father, Eve eventually kills him and escapes, but she does not escape unharmed. McQueen knows of Eve’s past, which is why he lures her to Dallas. Roarke too has some history there, through his n’er-do-well con-artist father. I had expected New York To Dallas to be a very dark book, because of Eve’s childhood, and it was, sort of. Unfortunately, I feel her encounters with her memories and persons from the past are almost cartoonish: it’s a vivid, over-the-top tableau. Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker came to mind: the painfulness and reality of the past was so exaggerated as to not seem real.

My biggest difficulty with the book is, with the exception of the exaggerated memories from Eve’s childhood, everything is dialed back. The intimate bedroom scenes are anything but pulsing and powerful, the violence McQueen perpetrates on his victims is distanced and almost safe. Even the futuristic setting is less of a character in the novel and more a couple adjectives and nouns. Let me be more specific: in each book details serve to deepen the In Death world. In this book, I’m not even sure what Dr. Mira is wearing … instead Robb reintroduces and reintroduces the talismans from earlier books (Eve’s grey button, the huge diamond on a chain, even Galahad the cat). I feel as if Robb and her publishers decided to dial back, even more, the intensity of the earlier books, to introduce Eve and Roarke to a new audience. This happened once before: I thought there was a huge shift in the way the books were written when Robb transitioned from paperback to hardcover, but this takes the process even further.

Even the way the crime is solved, through bank records and knowing what things Isaac liked to buy, seems so been there/done that. This is not a fresh book, Dallas is no city for this New York couple and I was very disappointed. My recommendation: if you’re curious about the In Death series, buy Naked In Death and prepare to be transported and moved. It’s truly one of the best starts to a series of all time. I cannot recommend this book: for the first time, I won’t be putting it on my keeper shelf. Robb is too good a writer not to engage her readers and this book is readable on that level—it just could have been more.

I hold J.D. Robb to a very high standard: her best is excellent indeed and justifies her phenomenal reputation and following, and I still look forward to reading the next in the In Death series.

Grade: C

Summary:

The number-one New York Times bestselling author J.D. Robb presents an intense and terrifying new case for New York homicide cop Eve Dallas, one that will take her all the way to the city that gave her her name—and plunge her into the nightmares of her childhood.

When a monster named Isaac McQueen—taken down by Eve back in her uniform days—escapes from Rikers, he has two things in mind. One is to pick up where he left off, abducting young victims and leaving them scarred in both mind and body. The other is to get revenge on the woman who stopped him all those years ago.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

Naked in Death, Jul 1995
Glory in Death, Dec 1995
Immortal in Death, Jul 1996
Rapture in Death, Oct 1996
Ceremony in Death, May 1997
Vengeance in Death, Oct 1997
Holiday in Death, Jun 1998
“Midnight in Death,” Silent Night, Nov 1998 (anthology)
Conspiracy in Death, Apr 1999
Loyalty in Death, Oct 1999
Witness in Death, Mar 2000
Judgment in Death, Sep 2000
Betrayal in Death, Mar 2001
“Interlude in Death,” Out of This World, Aug 2001 (anthology)
Seduction in Death, Sep 2001
Reunion in Death, Mar 2002
Purity in Death, Sep 2002
Portrait in Death, Mar 2003
Imitation in Death, Sep 2003
Divided in Death, Jan 2004
Remember When, May 2004 (novella)
Visions in Death, Aug 2004
Survivor in Death, Feb 2005
Origin in Death, Jul 2005
Memory in Death, Jan 2006
“Haunted in Death,” Bump in the Night, Apr 2006 (anthology)
Born in Death, Nov 2006
Innocent in Death, Feb 2007
Creation in Death, Nov 2007
“Eternity in Death,” Dead of Night, Nov 2007 (anthology)
Strangers in Death, Feb 2008
Salvation in Death, Nov 2008
“Ritual in Death,” Suite 606, Nov 2008 (anthology)
Promises in Death, Feb 2009
Kindred in Death, Nov 2009
“Missing in Death,” The Lost, Dec 2009 (anthology)
Fantasy in Death, Feb 2010
Big Jack, Mar 2010 (novella)

Gwen’s review of Kiss of Snow (Psy-Changeling Series, Book 10) by Nalini Singh
Paranormal Romance hardcover published by Berkley 31 May 11

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Nalini Singh.  I love to read her books.  The complexity of the worlds Singh creates transports me there every time I read them. Sure, the romances are satisfying, the heroes and heroines complicated and compelling. But the world!  The world is why I read.  It’s immediate, believable, and populated with enough good and bad to be really interesting. So it’s with a heavy heart that I say that I didn’t really love Kiss of Snow.

This tenth book in the Psy-Changeling series is the long-awaited union of the SnowDancer alpha, Hawke, and the young psy, Sienna.  In several earlier novels, you could see this pairing a mile away, and see how much it tormented both characters, so it’s nice to finally see these two together.  I’m not going to recap the characters or the plot – if you’re not reading this series, you do NOT want to start with this novel; you’ll be so far at sea with all the interwoven stories and established details, you may never know what’s going on.  Instead, I’ll just tell you what worked for me and what was not quite what I would have liked.

One of the characteristics of Singh’s writing that usually makes it so evocative is how she weaves several storylines into an overall arc, making for a really rich story.  Peppered throughout the romance are story threads from the bad guys’ perspective, from other good guys’ perspective, from the narrator’s perspective.  All of these bits mesh and normally push the story arc forward.

However, in Kiss of Snow, the weaving is choppy and sometimes difficult to follow.  It seemed to lack the smooth storytelling of Singh’s earlier novels.  While reading, I felt like I was being pulled in too many directions.  There’s the primary romance, a secondary romance, and many of the earlier romances in this book.  There’s the uber bad guys, the other bad guys, another two or three factions of good guys. We have a birth, several severe wounds, and some deaths.   Battles, fights, and more battles. Plotting, scheming, spies, traitors – all in one book. Normally this makes for a rocking good time in a novel.  Unfortunately, in this novel, it made for a bit of a mess.  All these elements seem like they’re just tossed in and shaken.  We jerk from one thing to the next with little to no transition and sometimes very few details to help us understand what we’re reading.

I had the most difficulty with the primary romance between Hawke and Sienna.  Their personal scenes were the most confusing for me – just as it felt like they were starting to know each other, something would happen, or the author would cut to another thread.  As a result, I had a frustrating time getting into this couple’s romance.  For example, at the end of the book for several paragraphs Singh makes what feels like an unnecessary mystery about Hawke’s name.  And then she never really reveals it – we’re left guessing and it’s a little frustrating.

The upshot of my review is that I’m disappointed, but I still read it.  Kiss of Snow is still a “B” book for me, but I expect a lot from Singh – particularly with the Psy-Changeling series.  This book, while good, didn’t quite meet my expectations and former experience with this author.

Grade: B-

Read other reviews and information on this series here.

Summary:

Since the moment of her defection from the PsyNet and into the SnowDancer wolf pack, Sienna Lauren has had one weakness. Hawke. Alpha and dangerous, he compels her to madness.

Hawke is used to walking alone, having lost the woman who would’ve been his mate long ago. But Sienna fascinates the primal heart of him, even as he tells himself she is far too young to handle the wild fury of the wolf.

Then Sienna changes the rules and suddenly, there is no more distance, only the most intimate of battles between two people who were never meant to meet. Yet as they strip away each other’s secrets in a storm of raw emotion, they must also ready themselves for a far more vicious fight…

A deadly enemy is out to destroy SnowDancer, striking at everything they hold dear, but it is Sienna’s darkest secret that may yet savage the pack that is her home…and the alpha who is its heartbeat…

Read an excerpt here (scroll down).

Other books in this series (in strict chronological order):

			“The Cannibal Princess” - free short story
	“A Gift for Kit” - free short story

Gwen’s review of Shadowfever (Fever Series, Book 5) by Karen Marie Moning
Urban fantasy hardcover released by Delacorte Press 18 Jan 2011

Well, well, well.  Here we are.  Finally at the end of this innovative and addictive series.  I started reading it because I love Moning’s historical/time-traveling romances.  I thought I’d see how one of my favorite authors fared in a completely new genre – not always a successful venture for some authors.  I should have had more faith in Moning’s skill.  I have never been disappointed in this series – frustrated, yes, anxious for the next release, definitely, but never, ever disappointed.

Mac Lane is a unique heroine. She is immediately identifiable to those of us raised in the South – pretty, pampered, and generally spoiled by an easy life.  Then tragedy sends her life in an altogether different direction. She is dragged, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the world of fae, druidry, and hot men who do all they can to manipulate her.

Mac’s “hero”, Jericho Z. Barrons, is a contrary, perversely closedmouthed hunk of a man that she is never able to figure out.  She also lusts after him with a sometimes inexplicable fervor.  JZB also has an agenda that Mac isn’t sure is on the side of the angels, so to speak.

The development of the story arc throughout the series is one of the more intricate bits of writing I’ve experienced.  There’s a push/pull between the main characters, the secondary characters, the story elements, and all the other bits that keep the reader from knowing what to expect from anyone or anything.  This leads to one surprise after another and makes for some very entertaining books.

In Shadowfever, we see the culmination of all these elements and characters.  It’s definitely not the end of the story – no sir-ee -  but it is the end of this initial arc.  These books have developed a new world that is lavish in details, and full of characters that are fun to love, fun to hate, and everything jumbled up in between.  We see whole new sides to some of the main characters and all is revealed.  Well, almost all.  We still don’t know what the heck one of the main characters is (stepping lightly here to avoid spoilers).

