Review: The Darkest Promise

The Darkest Promise by Gena Showalter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was a long time coming. We’ve watched Cameo suffer with her demon, Misery, for a while now. At first I thought that she was going to end up with her fellow warriors, but this story with Lazarus has been building for a little bit.

We join Cameo as she tumbled (literally) into Lazarus’s realm. She knows that they’ve met before, but the demon had previously removed any memory of him from her mind. This world, coupled with her own demon-based suffering, ends up making it a little difficult from her to find Lazarus without any bloodshed. Wounding one of Lazarus’s pets, though, seems to accomplish everything she needed. With a weird cat-thing in tow, she ends up being confronted by the man she most desired (re) meeting.

Lazarus doesn’t actually realize the extent of Cameo’s memory loss, but that doesn’t really slow him down much. These two are absolutely the perfect pair. His sarcasm and wit had me wishing for more Lazarus-centric scenes. Even with some truly terrible and martyr-rific decisions on both sides, I really enjoyed watching the romance between these two.

As usual, there are also a number of side stories, but none were actually distracting. We’ve met the woman in the mirror who will somehow tie to Hades in future installments (probably). We’ve also got more Hera information that will probably come in handy, a new cat-thing friend (maybe), and a huge step forward in the Pandora box situation. All in all, this was a really productive book, with another lord paired off successfully.


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Review: Masked Possession

Masked Possession by Alana Delacroix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow – this book was something completely unique! After reading boatloads of paranormal romance, it takes a lot to make a book something truly special and unique. This world certainly does that and more.

Caro is a woman who is hiding from her past. She used to be a tenacious reporter, outing the big bads of the world until she got caught (and stabbed). Oh, and to make matters worse, she’s also a paranormal who has some serious issues about using her abilities. Sure, she’s working in a paranormal publicist office in her “new life,” but that keeps her busy and lets her continue to hide out. Her entire world changes when a Masquerada walks into her office, looking to kill off his masks.

Masquerada were definitely a bit of a change from your typical paranormals. They can change their body and face to take on a “mask.” Depending on the level of skill, the person can take on one or many of varying difficulty or changes from their original form. Eric, the leader of this race of paranormals has recently discovered he’s having trouble taking on a mask, as is common for people who maintain too many for too long a time.

When taking on the task of removing his masks from the world, he immediately finds himself distractedly smitten with Caro. He knows that he shouldn’t fall for someone who is not a Masquerada, but he can’t help himself. Luckily for them both, they are perfectly suited. She helps him look outside his world and he helps her embrace his (and hers). There’s a little bit of something for everyone in this book – mystery, action, romance, smutty goodness. It was certainly an excellent introduction to this world and I found myself captivated by the newness of it all.


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Review: Magic Dreams

Magic Dreams by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These little books in between the main novels are such fun to read! I like getting a change-up from the POV of Kate and they never cease to give oodles additional details that may or may not be necessary.

This story is told from Dali’s POV and, oh boy, you can kind of anticipate how awesome that was. She’s a vegetarian, half-blind, white tiger shifter who has an insane amount of arcane knowledge in her head. She’s also, obviously, in love with Jim. We’ve watched them dance around each other for a little while now and I have been dying to see that get resolved (in a good way). Dali comes back from a bit of a failed drag race (or something) to discover Jim asleep in her bedroom in a totally not good way. Turns out, there has been a magical attack on one of Jim’s buildings and he needs someone to escort him back because he… doesn’t remember.

Of course, it’s some really obscure bit of magic that has begun attacking the cat shifter base. Without going into too many details, the most important part is that this bit of trauma ends up pushing Dali and Jim to face their attraction! Yay for everyone! This book is definitely an essential companion to the main series. A must read!


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Review: Curran POV Collection

Curran POV Collection by Gordon Andrews
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This collection of stories was a great companion to the first few books of the series. I tried to read them after each book, or soon after, but often just plowed through a few at one time. Who doesn’t want to know what Curran is thinking along the way?

Some highlights definitely came from the POVs before you know where things are headed. Getting some insight into what he knows and when he knows it was also appreciated. I’m absolutely in love with Curran and Kate and will continue to devour everything that I get from their world. I would read 100 of these companion sets of POVs.


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Review: The Vampire Next Door

The Vampire Next Door by Marilyn Baron
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Full disclosure: I did not read any of the 3 previous books (nor did I realize they existed) before diving in to this book. While rated a 3 stars, it was probably closer to 2.5 using my rating scale. I had trouble finishing this one.

I originally picked this book up because I thought it sounded like something I’d be in to – a paranormally gifted girl ends up drawn to the vampire boy next door. The boy next door, however, has a whole heck of a lot of baggage with him. He’s not your typical love interest and has, in fact, been involved in the rape and murder of a few members of the girl next door’s family. Somehow, they are able to look beyond all this to find… romance? There’s an arranged wedding fast approaching, some scheming vampires lurking, and a family of psychics who can’t seem to keep their daughter away from a literal murderer.

The book itself reads almost like a historical romance, which may be why I had some issues getting through it all. I tend to prefer contemporary paranormal romance. That aside, I would have probably benefited from having some connection to the rest of Aurora Dawn’s family, who play key roles in this book. If you are interested in this tale, I would recommend you start from the beginning, and hope that you enjoy.


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Review: Alpha's Temptation

Alpha's Temptation by Renee Rose
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was sizzling and sexy with lots of alpha goodness thrown in. If you’re interested in some hot paranormal action, this is definitely the book for you.

Kylie is a reformed hacker who has been recruited for her dream job – working for a billionaire genius coder. Through an unfortunate series of events, she ends up trapped in an elevator, talking rather candidly about the owner to… none other than the owner. Despite her sarcasm and wit (or maybe because of it), she finds herself getting offered the job. This job ends up being worse for her health than hacking ever was. She’s bounced between a hot and cold relationship with the boss, a blackmailer who threatens her grandmother, and some pretty creepy coworkers. I give her an A+ for holding it all together as long as she does.

Jackson, the aforementioned owner of the company, is immediately smitten with Kylie, and his inner wolf is, too. Sure, he’s supposed to stay away from humans and is also determined to remain a pack of two. Kylie, however, seems to be his new obsession. No matter how many things indicate he should just stay away, he keeps getting drawn back to her side. These two have some serious sizzle that lights up the pages. We not only get a HEA, but we also get some good romance along the way. I was sad to see this one end.


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Review: Convergence

Convergence by J.R. Rain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow – what an intro to a huge new world! We’ve got paranormals, MIB, giant bird things, and so much I can’t even wrap my head around. This was definitely a deep dive into the world of magic and mayhem.

Solstice is a reporter for a paranormal paper. It would be pretty strange if she hadn’t grown up around magic. In this world, when normal are confronted with magic they easily rationalize it all away. Some people, however, are more open to seeing it. All of that changes when “the convergence” happens, putting a whole mess of magical beings front and center for all the world to see.

There’s a bunch of madness, kidnapping, magic, and maybe even some romance jammed into this introduction to Solstice’s world. The larger story has to do with nothing big, just saving the world (and herself) from some dark forces. I’m sure that this will end up being a much larger story in the books to come, but this was definitely a satisfying start.


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