Paranormal and Urban Fantasy – New and Old

Well, that whole reading challenge thing was good for something.  It got a bunch of books, mostly mystery and paranormals out of my to-be-read mountain of books and out the door.  I was also in a bunch of other swaps and had even more reading to do.  Alas, much of it was wasted on very average mysteries.  Not a fan of anthologies, I did find one I sincerely like and it’s coming out in mass market – Must Love Hellhounds.  I also found the first book of a new series which gets two thumbs up from me, Grave Witch plus and old favorite returns with his best book so far with Werewolf Smackdown.  So, here are some reviews recent reads.

• Title: Grave Witch
  
• Author:  Kalayna Price
• Type:  Paranormal – UF; Alex Craft Book #1
• Genre:  A witch of limited power who chats with Death comes into her own hunting a serial soul stealer
• Sub-genre:  Combination mystery, adventure and self discovery
• My Grade: B+ (4.2*)
  
• Rating:  PG-13
• Length and price:  Full novel 90,000 words for $6.99; discounts available
• Where Available:  book available at any bookstore
• FTC Disclosure:  purchased from online bookstore

Book Review: Animal Urges by Tawny Taylor

• Title: Animal Urges
• Author: Tawny Taylor
• Type: Erotic Paranormal Romance – single author anthology
• Genre: Genetically engineered shifter novellas
• Sub-genre:  were-bear; boink-fest
• My Grade: D+  (2.3*)
• Rating: XX
• Where Available: as ebooks from Ellora’s Cave or in used book stores
• FTC Disclosure: purchased as a used book

I often find myself wondering why I continue to inflict the pain of empty stories by authors who have a bare nodding acquaintance with plot or character building.  You’d think after reading Ms Taylor’s Island Guardians novellas I’d have learned, but no, I bought this in a pile of used books from a seller on Half.com.  I need better impulse control and a lot less optimism.  I never thought I was into pain, but I may need to reevaluate that opinion.  There are several authors who show occasional glimmers of talent that they then chuck out the window for sex driven boink fests with minimal story.  Ms Taylor is one.

On Vacation – Ultra Short Reviews

Everyone gets some time off, even me.  I’ll be gone till next week, but I promise to read a bunch of stuff I bought off the Samhain site.  I already knocked off one and hopefully a second today, so next week I’ll have the reviews up.  In the meantime, here are some books I’ve read and haven’t reviewed and just a line or two on each.

Shoots to Thrill by Nina Bruhns

Romantic suspense with a preposterous premise of a ‘dedicated’ nurse who insists on going on a spec ops mission because her patient needs her and, well, she’s just so damn dedicated.  I’m mean really, can you believe that?  The underlying mystery of who the traitor is was decent, but not enough to redeem the silly story. C- (2.6*)

Anthology Review: Belong to the Night by Shelly Laurenston, Cynthia Eden and Sherrill Quinn

• Title: Belong to the Night
• Authors: Shelly Laurenston, Cynthia Eden, Sherrill Quinn
• Type: Urban fantasy romance anthology
• Genre: Shifters, witches, and vamps
• Sub-genre:
• My Grade: C+ (3.3*)
• Rating:
• Where Available: Everywhere books are sold

As always, this anthology has its ups and downs.  The one short novel and two novellas by well known authors are three contemporary romances in various Southern settings, each with a darker urban fantasy edge.  I’d love to say that Shelly Laurenston made it all worthwhile, but I just can’t.  I assumed when I bought this book it was destined for my ‘keeper’ shelf.  Not so I’m afraid.  It isn’t often that Shelly Laurenston disappoints, but she did here.  I’ve read the rave reviews by others and I find myself mystified – or maybe I just didn’t see the humor and appeal in this one.  At any rate, my negative reaction seems to be unusual.

The Wolf, the Witch, and Her Lack of a Wardrobe by Laurenston takes up 160 pages, basically half the book.  Despite it being a short novel, it rather surprisingly lacks humor, charm or truly likable characters.  Ms Laurenston’s female lead characters  might be considered atypical  Aggressive, outspoken, independent, and usually focused on gaining independence,  – but they are not amoral, they do have friends, and they void of emotional attachments.  Even Annwyl the Bloody has obvious feelings. Unfortunately, Jamie Meacham comes off as profoundly amoral, impatient, and completely self adsorbed.  Essentially a true sociopath.  I simply never liked her and I liked Annwyl the Bloody!  And Tully Smith, the pack alpha in Smithville, is so laid back and mellow he’s kind of dull.  The supporting characters were too significant to be important to the story to be given such short shrift, but Laurenston barely sketches them in.

Book Review: Wolf’s Passion by Elizabeth Lapthorne

• Title: Wolf’s Passion
• Author: Elizabeth Lapthorne
• Type: Paranormal Romance
• Genre: Shifter – Werewolf
• Sub-genre: Werewolf brothers – related novellas
• My Grade: C (3*)
  
• Rating: NC-17
• Where Available: Ellora’s Cave as individual ebooks or in print as

Wolf’s Passion is actually two related novellas brought together in a book for sale.  The Mating Game is the story of Dominic Rutledge, one of the two younger Rutledge brothers.  Older brothers Atremais and William.  Now Dominic and Samuel are surrounded by nieces and nephews, so each has taken a cottage away from the main house for peace and privacy.  Neither feels the intense urge to mate that their older brothers felt, but neither is entirely content either.  They still have the band, though neither Artemais nor William play, they have other wolves in their place.  When Dominic catches a hacker into Rutledge Security in one of his traps he watches as a different hacker extricates the first one with skill and patience.  He traces the second hacker, sure it’s a female and he’s determined to meet her.