For the romance readers out there, you’re given a very tender peek into the Mac & JZB dynamic.  Shadowfever begins in the most gut-wrenching scene I’ve read in some time.  This leads to a crystallization of Mackayla into the powerful being she must be to live through all the events of this book and some of them are wowzers.

I highly recommend this series to anyone looking for a good urban fantasy that takes us down a very different, very entertaining road. I do not recommend reading this on its own – each book builds on the story and the tension into this first-rate finale.  If you haven’t started the series, please run, don’t walk, to your closest bookstore.

Grade: A

Read other reviews and info for this series here.

Summary:

MacKayla Lane was just a child when she and her sister, Alina, were given up for adoption and banished from Ireland forever.

Twenty years later, Alina is dead and Mac has returned to the country that expelled them to hunt her sister’s murderer. But after discovering that she descends from a bloodline both gifted and cursed, Mac is plunged into a secret history: an ancient conflict between humans and immortals who have lived concealed among us for thousands of years.

What follows is a shocking chain of events with devastating consequences, and now Mac struggles to cope with grief while continuing her mission to acquire and control the Sinsar Dubh—a book of dark, forbidden magic scribed by the mythical Unseelie King, containing the power to create and destroy worlds.

In an epic battle between humans and Fae, the hunter becomes the hunted when the Sinsar Dubh turns on Mac and begins mowing a deadly path through those she loves. Who can she turn to? Who can she trust? Who is the woman haunting her dreams? More important, who is Mac herself and what is the destiny she glimpses in the black and crimson designs of an ancient tarot card?

From the luxury of the Lord Master’s penthouse to the sordid depths of an Unseelie nightclub, from the erotic bed of her lover to the terrifying bed of the Unseelie King, Mac’s journey will force her to face the truth of her exile, and to make a choice that will either save the world . . . or destroy it.

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series (links to the mass-market paperbacks where available):

Gwen’s review of Deep Kiss of Winter by Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter
Paranormal romance duology hardcover released by Pocket 13 Oct 09

Two of my favorite paranormal authors in ONE BOOK?  Dang.  How could I NOT read this?!  This book has one long story set in Cole’s Immortals After Dark world and another set in Showalter’s Alien Huntress world.  A terrific combination and way, way fun to read. 

Untouchable (Immortals After Dark, Book 7) by Kresley Cole (256 pages)

This story/book (long for a story) takes place roughly the same time as several of the other Immortals After Dark entries.  This one tells the story of the “man-whore” brother of the Wroth Brothers – Murdoch – and his downfall to the Queen of the Icere fae, Daniela.

The heroine and her world are so very different from anything I know.  Ice, snow, skin that burns from other’s body heat, etc., that it was difficult for me to relate.  Remember, though, that I moved to central Texas because I hate, abhor, and generally detest cold weather.  She is a good heroine, but I would have liked to see her kick a little more butt (personal preference, not a criticism).

The hero is the rake brother of the Wroth brothers.  Murdoch is used to women falling all over him and to being able to dispose of them like a used tissue.  He doesn’t want to do that with Danii and this completely perplexes him.  His normally smooth moves have all the grace of a pig on roller-skates, so you can imagine how this goes over with Danii.

The romance between these two is intense and believable.  The action is a little less than we’re used to in Cole’s other books, though it’s still fun.  Untouchable introduces a new species into the Lore – the Icere, or the ice fae.  Their world is a little “out there,” but I suppose there’s not a lot in this series that isn’t.

I enjoyed this story, though perhaps not as much as the other IAD entries.  Nevertheless, I highly recommend reading it if you’re following Cole’s saga.  I suppose this story could standalone, but I’m not sure if I’d recommend it.  You’ll get a lot more out of it if you’ve read at least one of the other Wroth brother books.

Grade: B

Summary:

KRESLEY COLE delivers a breathtaking tale of a brutal vampire soldier about to know love for the first time…and a Valkyrie aching to be touched.

Murdoch Wroth will stop at nothing to claim Daniela the Ice Maiden — the delicate Valkyrie who makes his heart beat for the first time in three hundred years. Yet the exquisite Danii is part ice fey, and her freezing skin can’t be touched by anyone but her own kind without inflicting pain beyond measure. Soon desperate for closeness, in an agony of frustration, Murdoch and Danii will do anything to have each other. Together, can they find the key that will finally allow them to slake the overwhelming desire burning between them?

Read an excerpt here.

Tempt Me Eternally (Alien Huntress Series) by Gena Showalter (169 pages)

I have got to read more of this series.  This is the second book I’ve read so far and I really like this world.  From what I can gather, the first one I read, Seduce the Darkness, takes place just after this story.

The hero, Breean, is a Rakan – a gorgeous male who smells like honey and cinnamon when aroused.  His blood is golden and tastes like sugar.  He’s also practically unkillable because of special abilities.  He’s puzzled by the heroine because he feels that he wants her and no other – apparently something unusual for his kind.

The heroine, Aleaha, is of unknown extraction and is a shapeshifter.  Out of desperation, she’s impersonating a member of AIR (Alien Investigation and Removal) named Macy, and is hiding from unknown bad guys her mother warned her about but didn’t specify.

The romance evolves well, but feels a bit convenient.  I enjoyed the story but felt like very little outside of the plot moves forward.  This may be because I haven’t yet read the other books in the series – contrary to my vow in my review of StD and for which I feel eternally remorseful.  I think I’d get a lot more out of the story if I did.

I recommend this story if you’re following the Alien Huntress series.  It stands alone, but I think a reader will get more out of it if they’re reading the series.

Grade: B

Summary:

GENA SHOWALTER puts a daring spin on a tale of huntress and hunted…and concocts a sensual chemistry that is positively explosive.

Aleaha Love can be anyone — literally. With only skin-to-skin contact, she can change her appearance, assume any identity. Her newest identity switch has made her an AIR (alien investigation and removal) agent and sends her on a mission to capture a group of otherworldly warriors. Only she becomes the captured. Breean, a golden-skinned commander known for his iron will who is at once dangerous and soul-shatteringly seductive, threatens her new life. Because for the first time, Aleaha only wants to be herself….

Read an excerpt here.

I enjoyed this duology quite a bit.  I like reading anthologies and the stories in this one are particularly nice because of their length.  If you’re following these series, you do not want to miss it, though you may want to wait for it to come out in paperback.

Overall Grade: B

Connect to more reviews and information for these series by clicking on the tags below.

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Immortals After Dark Series:

Alien Huntress Series:

Related YA books in the “Teen Alien Huntress” series:

Limecello’s review of What I Did for Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Contemporary romance hardcover released by William Morrow on 27 Jan 09

Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ newest novel What I Did for Love has been a long time coming. It’s set in Hollywood, loosely like her recent re-release, Glitter Baby. The stories are in no way tied together, but you might see some familiar characters. Ms. Phillips is one of my favorite authors, though I’ve noticed many of her more recent books would fall into “women’s fiction” rather than romance. (This makes me sad.) As usual, Ms. Phillips’ novel has a wealth of well developed characters, and the hero, Bram, and heroine, Georgie, are quirky and fun to read.

Georgie York is a Hollywood has been. She won her place as America’s sweetheart playing Scooter in the show Skip and Scooter. She hasn’t done anything big in seven years (since the show ended), and each film she’s been in since has been worse than the last. However, what really has Georgie down is her actor ex-husband’s actions. Georgie has surprising strength, but I felt that either she wasn’t completely developed, or I didn’t have a absolute grasp on her character. She seems to deceive herself a lot, though she does protect her emotions.

One thing I wasn’t too keen on was how Georgie often played the victim. She’s so pathetic and sad – but then in the end becomes this emotional pillar, without much of a rhyme or reason. Though I suppose that could be attributed to actually falling in love? I did, however, really like how Georgie drew on her Scooter character. It was a fun trait.

Bramwell Shepherd is a really fun hero. He played the kind and debonair Skip, but was the exact opposite in real life. Bram is misunderstood by pretty much everyone. There seem to be only two people who see Bram for who he truly is – and one is blinded by her hero worship. The thing is, Bram has changed a lot, but he acted so badly starting fourteen years ago, that nobody can look past that. (Yes, Georgie and Bram were on the tail end of being child stars.)

I liked that Bram tried, but he wasn’t desperate. It hurt, but he was willing to let everyone believe the worst of him. I think part of it was that he was so horrid before, protests to the contrary weren’t believable. Still, I found it a bit predictable. I liked that Bram was vulnerable, and human. He’s quite matter of fact, and rather revels in his nefarious characterization everyone has attached to him. It was nice that Bram was a broken character who comes into his own. And actually is pretty much changed when the novel begins. Nevertheless, Bram’s inner reprobate does still exist. His maneuvering gets him photographed at lunch with Georgie, and his machinations end up with the two getting married. He’s charmingly rogue-ish.

I liked the wide variety of secondary characters, though some, like Meg Koranda (the child of Fleur and Jake from Glitter Baby) seemed a bit superfluous. That being said, I liked Chaz (Bram’s housekeeper) and Aaron (Georgie’s assistant). And thought that their romance was very cute and sweet- and yes, foreseeable. The same with the romance between Paul (Georgie’s father) and Laura (Georgie’s agent/ex-agent). Lance (Georgie’s ex-husband) and Jade (his new wife) exactly fit the roles they were supposed to play, but Rory Keene I think was my favorite secondary character. (And dare I hope she’ll get her own novel?) Yes it does seem like all the characters are Georgie centered, but Bram holds his own. It had to be that way. (And it was nice to see how Ms. Phillips used the characters to reinforce her story line.)

