Review: Elysian Fields by Suzanne Johnson

Elysian Fields

Author: Suzanne Johnson

Release Date: August 13, 2013

Publisher: Tor

Sentinels of New Orleans Book #3

ISBN:   0765333198

ISBN13: 9780765333193

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Netgalley

An undead serial killer comes for DJ in this thrilling third installment of Suzanne Johnson’s Sentinels of New Orleans series

The mer feud has been settled, but life in South Louisiana still has more twists and turns than the muddy Mississippi.

New Orleanians are under attack from a copycat killer mimicking the crimes of a 1918 serial murderer known as the Axeman of New Orleans. Thanks to a tip from the undead pirate Jean Lafitte, DJ Jaco knows the attacks aren’t random—an unknown necromancer has resurrected the original Axeman of New Orleans, and his ultimate target is a certain blonde wizard. Namely, DJ.

Combatting an undead serial killer as troubles pile up around her isn’t easy. Jake Warin’s loup-garou nature is spiraling downward, enigmatic neighbor Quince Randolph is acting weirder than ever, the Elders are insisting on lessons in elven magic from the world’s most annoying wizard, and former partner Alex Warin just turned up on DJ’s to-do list. Not to mention big maneuvers are afoot in the halls of preternatural power.

Suddenly, moving to the Beyond as Jean Lafitte’s pirate wench could be DJ’s best option.

 
Our favorite New Orleans characters are back in Book 3 ELYSIAN FIELDS. I am always amazed at the world building that goes into these books. There has been something in each installment that has made me put the book down and Google away trying to find out more information. In ELYSIAN FIELDS that ended up being Six Flags New Orleans. Once Suzanne started describing it in the book I had to learn more and she was totally spot on with descriptions. I thoroughly enjoy how she brings the area into her books.

DJ of course has grown a lot since book 1. She has climbed in rank and has great allies on her side. Her personality pulls me in and brings me back again and again. She gets targeted a lot by the bad guys but I love the way her and her allies always manage to handle it. Jake has a lot of issues. He still has not come to terms with himself being loup-garou and he ends up losing it in front of DJ early on in ELYSIAN FIELDS. The whole situation spirals into other things and plays a big part of what the book is about. I really love Jean Lafitte. He always manages to surprise me. I love the way Suzanne has written him and continues to grow his character. Quince the neighbor who is dating DJ's other neighbor and friend, was introduced to us in book 2. He has a bigger role in ELYSIAN FIELDS. He ended up being a complete surprise to me. Can I get a FINALLY on the relationship front between DJ and Alex. My goodness did that take forever to move along. It is always 1 step forward, 2 steps back with these two. I expect that there will be some giant back steps in book 4 but I liked the development between them in ELYSIAN FIELDS and hope it sticks.

I enjoyed ELYSIAN FIELDS. It was again a great mix of world building, characters, history and adventure. The pace was consistent with a plot that was always advancing. The Sentinels of New Orleans series is great to get lost in.

I gave it 4/5 stars

Guest post & Giveaway: Stalked by Death by Kelly Hashway

UFI welcomes Kelly Hashway Author of The Touch of Death Series. Thanks for Joining us!!

Top Ten Mythology Based Books According to Kelly Hashway

1. Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan

2. Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

3. Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

4. Deity by Jennifer Armentrout

5. The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter

6. Pure by Jennifer Armentrout

7. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

8. Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

9. Sirenz Back in Fashion by Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman

10. Painted Blind by Michelle Hansen

It was tough to narrow the list to 10, but these are ones I’ve gone back and read more than once, so you know I love them.

*Yes, I’m obsessed with Rick Riordan, but the Percy Jackson series is just awesome. ;)

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I've been writing for as long as I can remember. Poems, short stories, and now finally full-length novels. I've always loved books. Reading is a thing of magic. It has allowed me to enter into worlds I never would have known. I've cried, laughed, and been scared right alongside my favorite characters. And my hope is that one day kids will do the same for my characters. I want kids to see that reading is one of the greatest gifts.

My full-length middle grade and young adult works are represented by Lauren Hammond of ADA Management.

Find Kelly and her books

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Stalked by Death
Touch of Death #2

 Jodi knows that any slip-ups made by the Ophi--a special group of necromancers born under the 13th sign of the zodiac--will fall on her shoulders... and that Hades is just waiting for them to screw up so he can wipe out the Ophi line.

Unfortunately, Jodi has only convinced one Ophi to join her school: A hot guy named Chase who jeopardizes her relationship with Alex. Jodi loves Alex, but Chase can enhance her powers with just a touch—making her stronger than any Ophi has ever been.

