ARC Review: My Roommate Is a Vampire by Jenna Levine

My Roommate Is a Vampire
Author: Jenna Levine
Publication: Berkley (August 29, 2023)

Description: True love is at stake in this charming, debut romantic comedy.

Cassie Greenberg loves being an artist, but it’s a tough way to make a living. On the brink of eviction, she’s desperate when she finds a too-good-to-be-true apartment in a beautiful Chicago neighborhood. Cassie knows there has to be a catch—only someone with a secret to hide would rent out a room for that price.

Of course, her new roommate Frederick J. Fitzwilliam is far from normal. He sleeps all day, is out at night on business, and talks like he walked out of a regency romance novel. He also leaves Cassie heart-melting notes around the apartment, cares about her art, and asks about her day. And he doesn’t look half bad shirtless, on the rare occasions they’re both home and awake. But when Cassie finds bags of blood in the fridge that definitely weren’t there earlier, Frederick has to come clean...

Cassie’s sexy new roommate is a vampire. And he has a proposition for her.

My Thoughts: Cassie Greenberg needs a new apartment. She's being evicted from her current place. When she sees a Craigslist add about a guy looking for a roommate for only $200 a month, she suspicious, but she's also desperate. 

Frederick J. Fitzwilliam needs someone to help him fit into modern society. He's a vampire who has recently awoken from a 100-year curse. He's also dealing with a mother who really, really wants him to marry the vampire of her choice. 

An artist who creates with found materials and who works a few part-time jobs doesn't seem like a good match for a man who is out of his time, but they are immediately attracted and the attraction grows as they exchange notes and learn more about each other. 

This was a cute romance with engaging characters. 

Favorite Quote:

So I said the first thing that popped into my head. "Are you...curious about kissing?"

Probably a stupid question, given what I'd found on my laptop. But he looke surprised all the same. His eyes snapped to mine. "What makes you think that?"

I huffed a laugh. "Your browser history."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Book & Audio Review: Something from the Nightside by Simon R. Green

Something from the Nightside
Author: Simon R. Green
Narrator: Dan Calley
Series: Nightside (Book 1)
Publication: Ace (May 27, 2003); Tantor Audio (January 18, 2022)
Length: 238 p,; 4 hours and 55 minutes

Description: Taylor is the name, John Taylor. My card says I’m a detective, but what I really am is an expert on finding lost things. It’s part of the gift I was born with as a child of the Nightside.

I left there a long time ago, with my skin and sanity barely intact. Now I make my living in the sunlit streets of London. But business has been slow lately, so when Joanna Barrett showed up at my door, reeking of wealth, asking me to find her runaway teenage daughter, I didn’t say no.

Then I found out exactly where the girl had gone.

The Nightside. That square mile of Hell in the middle of the city, where it’s always three A.M. Where you can walk beside myths and drink with monsters. Where nothing is what it seems and everything is possible.

I swore I’d never return. But there’s a kid in danger and a woman depending on me. So I have no choice—I’m going home.

My Thoughts: This first book in the Nightside series begins like a noir hard-boiled detective story. John Taylor is scraping a living as a private investigator in London. Then a woman walks in with a problem. She's offering big bucks to Taylor to find her runaway daughter. Intrigued by the case and the woman, Taylor agrees. But there is a problem - the case will take him back to the Nightside he left six years earlier.

From that point the book shifts to a dark urban fantasy with more than a touch of horror as Taylor travels the Nightside with his client meeting old friends and old enemies in his quest to find the missing teenager. 

The worldbuilding was intriguing and, frankly, horrifying. A house that eats people and dead zones that transport people to other times were intriguing. The characters and dialog seemed ripped from a 1940s mystery. 

While I enjoyed this story, the horror aspects will keep me from continuing on with the series. Fans of horror and noir mysteries will likely want to continue. 

Favorite Quote:

There's a certain comfort to be had in finding the answers to other people's problems, if you can't solve your own.

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

Book & Audio Review: The Vampire Knitting Club by Nancy Warren

The Vampire Knitting Club
Author: Nancy Warren
Narrator: Sarah Zimmerman
Series: Vampire Knitting Club (Book 1)
Publication: Tantor Audio (June 11, 2019); Ambleside Publishing (October 4, 2018)
Length: 6 hours and 6 minutes; 226 p.

Description: Vampires who knit. A troublemaking witch. Who killed Granny — and is she really dead?

