Reading Wrap Up

Sooo, I am back from my little book-based vacation, where I devoured Silver Silence in, well, complete silence. All by myself, no noise, no tv, just peace and quiet and a great book. It was heaven. I loved Silver Silence, but I expected nothing less from a Nalini Singh book. The bears were a great addition to the world, and I hope we get back to them soon. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a Pavel and Arwen novella in our future, either. Maybe Bo up next? That would be great, since it has been a while since a human was in the mix.

I also pulled a re-read of White Hot – and loved it just as much this time around. That is one hell of a world Ilona Andrews has created, and it has honestly jumped to the top of my favorites list…I might go so far as to say it could be my absolute favorite, beating out even the Psy/Changelings and Kate Daniels. Bold statement, but it just might be true.

Oh, then there is The Darkest Promise from Gena Showalter. I managed to get a solid start on that one, too, but…eh. The humor is falling flat, I don’t have much interest in the characters or the world, and the romance just isn’t doing it for me. I am skimming over pages, which is bad when you are only a third of the way in, and I find myself a bit bored and feeling like I have read it all before. Honestly, it might just be that I read and re-read two great books just before it, but at this point I keep thinking that either the series should change direction or just wrap it up. Maybe focus on the angels, or William and the four horsemen, or move on. I am going to put it down for a while and hopefully I can get more involved after a break. Or I will just skim the sucker and get it over with. We’ll see.

If you feel like spoiler talk on any of this week’s books, let it fly in the comments section. How did you like the new Trinity storyline for the Psy/Changelings? Am I just being bitchy about the LotU or do you feel it is in a bit of a decline, too? What have you felt the need to re-read lately?

Pick of the Week

Hahahaha….yeah. Like you were all on the edge of your seat just waiting to see what I would pick, right?

Anyways, I am off to grab the pick of the week, get a hotel room and a pizza, and have 24 hours of complete alone-ness with Silver Silence. I do this once a year (had to skip last year, and missed it a lot), and I can’t wait. My own version of silver silence, I guess.

Reading Wrap Up

After a particularly brutish work weekend, I am for once sort of out of words. In person, I have been pretty much reduced to blink once for yes and twice for no, so I am not going to dawdle on the reading wrap up, either. Maybe.

I did tackle the second book in J.R. Ward‘s Fallen Angels series, Crave. And like the first one, I find it quite decent. A solid, middle-of-the-road book for me. Nothing I didn’t like, but honestly nothing that made me rabid to start the next one, either. Interesting premise, decent characters, and no guarantee that the good guys will always win is in its favor, but it doesn’t have that something-something to suck me in. I plan on keeping on with the series for sure, but it might take a while before I get it finished.

And then there was Shadow Reaper. It was vintage Christine Feehan, and she seems pretty much back on track after the issues of a couple of years ago. Love it or hate it, she has a style that either works for you or doesn’t, and this one is no exception. I find myself quite liking this newest series, but the only thing that pulled my enjoyment down was the Shibari side story. Honestly, I am not that exciting, but even I found that part dull. I mean, how much do I really need to know about rope? So, I skimmed those parts to get back into the story, and that worked for me. Decent, non Feehan Female Formula lead (Blonde! Never cooked! Don’t think she said honey even once!) was a really nice change, too.

I also pulled a re-read of Moonshadow by Thea Harrison, which I mentioned a bit in a post below, so not going to go on about it. I think the highlight of this bunch, though is my continued trek through the In Death series from J.D. Robb. I finished up Portrait in Death (Roarke backstory. Niiiiice), and am almost through Imitation in Death. Still loving them, and I show no signs of getting tired of them at all. Honestly, I get excited when it is time for the next one (I space them out a bit), and I already have the next one ready.

Your turn. What have you been loving the last couple of weeks? Did you find anything to fill the days between last month’s White Hot from Ilona Andrews and this weeks’ Silver Silence from Nalini Singh?

Silver Silence Review

As we all start the countdown to the release of Nalini Singh‘s Silver Silence next week, early reviews have started coming in…and they are good. Really good. Doug Meeks was kind enough to share his thoughts on this one, and it makes me even more excited to get my hands on it.

What Doug said…

This book was around 500 pages …….. not enough pages! There are few books that can even hold my attention without scanning for 500 pages and this one did that and could have gone on for another 500 pages.

Silver and Valentin are the couple in this new excursion that is part of the new “Trinity” story arc. We get to see a few people we already knew like the most powerful man in the series Kaleb Krychek which we could not leave behind, since he just adds to any scene.

The story revolves around the persistence of Valentin (an alpha bear changeling) and the semi-Silenced Silver (hence the title), there is the usual life threatening plot that goes with almost all of the books in this series and the drama and several subplots just make for an intoxicating mix of drama, romance and family values (these families value “disposing” of anyone who threatens the family). Since the book starts out with an assassination attempt (this is in the synopsis so not a spoiler) the “families” involved have simple solutions if they can find the culprit.