I really enjoyed the themes that Ms. Phillips had throughout her novel. It was interesting to read all the subtext, and especially complicated, as Georgie generally had a Skip and Scooter script running through her head – whether an actual episode or ad libbed – concurrently with the present. It was also nice how so many of the secondary characters interacted with each other, and how they were developed.

One thing I found a bit off was the lack of romance throughout the novel. (Again – the women’s fiction angle?) I actually felt that Paul and Laura got the most for their story – and the best emotional connection, which is a bit sad because they have rather small roles. I would have liked a bit more introspection on the part of Georgie and Bram. They realized that they got along well, and were incredibly compatible sexually… but there was little emotionally. Aside from general human concern, I wasn’t 100% sure that they cared for each other until pretty much the bitter end. Still, the antics that Georgie and Bram get into are entertaining, and they draw you in. While the way the two get together is unusual, its believable and makes sense for the two of them.

The ending, however, was wonderful. I liked the dramatic finish, along with the fact that Ms. Phillips took the reader to a natural conclusion. The way she had Georgie and Bram act was very well planned, and their split might be one of my favorite parts. It was nice that all the character issues were resolved, and of course there was the requisite wild-eyed, dramatic declaration of love by the hero. Bram’s was actually rather complicated, and happened in stages.

I actually did enjoy the novel very much, and I believe read it in one sitting – it was hard to put down. I’m sure I don’t need to recommend this book to fans of Ms. Phillips – you’ve probably already read it.

Grade: B+

Summary:

It’s not easy being famous when your life is falling apart… Georgie York has been dumped by her movie star husband, her own film career is tanking, and her public image as a spunky romantic heroine is taking a serious beating.

What should a down-on-her-luck actress do? NOT go to Vegas…NOT run into her detestable former co-star—dreamboat-from-hell Bramwell Shepard…and NOT get caught up in a ridiculous incident that leads to a calamitous elopement. Before she knows it, Georgie has a fake marriage, fake husband, and maybe (or not) a fake sex life.

It’s a paparazzi free-for-all, and Georgie’s non-supporting cast doesn’t help. There’s Bram’s punk-nightmare housekeeper; Georgie’s pushy parent; a suck-up agent; an icy studio head; and her ex-husband’s new wife, an international do-gooder who just might win the stupid Nobel Peace Prize!

As for Georgie’s leading man… Bram, with his angel blue eyes and twisted black heart, has never cared about anyone but himself. Still, he’s giving the performance of his life as man in love—thanks to the half a million dollars she’s paying him. It was official. She’d married the devil. Or had she?

Two enemies find themselves working without a script in a town where the spotlight shines bright…and where the strongest emotions can wear startling disguises.

Listen to Ms. Phillips read the first chapter here.

Gwen’s review of Faefever (Fever, Book 3) by Karen Marie Moning
Urban Fantasy hardcover released by Delacorte Press 16 Sep 08

When I first started reading it, I thought this series was kind of YA.  I mean, the heroine rarely cussed (“petunia” is “ass” in her personal vocabulary), there was no sexxoring, and it was really rather mild fantasy with fae and seers and the like.  Then things started getting darker with the end of that book and into the next.  Now, here in the third book of the series, I can safely say that Moning’s earlier YA tendencies have been left in the dust. 

I loved this entry in the Fever series.  The various storylines still haven’t progressed very far, but we know a lot more about everything that is going on.  Plus it’s just plain good story-telling.  The pisser of these Fever books is they’re so good, I normally suck them down like a crack addict sucks down a rock.

The story begins with Mac being pissed off at being a victim.  She shakes off the negative, decides to take charge, and suits up for a date in her old GRITS uniform of “fully done” hair, face, clothes, jewelry, and shoes.  Then her real life intervenes and leaves her quite literally in the gutter, puking her guts up, hair/makeup/clothes fully trashed.  The end of the book has a similar only different outcome (you’ll have to read the book to figure that one out) that shakes Mac’s world up, once again.

At the end of this book I still know very little about Barrons, except that I want that manly man to do his manly thing all over me.  He’s still tall, dark, handsome, and oh-so-mysterious.  Luscious like Belgian chocolate and equally bad for a woman if she partakes too much – just ask his ex, who happens to be consorting with the bad guys now. We get a few tantalizing details – enough to tell us both the bad guys and the good guys fear him and give him a wide berth.

I LOVED this entry.  It’s frustrating as hell that the storyline(s) still haven’t been tied off, but this book ends with a bang.  Literally.  I am panting for the next entry, Dreamfever.  Moning’s challenges with chronic Lyme Disease makes her ability to get any books written a very real miracle, so I’ll be patient – sort of (yes, I’m screaming in my head “but what happens next??!! write it already!!”).

I highly recommend this book to anyone following the series. While it COULD standalone, I recommend reading the other entries to get the full flavor and to experience the frustration with the rest of us fans.  If you’re looking for a new urban fantasy series to read, this is an excellent one to try.

Grade: A

Read reviews and info about this series by following its tag.

Summary:

He calls me his Queen of the Night. I’d die for him. I’d kill for him, too.

When MacKayla Lane receives a torn page from her dead sister’s journal, she is stunned by Alina’s desperate words. And now MacKayla knows that her sister’s killer is close. But evil is closer. And suddenly the sidhe-seer is on the hunt: For answers. For revenge. And for an ancient book of dark magic so evil, it corrupts anyone who touches it.

Mac’s quest for the Sinsar Dubh takes her into the mean, shape-shifting streets of Dublin, with a suspicious cop on her tail. Forced into a dangerous triangle of alliance with V’lane, an insatiable Fae prince of lethally erotic tastes, and Jericho Barrons, a man of primal desires and untold secrets, Mac is soon locked in a battle for her body, mind, and soul.

As All Hallows Eve approaches and the city descends into chaos, as a shocking truth about the Dark Book is uncovered, not even Mac can prevent a deadly race of immortals from shattering the walls between worlds with devastating consequences.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in the series (mass market paperback release linked where available):

and Shadowfever, Book 5 (release TBD)

Liviania’s review of Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, Book 4) by Patricia Briggs
Urban fantasy hardcover released by ACE 3 Feb 09

I discovered Patricia Briggs on accident.  I picked up Dragon Bones (possibly her best book) from the library and fell in love.  I couldn’t be happier with the success of the Mercy Thompson series because it means I’m getting even more of her a year, especially with the spin-off Alpha and Omega series.  At the end of Iron Kissed she made a plot point I wasn’t sure I was cool with, so I was eager to see how she dealt with it in Bone Crossed as well as to see what trouble Mercy gets into.

So here’s your warning: I cannot discuss Bone Crossed without mildly spoiling the plots of both Iron Kissed and Blood Bound.  I’m being as vague as I can, but most of Bone Crossed deals with the fallout of the events in those novels.  Let’s give Briggs props for continuity.  (One of my favorite continuity nods: Mercy asks Bran about the teenage werewolf girl he took in last book.  I’d been curious what happened to her.)

Mercy’s love life should be on track since she realized she loves Adam and only loves Samuel as a friend.  Of course, it would be easier if she didn’t still have panic attacks.  At the end of Iron Kissed it seemed a bit early for Mercy to be ready to have sex again, so I was glad Adam and her ended up taking things slow.  Mercy’s recovering from what Tim did to her and it doesn’t help that the incident made national news.  Adam’s temper could worry me in the hero but Briggs does a great job of displaying his self-control.  He accepts Mercy taking care of some things herself more in this book, and Mercy works on accepting the help others can offer.

One thing that makes me sad about this series is it shifts focus between creatures.  I love that Blood Bound and Bone Crossed focus on the vampires since Stefan is an incredible character.  He’s loyal, has a strong sense of humor, but is willing to kill innocents to further his agenda.  Wulfe is still an enigma but we get the teensiest glimpse more of what drives him. But focus on vampires means some other characters don’t get much screentime.  Jessie barely shows up in this book, but she’s quite funny whenever she does.

Briggs excels at characters.  It drew me to her traditional fantasy and serves her even better in the longer series format.  You come back to a series to see what the characters are doing now, because their lives absorb you and you want to know how things turn out for them.  Her characters a multi-dimensional, engaging people and I can’t think of one who I’d wish she’d kill off.

As for plot, Mercy accepts a former friend’s offer to examine a haunting since she needs to get out of town.  Unfortunately, she runs into the only vampire in Spokane almost immediately.  Even worse, the haunting is more than Mercy can handle and it’s centered on a great kid.  Chad is only ten, but he does very well considering his father doesn’t believe the ghost exists and he still has to deal with being haunted.  In addition to those troubles, things have to be worked out so that it’s safe for Mercy to return to her shop and home.  Briggs makes the politics interesting and indicative of the creatures involved without spinning those parts out long enough to get boring.

Briggs mixes the two plots going along well, with each getting a decent amount of focus and neither becoming overly muddled.  Adam and Mercy made good steps forward in their relationship and I really believe the two of them can make it together.  This isn’t my absolute favorite urban fantasy series, but it’s definitely up there.  I can’t wait for the fifth book.  Briggs proved herself worthy of the jump to hardcover with Bone Crossed.

Grade: A-

Read other reviews and info for this series by following its tag.