Her mixed emotions send her powers surging out of control, and the dead start rising without her conscious summoning—exactly what Hades doesn't want! If she chooses Alex over Chase, she may lose the battle to Hades, leading the Ophi race to extinction. If she chooses Chase, she might be able to stop Hades for good… but lose everything else.

Jodi needs to figure things out fast--because death is stalking her at every turn.

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Interview: Terminated by Rachel Caine

UFI welcomes Author Rachel Caine. Thanks for Joining us!!

What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview?

Hmmm, well … when I’m not reading, writing, or watching films or TV, my favorite time-wasting passion is playing hidden object games on my computer. Yeah, not even cool Xbox games. Hidden object games. Sigh. (I love them, though.)

What do you enjoy doing on your down time?

Um … hidden object games. And also cooking – I don’t get to do it as much as I’d like, because of my schedule and travel, but when I can, I love working in the kitchen. I make a fabulous turkey/potato gourmet burrito, by the way.

What is your Favorite part of writing?

The process. As much as I moan and groan about getting up early, I love sinking myself into a story in process and letting it flow through my fingers. It just feels really good to me.

Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?

I’m an early riser – not by choice, though. I discovered my brain was in the right mode to do its best work if I got up at 5 am and wrote until about noon or 1 pm. Sucks, but there it is; I get up early and get done early, typically. I also have to listen to music. (I’m listening to my soundtrack right now. Seriously, I have an INTERVIEW SOUNDTRACK. What a geek I am.)

What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Genres?

I suspect I’d be naming many of the same books people already love, but here goes – much love for Charlaine Harris’s Sookie books, Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden books, Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid series … and Seanan McGuire’s books, always. Ann Aguirre’s anything at all. Kelley Armstrong. Going back a ways, Charles de Lint and Roger Zelazny.

Your Weather Warden series was one of the first UF series I read. Do you feel that your writing has changed from when you wrote about Joanne Baldwin to now with Bryn Davis?

I hope it’s grown and gotten better, but often it’s more about writing a different sort of character than before – someone fresh and new to you as a creator. I know I’ve learned some things, but there are always new bad habits to discover and unlearn, too. I’ve definitely gotten more comfortable with third person storytelling, and I can easily switch back and forth now.

Can you tell us a little bit about the world that The Revivalist series is set in?

It’s our world, basically … only the medical breakthroughs are a little more startling and terrifying. We already live in a pretty terrifying world in the US when it comes to healthcare and its lack of affordability or availability for many people. I was extrapolating and riffing on that a bit by making Bryn’s situation – hooked on a drug that she must take daily not to live, but to stave off final, irrevocable death – a metaphor for those of us who are dependent on pills or treatments that we may or may not be able to afford long-term. Of course, with a fantastic medical advance like the resurrection drug comes a lot of people with the motivation to use it for personal gain, power, or profit. So the world is changing, but on the surface, it’s still the same as ever.

In many ways, it’s like the world we’re in today … it’s a very different world than ten years ago, yet on the surface there appears to be little change.

Do you have a favorite scene in Terminated?

I think discovering Manny’s series of great hideouts was fun for me to write … I’d stumbled over an article about people who were buying old Cold War-era missile silos and transforming them into personal living quarters, and I thought, well, that's definitely something that Manny would be all over. But there are a lot of fun action scenes, too.

Which character was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about?

Bryn has always felt very natural for me, and easy to write; I think in terms of “favorite” it’s always the spice you throw into the soup, so Manny and Pansy are my entertainment for my writing brain. Hardest for me is always Jane; she’s tough to stay with, because she’s so off. But that’s also entertaining, in a way.

What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you?

The next thing out will be DAYLIGHTERS, the fifteenth and last Morganville Vampires novel in young adult; in February, we’ll be releasing PRINCE OF SHADOWS, a period retelling of Romeo and Juliet, with a twist. And of course I’ll be working on the web TV adaptation of MORGANVILLE: THE SERIES, filming this fall/winter!

Thank you so much for talking with me!

Rachel

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Rachel Caine is the NEW YORK TIMES and #1 internationally bestselling author of more than 30 novels, including the hit Morganville Vampires series, the Weather Warden series, the Outcast Season series, and many others.

Find Rachel and her books

Website / Twitter / Facebook

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Terminated
Revivalist #3

In New York Times bestselling author Rachel Caine’s latest Revivalist novel, Bryn Davis’s problems quickly turn from dead to worse…

Already addicted to the pharmaceutical drug that keeps her body from decomposing, Bryn has to stop a secretive group of rich and powerful investors from eliminating the existing Returné addicts altogether. To ensure their plan to launch a new, military-grade strain of nanotech, the investors’ undead assassin—who just happens to be the ex-wife of Bryn’s lover Patrick—is on the hunt for anyone that stands in their way.

