Future Release: Shadow Glass by Seressia Glass

For Kira Solomon, normal was never an option.

Kira’s day job is an antiquities expert, but her true calling is as a Shadowchaser. Trained from youth to be one of the most lethal Chasers in existence, Kira serves the Gilead Commission dispatching the Fallen who sow discord and chaos. Of course, sometimes Gilead bureaucracy is as much a thorn in her side as anything the Fallen can muster against her. Right now, though, she’s got a bigger problem. Someone is turning the city of Atlanta upside-down in search of a four-millennia-old Egyptian dagger that just happens to have fallen into Kira’s hands.

Then there’s Khefar, the dagger’s true owner—a near-immortal 4000-year-old Nubian warrior who, Kira has to admit. looks pretty fine for his age. Joining forces is the only way to keep the weapon safe from the sinister Shadow force, but now Kira is in deep with someone who holds more secrets than she does, the one person who knows just how treacherous this fight is. Because every step closer to destroying the enemy is a step closer to losing herself to Shadow forever. . . . (Juno Books…)

Both Amazon and Borders list Shadow Blade by Seressia Glass as releasing on Jan. 26, 2010.

Coming Soon: They call me Death

My name is Alexia Williams. In my world, North America is divided between north and south but not the way it’s taught in the history books. After losing my family to the shifters, I joined the Combined Human States Army. Now I find myself on the front lines, defending the wall between my species and theirs. My mission is simple: keep the animals on their side by whatever means necessary and I’m good at it.

I don’t talk to them. I don’t sympathize with them. I sure as hell don’t admire them until one saves my life. Andor isn’t like any shifter I’ve ever met. He’s a three-hundred-year-old golden eagle asking for help finding missing shifters who may be in my lands.

I just have to decide between helping the animals or ignoring signs that my fellow humans aren’t what I thought they were. But how can I help a species I hate and fear? Even if Andor makes me feel alive again? In the land of the shifters they call me Death.

They Call Me Death by Missy Jane is published by Samhain Publishing and is  slated to be released Dec. 1, 2009, according to Amazon.

Ghost Ocean by S.M. Peters

Favorite Lines: “One human hand, black and rough, tipped in claws and backed in feathers, snaked up and grasped the wire mesh. Then came another, curving with yellow talons on the fingertips. Two silver wings unfolded to fill the whole space of the cage with feathers. An androgynous, human face rose from the shadows: a great crown of plumes above; a thick ruff of down beneath. It stared at her with an eagle’s unblinking gaze.” (p. 90)

“He’s free. Kitsune.” And with those words Te Evangeline’s life began to change.

Te works for her late father’s best-friend, Babu, as a paranormal investigator in the city of St. Ives. Babu has taught her to be skeptical about the paranormal, but after going with him to see his friend, everything she believes is thrown into limbo.

Confused by the seeming proof of the paranormal, Te steals Babu’s case book and reads about the many paranormal cases in which he and her father participated. Her curiosity is piqued by the entries pertaining to her father so she traces one of the cases coming face to face with a monster she never knew existed.

Ghost Ocean is a dark fantasy novel that was released in May of 2009. It is written in third person and jumps from character to character as Mr. Peters introduces us to the city and people of St. Ives. The city is one of many prisons housing ancient creatures from an alternative reality. Occasionally, the monsters get out and need to be put back into their cells or killed. Babu is one of the people that tracks the monsters and dispatches them.

Most of the character’s are well rounded, but there is one that sticks in my mind and that I still don’t understand, the Man in the empty chair. He’s very mysterious, but the story relies heavily upon his existence. When Mr. Peters got around to telling exactly who he was, I didn’t really get it. I didn’t understand how or why that could be possible. He tried to explain, but in the end it went way over my head.

The creatures in Ghost Ocean are grotesque and their descriptions create an ugly, yet very clear picture. The most vivid of the monsters is Bird. She releases pheromones that attract people to her. After she compliments them on their eyes, heart, hands, etc., she takes that body part and eats it.

