Review: Don't Bite the Messenger by Regan Summers

Don't Bite the Messenger
Author: Regan Summers
Release Date: January 16, 2012
Publisher: Carina Press
ISBN13:  9781426893070
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Author

Anchorage, Alaska
The vampire population may have created an economic boom in Alaska, but their altered energy field fries most technology. They rely on hard-living--and short-lived--couriers to get business done...couriers like Sydney Kildare.
Sydney has survived to the ripe old age of twenty-six by being careful. She's careful when navigating her tempestuous clients, outrunning hijackers and avoiding anyone who might distract her from her plan of retiring young to a tropical, vampire-free island.
Her attitude--and immunity to vampires' allure--have made her the target of a faction of vampires trying to reclaim their territory. Her only ally is Malcolm Kelly, a secretive charmer with the uncanny habit of showing up whenever she's in trouble. Caught in the middle of a vampire turf war, Sydney has to count on Malcolm to help her survive, or the only place she'll retire is her grave...

Sydney is a courier for the vamps and I found her job to be fun and exciting. I could so picture people doing that and it was fun to learn how she had to change her appearance all the time and keep her real identity a secret. The opening scene was full of action as she raced to complete a run so that we got an instant taste of her job. Sydney takes her job seriously and kinda lives the part but she is still down to earth and easy to like. Because of her job she hasn't really had time for romance but Malcolm and her have instant attraction that shines through the pages. They didn't immediately jump each others bones or fall in love which was nice.The story is pretty short but its filled with action, was fast paced, and it felt complete.


I'm kinda hoping to see more of Sydney and Malcolm. The story ended well and I was satisfied with the ending but I think they would be super fun to follow on their next journey so I would definitely read more. 


I gave it 4/5 stars

Review: Consumed by Rebecca Zanetti

Consumed
Author: Rebecca Zanetti
Release Date: June 26, 2012
Publisher: Kensington
Dark Protectors Book #4
ISBN13: 9781601830135
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Review Copy Source: Netgalley 

Sometimes You Mate For Life

Katie Smith is the best of her class, part of an elite hunting force trained to eliminate werewolves from the hills of Western Virginia. She's good at it because she has the kind of focus and drive that won't back down no matter how steep the odds. Call it southern sass. Whatever it is, there's no denying her willingness to risk everything for the only man she's ever cared about--a man on the verge of losing his very humanity. . .

Sometimes You Mate To Stay Alive

For the past ten years Jordan Pride has dedicated his life to protecting his people from a deadly shifter virus. But in a rare moment of distraction, Jordan's guard drops just long enough for his fate to take an irreversible twist. Unless the woman he loves surrenders everything to him, again and again, under a full moon rising. . .

I didn't realize that CONSUMED was the fourth book in the series until about half way through reading it and i honestly would have never guessed that it wasn't the first if I wouldn't have noticed that.

The pace was nice and fast, I was never bored and the characters were all fun to follow. The twists were well revealed and they was plenty of action. Katie and Jordan had fantastic chemistry together and I loved how their relationship progressed even though they were both pretty stubborn. The world that the series is set in was easy to fall into and I cant wait to read more about it. I loved how the last chapter took place 2 years later so we could follow up on them, I'm always disappointed when books end without letting us know what happens so that was a great surprise.

I don't think I will go back and read books 1-3 because I don't really like to go backwards but I will defiantly be following the series here on out.

I gave it 4/5 stars

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Review: Darkness Devours by Keri Arthur

Darkness Devours
Author: Keri Arthur
Release Date: June 26, 2012
Publisher: Signet Select
Dark Angels Book #3
ISBN:   0451237110
ISBN13: 9780451237118
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Review Copy Source: Publisher

Half-werewolf, half-Aedh Risa Jones can enter the realm between life and death, and she can see the Reapers who collect the souls of the dead. Now, she is using her gifts—and the investigative know-how of a man who broke her heart—to find a cabal searching for the power to control time, reality, and fate. And this is besides her work for the Vampire Council, half of whom want her dead.

