The Reading Spot

Dark Protector by Alexis Morgan
The first in a new series called Paladins of Darkness. I thought it was going to be another vampire book, but this one wasn't. It is set in modern times where there is an ongoing war that the average person does not know about, to keep the barrier that separates our world from the Others from collapsing. every time it flickers, more of the Others get through and the paladins fight and kill them before they can escape into our world. If the paladin is killed they can come back to life, but everytime they do that they get closer to becoming Other themself.
Here is the Book Description:

Devlin Bane: Born a Paladin, he is a member of an ancient band of warriors locked in a centuries-old war against evil.

His destiny: To die over and over again to protect mankind from the Others, only to be revived each time by his mortal Handler.

But his fierce strength and courage cannot save him from gradually becoming one of the monsters he was born to destroy.

Dr. Laurel Young, who has spent years training to become a Handler, must remain detached from her patients. But each time she revives the darkly compelling Devlin Bane, he claims a little more of her soul and incites in her desires that grow wilder and wilder -- even as he inches closer to losing his humanity. As the war against the Others grows more desperate, Laurel and Devlin can't help but give in to the fierce hunger that's sizzled between them for so long. Now they'll face the ultimate battle together -- to save a dark, passionate love that goes against every rule as they join forces to fight an enemy who is closer than they ever imagined....

Very interesting concept and series I will have to keep an eye on it.

Labels: paranormal

When I wake by Rachel Lee
I was not a fan of this book. I did not even finish it and that is rare for me. I usually like Rachel Lee but this one did not do it for me at all. The heroine reminded me of a petulant 16 year old and I stopped caring what happend to her so I stopped reading. Maybe it got better, but she bugged me. Here's the description...

Her mother died for it. Later came the terrible accident that took so much of her own body and soul (became deaf and miscarried her baby). Desperate to set right a tragic past and fulfill her mother's legacy, archaeologist Veronica Coleridge sets out in search of a treasure more valuable than the plundered gold that paves the way to its discovery-the ancient and mysterious mask of the Storm Mother.
Salvage expert Dugan Gallagher is impressed by Veronica's strength in the face of daunting challenges...and he gradually watches his feelings grow beyond mere admiration. Trapped together in a deadly vortex of treasure and treachery, myth and memory, and the sea's deadly wrath, they must find in themselves and each other the most powerful force of all.

Labels: contemporary

Stolen Magic by M. J. Putney

I saw this book at Wally world and was curious, I had not read anything by Ms Putney yet. I found this book at the library and am very happy that I did, now I need to go find the first one and buy them. The first book is called Kiss of Fate and the characters from that book come back in this one, so I am anxious to read their story. I these stories she has brought a secret world of wizards to historical England (I believe it is the early 1800s but I am not positive).

Lord Drayton is a Guardian who goes rogue, and Simon Malmain, the earl of Falconer, must stop him. Lord Drayton transforms Simon into a unicorn, planning to murder him and increase his own power with the magic of the unicorn's horn. He uses Meg, his homely, simpleminded ward, as bait; but the virgin and the unicorn escape, and, lo and behold, when their blood mixes, Simon returns to his human form and Meg turns out to be neither homely nor simpleminded and possess a lot of power herself. As Meg and Simon try to stop Drayton's ever-more diabolical plan, they must stay close together or Simon will turn back into a unicorn. Consequently, the sexual tension is high in this enchanting blend of fantasy and romance.

Labels: historical, magic, paranormal

The Royal Hunter by Donna Kauffman

This one is a time-travel romance that I could not put down and I am not a big fan of those, but I loved this one.

The Royal Hunter, Devlin Archer, a 23rd-century Australian mercenary, travels to 21st-century Connecticut to fetch Eleri Trahaern, the Royal Healer. Devin Archer, a hard-boiled hottie with a chip on his shoulder, was hired by Queen Catriona as she lay dying and pregnant with the successor to the Welsh throne of Llanfair. Only Eleri can save Catriona's son, but she fled Llanfair and the century 29 years earlier to protect her unborn daughter from the royal family's enemies. With the help of Baleweg, a Yoda-like mystic, Devin steps through a triangle of time and encounters Talia, Eleri's daughter. Talia, an animal rescuer, was orphaned at the age of six, and although she's always possessed the ability to feel an animal's pain, she knows nothing about healing and very little of Llanfair. While Baleweg trains Talia to open her heart, Devin protects them from Emrys, a wizard who was cloned from Baleweg but who still hasn't learned how to play well with others. Despite Devin's reserve, he is strongly attracted to Talia, and together they learn how to embrace the power of love.

Labels: futuristic, paranormal, time-travel

Legend of the Sorcerer by Donna Kauffman

If you cannot tell, I am working on Ms Kaufman's paranormal back list, so far so good, I love them. This one was great for me because I love books about authors for some reason.