Te is a 22-year-old woman, who wants to know about her deceased father. She isn’t too smart and she’s selfish. Her actions show her doing questionable things, but those things didn’t stop me from liking her. She is stubborn and caring.

This barely begins to describe the craziness that is Ghost Ocean. I won’t be rereading it, but it was an interesting book. It wasn’t the most exciting book I’ve ever read, but it wasn’t horrible.

Read other reviews at BSC, The Madhatter’s Bookshelf, Robots and Vamps, and Fantasy &SciFi Lovin’ News and Reviews.

Make sure you’re eating some fried chicken. In the book Te’s aunts serve it cold, but that’s up to you.

Run to Me by Christy Reece

Favorite Lines: “Through each punishment, she had been taught a proper lesson, correcting her behavior for one infraction or the other. The lessons had been well learned and well deserved. Only after apologizing and begging for forgiveness was she once again favored with an injection. she worked hard never to disappoint her master again and not force him to punish her.

“Take your clothes off.” ” (p. 16)

Ethan Bishop has been brought back into the the Last Chance Rescue Organization to find his former lover, Shea Monroe, who has been recorded kidnapping people. He doesn’t believe that Shea would side with the man who killed her husband and his best-friend, but to prove it he must find her.

Shea was determined to get revenge on the man who killed her husband, but she wasn’t prepared for her cover to be busted. Injected with a specialized drug that rips away her memory, she becomes involved in a human trafficking organization until Ethan arrives and rescues her.

Taken by strangers who claim to know her, Shea begins to regain her memories of the past and fall in love with Ethan. But a psychopathic man wants her back, and will stop at nothing to get her.

I haven’t read anything by Christy Reece before but I can guarantee that I will in the future. Ms. Reece has given me an action packed, drama-filled romance novel, Run to Me. Run to Me is the final book in the Last Chance Rescue trilogy.

It’s a romantic suspense about a kick ass heroine who has been drugged until her mind and emotions have left her. Shea, the heroine, is a strong woman. She has to be strong to cope with everything that has happened to her over the course of her life. The humiliation and degradation she has suffered at times seem unbearable, yet she survives and eventually thrives.

Ethan, the hero, worked my nerves a little bit. He was tormented by his best-friend’s death and his need to repair Shea and let her go. He is the usual romance hero that assumes he knows what is best for the heroine and it usually involves making himself a martyr. That said, I did like him. When it came to Shea he was all about her. It was his inability to take something he wanted (happiness) for himself that irritated me the most.

Told in third person the Run to Me follows Shea, Ethan, the villain and other people as they work through the many twists and turns as the plot progresses. While it makes sense to switch from person to person in a complicated story, it has one major failing. The revelation made towards the end of the story was not a revelation because I had already figured it out.

Overall, Run to Me is a book worth reading and is one that I’d recommend to people searching for a quick, enjoyable read. Don’t take my word for it visit Book Binge, Coffee Time Romance and Romance Reviews Today.

As usual you need to eat, so why not chew on some chicken, mashed potatoes and vegetables while you read.

Demon Inside by Stacia Kane

Favorite Lines: “Her father was dead, really dead and long before he’d died he’d sold her to a demon. Given her up, tried to get rid of her, traded her life for whatever success he’d had in some podunk town that nobody else gave a fuck about. His only daughter. the little girl he’d once read bedtime stories to.” (p. 271)

Hanging out with demons can be hell….

It’s been three months since psychologist Megan Chase made the stunning discovery that the world is filled with demons, and once more the situation is too hot to handle.

Ironically, Megan — the only person in the world without a little personal demon sitting on her shoulder — has become the leader of a demon “family,” but now some unknown arcane power is offing her demons in a particularly unpleasant fashion. And while her demon lover Greyson Dante is still driving her wild with desire, he’s also acting strangely evasive. Then there’s the truth about Megan’s past — the truth she’s never known. 

Caught between personal problems and personal demons, Megan is having one hell of a hard time. Will the help of her Cockney guard demons and her witch friend Tera be enough so that Megan can finally resolve the past, survive the present, and face the future?