And while Bryn’s allies aren’t about to go down without a fight, the secret she’s been keeping threatens to put those closest to her in even more danger. Poised to become a monster that her own side—and her own lover—will have to trap and kill, Bryn needs to find the cure to have any hope of preserving the lives of her friends, and her own dwindling humanity…

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New Releases: 8/11-8/17

Tue Aug 13

A Clockwork Heart (The Chronicle of Light and Shadow, #2) by Liesel Schwarz

The Deepest Night (The Sweetest Dark, #2) by Shana Abe

Elysian Fields (Sentinels of New Orleans, #3) by Suzanne Johnson

False Sight (False Memory, #2) by Dan Krokos

Fire & Ash (Benny Imura, #4) by Jonathan Maberry

The Shade of the Moon (The Last Survivors, #4) by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Winds of Salem (The Beauchamp Family, #3) by Melissa de la Cruz

Happy Reading

Guest Blog & Giveaway: To the Fifth Power by Shirin Dubbin

UFI welcomes Shirin Dubbin Author of To the Fifth Power. Thanks for Joining us!!

Confessions to the Fifth Power - Part Four, Whatever I Have to Do

There’s something about a confession that really gets us going. If someone tells us they have a secret we automatically lean in, and our hearts start to pound. What will they say? Will it be sexy? Scary? Scandalous? We have to know. And we love confessions most when nobody knows the truth but us.

Some of us are ruthless when pushed. Oh, we’re good people. We adore and are adored. We’re willing to go out of our way to help others. But the moment someone we love is threatened or something we want is taken away, a whole other side comes out. And that hidden side of us is willing to do whatever it takes.

With that in mind I thought it’d be fun to see what secrets Zola and Fort, the heroine and hero of TO THE FIFTH POWER, might reveal before the story begins. There are four secret sessions in total. Without question all four are sexy, scary, and juicy—like Fort and Zola themselves.

You’ll find the release schedule here.

And now, this is the last confession:

Medical Release

Patient: Zola Noite

Designation: superhero

Supervising Physician: Dr. Arturo Forte

I’m letting her go.

Zola hesitates in the entryway of the Institute. Hey steely gray eyes dart to the outside and back to me. Snatching the pen from my hand, she boldly signs the release forms as though she’s sane. She’s not. Instead she pretends to be ready to go, but I have the power of empathy. Her emotions churn in a dark void of confusion. She can’t trick me. Finding the strength to walk out the door takes everything she has.

She does it anyway. Without another glance at me. Her heels click across the stone floors and her grey tweed encased hips sway through the revolving door as she moves out to the waiting chauffeured sedan. No sweat. No Fuss. At least on the outside. That’s why I’m letting her go.

I can’t get what I want with her in this fractured state of mind. Therefore I have to change the game.

I feel no guilt. No hesitation. There are things I must accomplish. Things that might make this woman I can’t resist hate me. Regardless, I won’t be stopped.

Perhaps when my plans have ended, and if she forgives me, she'll allow me to touch her, to make love to her until she writhes mindless beneath me. I want to hear my name breathless on her lips. Fuck it. I want it all, my job, to be a legend in my field, and Zola Noite—every part of her.

To have all that, I’ll do whatever I have to do.

Supplement #4 for TO THE FIFTH POWER

By Shirin Dubbin

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Shirin Dubbin is often called a “chic geek,” and she likes the sound of it. Especially since she’s a closet wallflower (albeit one with a fabulous alter ego).When not working in graphic design or hosting The Fantastic Forum—a celebration of comics & speculative fiction—she writes stories inspired by the art, literature, international cinema, and anime she grew up with.

In her own storytelling, Shirin spins tales of sci-fi and urban fantasy with romantic edge. The battle between good and evil, humor, and break neck action are ink to her imagination.

Culturally, she’s half American, half British and very southern; right down to the accent and love of grits. Government reports show a residence in DC, but Shirin lives largely on the astral plane and hopes to meet you there.

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Find Shirin and her books

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To the Fifth Power
Powers #1

Amazon   BN 

 Three years ago, Zola Noite's nemesis killed her sidekick and forced her to watch. The guilt drove her to hang up her cape. Zola knows one thing for certain. She will never be a superhero again.

Psychologist Dr. Arturo "Fort" Forte specializes in super-powered mental health. He’s the only reason Zola can once again call herself sane—although, truth be told, the heat between them is slowly driving her back to mad.

When three mega-villains escape the prison Fort oversees, all Zola's best laid plans go up in flames. Fort asks her for help, and she can't turn down the man she's secretly come to love. As battles ensue and clues add up, the one thing Zola trusts is called into question: Fort's true agenda and which side he’s on.

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