The book has several scenes that are just hilarious and an equal number that are just as warm.

The book starts out at full speed after about 2 pages and seldom lets up so hang on because it is going to be a bumpy ride for about 500 pages and you will still want more when it is done.

Bottom line: Great story, exceptional romance, amazing plot and subplots, humor, engaging and memorable characters. So what more could you want? 5 Stars and still thinking about it 2 days later.

I will be doing my yearly run-away-from-home for this one. Even though I have it preordered for my ipad, I will be driving a couple of hours to the nearest big town (and sadly the nearest town with a bookstore. Go figure) and picking up the hardcover, too. I go all by myself, take myself out to supper, then get a hotel room and spend one glorious night reading. Alone. By myself. In peace and quiet. Serenity now.

June’s Book of the Month

So, I don’t imagine too many people are shocked to discover that Nalini Singh‘s Silver Silence was chosen as the Book of the Month. By a margin of 132 to 14. Yeah, pretty decisive, I would say. Coming in second was Gena Showalter‘s The Darkest Promise, and rounding off the top three was Jeaniene Frost‘s The Sweetest Burn. Did I mention there are only 12 days left until Silver Silence? Not like I am counting or anything. Honest.

Don’t Do It!

I might’ve been cruising around Amazon.com today, and I might’ve noticed that Nalini Singh‘s upcoming Silver Silence is showing up with a blue cover I haven’t seen before. And I might’ve clicked on that cover for some reason – AND IT MIGHT’VE TAKEN ME TO THE LOOK INSIDE FEATURE. Holy hell, if you are absolutely, positively desperate to get a monstrous “sneak peek” – aka a crap ton of the entire book, it is there in all its glory. I hope you are stronger than I am, because I so accidentally spoiled myself on a bit of the plot while I was stupidly trying to figure out if I was really seeing what I thought I was. I have done my job…you have been warned. Let’s see who has way more control than I did.

Do you like to be spoiled on a much-anticipated book, or do you want to go in completely blank? I fall somewhere painfully in the middle, usually wanted to go in clueless but too weak to avoid snippets and advanced reviews. And if it is a particularly huge nail-biter, I will sometimes jump ahead just to make sure everything works out ok. But it never fails – I will usually randomly open to a page and the first thing I see is “I can’t believe so-and-so died!” or some game-changing piece of info like that. I am a weak, weak woman.

Cover Lover – Archangel’s Viper

Just when I was thinking that there wasn’t much to post for today, I caught a glimpse of this beauty. Nalini Singh‘s next Guild Hunter book, Archangel’s Viper, will finally be Venom and Sorrow’s story, and it has a release date of September 26th.

Once a broken girl known as Sorrow, Holly Chang now prowls the shadowy gray underground of the city for the angels. But it’s not her winged allies who make her a wanted woman—it’s the unknown power coursing through her veins. Brutalized by an insane archangel, she was left with the bloodlust of a vampire, the ability to mesmerize her prey, and a poisonous bite.

Now, someone has put a bounty on her head…

Venom is one of the Seven, Archangel Raphael’s private guard, and he’s as infuriating as he is seductive. A centuries-old vampire, his fangs dispense a poison deadlier than Holly’s. But even if Venom can protect Holly from those hunting her, he might not be able to save himself—because the strange, violent power inside Holly is awakening…

No one is safe.

Ooooh, my pretty. I had still been holding out hope that Sorrow was going to be paired up with Bluebell, but honestly this doesn’t disappoint me, either.

New Series Alerts

It looks like there are just a couple of new series to look at this week, starting with one from Wen Spencer. Black Wolves of Boston is the first book of the Black Wolves series.

Synopsis…

REBUILD A LIFE, SAVE A CITY

Silas Decker had his world destroyed when he was attacked by vampires outside of New Amsterdam. He rebuilt his life a dozen times in the last three hundred years—each time less and less successfully. Now he lives alone, buried under a hoarding habit, struggling to find some reason to wake up with the setting of the sun.

Eloise is a Virtue, pledged to hunting evil.  What she doesn’t know is how to live alone in a city full of strangers who know nothing about monsters.

Seth is the sixteen-year old Prince of Boston, ward of the Wolf King.  Now he is left in a city that desperately needs his protection with enemies gathering all around.

Joshua believes he is a normal, college-bound high school senior.  His life is shattered when he wakes up in a field, covered with blood, and the prom committee scattered in pieces about him like broken dolls.

These four must now come together to unravel a plot by Wickers, witches who gain power from human sacrifices and have the power to turn any human into their puppet. Four people who lost everything struggle to save Boston by saving each other.

And the second new series comes from Melissa F. Olson. Midnight Curse is the first book of the Disrupted Magic series, but it comes in as number ten in the whole Scarlet Bernard/Boundary Magic World.