Summary:
In a world where “witches, vampires, werewolves, and shape-shifters live beside ordinary people” (Booklist), it takes a very unusual woman to call it home. By day, Mercy Thompson is a car mechanic in Eastern Washington. By night, she explores her preternatural side. As a shape-shifter with some unusual talents, Mercy’s found herself maintaining a tenuous harmony between the human and the not-so- human on more than one occasion. This time she may get more than she bargained for.
Read an excerpt here

Other books in the series:

C2 (C-Squared)‘s review of Dark of Night (Troubleshooters, Book 14) by Suzanne Brockmann
Romantic suspense hardcover released by Ballantine 27 Jan 09

Anyone who has ever visited my personal blog knows I’m a Suzanne Brockmann fan. I’m not a crazy stalker fan grrl or anything – *innocent look* – I’m just enthusiastic. I like all the interwoven stories and the whole deep point of view thing. And I say it’s impressive that all the characters are so real and clearly drawn that it is often easy for the reader to know, without her telling us, who is speaking. No cookie-cutter characters to be found here! 

So, of course, I was anxiously awaiting the release of Dark of Night, the newest Troubleshooters book. Now, before I go any further, I will warn you that this post will be filled with spoilers. Did you catch that, gentle readers? **FILLED WITH SPOILERS** I don’t know how else to do it. I admire and appreciate those reviewers who managed to write up their thoughts without spoiling it for the rest of us – especially since it took my book 3 days to get to me. Grrr. I mean, honestly, they get Harry Potter books to those who pre-order on the day of release. Can’t they do that for all hard covers? *Deep breath* Sorry! That’s a topic for another day. Back to the matter at hand – and remember HERE BE SPOILERS!!

**  YOU’VE BEEN WARNED! **

Dark of Night picks up almost exactly where the previous book, Into the Fire, left off. So we have the Troubleshooters trying to deal with the loss of one of their own. However, Jimmy Nash isn’t dead. He’s badly injured, yes, but quite alive. Jules Cassidy, everybody’s favorite FBI guy, knows that the key to keeping Nash alive long-term is to keep him “dead” until the people targeting him can be found and stopped.

So, a plan is set in motion. A select few know the truth about Nash and are guarding him at a safe house in the desert. Sam and Alyssa (and their new baby), Tess, Jules and Robin are there. The only other person who knows the truth is Decker – until Tracy figures it out, too. Yup, Suz takes the ditzy blonde secretary stereotype and turns it on its ear. And throws Decker and Tracy together in a major way.

At the same time Sophia and Dave are dealing with their grief over Nash, their relationship takes a romantic turn. Yes, Dave has loved Sophia forever but she is, finally, returning his interest. Like, really really returning it. But, poor Dave, right when it looks like he’s going to be happy, the bad guys grab him. Thinking they can get info out of him about Nash – or trade him for Nash, if he’s alive like they suspect. The torture scenes were uncomfortable to read, I must say. Yikes. Thankfully, they were brief. And we are shown some new facets of Dave’s character. He has a lot more in common with the rest of the Troubleshooters men than I had realized. He isn’t just a brain, after all.

And the race is on – find Dave, catch the bad guys, get Nash out of the line of fire, couple up the couples. With most of the SEALs out of the country, there is only a small group of Troubleshooters available to help. Still is there any doubt of the outcome?

The bad guys are dispatched. Dave is found – he dispatched some of the bad guys all by his tortured, infected self. And we get two new happily ever afters, one hinted at and one brand new, plus a bit of closure for an existing couple.

Closure for Nash and Tess – finally, the things that have kept them from moving forward (Nash’s secrets) are out of the way. In my opinion, I think that was the main purpose of the bad guys and Nash’s death. Since Nash was “dead” (and truly injured), he had to sit by and wait for the his team to take care of the bad guys. He had plenty of time to think about things – and get some advice from Love Doctors Sam and Kenny “Wild Card” Carmody. Talk about good times!

Our hinted coupling – when Dave is kidnapped, Sophia has a chance to realize she had only fooled herself into thinking she was settling for Dave. She figures out that he really is the guy she wants.

Our brand new couple — Decker and Tracy’s — whole romance happens in Dark of Night. They see in each other things they didn’t realize they wanted or needed. Deck needs someone who isn’t in awe of him. Someone who sees the real person behind the awesome Chief Decker, Navy SEAL. Tracy needs someone who sees beyond the packaging to the real person and brain underneath. And appreciates her chattiness. I totally believed their romance, even with all the other stuff happening in the book.

What? Is that screaming I hear?? Something about Decker and Sophia being meant for each other? Puh-leeze, people. What, exactly, are you basing that assumption on? I have never been a fan of that pairing – chemistry, they lacked it – so to see Suz moving those characters in a different direction made me happy. I understand that isn’t true for all readers. Whatever. You have to trust the author to take her characters where they need to go.

Yes, there were some small issues with the book — the bad guys were a bit too all-knowing, and some of the violent acts were a bit gruesome (not gory just icky). But acts of violence are like that, I suppose. To make an impact, they have to be uncomfortable for those who witness them. And yes, it was almost too fast-paced. Another 50-75 pages would have been welcome… not that I’m greedy.

Where does that leave us, gentle reader? With the story arc that began in Flashpoint all wrapped up and waiting impatiently for Hot Pursuit — coming this summer — of course! Let me take a moment to say how very glad I am that Suz has moved to two releases a year. Yay!

Grade: A-

Blurb:

Badly shaken after the loss of one of their own, the men and women of Troubleshooters Inc. go up against their most deadly opponents yet – the clandestine organization called The Agency. Blackmail, extortion, murder: The Agency’s black-ops sector will apparently stop at nothing to achieve their objective. But this time they’ve gone too far and hit too close to home.

Led by former Navy SEAL Lawrence Decker, a team of investigators – from FBI agent Jules Cassidy and former CIA operative Dave Malkoff, to Troubleshooters Sophia Ghaffari, Tess Bailey, and even receptionist Tracy Shapiro – band together to uncover the truth, and bring the killers to justice.
But the stakes are raised even higher when Decker barely escapes an attempt on his life. It soon becomes clear that the hunters have become the hunted – and the Troubleshooters are no longer just solving a crime – they’re fighting for survival.

Read an excerpt HERE.

Other books in the series (mass market paperback referenced where available):

and Book 15, HOT PURSUIT, Ballantine, Summer 2009

Gwen’s review of Night Shadow (TFLAC Night Trilogy, Book 3) by Cherry Adair
Contemporary paranormal romantic suspense hardcover released by Ballantine 25 Nov 08

I think Cherry Adair is having a contest with herself to see how many different series she can have with inter-related characters.  I lost count at eleventy-million.  This trilogy is another of what I call the TFLAC novels, and is part of the Night Trilogy.  It’s the first book of the trilogy that I’ve read, but because it’s related to so many of her other books, I was able to pick up the story pretty quickly. 

I liked this story.  I liked the characters. I liked the James Bond on steroids plot.  It was a quick, fun read with lots of suspension of disbelief, but still exciting and, well, fun.  I won’t spend too much time analyzing the technical prowess of the author or how her scenes are nicely linked together in logical and exciting story arcs.  It’s just not that cerebral of a story.  It was a popcorn action flick with some romance – not a moody period piece.

I liked how Adair kept her characters consistent throughout.  She didn’t let the hero change the heroine and let the hero be fallible and flawed.  In fact, the heroine ends up saving the hero’s bacon in the end (not a spoiler – you’ll see what I mean).  This is something I’ve come to expect of Adair’s books – nicely consistent characters that I can get behind and cheer for.

This was a fun paranormal romantic suspense novel.  Don’t look too deeply into it and just roll with the rather “out there” scientific concepts and you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.  I think you should be able to find it relatively inexpensive as a used book on amazon.com now that it’s been released a couple of months – not sure when the paperback release is scheduled.

I recommend this book to anyone reading Adair’s TFLAC books or fans of the author.  If you’re looking for a little escapist fun with a hot romance, and you’re familiar with Adair’s novels, then this is the book for you.

Grade: B+

Summary:

The passion and suspense of Cherry Adair’s latest killer trilogy, begun in Night Fall and continued in Night Secrets, now reaches its explosive conclusion in Night Shadow, as mismatched international agents take on evil head-to-head-and each other heart-to-heart.

Aside from working for the international anti-terrorism agency T-FLAC (and having the same last name), Lexi Stone and Alex Stone are polar opposites, right down to Lexi’s mere mortality and Alex’s paranormal powers. While straight-arrow Lexi pushes paper at an Internal Affairs desk, renegade Alex is busy pushing the envelope as he pursues the most dangerous global criminals. And though Lexi disdains his rule-breaking bravado and cowboy tactics, she can’t deny Alex’s skills when it comes to getting his man (not to mention any number of women)-just as she can’t ignore how his roguish charm makes her heart race and her temperature rise.

But Lexi’s secret desires clash head-on with her duties when suspicions arise that Alex is poised to switch sides-and join forces with a European terrorist cell. Tapped for her first field mission, Lexi finds herself assigned to shadow Alex’s every move, and if necessary, terminate him. Despite her feelings, Lexi’s willing and able to carry out her orders, as long there’s proof that Alex is a traitor. But getting the goods-and the drop-on her superagent quarry becomes an even tougher task when Lexi and Alex suddenly find themselves partners on an emergency mission in Russia.

When terrorists seize a busy Moscow railway station for ransom, then abruptly massacre their hostages and vanish into thin air, the agents realize they’re facing adversaries possessing of the same paranormal abilities as Alex’s elite T-FLAC/psi unit. But after Lexi kills an armed suspect during a breathless rooftop chase, she makes a series of shocking discoveries about the enemy T-FLAC is facing, the troubling truth Alex has been concealing, and the terrifying plot of a treacherous mastermind that could spell the downfall of T-FLAC’s most powerful and valued operatives. To save precious lives and stop the rise of a superhuman terrorist threat, Lexi and Alex must work as a well-oiled team in a race across the globe-and against time-with lethal shadows looming behind them, and no one to trust but each other.

