Review: Blood Gamble by Melissa F. Olson

Blood Gamble

Author: Melissa F. Olson

Release Date: July 25, 2017

Publisher: 47North

Disrupted Magic Book #2

ISBN:  1542045835

ISBN13: 9781542045834

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Review Copy Source: NetGalley

If there is one city that Scarlett Bernard hates, it’s Las Vegas. But when the cardinal vampire of Los Angeles convinces her to go investigate a new vampire-themed stage show, Scarlett quickly finds herself shoulder-deep in sequins, slot machines, and Old World intrigue.

The show’s creators are vampire celebrities Arthur and Lucy Holmwood, who once inspired characters from the original Dracula. Now, however, they have no qualms about announcing their true status to the human world, endangering the secrecy of the Old World and Scarlett’s mission to keep it hidden.

But before she can begin untangling the Holmwoods’ motives, Scarlett also discovers that their new production has attracted more than just fans: Las Vegas’s many vampires are suddenly disappearing, and rumors are flying that actual vampire hunters may have followed Arthur and Lucy to town.

Now, without her allies, her bargest, or her frequent partner Jesse Cruz, Scarlett must navigate a new underworld of secrets and murders in a city where nothing is ever as it seems. And the stakes have never been higher.

Scarlet saves the day again, but was the cost of it worth it? I love the both the characters and the world that the Disrupted Magic world is set in.

So much happens in BLOOD GAMBLE. I shouldn't have been shocked at the way that Scarlet found herself being sent to Vegas, but I still was. Las Vegas was interesting, but none of Scarlet's usual allies were with her. I enjoyed meeting new friends, but I missed having some of the oldies along for the ride.

I really enjoy how Olson continues to connect her various series together. I do wish we would get more of Lex besides the small appearance from book one and the phone call from BLOOD GAMBLE though. She is such a great character and I miss her adventures.

BLOOD GAMBLE was fast paced and full of action. The storyline introduced some new aspects into the world. The ending **eyes popping out of my head** "Say WHAT???" What a bomb to throw in at the last minute. There is no way that I won't pick up a copy of book 3 with that ending. 

I gave it 4/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Wolf's Mate by Celia Kyle

Wolf's Mate

Author: Celia Kyle

Release Date: August 1, 2017

Publisher: Forever

Shifter Rogues Book #1

ISBN:   153874452X

ISBN13:9781538744529

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Review Copy Source: NetGalley

Danger shouldn't be this sexy...

Cougar shifter Abby Carter always plays it safe. That's why she's an accountant--no excitement, no danger, and no cocky alpha males. She loves her quiet life, but fate has other plans. When Abby uncovers the shady dealings of an anti-shifter organization, she'll have to trust the too-sexy-for-her-peace-of-mind werewolf Declan Reed... or end up six feet under.

Declan Reed is starting over. After two years with Shifter Operations Command, it's time to put his past behind him. Now Declan is the only thing standing between the gorgeous Abby and an early grave, and if he's going to have any chance of keeping her alive, he'll have to embrace the darkness he's fought to keep at bay. But first he has to convince Abby that there's no safer place in the world than the arms of a big bad werewolf.

WOLF'S MATE had a great cast of characters that I know will be great getting to know more about in future books.

I honestly don't have a lot to say about the two main characters that you can't guess from the blurb. It was clear from the opening chapters that Abby and Declan had a strong attraction to each other. Abby has had a really rough life and it was nice watching her find her place with people that cared about her. Declan was a little brutish, but he was like putty when it came to Abby.

As for the storyline. I didn't feel like enough happened outside of the couples bubble and what happened inside the bubble was really slow going. Don't get me wrong, I liked that Abby and Declan didn't immediately start pawing each other, making out and professing their love, but not much happened either. Half of the book felt more like filler material.

The characters were by far my favorite part of WOLF'S MATE. I loved the way that Declan's Shifter Operations Command team worked together. They all had each others back at every turn and I loved each and every one of them.

I gave it 3/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Promo + Giveaway: SEAL Wolf Undercover by Terry Spear

 SEAL Wolf Undercover
Heart of the Wolf #22

No wolf is safe in USA Today bestseller Terry Spear's new installment of the SEAL Wolf series.

Never be so foolish as to fall for the enemy...
Special wolf agent Jillian Matthews has joined the jaguar-run United Shifter Force to track down a deadly criminal. She's even willing to work with PI Vaughn Greystroke―until the hot, growly SEAL wolf makes the mistake of getting in her way. Naturally, she shoots him. Who could blame her?