But for now the Council needs her alive. Someone is killing blood-whore addicted vampires, and Risa must find the guilty party. If she succeeds, she may finally convince the council to lift the execution order on her life. But before she succeeds, she must first survive…

I had not picked up the first two books in the Dark Angel series until I received DARKNESS DEVOURED but loved reading them back to back. I loved Keri Arthur's Riley Jenson Guardian series so I had no doubt that I would enjoy this one. In the Riley series Risa is just a little girl so it was neat to see her all grown up and I also loved that Riley is a part of this series as well even if she is in the background. 

The book takes place in the same world as Riley's series so I have no complaints on that front and I love being back there. The progress of the storyline and the growth of the characters progresses nicely with each book. There is plenty of action and scenes filled with situations that feel like it would be impossible to escape from. Romance/relationship thoughts....Risa and Azriel... SO frustrating and filled with sexual tension towards each other but wow they make a good team, can't wait to see them in book 4. Risa and Lucian... I can NOT stand Lucian, yeah they have good sex together but he is so involved in her problems I just KNOW it and cant wait until he is revealed for the scum he is. I really enjoyed how Risa acted towards Lucian is DARKNESS DEVOURED and hope it keeps up. 

Final thought? I'm so glad I decided to read the series. If you have not read the first two books I'm sure you could jump in and not be lost but why would you want to? Go back and read, you wont be disappointed. Bring on DARKNESS HUNTS.

I gave it 4/5 stars  

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Promotional Post: The Hallowed Ones by Laura Bickle

 The Hallowed Ones
Author: Laura Bickle
Release Date: September 25, 2012
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Graphia
ISBN:   0547859260
ISBN13: 9780547859262
Genre: Young Adult/Dystopian

If your home was the last safe place on earth, would you let a stranger in?

In this captivating thriller, an Amish settlement is the last safe haven in a world plagued by an unspeakable horror…

Katie is on the verge of her Rumspringa, the time in Amish life when teenagers are free to experience non-Amish culture before officially joining the church. But before Rumspringa arrives, Katie’s safe world starts to crumble. It begins with a fiery helicopter crash in the cornfields, followed by rumors of massive unrest and the disappearance of huge numbers of people all over the world. Something is out there...and it is making a killing.

Unsure why they haven’t yet been attacked, the Amish Elders make a decree: No one goes outside their community, and no one is allowed in. But when Katie finds a gravely injured young man lying just outside the boundary of their land, she can’t leave him to die. She refuses to submit to the Elder’s rule and secretly brings the stranger into her community—but what else is she bringing in with him?

I just finished reading The Hallowed Ones and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. What are your thoughts after reading the blurb?

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Laura Bickle's professional background is in criminal justice and library science. When she's not patrolling the stacks at the public library, she can be found reaming up stories about the monsters under the stairs. She has written several contemporary fantasy nov-els for adults, and THE HALLOWED ONES is her first young adult novel. Laura lives in Ohio with her husband and five mostly-reformed feral cats. For more about Laura, please visit her website at: www.laurabickle.com.

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 Find Laura and her books

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New Releases: 6/24-6/30

 

Tues June 26

A Want So Wicked (A Need So Beautiful #2) by Suzanne Young
Before I Wake (Soul Screamers #6) by Rachel Vincent
Black-Hearted Betrayal (Shades of Fury #3) by Kasey MacKenzie
Bound (Torn Trilogy #3) by Erica O'Rourke
Changeling (MetaWars #2) by Kelly Meding
Chasing Magic (Downside Ghosts #5) by Stacia Kane
Darkness Devours (Dark Angels #3) by Keri Arthur
Dust Girl (The American Fairy Trilogy #1) by Sarah Zettel
Midnight's Lover (Dark Warriors #2) by Donna Grant
Once Burned (Night Prince #1) by Jeaniene Frost
Secret of the Wolf (Warriors of the Rift #2) by Cynthia Garner
Tarnished (The St. Croix Chronicles #1) by Karina Cooper
Tempest's Fury (Jane True #5) by Nicole Peeler
When Darkness Hungers (The Shadow Keepers #5) by J.K. Beck
Wicked Nights (Angels of the Dark #1) by Gena Showalter

 

Happy Reading!!!