Teaser Tuesday: The Lost Night by Jayne Castle

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week comes from The Lost Night by Jayne Castle which is the most recent in her futuristic paranormal romance series taking place on the planet of Harmony. Here is the description:

Even the mysterious world of Harmony has people who don’t quite fit in. They’re drawn to places like Rainshadow Island, a beautiful sanctuary where anyone can feel safe—and where secrets are closely guarded... 

Schooled in an exotic form of martial arts, and with the ability to detect the auras of dangerous psychic criminals, Rachel Bonner and her dust bunny companion have found peace and quiet on Rainshadow Island, operating a bookstore and café.

But her tranquil new life is thrown into chaos when Harry Sebastian, the descendant of a notorious pirate, arrives to investigate strange developments in the privately owned woods known as the Preserve.

Immediately drawn to the amber-eyed woman, Harry must tread carefully. While Rachel’s special talents can help him track down dangerous rogues who have violated the Preserve, they can also sense the heart of darkness within him. But desire can weaken the strongest of defenses—and leave even the strongest man wanting more…

Teaser:

She would survive the rain and the loss of the job. What mattered was the she would never again find herself alone in a therapy room with Marcus Lancaster. Because she was quite certain it was no coincidence that he had manipulated the situation so that they had wound up together today.

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? (Sept. 17, 2012)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is a meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

Last week's busy schedule really put a crimp in my reading plans. I had fun at the Renaissance Festival and Mystic Lake Casino but I didn't get any reading done. Then I spent the week playing catch-up for sleep because I was out late Sunday night. Add in the 3 night premier of The Voice and lots of baseball games to watch on my computer and I was lucky to finish two books.

Cast in Peril by Michelle Sagara is the eighth book in her Chronicles of Elantra series. This is a complex fantasy and requires careful reading. At 544 pages, this was no easy undertaking. Because I am invested in the characters, I think it is worth it. My review will be posted on Sept. 22 for this Sept. 18 release.

The Assault by Brian Falkner was military science fiction for young adults about a group of young people changed and trained to infiltrate the headquarters of the aliens who are successfully trying to conquer the Earth. Lots of military detail and huge amounts of military jargon added to the realism of this title. My review will be posted on Sept. 20 for this Sept. 25 release. 

I am currently reading The Paladin Prophecy by Mark Frost. This is also a huge book with 560 pages. It is the start of a new series which is supposed to be a combination of I Am Number Four, The Maze Runner and Legend. I am at the 53% mark and enjoying the story. It has a likable main character, great supporting characters, and snappy dialogue. There is also a lot of intrigue and some really creepy villains. I hope to have my review up by Sept. 22 as this is a Sept. 25 release too.

Next on the stack are the rest of the review books that should be read by the end of September. Doing this could be a problem if I keep reading at my current pace. But I will be trying.

I got these two romantic suspense titles from Harlequin via NetGalley. Shades of Temptation by Virna DePaul is a new author for me but Lori Foster is familiar. I am eager to read Run the Risk.

The next young adult books on the pile are Chasing the Skip by Janci Patterson, League of Strays by L. B. Schulman and Dearly, Beloved by Lia Habel. 

Here are the reviews that I posted this week:

• Clean by Alex Hughes
• Line of Fire by Stephen White
• Biting Cold by Chloe Neill
• Safekeeping by Karen Hesse
• Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin
• Darkbeast by Morgan Keyes
• Hanging by a Thread by Sophie Littlefield

Also on my calendar this week is a trip to The Red Balloon book store with a friend on Monday night to get our copies of Rift by Andrea Cremer signed. It will be a fun trip but another interruption to my reading time.

What are your plans for the week?

Stacking the Shelves (Sept. 16, 2012)

Tynga of Tynga's Reviews has a meme to spotlight the books we receive each week. Visit her site to check out the linky and see what everyone gets. I guarantee that your TBR pile will grow.