Synopsis…

Scarlett Bernard is used to cleaning up messes. As a human who cancels out any magic around her, Scarlett’s job is to keep the supernatural world hidden—at any cost.

On the eve of the Vampire Trials, a two-day tribunal that allows the otherworldly community to air their grievances, Scarlett receives a blood-soaked message from Molly, her estranged former roommate. Molly, a vampire, had been living with twelve human college students…and in one terrible night, she slaughtered them all.

Scarlett believes Molly’s been set up, but no one else in the Old World agrees with her. And the true perpetrator is determined to make sure Molly goes on trial for the massacre—the penalty for which is death.

With less than two days to prove her friend’s innocence, Scarlett calls on former LAPD detective Jesse Cruz to help her dig into Molly’s past. But no one—Molly included—wants Scarlett and Jesse to bring the terrible truth to light.

Melissa F. Olson is new to me, but I did read some of Wen Spencer’s Elfhome series after a recommendation from Nalini Singh (like you can go wrong with that rec). Have you tried any of these authors before? What did you think?

Pick of the Week – and Best Day Ever!

2017 looks like it is going to be the year where a lot of series I faithfully follow are either wrapping up, spinning off, or changing direction. The Fever series from Karen Marie Moning is one of the latter. This week’s Feversong is the end of the second arc that focused on MacKayla Lane and Jerricho Barrons – or at least that is my understanding of it. Either way, Feversong is my pick of the week, and my pick of the month, and it was probably one of my picks of the year.

Synopsis…

As Mac, Barrons, Ryodan, and Jada struggle to restore control, enemies become allies, right and wrong cease to exist, and the lines between life and death, lust and love, disappear completely. Black holes loom menacingly over Dublin, threatening to destroy the earth, yet the greatest danger is the one MacKayla Lane has unleashed from within: The Sinsar Dubh—a sentient book of unthinkable evil—has possessed her body and will stop at nothing in its insatiable quest for power.

The fate of Man and Fae rests on destroying the book and recovering the long-lost Song of Making, the sole magic that can repair the fragile fabric of the earth. But to achieve these aims, sidhe-seers, the Nine, Seelie, and Unseelie must form unlikely alliances and make heart-wrenching choices. For Barrons and Jada, this means finding the Seelie queen, who alone can wield the mysterious song, negotiating with a lethal Unseelie prince hell-bent on ruling the Fae courts, and figuring out how to destroy the Sinsar Dubh while keeping Mac alive.

This time, there’s no gain without sacrifice, no pursuit without risk, no victory without irrevocable loss. In the battle for Mac’s soul, every decision exacts a tremendous price.

I have the hardcover copy coming, and I was desperate enough to order the Kindle copy, too. And I waited up until 4:00am until it was delivered to my i-pad, just so I could “read the first few chapters”. Yeah, I finished it around 8:00am, but I have to admit that by the end of it I was just skimming things to find out what happened to Jada/Dani and Ryodan, Dancer and Christian. This one has a lot to wrap up, and it will need a much slower, more thorough read for me to get a handle on what I thought about it. My greed didn’t do me, or the book, any favors, and I won’t pull that again. I hope.

And on to the best news ever. I have been spamming Edelweiss with requests for a review copy of White Hot from Ilona Andrews. I mean at least three or four times a week I hit that “submit request” button. Today, I finally got a yes (and it didn’t come with a restraining order, so double win!). While Feversong is one of my most anticipated books of the year, I would go so far as to say that White Hot is tied for third as the book I am most excited for, along with Rituals from Kelley Armstrong and Silver Silence from Nalini Singh. Any guesses as to what I will be doing tonight?

Archangel’s Viper

I have been doing behind-the-scenes stuff for the last couple of days, so my usual info-hunting routine has been behind. So imagine my shock when I stumbled onto Nalini Singh‘s site to find the title and a non-official blurb for the next Guild Hunter book, Archangel’s Viper. And we all know who that’s about:

Return to the epic and dangerous world of the Guild Hunters in this new adventure from New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh, as immortal angels, vampires, and mortals struggle to build a new world order…

Venom has always been one of the most mysterious and seductive members of the Seven–Archangel Raphael’s personal guard. But even this powerful vampire has no idea what awaits when he returns to New York…and to a woman who might be the greatest threat of all…

Confession time – I firmly believed that Sorrow (whom I am completely assuming is the woman in question) would end up with Bluebell. Even against all of the signs, I was almost sure. I figured her terror of angels would bring the angst, and his love for humans would be covered in a way that didn’t involve his HEA having to turn vampire. And it now really makes me wonder about the Illium/Aodhan vibe I have gotten from the last book. Sigh.

Amazon.uk lists the next Guild Hunter book as a September 21st release. Countdown begins again.