Jordy Decker is a sculptor who is in the Florida Keys (with Fred the fish) trying to rediscover her art. Through some wierd circumstances she meets Malacai (Cai) L'Baan, author of popular fantasy book about The Dark Pearl. He is getting wierd emails from a wacko fan who thinks that his books are true. But then Cai's grandfather Alfred L'Baan is also convinced that the story is true. Now it is a question of faith and belief, does Cai believe enough?

Labels: magic, paranormal

The Legend MacKinnon by Donna Kauffman

Cool book, you get three for one in this book. There are three couples affected by this curse so you get three HEAs. The more the merrier.

I like the Literary Times summary so I am going to use theirs... "Three Claren cousins who have never met inherit their great-uncle's estate. Maggie receives a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. Cailean gets a trunk full of journals. Delaney takes possession of some old rock pile in the Highlands of Scotland. Each cousin has no idea the others exist, but as they begin looking for each other, the destiny that awaits them begins to take form. Three MacKinnon brothers, each cursed because of their arrogance, still walk this earth after three hundred years. Duncan haunts the cabin Maggie has inherited for one month each year, hoping every year that he will earn his final rest. Rory searches the world for three hundred years, never aging and always seeking his release from a Claren witch. Alexander has traveled through time, and as the eldest brother, his only desire is to return to his time and punish the clan Claren for their evil treachery. This time, when the fires ignite between Clarens and MacKinnons, it is love that grows instead of hatred and devilry." Karen Ellington -- Copyright © 030199 Literary Times, Inc. All rights reserved

Labels: ghost, paranormal, time-travel

Out of Sight by Cherry Adair

This is the fifth and I think my favorite so far of the series, but it is hard to tell. The others in the series are Kiss and Tell, Hide and Seek and In too Deep.

Kane Wright and sharpshooter AJ Cooper are both TFLAC agents on a mission to kill terrorist, Raazaq. Posing as photographer and model, they travel through Egypt to lure Raazaq out of hiding with AJ as bait.

Labels: contemporary, suspense

In Too Deep by Cherry Adair

Great book, I love this series. I had read it before, but it was better the second time around.

Michael Wright was a Navy SEAL before an assigment went wrong and he lost his eye and his partner to bad guy, Trevor Church. Now Michael is back for revenge and finds out that Trevor's daughter, Tally Cruise, is at Paradise Island to visit dad. He decides to use her to get to Trevor.

Labels: contemporary, suspense

Jude's Law by Lori Foster

Great book, I loved it and could not put it down. I actually read it twice. The story seemed to go by very quickly for me. I cannot wait for the next one, Murphy's Law.

Actor and prize-fighter, Jude Jamison moved to Stillbrook, Ohio to escape the paparazzi after being wrongly accused of murder. There he meets May Price who runs the local art gallery. He tries to hint to her that he wants to be more than friends, but May with her self-conscious self does not get it and thinks that he is just teasing her. So Jude decides to stop being subtle in his pursuit. Then May's brother (Tim) gets into some trouble and May needs Jude's help.

Labels: contemporary

well, my computer crashed, as well as about 5 posts and 4 other books that I had not posted about so I am writing this to remind myself about the books I need to post. this is not all, but it is a start, hopefully I will remember more later.

Jude's Law - Lori Foster
Seduced by the Night - Robin T. Popps?
Body of Evidence - Stella Cameron
Captive of my desire by Johanna Lindsay
cover of night by linda howard
Beach blanket bad boys anthology
Larger than life - Alison Kent
Crazy Love - tara janzen
the Legend macKinnon - Donna Kauffman
The Royal hunter - donna kauffman
Legend of the Sorceror - donna Kauffman
In too deep - Cherry Adair
Out of Sight - Cherry Adair

Danse Macabre by Laurell K. Hamilton

Wow. I just finished this last night and it was action packed. I got to read the whole series in order for the first time and it was great. I had always just read the last few books before the new one came out, but this time I decided to read them all. It was so hard because I got Danse Macabre before I finished reading the series. If I bought hardbacks I would run out and buy this, but I will wait for paperback. :( Lots of changes in this installment. For the summary I will use the review from Publisher's Weekly because it sums it up well.

