Paranormal Romance

Review: Heart of Obsidian by Nalini Singh

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Heart of Obsidian by Nalini Singh

Title: Heart of Obsidian (A Psy-Changeling Novel, #12)
Author: Nalini Singh
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Gollancz (6th June 2013)
Blurb:

STEP INTO NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER NALINI SINGH’S EXPLOSIVE AND SHOCKINGLY  PASSIONATE PSY-CHANGELING WORLD . . .

A dangerous, volatile rebel, hands stained blood red.

A woman whose very existence has been erased.

A love story so dark, it may shatter the world itself.

A deadly price that must be paid.

They day of reckoning is here.

From ‘the alpha author of paranormal romance’ (Booklist) comes the most highly anticipated novel of her career – one that blurs the line between madness and genius, between subjugation and liberation, between the living and the dead.

Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Review:

HEART OF OBSIDIAN is the twelfth book in Nalini Singh’s brilliant and exciting A PSY-CHANGELING NOVEL series. It is a game changer of a book, with the Psy-Changeling world hanging on a knife-edge. If you’ve kept up with the series so far, then you’ll know how volatile the world is. All that’s needed is a single spark to launch a firestorm. We’ve been on tenterhooks for the previous eleven novels, wondering when and if that is going to happen. As the blurb says, ‘The day of reckoning is here.’

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Review: Biting Bad by Chloe Neill

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Biting Bad by Chloe Neill, UK edition

Title: Biting Bad (A Chicagoland Vampire Novel #8)
Author: Chloe Neill
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Gollancz Fiction (8th August 2013)
Blurb:

Merit has been a vampire for only a short while, but she’s already seen a lifetime’s worth of trouble. She and her Master, centuries-old Ethan Sullivan, have risked their lives time and again to save the city they love. But not all of Chicago is loving them back.

Anti-vampire riots are erupting all over town, striking vampires where it hurts the most. A splinter group armed with Molotov cocktails and deep-seated hate is intent on clearing the fanged from the Windy City come hell or high water.

Merit and her allies rush to figure out who’s behind the attacks, who will be targeted next, and whether there’s any way to stop the wanton destruction. The battle for Chicago is just beginning, and Merit is running out of time.

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

BITING BAD is the eighth book in Chloe Neill’s brilliant CHICAGOLAND VAMPIRES NOVEL series. At this point Merit has been a vampire for about ten months, and is finally starting to settle into it. However, things never stay silent long in Merit’s Chicago and it isn’t long before there are riots on the streets as people want to clear Chicago of vampires.

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Review: Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck

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Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck

Title: Tiger’s Curse (The Tiger Saga #1)
Author: Colleen Houck
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (26th May 2011)
Blurb:

Passion. Fate. Loyalty.Would you risk it all to change your destiny?

The last thing Kelsey Hayes thought she’d be doing this summer was trying to break a 300-year-old Indian curse. With a mysterious white tiger named Ren. Halfway around the world.

But that’s exactly what happened.

Face-to-face with dark forces, spell-binding magic, and mysterious worlds where nothing is as it seems, Kelsey risks everything to piece together an ancient prophecy that could break the curse forever.

Tiger’s Curse is the exciting first volume in an epic fantasy-romance that will leave you breathless and yearning for more.

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

TIGER’S CURSE is the first book in THE TIGER SAGA by Colleen Houck. It tells the story of Kelsey a seventeen, almost eighteen, year-old who just graduated from high school and is looking for a summer job in order to save some money for college. She ends up getting a circus job where she meets a white tiger named Ren.

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Review: A Witch Alone by Ruth Warburton

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A Witch Alone by Ruth Warburton

Title: A Witch Alone (Winter Trilogy #3)
Author: Ruth Warburton
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books (7th February 2013)
Blurb:

Where do you go when your heart has been ripped out?