Read an excerpt (click on the book cover).

Other books in the series:

Gwen’s review of Dark Curse (The Carpathians, Book 16) by Christine Feehan
Paranormal romance hardcover released by Berkley 2 Sep 08

Last month, the latest Feehan Carpathians/Dark novel came out in hardcover. With it, we see a return by the author to her roots: good romance, strong characters, and excellent villains and action.  I was pretty disappointed with the last two books – aside from the  hardcover release (kaching!) – since they seemed to be fanfic more than entries in Feehan’s complex world.  Luckily, this was another legitimately “Dark” book (pun intended). 

Dark Curse has a couple of tried-and-true paranormal romance devices: at the start the heroine has amnesia and doesn’t know her full power, hero is über-alpha hunk-o-vampire who will protect heroine with his last breath (even from herself), some soul/life-mating, and a few others.  There are also a couple of interesting twists: the heroine has a blood drinking aversion/phobia and she isn’t miraculously cured by the mighty peen by the end of the book (nicely realistic), and a real mystery they’re all working to solve about why their race keeps losing children, plus some seriously nefarious stuff that keeps everything nicely interesting.

I like the Dark/Carpathian novels when they’re this well written.  There’s steam in the sensual scenes — though I found myself skimming thru those rather quickly (I know!) — and a good, somewhat bloodless (heh), romance.  The book is full of interesting characterizations as we revisit several figures from past novels and they’re more than just blasts from the past.  However, I would have liked to see the heroine keep more of herself and her life together by the end of the book (one of my complaints of some of the Dark books — heroines seem to sacrifice all, heroes none), but she seems to decompensate as the book goes on and she isn’t made better by the end.

There is an interesting “Indiana Jones” thing going on while a group searches the caverns for the heroine’s aunts and the cause of the sicknesses afflicting the Carpathian mothers and children.  I thought it would be a boring sequence, but Feehan kept my interest and made it fraught with peril and suspense.  Unusual for me — cave scenes normally skeeve me out too much to enjoy (don’t ask).

I could do without the whole Carpathian language business. I get a “who cares” attitude about that kind of thing when it’s hammered in over and over.  I mean, the hero has been in South America for hundreds and hundreds of years, right?  Why isn’t he using Spanish endearments instead of Carpathian ones, if he’s been away from the Carpathians for all that time?  Seemed a little odd, but, meh, small quibble on the whole.  Nevertheless, I did hate how I couldn’t picture how the words sound in my head. I have no experience with the pronunciation rules in eastern European languages other than a “c” sounds like a “ch” — that’s the extent of my knowledge on the topich (heh).

There’s considerable time spent on the “healing” of some of the other Carpathians, due to what the hero and heroine discover in the caverns.  It was all rather woo-woo, but was fun to read if I just rolled with it.  All of this culminates in a rather abrupt ending to the novel, but was still a good part of the story in light of the heroine’s background.  (However, I did want to slap Savannah once or twice for being a selfish wench.)

This was a fun-to-read entry in Feehan’s Carpathian world — interesting characters, good plot twists, and excellent suspense and romance.  I recommend it to fans of the series and Feehan’s writing.  People new to the series might be a bit at sea if you haven’t read at least one of the original Dark novels (recommend Dark Prince, Book 1, if you want to get the low-down on the world and a good story).  If you’re a fan, it’s worth the hardcover price.  Or just wait and buy it secondhand on the Amazon.com Marketplace once the used hardcovers get less expensive.  It will probably be a year before it comes out in paperback.

Grade: B

Summary:

Born into a world of ice, slave to her evil father, Lara Calladine knew only paralyzing fear as a child. Only by escaping with her mysterious gifts unbroken would she survive to claim her great Carpathian heritage as a Dragonseeker…

Now, Lara is in search of the source of her nightmares-the cold, dark corners of her childhood just on the edges of her memory. Only one man has the power and the will to help her: dangerous, arrogant Nicolas De La Cruz.

Together, Lara and Nicolas search the treacherous Carpathian landscape for the truth about their pasts-and discover a passion that neither has ever known before.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in the series:

LauraD’s review of Faefever (Fever Series, Book 3) by Karen Marie Moning
Urban fantasy hardcover released by Delacorte Press 16 Sep 08

I confess to having never been a big fan of Karen Marie Moning’s paranormal romance novels. Thanks to a great heroine and an enigmatic hero(?), however, I am all on board with her Fever Series, and have been impatiently waiting for book three.

MacKayla “Mac” Lane arrived in Dublin to find out who killed her sister. She found not only the killer’s identity, but her own — Mac is a sidhe-seer, a rare human who can see the fae that walk amongst us. She has reluctantly partnered with the mysterious Jericho Barrons to try and stop the walls between the world of fae and human from crumbling and what would be left of the human race from their enslavement by the faery courts. Mac has the unique ability to sense when certain sacred fae objects are near, making her invaluable to both Barrons and to V’lane, a “death-by-sex” faery prince whose motives are very murky at this point.

Faefever starts off running and doesn’t really slow down. Mac becomes much more independent, as she uses the knowledge she has and the people she knows to do her own detective work instead of merely being Barron’s hunting dog. Of course, she still manages to get in trouble once or twice, and both Barrons and V’lane get their chance to rescue her — but in this version of Dublin rescue always comes at a cost. It was really enjoyable to see Mac become a stronger character, an arc I think will continue to develop in books 4 and 5.

I’d love to say that the author reveals the true soul of Jericho Barrons, but I’m beginning to feel we may not get that until the last page of the last book! However, some fascinating clues as to who (or what) Barrons might be are revealed. A new possible love interest for Mac is introduced, and he has ties to Moning’s Highlander books — it will be interesting to see if any of those characters make an appearance in the future episodes.

One of the things I really appreciate about this book and series is the strong sense of place. Dublin isn’t just a name-check, it’s a part of the book. Barrons’ bookstore is also almost a character; reading about Mac’s love for it makes me wish I could visit it someday. Without being overly descriptive the author does a great job making streets and buildings come alive on the pages.

If you haven’t yet read Darkfever or Bloodfever, I’d suggest reading at least one of those before this one. Faefever starts with world building and mythology complete, and not a lot of backstory is provided for new readers. It’s a wonderful series, and this is a great continuation — I’ve read it twice already, looking for more clues and tidbits I might have missed the first time around. Multiple plot lines are left unresolved, which again makes it impossible to read as a standalone.  Me,  I’ll be patiently waiting on book 4, Dreamfever.

Grade: B+

Summary:

He calls me his Queen of the Night. I’d die for him. I’d kill for him, too.

When MacKayla Lane receives a torn page from her dead sister’s journal, she is stunned by Alina’s desperate words. And now MacKayla knows that her sister’s killer is close. But evil is closer. And suddenly the sidhe-seer is on the hunt: For answers. For revenge. And for an ancient book of dark magic so evil, it corrupts anyone who touches it.

Mac’s quest for the Sinsar Dubh takes her into the mean, shape-shifting streets of Dublin, with a suspicious cop on her tail. Forced into a dangerous triangle of alliance with V’lane, an insatiable Fae prince of lethally erotic tastes, and Jericho Barrons, a man of primal desires and untold secrets, Mac is soon locked in a battle for her body, mind, and soul.

As All Hallows Eve approaches and the city descends into chaos, as a shocking truth about the Dark Book is uncovered, not even Mac can prevent a deadly race of immortals from shattering the walls between worlds with devastating consequences.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

LauraD’s review of My Husband’s Sweethearts by Bridget Asher
Women’s fiction hardcover released by Delacorte Press 19 Aug 08

It’s an interesting premise — a dying husband being nursed by not only his wife, but his many girlfriends as well. Bridget Asher takes a totally fresh idea and runs with it, resulting in a bittersweet chronicle of love both marital and parental. 

Thirty-something Lucy left fifty-something Artie six months ago, when she discovered he was having an affair. Now that she’s learned Artie is dying, Lucy is back to nurse him, but she can’t forgive him and she’s not sure she can take care of him alone. Artie is the one who gives her the idea to call all the women in his little black book and have them help her out-oh, and by the way? Can she call his son John, the one he’s never told her about?

Needless to say, not all of the women show up. Some only make brief appearances. Then there is Elspa, who says that Artie saved her life. Elspa is the first to arrive and the most determined of the sweethearts; also the youngest. My personal favorite is Eleanor, who arrives and announces that she is there for “revenge”. Each character represents a different part of Artie’s personality, and it’s only together that the women make it through each day of caring for him. While the message isn’t always subtle, Asher writes with a great deal of compassion for her characters.

My Husband’s Sweethearts was a very enjoyable book, at times pretty darn funny. That’s quite a feat, considering death and adultery are two of the primary subjects! If I have a major quibble with the book, it’s Artie’s lack of repentance for his behavior-not just cheating on Lucy, but the heartbreak he caused more than a few of his sweethearts. While the author writes great female characters, she didn’t quite convince me that Artie was enough of a Lothario to have all of these women forgive him without any effort on his part.

Ultimately, it’s a book worth reading for the relationship between Lucy and her mother; and for the family that forms between those caring for Artie as he dies. The dialogue is great, razor sharp in places. My Husband’s Sweethearts is a solid…

Grade: B

Summary:

When Lucy discovered that her charming, cheating husband was dying, she came home, opened up his little black book, and decided she wasn’t going through this alone. After all, Artie’s sweethearts were there for the good times-is it fair that Lucy should have to manage the hard times herself? In this wise, wickedly funny new novel, Lucy dials up the women in Artie’s black book and invites them for one last visit. The last thing she expects is that any will actually show up.