The uniquely complicated life of Anita Blake, the St. Louis–based necromancer, gets even more complicated when Anita discovers she may be pregnant in the 14th novel in bestseller Hamilton's vampire hunter series (Micah, etc.). Her sexual magic powers require multiple lovers, so there are six potential fathers. One possible dad, werewolf Richard, has trouble understanding that, baby or not, Anita's still a federal marshal who raises the dead and executes vampires. In addition, terrifying, life-threatening obstetrical challenges are involved, since the maybe-mommy has to deal with vampirism and several strains of lycanthropy coursing through her veins. That Anita has no detecting to do may disappoint some fans, but playing hostess to a gathering of North American vampire Masters of the City, ostensibly in town for a performance by a vampiric ballet troupe, keeps her plenty busy. When the vampire ballet takes the stage toward the end, several new plot elements emerge. The very lack of a finale suggests that there's no end in sight for this fabulously imagined series. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Labels: paranormal, shape-shifter, vampires, werewolves

Hunting the Hunter by Shiloh Walker

This was a good vampire book if you like them Hot, which I do. Ms Walker also writes for Ellora's Cave and I think that there is more to this world that she has published there. But you don't have to read those before you read this one. I am going to have to go find them because I really enjoyed her writing so now I need to go read more by her. I have already read her short story in Hot Spell and I loved it, so when I saw this I had to grab it.

Bounty hunter Kane Winter has spent two years looking for the mysterious woman who was there when his partner was killed. But when the hunted turns out to be a seductive vampire, Kane is consumed by a desire greater than vengeance - a hunger to possess this woman for himself.

Labels: paranormal, vampires

Dangerous Tides by Christine Feehan

This book reminded me why I like nerd heroes. I have missed reading about them. This is the 4th book in the Drake sisters series. The other in the series are Magic in the Wind in the Fantasy Lover anthology, Twilight Before Christmas and Oceans of Fire. The series is about seven sisters who have genetically acquired powers to use to help others and protect themselves. The youngest sister is the sister who will produce the next generation of sisters. The series goes in order of the sisters the oldest first and on down, because that is the prophesy about the sisters, they find their true loves in order.

This story is about Dr. Libby Drake, who is a doctor and perpetually sweet, even though she really wants to be a bad girl. She is the object of the desires of her fellow doctor, Dr. Tyson Derrick, though he won't admit it yet. He thinks that she is in a family of charletans and is making herself sick trying to heal people she cannot possibly heal. But someone is trying to hurt Libby and Tyson and they don't know who or why.

Labels: magic, nerd, paranormal

Surf's Up anthology by Janelle Denison, MaryJanice Davidson and Nina Bangs

I liked this anthology. It was a nice combination of stories. A contemp and two paranormals (ghost and vamp). The first story was a very good contemp, nice story though predictable. The second story was nice in its not often used storyline of the heroine is a ghost. I liked that idea and it was a great story. Though I think you need to have read Men at Work anthology to truly appreciate the story. The third story is a Sparkle stardust story. Since I have not yet read all the books in this series I am holding off on reading it until later. I did skim it though and it looked good, so I will only give characters for the summary so I know for later reference.

Hot and Bothered by Janelle Denison

Recently divorced, Claire Reissing has relocated to the beach house she got in the settlement to pursue her dream to be a full time jewelry designer. One of her neighbors is Shea O'Brien. Unknown to the two of them they have been lusting after each other for a while but haven't done anything about it. Then one day Claire gets caught in a riptide and Shea saves her.

Paradised Bossed by MJ Davidson

Nikki is in the Caymans with Jack and Cathy (from "The Fixer-Upper") and gets stung by a stingray and drowns. As a ghost she is stuck on the island and is bored. Cathy and Jack hire a psychic to come in and find out what happened to Nikki. Enter Tom. Tom is tired of his life and ghosts in general, until he meets Nikki and is fascinated by her.

Hot Summer Bites by Nina Bangs

Sparkle Stardust story - Taurin and Kristin

Labels: ghost, paranormal, vampires

The Runaway Duke by Julie Anne Long

This was a great book. It is a Regency Historical. And I loved the characters. The hero was honorable but had human faults and was not overbearing like most historical heroes you see. The heroine was strong but not stubborn in that everything had to be done her way. She had spirit and wasn't helpless but knew when to back off and just watch because she was out of her league. I love action/suspense romances but so many of the heroines irritate me because they have to do it their way and have to be up front and part of the fighting when they have no experience with it. (If they are trained then it is another story) But so many historical heroines always rush off to do it their way when a good plan many times has already been made. Okay I will get off my soapbox now. This was a great book, it was Ms. Long's debut and I am headed out to find the rest of her books (I think she just released her fourth or fifth book.).

In the story Roarke Blackburne heir to the Duke of Treymore is mixed up with another soldier and pronounced dead. Roarke returns to England under a different name and finally gets to get out from his father's thumb and be free. He changes his name to Connor Riordon and gets a job as a groom for Sir Henry. Sir Henry's youngest daughter, Rebecca, becomes fast friends with Connor. Five years pass and Rebecca gets into a compromising position with Tony, Baron of Edgewood. Sir Henry announces that they will marry and Rebecca resolves herself to it. As the wedding approaches, Rebecca makes her misgivings known to Connor. Connor cannot turn down a damsel in distress and knows that a marriage to Edgewood would kill Rebecca's spirit, so he devises a way to get Rebecca away before the wedding. Now that there away, will Connor tell Rebecca his secret?