This was a quiet week for me. I only got two books. I have been a member of PaperBackSwap since 2010 but hadn't been active until recently. I decided to try to clear off some of the excess books from my shelf by seeing if anyone else wants them. I have managed to send off a few and used my first credit to get At Risk by Patricia Cornwell which sounded interesting. Since my goal is to get rid of books, I expect to gather a lot of credits there for future book purchases.

I also received my pre-ordered copy of Delusion in Death which is the 35th in J.D. Robb's In Death series. I can't wait to read this one and visit my old friends Eve and Roarke. Unfortunately, this one is on the stack beneath a whole bunch of review books that I need to read before the end of the month.

What did you add to your stack this week?

ARC Review: Clean by Alex Hughes

Clean
Author: Alex Hughes
Publication: Roc (September 4, 2012)

Description: A RUTHLESS KILLER—
OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND
 
I used to work for the Telepath’s Guild before they kicked me out for a drug habit that wasn’t entirely my fault. Now I work for the cops, helping Homicide Detective Isabella Cherabino put killers behind bars.
 
My ability to get inside the twisted minds of suspects makes me the best interrogator in the department. But the normals keep me on a short leash. When the Tech Wars ripped the world apart, the Guild stepped up to save it. But they had to get scary to do it—real scary.
 
Now the cops don’t trust the telepaths, the Guild doesn’t trust me, a serial killer is stalking the city—and I’m aching for a fix. But I need to solve this case. Fast. I’ve just had a vision of the future: I’m the next to die.

My Thoughts: CLEAN is a new urban fantasy with a unique main character. He is a very powerful telepath who has been kicked out of the Guild because of a drug habit. The Guild controls, educates, and certifies for employment those who have strong psychic abilities. The Guild saved Western Civilization during the Tech Wars but had to get very scary to do so. Now, by treaty, they govern their own and keep their own secrets. 

Our hero now works for the police primarily as an interviewer and battles his addiction. Because of a recent lapse in sobriety, he is not trusted by very many of the police officers he works with. But when he and his partner/mentor Isabella Cherabino are called to the scene of a recent murder, our hero recognizes that this has to be a crime committed by psychics. Besides being a telepath, our hero also occasionally has precognitive visions. He has one that tells him the he and Cherabino are in danger from a psychic attack in a warehouse that greatly damages Cherabino and kills him. He is determined to watch Cherabino even though she doesn't really trust him and hates the idea that he could be reading her mind. Our hero also has to work with his ex-fiance at the Guild when he needs information from them to track down the one who is doing the killing. 

This was a tense, action packed thriller as the police and our hero have to track down a killer. The world building was interesting. The anti-technology bias and the rising power of the Guild were there in contrast to police procedures that would fit right in with any contemporary mystery novel. Psychic gifts from telepathy to telekenisis to teleportation to precognition were all present in this world. Those with psychic gifts were generally feared and avoided. 

You will note that I haven't given our hero's name. Since the story is told in tight first person and no one addresses him by name, we don't find out the name of the main character until the second to the last paragraph of the book. I think that the fact that no one calls him by name is just a symptom of his total isolation throughout this book and how much his lapses from sobriety have ruined his relationships with the people around him.

Our hero attends Narcotics Anonymous meetings with his sponsor Swartz but he is still always looking for his next fix of Satin. His constant craving for a drug that he knows can kill him is woven through the book. We truly see inside an addict's mind. But we also see that his ethics and values are not totally gone. He is determined to protect his friend Cherabino even when his relationship with her is rocky. He wants the Guild to the right thing even though he hates the Guild for kicking him out.

I really enjoyed this urban fantasy and will be looking for more by the author. I really want more about these characters too and hope things get better for the main character.

Favorite Quote (May not be final):

I gave up and crossed my arms. "Cherabino and I are fighting. There's a trail of dead bodies all over the city that may or may not belong to some guy who's going to attack us in a warehouse in a week or so -- a guy we can't find -- and Paulsen has cut me out of the conversation with the Guild. Me! When I was the only reason they'd talk to the police in the first place. I choked through talking to Kara...for what? Nobody's listening to me!"

I was approached by the author to read this eARC. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: Clean by Alex Hughes

Happy Friday everybody!

Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City Reader. The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

The book I am featuring this week is Clean: A Mindspace Investigations Novel by Alex Hughes. I received this book for review from the author. It was published on Sept. 4. Here is the description:

A RUTHLESS KILLER—OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND
I used to work for the Telepath’s Guild before they kicked me out for a drug habit that wasn’t entirely my fault. Now I work for the cops, helping Homicide Detective Isabella Cherabino put killers behind bars.

My ability to get inside the twisted minds of suspects makes me the best interrogator in the department. But the normals keep me on a short leash. When the Tech Wars ripped the world apart, the Guild stepped up to save it. But they had to get scary to do it—real scary.

Now the cops don’t trust the telepaths, the Guild doesn’t trust me, a serial killer is stalking the city—and I’m aching for a fix. But I need to solve this case. Fast. I’ve just had a vision of the future: I’m the next to die.

Beginning:

My first interview of the night was Esperanza Mensalez-Mar, a thirty-something woman dressed in a pink-pressed suit I suspected cost more than my last paycheck.

Friday 56:

Assuming he didn't bring up my past, I knew just how to deal with Joey. Me and the file clerk had gotten together a nice little collection of repro files, glossy photos of gory crimes solved while my grandparents were still in diapers.

ARC Review: Line of Fire by Stephen White

Line of Fire
Author: Stephen White
Publication: Dutton Adult (August 7, 2012)

Description: New York Times bestselling author Stephen White returns with a gripping thriller about the one devastating secret that could cost Alan Gregory everything—the first of the dramatic two-part conclusion to his acclaimed bestselling series.

Clinical psychologist and Boulder resident Alan Gregory is finally beginning to feel settled, hopeful that a long period of upheaval in his private life is behind him. He refocuses his energy on his clinical psychology practice, where a beguiling new patient is challenging his values. The interlude of calm doesn’t last, of course: Alan’s dear friend Diane is showing signs of a long-simmering emotional collapse, and Alan’s greatest fear—the exposure of his most dangerous secret—has become something he can’t ignore.

A new witness has surfaced, causing authorities to reopen their investigation into the suicide death of a woman named J. Winter Brown. When Alan and his equally culpable friend Sam Purdy inadvertently disclose details of their involvement in her death to a desperate drug dealer, any confidence they felt about riding out the new investigation evaporates. The trail that leads back to Alan and Sam, once cold, has turned white-hot.

With his vulnerability mounting daily, Alan begins to fear that his mesmerizing new patient may be the catalyst that can cause everything he treasures—his marriage, family, friendship, and future—to implode. As the authorities close in, the story hurtles toward a conclusion that will set the stage for the most unexpected of outcomes: the final act of the Alan Gregory saga.

My Thoughts: Coming into a series at the nineteenth book is not a good idea! This story was filled with allusions to earlier books in the series that would have evoked memories and emotions for fans of the series but I just found them vague and incomprehensible. The protagonist of this story is Dr. Alan Gregory who is a psychotherapist in Boulder, Colorado. He is married to an Assistant District Attorney. He is good friends with a Boulder police officer named Sam. 

Apparently, some time about three years in the past, Sam murdered an ex-girlfriend who was threatening his child and Alan's child and made it look like suicide. Alan knew about the murder after the fact but didn't tell anyone. Now, a new witness has come forward and it looks like their carefully constructed tissue of lies is about to be exposed.

Meanwhile, Alan's partner Diane is falling apart from a combination of traumas that occurred in earlier books, marital troubles with her venture capitalist husband, and hatred for her home outside of Boulder. All during the book, Boulder is under threat from various wildfires raging through the area. 

Alan also has a couple of new patients. One is the young man who was in a coma in the room where Sam and Alan discussed the new investigation of Sam's murder. The young man - that Sam and Alan call Coma Doe - intends to blackmail Alan into helping him find Sam in order to get some leverage for his own potential drug conviction. Alan's other new patient is a woman who is having a relationship with Diane's husband and who seems to be using Alan for her own purposes.