But one by one, they do show up: The one who hates him. The one who owes her life to him. The one he turned into a lesbian, and the one he taught to dance. And among them is a visitor with the strangest story of all: the young man who may or may not be Artie’s long-lost son.

Read an excerpt.

The ever delightful avid reader, Keishon, has had some tres interesting posts up lately. I am sure you already do but if you don’t… go check her out! I started to respond to her post on the Amazon Vine Program and in my normal fashion wrote a rambly book.

So I decided to bring it on home…

This will make lil to no sense – less than I normally do – if you haven’t read her post:

Amazon Vine Program and Customer Reviews

So go read it. Go on…. I will wait. or not

my ramble:
So you are only wanting to read the reviews after you decide to buy or not? Or after you read? I didn’t know you avoided blogs and review sites.

I don’t know much about the vine program but have to say I don’t like it cuz it is an amazon thing and they have shown what they want out of reviews and honestly or reader concern isn’t it.

But I don’t think it has anything to do with this book. Having not seen the reviews I am guessing they are all happy, happy, joy, joy from your tone… but I ‘think’ (will do more follow up tomorrow) the push is from the publisher. I know personally I have gotten 2 copies. I know another blogger who just emailed cuz she lusted after it and gushed got a copy. I know a few others who have gotten copies that aren’t on the ‘SM ARC LIST’.

My bitch would be with the people reviewing if they are lying to get more books, become ‘popular amazon reviewers’ or just looking for validation. Publishers have a job to get their titles out there. Hell even Amazon is a company and has a right to promote. Having the programs doesn’t seem wrong – taking advantage of them for their gain… isn’t wrong in my eyes. Knowing dishonest things are going on (like amazon’s deleting of ‘bad’ reviews) and allowing it, closing your eyes or going nah nah nah I can’t hear you – makes you a bad bad company.

So what is the answer?

• Don’t review there? Well it seems that allows the fangrrls and cheats to win.
• Don’t buy from them? Amazon sells a hellalot of books, they loss money and or go out of biz (something I don’t see happening) who gets fucked – the reader.
• Don’t buy from the publisher? I just can’t see them doing something that is ‘wrong’ by trying to promote the book.

None of those sound like good answers. So what do we do? Personally I have always paid no attention to Amazon reviews. I have told myself repeatedly we, as in TGTBTU, would start to post our reviews on Amazon as well because I like the idea of mixing in some honest opinions. NOT to say every review, not even every five star review is a lie. I do believe people honestly believe a LARGE majority of what they write in their reviews there.

And then there are the Harriet’s…. and uh… haven’t wrapped my arms around THAT one yet.
So any thoughts from you guys? Anyone give a flip? You got a fix? rant? or whatevs…

Note as of right now Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain has 57 reviews.

14 are 5 stars

24 are 4 stars

12 are 3 stars

4 are 2 stars

3 have 1 star

It releases on Sept 2, 2008 from St. Martin’s Minotaur in Hardcover.

Product Description (as shown on amazon)

With Heartsick, Chelsea Cain took the crime world by storm, introducing two of the most compelling characters in decades: serial killer Gretchen Lowell and her obsessed pursuer Portland Detective Archie Sheridan. The book spent four weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and garnered rave reviews around the world. But the riveting story of Archie and Gretchen was left unfinished, and now Chelsea Cain picks up the tale again.

When the body of a young woman is discovered in Portland’s Forest Park, Archie is reminded of the last time they found a body there, more than a decade ago: it turned out to be the Beauty Killer’s first victim, and Archie’s first case. This body can’t be one of Gretchen’s—she’s in prison—but after help from reporter Susan Ward uncovers the dead woman’s identity, it turns into another big case. Trouble is, Archie can’t focus on the new investigation because the Beauty Killer case has exploded: Gretchen Lowell has escaped from prison.

Archie hadn’t seen her in two months; he’d moved back in with his family and sworn off visiting her. Though it should feel like progress, he actually feels worse. The news of her escape spreads like wildfire, but secretly, he’s relieved. He knows he’s the only one who can catch her, and in fact, he has a plan to get out from under her thumb once and for all.

Chelsea Cain has topped her own bestselling debut thriller with this unputdownable, unpredictable, edge-of-your-seat read.

Sybil’s review of Rogue by Danielle Steel
Fiction hardcover release from Delacourt Press 24 Jun 08

Rogue is not a romance novel but one has to give kudos to whoever it was that made that poll because no way would it or this book have gotten as much attention from the romance blogland without pulling our strings and watching us get puffy. The joke is Danielle Steel is a ‘guilty pleasure’ read or a ‘beach read’ or whatever stupid sayings they dust off every June. I have loved me some trashy fiction and more smutty reads than I can remember, sadly this isn’t even that. I would say it was something close to Reality TV only it isn’t that deep.

Blake Williams is a charming, handsome, playboy who retired at 35. Now at 46, he test drives young women and travels. He has three children (well, three he fathered, too many others to count that he dates) by his ex-wife Maxine. She got tired of being his mommy too and divorced him, but she didn’t take him for all she deserved could have, so they are teh BFF’s.

Maxine has always been the adult. She is a psychiatrist and “…one of the foremost experts in trauma in both children and adolescents”. This ‘expert’ is able to watch her ex (who people still call her ‘husband’) blow in and out of their kids’ lives, knows they can’t count on him for crap (but hopes he will come through and not break their heart this time), and lets him take her 13 year old daughter, 12 and 6 year old sons – alone or with bimbo-of-the-week – out of the country. And is so smart she ‘falls in love’ with a man, who is such an adult he spends all his time trying to get her to send her children away to boarding school. So he can have her all to himself. WHAAAAT??

That is pretty much the sum of the book. No matter how often the reader is told how smart, loving, educated or wonderful these characters are we never see it. Maxine agrees to marry a man who has to try not to hate her kids. And the most interesting characters in the book are the bimbos.

The grade should be lower but I read it without force being needed. OH! And I like the cover…. so sad cuz I use to like Danielle Steel once upon a time.

Grade: D –

Being married to Blake had been an amazing adventure for Maxine. Brilliant, charismatic, and wholly unpredictable, Blake Williams made millions and grabbed headlines as a dot-com entrepreneur. His only shortcoming was as a husband—first his work and then his never-ending quest for fun kept him constantly on the move, far away from Maxine and his family. For five years Blake and Maxine have worked out an odd but amicable divorce, with friendly though infrequent visits, a yacht he lends her every summer, and three children they both adore. Blake enjoys his globe-trotting lifestyle—dating a succession of beautiful, famous, and very young women—while Maxine raises their kids in Manhattan and pursues her passion, working as a psychiatrist, a world-renowned expert on childhood trauma and adolescent suicide. Then everything changes….

For Maxine it starts when she falls in love with Dr. Charles West, a man who is everything Blake is not—mature, grounded, and present. For Blake it begins when a devastating earthquake strikes near one of his palatial foreign homes and he sees hundreds of orphaned children in need of shelter. Now Blake wants Maxine in his life again—as a partner in a humanitarian project that could change countless lives. For Maxine the choice is clear. But Blake’s sudden transformation—from carefree playboy to compassionate, responsible grown-up—raises questions she’s never managed to answer . . . and some she’s afraid to ask. After all, Maxine is on the cusp of a new life, about to marry Charles, and almost certain that Blake Williams, aka the Rogue, is a man capable of doing anything—except change….

An unforgettable story of two people pursuing happiness from opposite directions, Rogue is a journey of choices and the amazing opportunities that come together—just when life seems to have been successfully rearranged at last.

Connie’s Review Mercy Street (Mercy Street Foundation, Book 1) by Mariah Stewart
Romantic Suspense released from Ballantine (Hardcover) 13 May 08

When a scandal forces Mallory Russo to quit the police department, she decides to write a true crime book. However, her heart lies in investigating the crime and she agrees to help a grandmother find her grandson who is suspected of murder and has been missing since the incident.

While checking out the crime scene she runs into the new detective who is assigned to take over the case. Together they hope to be able to bring the matter into the open and give several people some closure.

The priest where the kids go to school has a wealthy cousin who no longer has any interest in life after the loss of his wife and only child. Hoping to resolve the matter, he agrees to pay for Mallory to look into it. Mallory and the detective bring the matter to a successful conclusion, bringing closure to the wealthy cousin and giving him a new lease on life.

Mallory is a well-drawn character who became the victim of a couple of people who called themselves cops. Eventually they are found out but the damage was done. The new cop on the local police force, Charlie returns to his dying hometown only out of obligation to his family. Both of the main characters were enjoyable and figured out how to carry on when life dealt them some bad blows. I enjoyed reading this book.

Grade: B

Summary:

On a balmy spring evening, four high school seniors–three boys and a girl–enter a park in the small Pennsylvania city of Conroy. The next morning, two of the boys are found shot to death, and the girl and the third boy are gone. After three weeks with no leads and no sign of either of the two missing teenagers, the chief of police begins to wonder if they too were victims. But with no other suspects, the authorities conclude that one of these kids was the shooter.

The missing boy’s grandmother, a secretary at the local parish church, maintains his innocence. On her behalf, the parish priest, Father Kevin Burch, hires former detective Mallory Russo as a private investigator to figure out what happened in the park that night. Mallory had ended her nine-year stint with the Conroy police force some time ago after becoming a target of a smear campaign. Now a true-crime author, Mallory is surprised to receive the priest’s offer–and highly intrigued by the case. She can’t help but accept the challenge–especially when she learns that her investigation will be financed by Father Burch’s cousin the reclusive billionaire Robert Magellan, a man whose own wife and infant son disappeared without a trace a year ago, a man who understands the heartache of not knowing what happened to a loved one.