Labels: historical

The Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton

I am re-reading this series in between other books because it has been a while since I read the whole thing and to get read for the next book Danse Macabre that comes out I think tomorrow. I am getting it from the library and buy it when it comes out in paperback. But I love this series and if you like dark paranormals and I have not read this, you are missing out. If you want the complete reading list you can check it out here or at Ms Hamilton's website. I will write about Danse Macabre after I read it though. Just not going to write about the other 13.

Long, Tall Texans by Diana Palmer

Long, Tall Texans is actually her first three books of the series in one book, Calhoun, Justin and Tyler. A friend gave me this because I had never read Diana Palmer before and wanted to try her. They were good, but to me they were typical Harlequin books. All three had virgin brides and almost seemed to be the same book, with a couple of differences. It was not a bad book, just not my style. Here is a summary of the books.

Calhoun is in trouble, he is attracted to his ward. But the good thing is Abby likes him too, but he is too stubborn to know that she is good for him and old enough to know her own mind.

Justin has been carrying a grudge against her family ever since Shelby broke off their engagement 6 years ago saying that he was not wealthy enough. Now fortunes are reversed and she is destitute and has no where to go, so to help her out he marries her in a marriage of convenience. But how convenient will it get?

Tyler is now in Arizona working for the niece of his employer as the forman for her dude ranch. Nell is very skittish of men because something that happened to her when she was a teen. But Tyler is just the man to bring her out of her shell, if he doesn't screw it up first.

Labels: contemporary

Hide and Seek by Cherry Adair

This is the third book in the T-FLAC series (The Mercenary (out-of-print) and Kiss and Tell are the other two). I loved Kiss and Tell, this one was not as good to me, because the heroine annoyed me. It was good and I was glad I read it, but it would not be one that I read over and over.

The story was Dr. Kyle Wright (Marnie from Kiss and Tell's brother). He has been working for 4 years to bring down Ramon Montero, terrorist and drug lord. Delanie is a kindergarten teacher who has put herself undercover as Montero's "girl" to try to find her sister, Lauren, who was last seen with him. Unbeknownst to both of them they had met before four years ago in a hotel where they had a weekend of passion (and Delanie lost her virginity). Now reunited, Kyle has to figure out a way to keep her safe as Montero is taken down at the end of the week.

Labels: contemporary, suspense

The Manolo Matrix by Julie Kenner

This book was awesome. I loved it. It is the second in the series. The first one was called The Givenchy Code and was excellent as well. This one had a musical theater theme, so that to me was awesome because I love musical theater. (The Givenchy Code was a code breaking/encryption theme). The premise of these books is an online game called Play-Survive-Win which is a survival game set in Manhattan that some wacko has brought into real life. This series is great and I cannot wait for the next one.

Aspiring actress Jennifer Crane knows all about games -- the games girls play to get a guy; the games actresses play to land a part; and the good old game of credit-card roulette. (How else is a girl supposed to afford her shoes?) But she never expected to be playing a game with life-or-death consequences. Unable to successfully score an acting gig, she has, instead, been cast in the role of reluctant bodyguard to a real-life assassin's target -- a dashing FBI agent of all people! -- and must embark with him upon a scavenger hunt across Manhattan in search of the ultimate prize: survival. Before this, Jenn's definition of fighting dirty has been elbowing her way to the front of the line at a Manolo sample sale. Now, if she wants to stay alive, she's going to have to learn a few new uses for her stilettos. . . and they ain't pretty.

Labels: contemporary, suspense

The Pleasure Seekers by Melanie George

This is the first in the series followed by Naughty or Nice (Lucien/Renegade and Fancy) and then The Highlander's Stolen Bride (Derek/Heathen and Rosalyn). All are in the group they have dubbed, The Pleasure Seekers. It was good. I have enjoyed reading the series.

This book has that nice plot twist that instead of the girl being titled and poor, the hero is. His name is Cain (Vice) Ballinger, the Earl of Hartland and is surviving and, in his mind, keeping a hold on his past by being the companion (male mistress?) of Olivia Hamilton, the unscrupulous woman who now owns his ancestral home. If he does something she does not like, she burns a family portrait or gets rid of an heirloom to keep him in check. Enter Bliss Ashton who just happens to be the daughter of the man he blames for all his troubles, the Earl of Exmoor. Cain decides to seduce her and break her heart to get revenge on the Earl. She intrigues him and they fall in love with one another. Olivia tells her of his plot for revenge and Bliss flees to Paris. Will he follow, would she forgive him even if he did?

Labels: historical