The story was complex and the different plot threads were entwined in many ways. I will have to say that I didn't like Alan or Sam very much at all. I couldn't understand their decision to force someone to commit suicide and then cover it up. I also thought that Alan was over-analytical. He never seemed to turn off his role as a psychotherapist. He also seemed to skate around his ethics fairly often. Sam was also an ambiguous character. 

Some of the vocabulary in the story also sent me to my online dictionary. I am assuming that the word choices were specific vocabulary to psychotherapy. I know there were two or three words that I had never heard of or had never encountered in anything else I had read. This almost never happens to me as a reader and slowed down the flow of the story for me.

This story may well work better for those who have read previous volumes and who have an emotional connection to the main characters. While I thought the story was interesting, I didn't make an emotional connection to it. This one is only recommended to those who have read other books in the series. I didn't find it a good entry point.

Favorite Quote:

I tried to clear my head, forcing myself not to perseverate on the mistakes I might have made on my visit to Frederick, or on any review of the mistakes I might have made in my initial, abbreviated meeting with Coma Doe.

I got this ARC from a publicist at Dutton in exchange for an honest review. You can buy your copy here. 

Book Review: Biting Cold by Chloe Neill

Biting Cold
Author: Chloe Neill
Publication: NAL Trade; 1 edition (August 7, 2012)

Description: Turned into a vampire against her will, twenty-eight-year-old Merit found her way into the dark circle of Chicago's vampire underground, where she learned there was more to supernaturals than met the eye--and more supernaturals than the public ever imagined.

And not all the secrets she learned were for sharing--among humans or inhumans.

Now Merit is on the hunt, charging across the stark American Midwest, tailing a rogue supernatural intent on stealing an ancient artifact that could unleash catastrophic evil on the world. But Merit is also the prey. An enemy of Chicagoland is hunting her, and he'll stop at nothing to get the book for himself. No mercy allowed.

No rules apply. No lives spared. The race is on.

My Thoughts: This is the sixth book in Neill's Chicagoland Vampires series and, as such, this review contains spoilers for earlier books in the series. 

The story begins with Ethan and Merit chasing Mallory across Iowa and into Nebraska to keep her from getting a magical book which she believes will balance good and evil in the world and will make her own magic less painful. Ethan and Merit don't want the evil released. They are not alone on their hunt for the magical book. Seth Tate is also hunting. Tate is a magical creature of an unknown type who was once mayor of Chicago and who has done evil things.

They get to the book before Mallory but after a battle with Tate. But Tate and Mallory team up to destroy the book which causes Tate to split in two and become even more evil. Merit must find a way to defeat him in order to protect her House and humans. Merit also has to deal with the betrayal by her best friend Mallory who has become addicted to black magic. She did bring Ethan back to Merit by her actions but has a connection with him that he fears will cause him to hurt Merit. Ethan pulls away from Merit because of this fear which puts additional pressure on Merit.

There is no lack of pressure in this story. The Greenwich Presidium is also putting pressure on Cadogan House. In their view, Cadogan House is endangering all vampires by getting involved in human politics. Ethan is busy playing politics for his House while Merit is concentrating on finding a way to defeat Tate.

What I especially like about this series is the way the characters are developed. Merit is a wonderful main character. She is strong, smart, and loyal. She has built relationships with some of the other vampire Houses and with other supernatural species too. I like her relationship with the shifters and with the magic users. She is hurt by the actions of her former best friend Mallory and honestly doesn't know if Mallory will ever be able to make amends and repair the friendship.

This is a great series with lots of fighting and politics and romance. Urban fantasy lovers will not want to miss this one. This story does not have a cliffhanger ending, but I am still eager to read House Rules which will be published in 2013 because I have become invested in Merit's life.

Favorite Quote:

"And the Maleficium?"

She walked to the railing and pointed down into the silo. "It's at the very bottom on a pedestal, ironically or otherwise. You can just see it."

I looked down. Sure enough, I could see its red leather cover. It didn't glow or vibrate or give off a weird vibe. It just sat there, minding its own business, holding within it the power to destroy a city and a friendship."

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.