Detective Charlie Wanamaker is facing another sort of tragedy. He fled Conroy years ago with no plans to return to what he considered a dying factory town–until a family emergency brought him back. Finding the situation much worse than he’d thought, he trades his job as a big-city detective for one with the Conroy police department. Assigned to the park shooting case, Charlie quickly realizes that the initial investigation left a lot of questions unanswered. Unofficially, he teams up with Mallory to uncover the truth and find the two kids, dead or alive. What Charlie and Mallory discover will take them down a twisted path that leads to an old unsolved murder–and justice for a killer with a heart of stone.

Read an excerpt.

Connie’s review of The Angel by Carla Neggers
Romantic Suspense released by Mira Books (Hardcover edition) 29 Apr 08

While in Ireland, searching for a mythic stone angel, Keira becomes trapped in a ruin. Keira’s uncle is a Boston homicide detective and is worried, so he asks Simon Cahill, who does search and rescue work, to find her. Since he’s recently been working on the take down of a major criminal network, Simon figures now would be a good time to get away for a while, and agrees to help.

Keira’s mother is a religious fanatic living in the middle of nowhere. Her daughter barely knows her, and is unaware that one of her childhood friends was murdered. Keira is an illustrator and folklorist so the stone angel idea inspires her to hunt for it while in Ireland.

Violence follows Keira and Simon to Boston and they realize evil can come in many forms.

There are quite a few characters in this story, mostly family and friends that aren’t drawn well and the reader barely gets to know. Having enjoyed Carla Neggers’ books in the past, I found myself disappointed in The Angel. I found the pace of the story slow, and when it finally does begin to pick up steam, the reader is very near the end of the story.

Grade: D

     Blurb:

     Her passion for myth and magic leads a woman into the heart of a murderous evil

     On a remote stretch of the rugged coast of Ireland, folklorist and illustrator Keira Sullivan pursues the mysterious Irish legend of an ancient Celtic stone angel. As she searches an isolated ruin, she’s certain she’s discovered the mythic angel, but before she can examine her find, she senses a malevolent presence…Is someone in there with her? Then the ruin collapses, trapping her.

     Keira’s uncle, a Boston homicide detective, enlists the help of Simon Cahill to find his missing niece. Simon, an expert with Fast Rescue, a rapid response search-and-rescue organization, is trying to keep a low profile after secretly assisting the take-down of a major criminal network, but he rushes to Ireland, pulling Keira out of the rubble just as she’s about to free herself.

     Simon isn’t interested in myths or magic, nor is he surprised when Keira can’t find a trace of her stone angel. He doesn’t believe it exists. But the gruesome evidence of a startling act of violence convinces him that whatever she found in the ruin, the danger she faces is real.

     When the violence follows them to Boston [and escalates], Simon and Keira realize that the long-forgotten story that has captivated her has also aroused a killer…a calculating predator who will certainly kill again.

     Read an excerpt.

A Wallflower Christmas is the story of Rafe Bowman, an American businessman who comes to London to marry an English bride. All the original wallflowers appear in the novel, and at Sybil’s request I’m sharing a clip of a scene between Evie and Sebastian

[Ed note: happy sigh].

Evie has been separated from the notorious Lord St. Vincent, while he has gone to visit his ailing father. In spite of the comfort of familiar friends, Evie is lonely and longing for her wicked husband . . .

[poor evie... doesn't your heart just break for her...]

And now for some what you have been waiting for – the devil himself – Sebastian Lord St. Vincent

E-X-C-E-R-P-T

A Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kleypas **Oct 14, 2008**

Back in the comfort of her guest room at Stony Cross Manor, Evie bathed in a small portable tub by the hearth, sighing in relief at the feel of the hot water against her stiff, aching limbs. Sleigh rides, she reflected, were one of those activities that always sounded better in theory than they turned out to be in reality. The seats on the sleigh had been hard and lumpy, and her feet had been cold.

She heard a tap at the door, and the sound of someone entering the room. Since she was shielded from view by a standing fabric screen, Evie leaned back and peek around the screen’s wooden frame.

A housemaid was hefting a dripping metal can with rags tied at the handles. “More hot water, milady?” she asked.

“Y-yes, please.”

Carefully the maid poured the steaming water at the end near Evie’s feet, and Evie sank deeper into the bath. “Oh, thank you.”

“Shall I come back with a warming pan to take the chill from the bed, milady?” The long-handled covered pan was filled with live coals and run between the sheets just before bedtime.

Evie nodded.

The maid left, and Evie stayed in the bath until the heat began to dissipate. Reluctantly she stepped from the tub and dried herself. The thought of going to bed alone—again—filled her with melancholy. She was trying not to pine for St Vincent. But she woke up every morning searching for him, her arm stretched across the empty place beside her.

St. Vincent was the opposite of everything Evie was . . . elegant, dazzlingly articulate, cool and self-possessed . . . and so wicked that it had once been universally agreed he would be an absolutely terrible husband.

No one but Evie knew how tender and devoted he was in private. Of course, his friends such as Westcliff and Mr. Hunt were aware that St. Vincent had reformed his former villainous ways. And he was doing a remarkable job managing the gaming club she had inherited from her father, rebuilding a faltering empire while at the same time making light of the responsibilities he had assumed.

He was still a scoundrel, though, she thought with a private grin.

Standing from the bath, Evie dried herself and donned a velvet robe that buttoned along the front. She heard the door open again. “Back to w-warm the bed?” she asked.

But the voice that answered wasn’t the maid’s.

“As a matter of fact . . . yes.”

Evie stilled at the sound of a deep, silky murmur.

“I passed the maid on the stairs and told her she wouldn’t be needed tonight,” he continued. “‘If there’s one thing I do well,’ I told her, ‘it’s warming my wife’s bed.’”

By this time Evie was fumbling to push the screen aside, nearly pushing it over.

St. Vincent reached her in a few graceful strides, folding her in his arms. “Easy, love. No need for haste. Believe me, I’m not going anywhere.”

They stood together for a long, wordless moment, breathing, holding tight.

Eventually St. Vincent tilted Evie’s head back and stared down at her. He was tawny and golden-haired, his pale blue eyes glittering like gems in the face of a fallen angel. He was a long, lean-framed man, always exquisitely dressed and groomed. But he had not been sleeping well, she saw. There were faint shadows beneath his eyes, and signs of weariness on his face. The touches of human vulnerability, however, only served to make him more handsome, softening what might otherwise have been a gleaming, godlike remoteness.

“Your f-father,” she began, staring at him in concern. “Is he . . .”

St. Vincent cast an exasperated glance heavenward. “He’ll be fine. The doctors can’t find a thing wrong with him, other than indigestion brought on by rich food and wine. When I left, he was leering and pinching the housemaids, and welcoming a score of obsequious relations who want to sponge off him for Christmas.” His hands moved lightly over her velvet-covered back. His voice was very soft. “Have you been a good girl in my absence?”

“Yes, of course,” she said breathlessly.

St. Vincent gave her a disapproving glance and kissed her with a seductive gentleness that sent her pulse racing. “We’ll have to remedy that immediately. I refuse to tolerate proper behavior from my wife.”

She touched his face, smiling as he nipped at her exploring fingertips. “I’ve missed you, Sebastian.”

“Have you, love?” He unfastened the buttons of her robe, the light eyes glittering with heat as her skin was revealed. “What part did you miss the most?”

“Your mind,” she said, and smiled at his expression.

“I was hoping for a far more depraved answer than that.”

“Your mind is depraved,” she told him solemnly.

He gave a husky laugh. “True.”

She gasped as his gentle, experienced hand slipped inside her robe. “What part of m-me did you miss the most?”

“I missed you from head to toe. I missed every freckle. I missed the taste of you . . . the feel of your hair in my hands . . . Evie, my love, you are shamefully overdressed.”

And he picked her up and carried her to bed . . .

© Lisa Kleypas. All rights reserved

LauraD’s review of Guilty by Karen Robards
Romantic Suspense released by Putnam 1 Apr 08

I’ve got more than one Karen Robards title on my keeper shelf, but Guilty got tossed into the UBS box so hard and fast it scared my cat. I’m guessing others will disagree with me, but I just can’t identify with a hypocritical heroine. (Possible slight spoilers in review)

Fifteen year old Kat Kominski and her pals are having a night out, when one of them accidentally shoots and kills an off duty policeman in a robbery gone bad. They flee, and the killer is never identified or caught. Present day, “Kate White” is a single mom, and a prosecutor in the DA’s office. One of Kate’s former friends is now a career criminal, and begins blackmailing Kate. Meanwhile, hot Detective Tom Braga keeps turning up, asking Kate questions about her past and somehow making himself a part of her and her son’s lives.

I’ll just lay my main problem out straight. Kate’s a liar. At a young age, she gets caught up in a crime, and she never reports it. She goes to college, then to law school, and then (despite a goal of rapid financial success) goes to work for the D.A. Keeps lying! A criminal begins blackmailing her, so she tells more lies! To the detective! That she’s falling in love with!

Kate lies until it’s beyond stupid to keep lying, tells more lies to explain away inconsistencies, and when the truth finally comes out, she never apologizes.

Good ol’ Detective Tom has surely earned himself some grovel, but he does not get it from Kate. Poor Tom. Oh yes, did I mention that Tom has a Tragic Secret in his Past That Has Kept Him From Loving Again? Or Kate’s Eerily Mature 9 year old? Or Tom’s Big Noisy Loveable Italian Family? I could go on, but I’m tired of capitalizing.