In Personal Demon’s Megan became the leader of the Yezer Ha-Ra, the little demons that sit on every human’s shoulder (but hers). The demons are the little voices that encourage humans to do the wrong thing. It’s her job to protect them. To finalize the bond, Megan needs to participate in a ritual but she is loath to do so because it’ll turn her into a “demon-human hybrid.” So when her demons begin blowing up, Megan feels responsible.

Greyson Dante, Megan’s lover, has been able to keep a slow fire burning inside Megan, but he’s begun acting a little distant and avoids answering her questions. She doesn’t know what’s on his mind, but hopes he’ll open up to her.

Finally Megan has been called home to attend her father’s funeral which is the first step in learning about why she was chosen to host the Accuser. (Read Personal Demons to learn about the demon Accuser.)

Stacia Kane, oh Stacia Kane. You are a major tease. Every time I think, OK, this is it, you string me along, making me wait for another book.

On to the story. Demon Inside manages to infuse humor into a blood-soaked urban fantasy story that just happens to have a great romance line and a yummy male character. I love Greyson. He is hot and MANLY. Oh yeah, he’s dangerous, too.

But the most interesting thing about Demon Inside is the look at Megan’s relationship with her family. It is painful to watch and at times I wanted to smack the shit out of Megan’s mom and brother. Kane has done a great job by making me care about that relationship.

Anyway, there are a ton of story lines taking place in Demon Inside and very few lulls in action. It’s time for Megan to make peace with her new role in the world. A role that puts her in the leader’s throne and solidifies her position in the world.

Be like Greyson in Demon Inside by sticking your fork into a pie plate of apple crisp. Check out Rhodes website for the recipe for this plate of yummy cinnamon roll apple crisp.

Archie pt. 1

I haven’t read the Archie comics in years, but I always knew who would win the love triangle. Betty of course! So when I heard about the newest Archie comic hitting comic book stores on Tuesday I was pissed. Then I became absolutely furious.

It’s crappy that the bad girl wins, and the good, girl next door  gets screwed. I hope that in the end Archie marries Betty, and that this is all an advertising technique. If so, it’s working on me because I’m getting the comic.

Do you have an opinion? Who should Archie marry?

Future Release: Running with the Pack

Remember the werewolves of old stories and films, those bloodthirsty monsters that transformed under the full moon, reminding us of the terrible nature that lives within all of us? Today’s werewolves are much more suave and even sexy, and they moved from British moors to New York City lofts, shaved, and got jobs. But as the tales of these writers will show you, they remained no less wild and passionate, and they still tug at the part of our being where a wild animal used to be.

Running with the Pack includes stories from Carrie Vaughn, Laura Anne Gilman and C.E. Murphy, and they will convince you that despite their gentrification, werewolves remain as fascinating and terrifying as ever.

Amazon listed the release date as May, 29, 2010.

Norse Code by Greg van Eekhout

“Hermod watched mournfully as she plucked away at his muffin.” (p. 105) Before you pick up Greg van Eekhout‘s Norse Code and read about a Valkyrie and a NorseGod’s attempt to change fate and save the world, pick up some muffins and tea to eat while you read the story.

Favorite Lines: “In the center of the hut sat a giant, with a round spongy head like a mushroom and two dark little eyes, filmed over like those of an old fish. An irregular welt of a nose spread across her face, and, below that, thin, wet lips formed a ventlike mouth. Her flesh gleamed, clammy as wet clay.

Hermod counted five wolf pups clutched to her chest, suckling on floppy teats as long as his fingers. The pups pawed and nipped at one another for better access, and the giant stroked their coats of white and gray.” (p. 30)

Kathy Castillo was with her sister when she was killed. As her sister walked away to Hell, she was held back and transformed into a Valkrie by Radgrid. Renamed Mist, she works for the NorseCODE genome project searching for descendants of Odin and attempting to build Odin’s army for the final battle between heaven and hell.