At a crossroads between a cringe-worthy past (Todd the Toad) and an uncertain future (she's not exactly homeless, but it's close), Lucy Swift travels to Oxford to visit her grandmother. With Gran's undying love to count on and Cardinal Woolsey's, Gran's knitting shop, to keep her busy, Lucy can catch her breath and figure out what she's going to do.

Except it turns out that Gran is the undying. Or at least, the undead. But there's a death certificate. And a will, leaving the knitting shop to Lucy. And a lot of people going in and out who never use the door—including Gran, who is just as loving as ever, and prone to knitting sweaters at warp speed, late at night. What exactly is going on?

When Lucy discovers that Gran did not die peacefully in her sleep, but was murdered, she has to bring the killer to justice without tipping off the law that there's no body in the grave. Between a hot 600-year-old vampire and a dishy detective inspector, both of whom always seem to be there for her, Lucy finds her life getting more complicated than a triple cable cardigan. The only one who seems to know what's going on is her cat ... or is it ... her familiar?

My Thoughts: Lucy Swift is having a run of bad luck. Her job is downsized. Her boyfriend butt-dials her while having sex with another woman. And, after running to her Grandmother in Oxford, she learns that her Grandmother had died three weeks earlier. 

Now Lucy finds herself the new owner of a knitting store, but she absolutely can't knit. She also finds that her Grandmother was murdered by someone who broke into her shop, was saved by a vampire, and turned into a vampire herself. She also learns that the vampires routinely meet in the back room of the shop for their own knitting club.

Lucy wants to find out who murdered her grandmother even if everyone, including the police, believe she died of natural causes. She has quite a few suspects. There is a real estate developer who wants to buy her grandmother's shop and other near-by shops. It's an all-or-none deal and Lucy and her grandmother don't want to sell. There have been shop break-ins and an ancient grimoire is missing. Lucy didn't even know that she had a family heritage as a witch. She's suspicious of a new cousin she didn't even know she had because she might be the one who wants the grimoire.

I liked Lucy. She is very uncertain about what she wants for her future when she arrives in Oxford. She wasn't expecting to inherit the knitting shop and doesn't know if she wants to do so. She knows business but not knitting. But she doesn't want to disappoint her grandmother either. 

She solves the murders, and there ends up being three counting her grandmother, and finds a future, a couple of potential boyfriends, family, and a cute black cat. This is the first of a thirteen book series. I think Sarah Zimmerman did a great job with the voices and accents.

Favorite Quote:

Gran wanted me to run her knitting shop and spend my spare time reading an ancient family diary I barely remembered. And I thought my life in the corporate cubicle had been dull.

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

Friday Memes: The Vampire Knitting Club by Nancy Warren

 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.

Beginning:

Cardinal Woolsey's knitting shop has appeared on postcards celebrating the quaint views of Oxford, of which there are many. When a visitor has tired of writing 'wish you were here' on the back of pictures of the various colleges, the dreaming spires, and the dome of the Radcliffe Camera, a cozy little shop painted blue, brimming with baskets of wool and hand-knit goods, can be so much more inviting.

Friday 56:

I woke suddenly without knowing what had woke me. Was it a dream? I had a sense of darkness, and someone had screamed, but I couldn't capture the dream.

This week I'm spotlighting a new arrival to my TBR mountain. I bought both the Kindle copy and Audible copy of The Vampire Knitting Club by Nancy Warren. Here's the description from Amazon:

Vampires who knit. A troublemaking witch. Who killed Granny — and is she really dead?

At a crossroads between a cringe-worthy past (Todd the Toad) and an uncertain future (she's not exactly homeless, but it's close), Lucy Swift travels to Oxford to visit her grandmother. With Gran's undying love to count on and Cardinal Woolsey's, Gran's knitting shop, to keep her busy, Lucy can catch her breath and figure out what she's going to do.

Except it turns out that Gran is the undying. Or at least, the undead. But there's a death certificate. And a will, leaving the knitting shop to Lucy. And a lot of people going in and out who never use the door—including Gran, who is just as loving as ever, and prone to knitting sweaters at warp speed, late at night. What exactly is going on?

When Lucy discovers that Gran did not die peacefully in her sleep, but was murdered, she has to bring the killer to justice without tipping off the law that there's no body in the grave. Between a hot 600-year-old vampire and a dishy detective inspector, both of whom always seem to be there for her, Lucy finds her life getting more complicated than a triple cable cardigan. The only one who seems to know what's going on is her cat ... or is it ... her familiar?