Book Review: Four Dukes and a Devil by Cathy Maxwell, Elaine Fox, Tracy Anne Warren, etc.

• Title: Four Dukes and a Devil
• Author: Cathy Maxwell, Elaine Fox, Jeanene Frost, Sophia Nash, Tracey Anne Warren
• Type: Romance Anthology
• Genre: Regency, Contemporary, Paranormal
• Sub-genre: Long short stories
• My Grade: C (3.3*)
• Rating: PG-13
• Where Available: Everywhere books are sold

I’ve been reading a lot of collections and anthologies lately, something I usually avoid as there is no room for character or plot development.  But thanks to Paperback Swap, I’m well supplied with both multi-author and single author anthologies aplenty this summer.  When a short story or novella is extremely well done, it can be a gem.  Look at O. Henry’s work or Guy de Maupassant.  Can you even get out of grade school without reading The Ransom of Red Chief and The Gift of the Magi? Alas, romance and short stories are very tough to do, and this anthology is no exception to my basic Rule of ‘Meh’ on the genre – with one glaring mispositioned piece.

Book Review: Real Men Last All Night anthology by Lora Leigh, Lori Foster, et. al.

• Title: Real Men Last All Night
• Author: Lora Leigh, Lori Foster, Cheyenne McCray, Heidi Betts
• Type: Romance Anthology
• Genre: Contemporary
• Sub-genre: Steamy
• My Grade:  B- (3.7*)
• Rating: PG-17
• Where Available:  Any bookstore

This multi-author anthology has two popular steamy authors leading off the line up of novellas.

Cooper’s Fall by Lora Leigh

Cooper’s Fall has a Nauti series feel to it.  Ms Leigh uses her favorite kind of heroine-hero combo, a adult virgin female who is lusting for the bad boy, ex-spec ops male with a wounded soul.  He thinks he’s all wrong, too tough, to sexually demanding and dominant Alpha male for the shy virgin.  She’s an isolated, insecure, sensual, lonely young woman who was badly injured physically and emotionally by her mob father’s enemies, and she desperately wants to have a man in her life.  The one she wants lives next door – Ethan Cooper.

BOOK REVIEW: On the Prowl by Crystal Jordan (erotic romance)

Every so often I make an impulse buy – OK, maybe more than ‘every so often’ – and it turns out well. Other times it’s a solid ‘meh’. Occasionally, it’s DNF. I gave a new, to me at least, author a try with Crystal Jordan. The publisher is Kensington Aphrodisia – who I have reluctantly managed to forgive for the Lords of the Satyr series. Ms Jordan has another book coming out this fall. On the Prowl is a collection of 3 novellas about the Cruz family, hereditary leaders on the North American Black Panthers. In this world, black panthers are not genetic variants on several cats, but a discrete breed of born shapeshifters. There are Prides on all continents, but North and South America have the largest. Antonio Cruz has just returned home from years of ‘fostering’ with the South American Pride to take over the North American Panters on the death of his father. No love was lost between the man and his 4 children. His sister, Andrea, an ex-model, lives in New York and runs her own fashion design company after his father’s behavior forced her to leave the Pride. His twin brothers, a rare event among panthers, Ricardo and Diego, live in the Pride house and act as the Pride’s lawyers and advisors to their brother.

The Cruz family is unusually large. Panthers usually have one off-spring, maybe, if they are very lucky, there are two. Panther cubs are conceived while in cat form, so they cannot mate outside their species nor can they impregnate any female except their mate. Frankly, I’m surprised they’ve survived as a species given the many breeding constraints, small population and limited gene pool. Unlike many shifter books, here each cat gets a life mate, so once mated, no fooling around. Panthers that cannot shift are usually ejected from the Pride, often killed to keep their existence a secret. They all seem to live together at the Pride home in Pacific Heights, though that part is a bit fuzzy. How do you hide that many screaming cats in a city like San Francisco?

BOOK REVIEW: Running Wild by Sarah McCarty (erotic romance)

This book is three separate, sequential intertwined novellas, Donovan, Kelon and Wyatt. Twins Donovan and Kelon McGowan are Protectors of the Carmichael Pack of werewolves, and Wyatt, their cousin and currently sheriff of Haven, is the wayward alpha ascending that Donovan has come to bring back to the Pack. Wyatt’s father is dying and the Pack needs him. All three stories play out over a period of a week or so.

Donovan opens with Wyatt and Donovan sitting in the small town’s only entertainment, a bar, bowling alley, pool hall as a furious Lisa Delaney storms in and heads straight for Buddy, picking up a pool cue on her way. Lisa is mad as hell and has every right to be. Buddy beat the crap out of her sister, Robin. His mother bought off the DA and no charges were brought – but Lisa plans to extract payment and proceeds to beat him with the cue stick. She hasn’t got it in her to kill him, which might be a big mistake.