For Anna there is only one answer; into her past, where the truth about her mother, her power, and her real identity lie hidden.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

A WITCH ALONE brings Ruth Warburton’s WINTER TRILOGY to a conclusion. After the events of A WITCH IN LOVE (review), Anna is left adrift, but the desire to know more about her mother – does she still live? – draws her forward and into a series of events that threatens everything – and everyone.

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Review: Angel Dust by Sarah Mussi

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Angel Dust by Sarah Mussi

Title: Angel Dust
Author: Sarah Mussi
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Hot Key Books (2nd August 2012)
Blurb:

One look into your dark eyes was all it took. You were the one. You were my temptation. The one whose soul I had to collect. And you were young, and you were beautiful, and you were flowing with energy. And my body trembled. I didn’t want to see you die.

Serafina, one of God’s brightest angels, is tasked with collecting the soul of gangsta Marcus Montague. He is bound for Hell, and is showing no signs of repenting. But one look at him undoes her – how far will she go to save the boy she loves?

Rating: ** (2 stars)
Review:

ANGEL DUST by Sarah Mussi tells the story of an angel called Serafina who, during the course of her duties, is sent to collect the soul of Marcus Montague – a gang leader whose time is up. Collecting Marcus’s soul doesn’t go according to plan for Serafina, and things rapidly spiral out of control from there.

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Review: Mercy Burns by Keri Arthur

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Mercy Burns by Keri Arthur

Title: Mercy Burns(A Myth & Magic Novel, #2)
Author: Keri Arthur
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Piatkus (5th May 2011)
Blurb:

HALF DRAGON, HALF WOMAN, CAN SHE SAVE HER FRIEND’S SOUL – WITHOUT LOSING HER HEART?

Mercy Wilson is a reporter in the San Francisco Bay Area, but she’s also more – and less – than human. Half woman, half dragon, she’s a draman – unable to shape shift but still able to unleash fiery energy. Soon her powers will be put to the test.

Mercy’s friend Rainey has enlisted her help to solve her sister’s murder. Then a horrible accident claims Rainey’s life, leaving Mercy only five days to find her killer. If Mercy fails, according to dragon law, Rainey’s soul will be doomed to roam the earth for eternity. But how can Mercy help when she herself is a target? With nowhere else to turn, she must join forces with a sexy stranger – the mysterious man they call muerte, or death itself, who’s as irresistible as he is treacherous. But can even Death keep Mercy alive for long enough to find her answers?

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

MERCY BURNS is the second book in Keri Arthur’s  MYTH & MAGIC series. It tells the story of Mercy Wilson, the sister of Trae Wilson from DESTINY KILLS, a reporter who is trying to track down the people who are destroying draman towns with her friend Rainey whose sister was killed in one. Unfortunately, Mercy and Rainey get too close and the people involved create an accident which leaves Rainey dead and Mercy injured with just five days to find Rainey’s killer so that Rainey can rest in peace.

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Review: Destiny Kills by Keri Arthur

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Destiny Kills by Keri Arthur

Title: Destiny Kills (A Myth & Magic Novel, #1)
Author: Keri Arthur
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Piatkus (5th May 2011)
Blurb:

SHE’S GOT A DANGEROUS SECRET – AND POWERS FAR BEYOND HUMAN . . .

When Destiny McCree wakes up beside a dead man on an Oregon beach, she knows only this: she was to keep moving, keep searching and keep one step ahead of the forces that have been pursuing her from the heart of Scotland to this isolated spot. Why? The death of her lover has left her alone, with little memory of her past. A glimmering serpent-shaped ring is the one clue she has – and a bargaining chip in a most dangerous game.

Enter Trae Wilson, a master thief with a sexy, knowing grin and a secret agenda of his own. Destiny and Trae both have powers far beyond human – and both are running for their lives. Together they’re rising a tide of danger, magic and lust . . . but with killers stalking their every move, they must use any means necessary, even each other, to survive – until the shocking secret of one woman’s destiny finally unravels.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

DESTINY KILLS is the first book in Keri Arthur’s MYTH & MAGIC series. It tells the story of Destiny who wakes up naked on a beach with no memory of who she is or why she woke next to the body of a dead man. She does remember some bits and pieces, although she can’t explain why, and they are disjointed. Whilst fleeing from the police after she steals some clothes, Destiny comes across Trae Wilson.

