Melanie's Week in Review - September 7, 2014

*** BUMPER WEEK IN REVIEW ***

Yes folks I have a bumper crop of books to tell you about. I finished 5 books and mid-way though a 6th. So no messing around. What did I read?

If you read my WIR last week you will remember that I read Evernight (Darkest London 5) by Kristen Callihan and was a tad ashamed to say I couldn't remember the series or the characters. I decided to go back and read a few of the books. I started back at the beginning with Firelight, moved quickly onto Moonglow and ended my re-read with Winterblaze. I have discussed these books before so I won't bore with the details again. The first time I read the books I had the biggest issue with Moonglow  and while I still thought the explanation of the GIM (Ghost in the Machine) was flawed there was something else that bothered me this time I read it. I thought I would explain this in the form of a quiz.

Imagine you are arriving back at your lycan lover's stately home and are involved in a serious case of heavy petting in the back of the carriage (tee hee...petting your werewolf boyfriend....tee hee) when your most beloved sister arrives to inform you that your brother-in-law has been mortally wounded in a werewolf attack.  Do you ....

a)  ignore your sister and continue with the hot and steamy with your furry honey;
b)  go with your sister to the bedside of your brother-in-law only to leave your shell-shocked sister alone to go back to your love interest's home for some 'tupping';
c)  pop down to the local pub for a nice lunch as all the excitement makes you hungry;

or

d)  all of the above.

Well which do you think the heroine of Moonglow chose to do? Please let me know! I decided not to bother with book 4, Shadow Dance, as everything had come back to me and I had other books to read.

I was quite excited to discover that not 1 but 2 books I had pre-ordered on Amazon had popped down onto my Kindle. I started with Knight's Honor by Thea Harrison which is the 7th in the Elder Races series. This book is a bit of a departure from the previous books and doesn't centre on Dragos, Pia or one of the Sentinels. This time it tells the story of the mousey, shy, computer geek Tess who finds herself as a human attendant in the dangerous vampire, Xavier. Tess is on the run and trying to hide from a revengeful Djinn. Tess has got everything and nothing to lose by working for the hunky vamp, except maybe her heart...of course (this is PNR after all).

I like the fact that Harrison chose to write a book in the Elder Races world but not about Dragos or Pia (or friends). I also like the fact it was set back at the same time as the Sentinel Wars so before book 6 - Kinked. However, I think the characters are a bit bland and far too goody good for my liking. Tess is quite dull which is disappointing as I think Harrison missed a trick by not exploiting her humanity and computer genius skills. Xavier is a former priest/assassin/spy who quotes poetry to his lady love and tries to teach her to waltz. Not very gritty. Even still it is a quick read and quite good on a long tube journey.

Book number 5 on my reading list for the week was Forged by Desire* by Bec McMaster. This is the 4th book in the London Steampunk series and tells the love story of Captain Garrett Reed and his fellow Nighthawk Perry. Reed never noticed the mannish Perry until she displayed her assets in a lovely ball gown while in disguise in The Curious Case of the Clockwork Menace (a novella). Reed is suffering from the ill effects of the vampire disease and there is only a matter of time before he turns into a violent killer. In the meantime Perry is confronting a secret from her past while investigating the murder of two innocent girls. Can Perry and Garrett get together before her past comes back to haunt her or before Garrett succumbs to the disease?  Well I won't tell you. This is a gritty tale and Perry's past is a deep, dark secret indeed. Some of my favourite characters from the previous books appeared including Blade. You will be glad to know that Honoria still hasn't given him those elocution lessons!

My final book for this week is Our Broken Sky by Sarah Harian. This is a novella in the Chaos Theory series. I have only just started this so not much to tell. Well that is it for me. I am super impressed with my book reading accomplishments this week. Fingers crossed I don't revert back to my previous poor performance. Until next week Happy Reading.








* You may read an excerpt of Forged by Desire here and see a list of all the books and novellas in this series.