Really, I’m sorry Karen Robards. I wanted to like Guilty. I tried to read it a second time to see if I liked it any better, but I couldn’t do it.

Grade: F

     Blurb:

     One cold November night when Kat White was fifteen years old, she and some friends held up a convenience store. In the heat of the moment, one of the others shot and killed an off-duty cop moonlighting as a security guard. Kat and her pals fled the scene in a panic, and no one was caught.

     Sixteen years later, Kat-now Kate-has built a new life for herself. Now a single mom with an eight-year-old son, she works as a prosecutor in the Philadelphia DA’s office. But her dark past rears its head when she walks into court one day and discovers that she is to prosecute Mario Castellanos, one of her friends from that terrible night.

     Kate is in a bind: even though Mario was the one who probably did commit the crime, he’s counting on Kate to make sure he’s not convicted. If she convinces the judge of his guilt, he’ll claim that she was the one who killed the off-duty cop. Before real despair sets in, Mario is found dead-in her apartment, and with her pistol. When homicide detective Tom Braga shows up to investigate the murder, Kate is far from relieved; the two have clashed since she started working for the prosecutor’s office. But when another man who knows the secret of Kate’s past gets involved in the investigation, she learns that her life-and her son’s-are in danger. Frantic, she realizes that she has nowhere to turn. Except, maybe, to Tom . . .

     Read an excerpt.

This is great.

I read The Opposite of Love back in January and can still clearly see the scenes Julie talks about here in her podcast.

The author makes some great points – and yes I know, Lawson, you are tired of hearing me talk about this book - but I was amused by how well I got the book *g*. Go forth and listen.  Any else get a chance to read this yet?

Julie Buxbaum also stopped by during our Valenduckie week – which you can check out here.

Connie’s review of Blood Dreams (Bishop/Special Crimes Unit Novel) by Kay Hooper
Romantic suspense hardcover released 31 Dec 07 by Bantam Books

Blood Dreams is the latest Bishop/Special Crimes Unit novel. I have been a long time reader of the series. I like Noah Bishop, as well as the other people in his unit. Their talents shine in every character and each tale brings them together to create a successful team. This review will be short because the summary is practically a full book on its own.

Dani Justice and her sister are in a small town and a murderer finds his way there. Bishop’s team is aware of this and carefully protects them from the enemy.

Dani fights her way to the end and there are sad developments along the way. My main problem was it was too quick and I would have liked to have the story fleshed out a bit more. But it does make for a quick read, and it is always nice to revisit old friends. Kay Hooper is an author to keep up with and still seems to be going strong!

The author’s site has several extra resources to help you understand the series – timelines, etc.

Grade B-

Summary:

This killer dreams in shades of death….

In each of her New York Times bestselling novels, critically acclaimed author Kay Hooper has led readers to unforgettably chilling encounters with fear and evil. Now, in her latest thriller, she takes us on a terrifying manhunt for a serial killer no ordinary cops can stop–a psychopath who seems to step out of a living nightmare.

He’s the kind of killer we instinctively fear the most. A killer without boundaries, without conscience, without any fear of being caught. And his latest victim is terrifying proof that no one is safe: the daughter of a powerful U.S. senator.

Now, with the national media calling for justice and a grief-stricken father seeking vengeance, Bishop and his FBI Special Crimes Unit find themselves in a unique situation. This time even psychic cops aren’t enough to stop evil. Aid comes in the form of a fledgling civilian organization of unorthodox crime stoppers. Operating outside of any government oversight, without sanction or official authority, they are comprised of a membership every bit as talented and eccentric as Bishop’s SCU–if not more so. And that is no coincidence. For Bishop helped launch this organization barely two years before.

Dani Justice knows all about monsters. They haunt her nightmares–and her life. But she never expected to find herself doggedly on the trail of a real flesh-and-blood predator so cunning, he’s eluded the best law enforcement could send up against him; so deadly, he doesn’t hesitate to kill even a senator’s daughter. Or a cop.

Dani doesn’t want to hunt this killer. She doesn’t want to risk the life she’s made for herself, or her hard-won peace. But she doesn’t have a choice. Because his bloody rampage has hit far too close to home. Because Dani alone commands a weapon powerful enough to destroy him.

And because Dani knows something even Bishop doesn’t. Dani knows how the hunt ends. It ends in fire. And blood. And death.

What she doesn’t know is who will survive.

Read an excerpt.

Sybil’s review of The Opposite of Love by Julie Buxbaum
Fiction published Jan 08 from The Dial Press Hardcover

Contemporary, mainstream fiction, first person pov, hardcover novel that arrived with a nifty press release telling me of all the nifty reasons, highly contested auction debut novel, The Opposite of Love needs to be read. People it is “…heartbreakingly poignant, funny, and undeniably moving…”

My first thought was “Has Gwen done anything to annoy me lately…” What? You read the summary

When successful twenty-nine-year-old Manhattan attorney Emily Haxby ends her happy relationship just as her boyfriend is on the verge of proposing, she can’t explain to even her closest friends why she did it. Somewhere beneath her sense of fun, her bravado, and her independent exterior, Emily knows that her breakup with Andrew has less to do with him and more to do with…her. “You’re your own worst enemy,” her best friend Jess tells her. “It’s like you get pleasure out of breaking your own heart.”


As the holiday season looms and Emily contemplates whether she made a huge mistake, the rest of her world begins to unravel: she is assigned to a multimillion-dollar lawsuit where she must defend the very values she detests by a boss who can’t keep his hands to himself; her Grandpa Jack, a charming, feisty octogenarian and the person she cares most about in the world, is losing it, while her emotionally distant father has left her to cope with this alone; and underneath it all, fading memories of her deceased mother continue to remind her that love doesn’t last forever.


How this brave, original young heroine finally decides to take control of her life and face the fears that have long haunted her is the great achievement of Julie Buxbaum’s marvelous first novel. Written with the authority, grace, and wisdom of an author far beyond her years, The Opposite of Love heralds the debut of a remarkable talent in contemporary fiction.


read the excerpt

Once I crossed off Gwen, due to a recent-bangs-injury, I opened the book to skim it a little and see who might be interested in it. This was around 9pm and I closed the book around 2am. I then over think it way too much, boring my co worker and later Lawson for about a day. Ok fine, maybe two days.

So what does that mean? The prologue is great and completely at odds with the above. It appeals to the romance reader in me. And I hate to admit it the press release is right, The Opposite of Love is very readable and the author has a great voice. There are so many pieces of the novel you can ‘see’ that you will probably remember having lived.

The thing that didn’t work for me was I couldn’t buy it. Emily is 29 and has been an associate in this law firm for five years. I understand she is at a breaking point, everything had piled on and she was letting her life live her but I wanted to shake her. It dawned on me the reaction was a personal one because if she had been younger “I” could have understood her reactions better.

But hey life doesn’t always make sense and we rarely get to plan our nervous breakdowns. I didn’t like where the book ends. It seemed to need something more, then I reread the prologue and closed the book smiling. So if you like contemporary fiction, don’t mind reflection, breaks, ton of sad and rereading the prologue… check it out.

As for the romance the book would have been so much better if we had seen more Andrew but that could be my dislike of first person showing. Over all interesting characters, believable conflict just too piled on in a short period of time for my taste.

Grade: C

Alicia’s review of All Through the Night by Suzanne Brockmann
Romantic Suspense published hardcover 30 Oct 07 from Ballantine

This is the spot where I say why I picked up the book. Duh. I’ve been waiting to read Jules’ story for years. All Through the Night does not stand alone. I’m writing this review assuming you’ve been reading Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooter series, already.

How this book hits will depend on where you’re coming from. This is not the first Brockmann book to try if you’re not a fan, already. There is some suspense but every aspect of the plot has the sole purpose of resolving Jules and Robin’s relationship.

There’s a terrorist incident that feels kind of just stuck in there. It shows how that aspect of Jules’ job is going to affect their relationship. There’s a stalker but he’s just there to force the Adam issue. There is a secondary romance which I enjoyed a lot but even that was involved with Jules and Robin. If you’re looking for classic Suzanne Brockmann romantic suspense you may be disappointed.

On the other hand, this is Jules’ story! I had no problem with everything being about the romance. I loved seeing Jules so happy and I totally believed Robin had it together. When a story is built up this much there’s a danger that the realization of the HEA will fall short of my expectation. The end of All Through the Night left me with a good, solid, satisfied feeling.

So, bearing in mind the grading system here says a “C” is still a good book, that’s where I’m going with this one. There are a lot of things that feel sort of cheated in the story but they were sacrificed for a worthy cause. If you are a Troubleshooters fan, don’t miss All Through the Night.

Grade: C+

It’s Christmastime in Boston, and this year the silver bells will be wedding bells as FBI agent Jules Cassidy ties the knot with the man of his dreams, Hollywood heartthrob Robin Chadwick.

The pair plan a quiet, intimate ceremony, to be witnessed by family and close friends from the FBI, SEAL Team Sixteen, and Troubleshooters, Incorporated, including Sam Starrett and Alyssa Locke. But the holiday season brings more to the happy couple than they expect.

A waterfall coming through their kitchen ceiling, a bat colony in the attic, old family tensions.even an international incident can’t dampen their spirits. But add to that a parade of unexpected guests, including a reporter looking for a scoop, an ex-lover hell-bent on causing trouble, and a dangerous stalker, and suddenly the wedding is poised to unravel in chaos.

But nothing will stop Jules and Robin from getting their happy ending, because along with a guest list featuring the most elite counterterrorism force in the world, they have their own secret weapon – true love.

read an excerpt