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Review: Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

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Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris (UK cover)

Title: Dead Ever After (Sookie Stackhouse #13)
Author: Charlaine Harris
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Gollancz (7th May 2013)
Blurb:

Sookie Stackhouse has one last adventure in store.

Life has taken her from waitress in Merlotte’s Bar, Bon Temps, to part owner, from social outcast to the heart of her community; from a vampire’s girlfriend to the wife of one of the most powerful vampires in the state. She has survived explosions, revolutions and attempts on her life.

Sookie has endured betrayal, heartbreak and grief … and she has emerged a little stronger, and little wiser, every time.

But with life comes new trials…

The question is, in the end: who will love, who will live, and who will be dead ever after?

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

Dead Ever After is the final book in Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Mystery/Sookie Stackhouse series. After thirteen books, and lots of adventures we are finally saying goodbye to Sookie. I started reading this series pre-True Blood and I’m somewhat sad that things have been drawn to a conclusion, but also glad that Harris didn’t decide to continue the series perpetually.

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Review: Affliction by Laurell K. Hamilton

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Affliction by Laurell K. Hamilton (UK edition)

Title: Affliction (An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Novel, #22)
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Headline (2nd July 2013)
Blurb:

HAD EVERYONE BITTEN TONIGHT CAUGHT THIS? THE OTHER BITES HAD NO LOOKED LIKE VAMPIRE BITES. THEY’D BEEN ZOMBIE, OR HUMAN LOOKING. WAS THIS INFECTION SOMETHING THAT VAMPIRES AND SHAPESHIFTERS COULD CATCH? IF IT WAS, THEN IT WAS SOMETHING NEW.

Some zombies are raised. Others must be put down. Just ask me, Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter.

Before now, I figured I could handle them. Before now, I had never heard of them causing human beings to perish in such agony. But that’s all changed.

Micah’s estranged father lies dying, rotting away inside from some strange ailment that his doctors whispering about ‘zombie disease’.

I make my living from zombies – but these aren’t the kind I know so well. These creatures hunt in daylight, and are as fast and strong as vampires. If they bite you, you become just like them. And round and round it goes . . .

Where will it stop? Even I don’t know.

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

AFFLICTION is the twenty-second book in Laurell K. Hamilton’s epic ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER series. It has been twenty years since the first book in Hamilton’s series GUILTY PLEASURES was published in 1993, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for writing this series for so long. In AFFLICTION the action hits a little too close to home. Anita gets a phone call from Micah’s estranged family that his father is dying from a strange rotting disease and has days to live. Once out there, Anita gets dragged into a very strange case.

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Review: If I Should Die by Amy Plum

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If I Should Die by Amy Plum

Title: If I Should Die (Revenants #3)
Author: Amy Plum
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Young Adult
Publisher: Atom (2nd May 2013)
Blurb:

I WILL NOT LOSE ANOTHER PERSON I LOVE. I WILL NOT LET HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF.

Vincent waited lifetimes to find me, but in an instant out future together has been shattered. He was betrayed by someone we both called a friend and I lost him.

It shouldn’t be possible, none of it should be, but this is my reality. I know Vincent is somewhere out there, I know he’s not completely gone, and I will do anything to save him.

After what we’ve already fought to achieve, a life without Vincent is unimaginable. He once swore to avoid dying – to go against his nature and forsake sacrificing himself for others – so that we could be together. How can I not risk everything to bring my love back to me?

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

If I Should Die is the third and final book in the Revenant trilogy by Amy Plum. It is set in Paris, France and tells the story of Kate Mercier who moved to Paris with her sister to live with their grandparents after their parents’ deaths. Whilst in Paris Kate met and fell in love with Vincent, and ends up drawn into his world.

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