Unsatisfied with her mission of converting or killing, Mist decides to rescue her sister from hell and embarks on a crusade with a Norse God, Hermod, who wanders the earth like a bum.

With an old prophesy on the brink of being fulfilled, the duo decide to create a new fate for the world…if they can survive the machinations of the world they’re in.

I was undecided about Greg van Eekhout‘s novel, “Norse Code.” I’m not a big fan of mythology and when a bunch of similar sounding names are added I usually throw the book at the wall. It was close at times, but I restrained myself. The names that bothered me the most were the Valkrie Radgrid who is Mist’s boss, and Ragnarock, the creature destined to tear the world apart.

On a positive note, I enjoyed the times when Mist’s humanity clashed with her Valkrie-self. Having only been around for three and a half months, she hasn’t become hardened by time and her humanity is more a part of her than the role she plays for the Norse God, Odin. She struggles with right and wrong with the mind of a human, and even her attempt to free her sister is undertaken with the emotions of a human.

Hermod is a God determined to avoid responsibility. He went to hell to get his brothers back, but made it back with neither one. Refusing to think about his failure he fails to acknowledge the fact that he is the only person to ever leave hell.

The story moves at a quick pace, so fast that I was a little perturbed at the moment Mist decides to rescue her sister. It seems a little off and opposite to what was happening in the story. Overall, the urban fantasy story, Norse Code, was interesting, but it was a tad bit choppy because the whenever a story line ended it felt forced and abrupt.

Read what others thought at Grasping for the Wind and BSC Review.

Future Release: Hallowed Circle by Linda Robertson

Halloween is coming and the Witch Elders Council needs a new High Priestess. Despite her Nana’s disapproval and her still-secret vampire stain, Persephone Alcmedi reluctantly joins the competition — but only to keep a corrupt contender from winning.

Meanwhile, Seph’s mind-blowing intimacy with sexy rock’n’roll werewolf Johnny makes her fear the stain’s grip on her is tightening.

Misunderstanding her reaction, Johnny moves out and slakes his lust with band groupies.

A heartbroken Seph can’t properly prepare for the tournament and, worse, Sebastien, the vampire-wizard whose stain she bears, turns up to judge.

When finalists start turning up dead, the competition becomes a quest for survival.

Coming December 29, 2009!

Vicious Circle by Linda Robertson

“I hope you like General Tso’s Chicken!” (p. 81) Me too, because that’s what you’ll be eating while you read Linda Robertson‘s Vicious Circle, a story about a witch involved in werewolf business who is targeted by vampires.

Favorite Lines: “I got other things bigger than my ideas, little girl.” (p. 51)

Persephone Alcmedi is a witch and a writer who kennels werewolves on the side when the moon is full. Her

grandmother, also a witch, has moved in with her and is creating all kinds of havoc, the most recent of which is bringing a puppy to live in Seph’s home. And to top it all off, Seph receives a call telling her that her friend, Lorrie, is dead.

Determined to make sure Lorrie’s daughter is cared for, Seph agrees to meet with the woman named guardian. The

woman insists werewolves are in danger by an out of control killer and because everyone knows the government won’t lift a hand to assist werewolves, the fate of all werewolves is in Seph’s hands.

As Seph looks into the name of the killer, Goliath Kline, she begins sinking with the knowledge that a) Goliath is a vampire, and b) she’s in way over her head.

Linda Robertson has done a great job in creating characters that draw the reader in with their multi-dimensional personalities in her debut novel, Vicious Circle. As the story progresses the plot begins to thicken and twist, and I was quite pleased to know that all was not as it seemed starting with Seph.

The heroine, Seph, has parental issues (who doesn’t). She is open minded, caring and compassionate, but most importantly she’s smart. It’s not “in your face” smart, but she has her moments. She also does a ton of learning about herself, most of which comes from recognizing her own flaws.

The male characters in the book are extremely interesting and mysterious. Wait, did I mention they are smokin’? They are mysterious and we’re only allowed peeks at their past and nature. It’s intriguing and makes me want more. Thankfully, the second book, Hallowed Circle, come out in January 2010.