Vaughn Greystroke has always worked alone. But when a string of attempted murders puts him in the crosshairs, teaming up with the Shifter Force begins to sound like a good idea. Even if he has to work with alluring―and potentially treacherous―Jillian Matthews. Vaughn is a trained SEAL, after all. He can surely keep his distance from Jillian...no matter how much she's getting under his skin.

Excerpt:

Formerly an army intelligence officer and now a PI, Jillian Matthews had agreed to go out with her brother Miles’s friend as a favor, but man did the guy have octopus arms. Oh sure, he was fun, but way more interested than she was. The guy several tables over, now he got her attention. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say he was all wolf, though some human males showed the same wolfish interest in a woman, even if she was with someone else. She’d never think about dumping a guy on a date when he was being nice, especially when it was to pay her brother back for his help in solving one of her cases. But she’d made sure she said it was only one date, unless she changed her mind.

Everything about the club was a blast—the music, drinks, dancers, and atmosphere—yet the man at the other table truly stole her attention tonight.

“Did you want to return here tomorrow night?” Miles asked.

She smiled at her brother. She’d love to if the other guy was going to be here. He had dark hair, chiseled features, tanned biceps. He was muscular but not overdone, and had a darkly, intriguing smile that made her melt.

“Sure,” she said, secretly wishing she could see tall, dark, and intriguing. Maybe tomorrow he would ask her to dance or she’d ask him. The guy’s own date looked bored and Jillian hadn’t seen him dance until women began asking him. As soon as a blond did, it was like a signal to other single women that he was interested and available. If Jillian had been without a date, even she would have asked him to dance. She’d help him move that gorgeous body right up close and personal. Her own date wasn’t interested in dancing with anyone else, so she curbed the inclination. She could envision hanging onto the guy too, if he still piqued her interest and not allow any other woman to take a turn with him.

“Hey, you ready to go?” Miles asked, breaking into her fantasy. “If I’m going to help you on that next case, I need some sleep.”

His date was a human woman, and Jillian knew her brother too well. Sleep wasn’t what he had in mind at all.

“Yeah, agreed.”

“I can take you back to your hotel,” her date said, as if he were looking for some mattress action too.

“Oh, thanks so much, but no, that’s fine. Miles is right. We have to get up before the crack of dawn.”

She and Miles rose from the table, Jillian’s date not making a move to leave. “See you tomorrow night then,” he said.

Not if she could help it. She gathered her sweater and bag, and though she didn’t want to seem too obvious that she was interested in the other guy, she glanced back at him. He inclined his head a little to her and her whole body flushed with heat.

He was so hot. Yeah, he was the date she wanted tomorrow night, whether he had a date with him or not.

Then suddenly a scream caught Jillian’s attention. One of the corner chains holding a dancer’s platform had broken loose, and the dancer on it screamed again. Thank God the dancer had reacted quickly enough to grab one of the remaining four chains holding it up before she fell. Dangling twenty feet above the patrons, she clung precariously to the end of the chain, looking up as if she was thinking of trying to climb up it. Before Jillian could do anything, the wolfish guy she had been admiring had climbed the ladder to the platform. He leapt to one of the chains still holding the platform, and shimmied across the top of it to reach the chain the dancer was holding onto.

The music was still in heavy jungle beat mode, most patrons unaware of the potential tragedy unfolding before them. Jillian rushed to tell a server to get help and to turn off the music so the guy rescuing the woman could concentrate.

“Hell, that’s part of the show,” the server said, smiling at her. “You’re not from around here, are you?”

“The guy trying to rescue her is part of it too?”

The server glanced up at him. “No. Once in a blue moon we get some hero type that has to show off how macho he is. He must not be from around here either.”

“He could injure himself! Kill himself even!”

“Safety nets spring up and will catch them if they fall. We’ve only had one case where we’ve had to use them, and everyone, including the would-be hero, loved it.”

Then the man managed to climb down the chain to the woman and had her crawl up his body. As agile as she was, she probably could have made it up the chain by herself if the heroic guy hadn’t tried to rescue her. The dancer wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck as he made the treacherous climb up.

Even so, Jillian was practically holding her breath. The visitor wasn’t part of the show, and any misstep on his part could mean the two of them could fall. Maybe he knew this was part of the show. Maybe the waiter didn’t realize it.

The music was still playing, but a lot more of the patrons had stopped to watch, probably

because only once in a blue moon someone came to the dancer’s rescue.

