Devon’s review of Scions: Insurrection by Patrice Michelle
Paranormal Romance released by Silhouette Nocturne 1 May 08

Insurrection continues the story of three paranormal races spawned from a government experiment, enemies who are bound together by a prophecy. This sequel to Scions: Resurrection focuses on the Lupreda, or werewolves, who were created by vampires to be their prey. Like the first in the trilogy, this was a fast paced, action packed read, I but enjoyed it even more.

Insurrection was less focused on world building, and more focused on the characters, which made for a more involving romance. Landon was a appealing hero in the caring Alpha mode. He was strong, but not particularly overbearing. A shared tragedy has entwined his life with that of policewoman Kaitlyn McKinney. He has used his position of police consultant to look out for Kaitie, feeling responsible for her, but stopped in recent years due to his growing attraction to her. The attraction and romance was well done, and easy on the mate aspect.

Kaitlyn was a good heroine, intelligent and capable. Towards the end of the book, she got a bit sassy and know it all, in an annoying way. But I liked her for the first three quarters.

The secrets regarding their shared past was revealed at a good pace. There was some stuff with Kaitlyn that was hinted at just enough to make you wonder, but was not glaringly obvious. At the end there were several twists, which seemed sudden, and contrived to wrap the ending up neatly. Those scenes, along with some hilariously cartoony bad guys did weaken the book a bit.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read, with plenty of character development, romance and action packed into its category length. I’m definitely still on board for the last installment in the series, which I’m assuming will have to do with the mysterious third race, the Velius.

Grade: B

     From the back cover:

     Humanity had reason to fear vampires.

     But they didn’t know about werewolves. Yet.

     When Detective Kaitlyn McKinney responded to a call about a strange, burned body, she discovers something far more complicated – and dangerous.

     Landon Rourke is a werewolf, exiled from his pack and dedicated to keeping a protective watch over Kaitlyn. A prophecy has said that his kind and vampires would one day come to a truce. But that day has yet to come.

     Landon has his own past to deal with, too, involving Kaitie herself. A dark truth that has kept them apart for years. When Kaitlyn gets caught up in the battle between vampires and werewolves, their long-simmering attraction ignites. And in that attraction, they find the secret that will bring them together…

     Read an excerpt here.

Other books in this series:

We have a winner in the Patrice Michelle Guest Author Post Contest! One lucky commenter who responded to Patrice Michelle’s post about world building has won a signed copy of SCIONS: Insurrection. And the winner is…

Azteclady!

Congratulations to Azteclady! Please email patrice @ patricemichelle dot net (no spaces) with your address to receive your copy. SCIONS: Insurrection will be published 1 May 2008 by Silhouette Nocturne. Get your sneak preview here and stay tuned for more Silhouette Nocturne News!

**CONTEST ENDED** The first installment in Patrice Michelle’s SCIONS series for Silhouette Nocturne, SCIONS: Resurrection, was released in January and reviewed by Devon and Alicia Thomas. Book two, SCIONS: Insurrection, comes out in May, and you can get a sneak preview here. Read on to find out just how an author comes up with new twists on vampire and werewolf mythology.

Read on to the bottom of the post for a contest. Take it away, Patrice!

SCIONS series…the cool idea, then what?
by Patrice Michelle

Many thanks to Devon and Sybil for inviting me to guest blog on The Good, The Bad and The Unread.

If you’ve read the first book in my SCIONS series with Silhouette Nocturne, then you’ve probably read the reader letter in the front where I talked about the fact a vivid dream inspired the idea behind Scions:Resurrection.

When I woke up from that surreal dream and started writing, I was faced with an interesting dilemma…how was I going to make THIS new vampires series different from my Kendrian vampire series. I figured if I was given this super-cool idea via a dream, I HAD to do something with it. The story would be written, but how was I going to set it apart?

Then I started thinking about all the vampire movies I’d seen and the few vampire books I’d read and each of them pretty much started with the premise that vampires “existed” and the story rolled on from there. What I decided to do with my SCIONS series was to back up a few steps and explain, not only where vampires came from, but also address some other aspects of traditional vampire and yes, werewolf lore, too. I liked the idea of creating my own reasons why vampires couldn’t tolerate the sun and why silver was poisonous to werewolves, while at the same time developing these paranormal beings in a contemporary setting and tying them to the human world.

My world building was moving along in my mind, but what made it all fall into place was the idea for a prophesy—that each of the beings in my SCIONS world were intricately locked together, not just because of the government’s secret SCIONS project (that was the catalyst for their existence) but because of decisions they each made in their past.

Working with paranormal beings and giving them very human issues and responses appealed to me on many levels. With SCIONS, I got to build several different societies, their politics and hierarchical organizations, all while linking them all together. Yet, as much as I would like to claim that I had every single plot twist and turn in the SCIONS world planned out in excruciating detail, my characters—with their own motivations, their likes and prejudices, their codes of honor and aptitude for compassion—followed their own romantic paths to happiness, ultimately dictating the outcome. I hope you enjoy each of the SCIONS stories.

What about you? When you read a paranormal book, do you like to know the paranormal hero or heroine’s origin or reason for their existence?

CONTEST! (Contest is over)

Comment here and you could win a signed copy of Insurrection. The winner will be picked from comments made between now and 9am U.S. Central on Saturday, 22 March, according to the blog timestamp. Only one entry per IP address, but you can comment as often as you wish (we’ll use just one of your comments for the contest). Good Luck!

Alicia Thomas’s review of Scions: Resurrection (Scions Trilogy, Book 1) by Patrice Michelle
Paranormal romance published 1 Jan 08 by Silhouette Nocturne (Harlequin)

Book 2 – Scions: Insurrection (1 May 08)
Book 3 – Scions: Revelation (TBA)

Resurrection is the first book in the Scions Trilogy. Jachin Black is a vampire who has been banished from his people. He lives as an assassin to pay for the blood he must consume. He despises the humans who created then tried to destroy his kind.

Ariel Swanson is an author who has just published her first novel. She wrote it as therapy for facing her fear. You see, every other member of her family was killed by vampires. She doesn’t know her “fiction” novel is actually a prophecy that the vampires have hinged their hopes on for years.

This story is fast paced from the word go. Jachin and Ariel are on the run for almost three quarters of the book but I never got bored. The characters are compelling and the world is fascinating. The world was so intricate I expected to plow through flaws and contradictions but I didn’t find any. I may have been too busy enjoying the book, but nothing caught my attention.

Something did pull me out of the story a little. The whole vampire/werewolf thing was based on genetic engineering and breeding. Near the end suddenly there were elements that were pure fantasy. Nothing tacky or anything. It was just a surprise and it made me stop and re-read to make sure I was following correctly.

Also, the end was a bit drawn out. I knew the ends needed tying off but it seemed to drag a little. I also waited for him to have to redeem himself for being a hired gun but it never happened. I closed the book with a warm feeling, though, and that’s what I want from Silhouette. So, very enjoyable but with a few minor problems and one I can’t really forgive.

Grade: C+

Blurb:

     Everyone believed vampires were extinct. Everyone was wrong.  When Ariel Swanson wrote a novel about vampires, she hoped it would exorcise her fear of the creatures that had, not so long ago, terrorized the human population.

     Instead, it brought her to their attention.  And to the attention of Jachin Black a man banished from the Sanguinas, a vampire clan, and forced to hunt among the despised humans. For he clung to the prophecy given years ago, of a better way for his kind to live a prophecy Ariel unknowingly used as the basis of her novel.

     Ariel hates and fears vampires. Jachin despises humanity. But the prophesy and passion bind them in ways they could never have imagined. Ways that may heal the past, and change the future.

     Scions: A prophecy reveals hidden secrets and holds the key to fulfilling their ultimate desires.

     Read an excerpt and an excerpt.