At the top edge of the platform, the guy made his way across the wooden edge until he reached the next corner chain. He paused there for the longest time. The music was still playing, the only lights the ones highlighting the dancers on their platforms. The other dancers no longer moved, riveted by their fellow dancer and the heroic guy. If he jumped to the ladder and missed, that would be the end of the show, and the dancer and the good Samaritan would fall. What if the net didn’t appear in time?

Jillian wanted to do something, anything to help him. All she could do was lamely watch and pray he was successful.

__________________________________

USA Today bestselling author Terry Spear has written over 35 paranormal romances featuring werewolf and jaguar shapeshifters. In 2008, Heart of the Wolf was named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry also creates award-winning teddy bears that have found homes all over the world and is raising two Havanese puppies. She lives in Spring, Texas.

Find Terry and her books

Website / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

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Promo: Divine Justice Books 1 + 2 by Mary Abshire

Demon Hunter
Divine Justice #1
Amazon  iTunes  Kobo

The demon population is growing out of control and vampires are mankind's best hope for survival.

Divine Syndicate's top field agent, Anna, hits the streets with her partner to locate the master demon responsible for the increase in possessed humans. But finding the person won't be easy. The city is in a state of disarray with crime, poverty, and drug use at an all-time high. While Anna and her partner search for the master, they encounter more trouble than expected. As defenders of the human race, vampires want to save lives and exorcise the demons to send them back to Hell for good. Anna fears the worst is yet to come when demons aim to destroy the best protectors for all species. She'll stop at nothing to prevent evil from ruling on Earth.

Excerpt:

Glenn parallel parked two blocks from the club. "What's your plan?"

"I'm going to go in and find a spot at the bar. I want you to wait a minimum of five minutes before you walk in. Pretend you don't know me. I'll get a couple of drinks, show the picture, ask if anyone knew Jamal, and see what happens. And don't worry, if they ask my relationship to Tim, I'll say he was my brother and I took the photo while he was sleeping."

"So you're not going to create a scene or start a fight?"

"I will do my best to keep the situation calm. But if someone is going to try to intimidate or touch me, I'm going to defend myself."

He grinned. "Do you want me as backup?"

"Yes. Right now I don't know who is innocent and who isn't. I need another set of eyes scanning people. But if I leave, don't follow right away. Someone might be watching and I don't want us to be seen together."

"Are you carrying?"

"Have you ever known me not to?"

"No." He smirked. "I'll wait here for a while."

Demon Tracker
Divine Justice #2
Amazon  iTunes  Kobo

While the Divine Syndicate is working to prevent an outbreak of demons, vampires are disappearing and turning up as corpses.

The Union of Justice is known for tracking and serving justice on vampires. With the increase in departed vamps spiraling out of control, the UoJ's top field agent, Zale, and his partner must switch from their normal job to investigate the remains of destroyed vampires. Identifying those responsible is proving to be a big challenge. Zale needs the assistance of the vamp community, only they have their own idea of ending the bloodshed. They want to kill demons. But murdering humans, possessed or not, is against the law. Complicating matters, neither vampires nor the UoJ trust each other. Mankind's future is dependent upon vampires and vice versa, but both are at stake as the demon population grows. Zale will do anything to save lives and end the madness, even if it means working with the one species he's chased his entire career.

Excerpt:

Zale stopped in front of the desk. The screen saver for the laptop ceased changing the moment Zale touched the keyboard. The monitor showed Robert's empty email box. Zale moved the curser on the screen to select Robert's outbound messages. Following a click, a list appeared. To Zale's surprise, a message had been sent less than twenty minutes ago. Zale opened the message.

"We should head back soon," Ray said as he strode into the room. He stopped at Zale's side. "Find anything?"

Zale moved the cursor over the recipients. "Look, he sent this email to three people right before we showed up."

"Demons have kidnapped my girlfriend. She's been missing for a week. I tried to find her and get answers. Nobody is talking. I fear she is no longer here. Tell the others. The demons are coming for us. Fight back while you can. The UoJ have come for me. God speed, my friends. Fight for survival. Fight for the future." From the message on the screen, Ray met Zale's gaze.

"This does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling," Zale said.

Ray looked at the screen again. "After we get back to the office, I can research these addresses and see if we can get any hits from them. The staff who come to clean up the mess can grab his computer. We can have techies look at his hard drive."

"Do that. The last thing we need is for vampires to start fights in public places."

"Do you think they would actually go to such an extreme?"

Zale headed for the door. "Robert did. We already know vampires are being abducted and destroyed. If someone kidnapped your sister, what would you do?"

"If it was a man I'd hunt down the person and slice off his balls. If it was a woman, I'd make sure she'd pay somehow."

"Vengeance is a powerful emotion. There's no reason to think vampires wouldn't do the same."

"At least we'd get to go back to hunting them if they started killing."

Ray's comment bothered him. They needed to save lives and prevent angry vamps from hurting others. If more vampires hit the streets seeking answers for those of their kind who had gone missing, the UoJ would have their hands full.

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Mary is a romantic at heart and a lifetime lover of the paranormal, fantasy, and science fiction. When she's not working or binge watching television, she enjoys creating fantastical stories with vampires, demons, werewolves, angels, and/or other supernatural creatures. She often adds mystery and suspense to spice up her books. For the most part, she lives a quiet life in Indianapolis. She aspires to become a full time writer one day. She also hopes to meet a vampire, werewolf, or angel who will sweep her off her feet. Hey, a girl can dream. And Mary does.

Find Mary and her books

Newsletter / Goodreads / Twitter / Facebook

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New Releases: 8/6-8/12

Mon. Aug. 7th

 The Third Kiss (Love's Mortal Coil #1) by Kat Colmer

Tue. Aug. 8th

 The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee
 The Hearts We Sold by Emily Lloyd-Jones

 Into The Storm (Force of Nature #2) by Amber Lynn Natusch
 Masked Possession by Alana Delacroix
 Reunited (Reawakened #3) by Colleen Houck
 Shimmer and Burn by Mary Taranta

Happy Reading!

Review: Ride the Storm by Karen Chance

Ride the Storm

Author: Karen Chance

Release Date: August 1, 2017

Publisher: Signet

Casandra Palmer Book #8

ISBN:  110198998X

ISBN13: 9781101989982

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Review Copy Source: NetGalley

The New York Times bestselling author of Reap the Wind returns to the “fascinating world”* of Cassie Palmer.

Ever since getting appointed the chief seer of the supernatural world, Cassie Palmer has been playing catch up. Catch up on the training she missed being raised by a psychotic vampire instead of at the pythian court. Catch up on the dangerous world of supernatural politics. Catch up on the powerful, and sometimes seductive, forces trying to mold her to their will. It’s been a trial by fire that has left her burned.

But now she realizes all that was just the warm up.

Ancient forces that once terrorized the world want to return, and Cassie is the only one who can stop them. But to win, she needs help: from a friend lost in time, from a secretive lover, from every supernatural group that has ignored her up until now. And with the vampires and fey preparing to wage war across two worlds, Cassie's time is running out ...

I am very conflicted about my feelings when it comes to RIDE THE STORM. Things happened SOOOOOO slowly that it was hard to stay interested in the various events that happened, but after all was said and done I did enjoy the story, just got bored more than I would like to admit.

Why does each event of the book have to take five chapters of inconsequential conversation, thoughts, and action scenes? Half of the time things jumped around so much or was dragged out so long that I could have skipped chapters and still knew everything that happened. And really, do things need to blow up or engage in fight scenes so much? There were quite a few times that the chaos got way out of hand and just made zero sense. I have never read a book that was so full of action, but felt so stagnant at the same time.

The love triangle that is Cassie, Mircea and Pritkin  definitely explodes in RIDE THE STORM. I still can't decide if that is a good or bad thing.  One definitely feels like it makes more sense than the other, but the other still feels really important. I just don't know anymore who I'm rooting for.

The ending really saved the book for me. Things are about to change and I just don't know where these changes will take Cassie. Hopefully the author can reign in the use of unnecessary things that have plagued the last few books.

I gave it 3/5 stars

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Week in Review: 7/30-8/5

Books Received for Review

Blood of a Phoenix by Shannon Mayer
Heir of Illaria by Dyan Chick
Of Flame and Fate by Cecy Robson

Books I've Read

The Trouble with Twelfth Grave by Darynda Jones
Angelfall by Susan Ee
Blood of a Phoenix by Shannon Mayer
A Demon Bound by Debra Dunbar
 
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* New Releases for the week. Was there anything you were looking forward to reading?

* Monday- Guest Blog + Giveaway for Through Her Eyes by Deborah Camp

* Tuesday- Cover Reveal for Holly Danger Series by Amanda Carlson

* Wednesday- Promo + Giveaway for Forbidden Series by R.L. Kenderson

* Thursday- Promo + Giveaway for The Eldritch Heart by Matthew S. Cox

* Friday- Promo + Giveaway for The Vessel Trilogy by Juliette Cross

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