Book and Audio Review: Evil Dark by Justin Gustainis

Evil Dark
Author: Justin Gustainis

Narrator: Peter Brooke
Series: Occult Crimes Unit Investigation (Book 2)
Publication:  Angry Robot (April 24, 2012); Audible Studios (March 4, 2014)

Length: 10 hours and 57 minutes; 400 p.

Description: My name's Markowski. I carry a badge. Also, a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a 9mm Beretta loaded with silver bullets.

A series of seemingly motiveless murders of supernatural creatures points to a vigilante targeting the supe community. Markowski wouldn't normally have much of a problem with that, but his daughter may be next on the killer's list...

My Thoughts: Stan Markowski is a detective in the Occult Crimes Investigation Unit in Scranton, PA. Though he doesn't think much of vampires or other paranormal beings, he is gradually coming around now that his partner and daughter are both vampires. His current case centers around the unexplained deaths of a variety of supernaturals including witches and werewolves. The FBI also comes to town with another case: someone is summoning demons and making snuff films and it looks like they are being filmed in Scranton.

As Markowski and his partner investigate they discover that Scranton may be the test site for a future race war pitting humans against supernaturals. There are lots of references to Helter Skelter and Charles Manson. There are defrocked bishops and millionaires with agendas. 

This was an interesting combination of genres. It read as a hard-boiled detective story in an alternate present peopled by humans and supernatural beings. Markowski is a smart, competent cop who is eager to get to the bottom of the problem. His partner Karl is a recently-turned vampire and a James Bond fan. His daughter works as a police dispatcher on the night shift, naturally. 

Fans of hard-boiled detective stories and urban fantasy will enjoy this series. I'm eager to read about their next case.

Favorite Quote:

"Neil Charles Duffy," she said. "He's known locally as 'Duffy the Vampire Slayer'."

"Cute," Karl muttered. Clearly, he didn't think it was.

I bought this one April 24, 2012. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: Evil Dark by Justin Gustainis

 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.

Beginning:

The city is Scranton. My name is Markowski. I carry a badge. The monsters from your nightmares are real, all of them. If you live in my town, protecting you from them -- and vice versa -- is my job.

Friday 56:

It was Wednesday morning, and tonight would be our night off. I wouldn't have minded working anyway, but McGuire will only authorize overtime if we're chasing a hot lead. And right now we had no leads - hot, cold, or room temperature.

This week I am spotlighting Evil Dark by Justin Gustainis which has been on my TBR mountain Since April 24, 2012. Here is the description from Amazon:

My name's Markowski. I carry a badge. Also, a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a 9mm Beretta loaded with silver bullets.

A series of seemingly motiveless murders of supernatural creatures points to a vigilante targeting the supe community. Markowski wouldn't normally have much of a problem with that, but his daughter may be next on the killer's list...

ARC Review: Shadowed Steel by Chloe Neill

Shadowed Steel
Author: Chloe Neill
Series: An Heirs of Chicagoland Novel (Book 3)
Publication: Berkley (May 4, 2021)

Description: In the third installment in the USA Today bestselling Heirs of Chicagoland series, the vampires in Elisa Sullivan's world are out for blood.

Elisa Sullivan is the only vampire ever born, and she bears a heavy legacy. After a sojourn with the North American Central Pack of shifters in the wilderness—where she turned a young woman into a vampire to save her life—Elisa returns to Chicago.

But no good deed goes unpunished. The ruling body of vampires, the Assembly of American Masters, is furious that Elisa turned someone without their permission, and they want her punished. When an AAM vampire is found dead, Elisa is the prime suspect. Someone else is stalking Chicago—and Elisa. She'll need to keep a clear head, and a sharp blade, to survive all the supernatural strife.

My Thoughts: In this third book in the Heirs of Chicagoland series, Elisa Sullivan finds herself in trouble with the Assembly of American Masters for making a human into a vampire in the previous book in this series. 

Vampires from the Compliance Bureau have come to Chicago to demand that Elisa join a House or face the consequences which include testing and/or facing a kind of imprisonment until she complies. Testing is not something she will agree to. She hasn't even told her parents about her monster half. Only her best friend Lulu and her boyfriend Connor know about it.

When Blake, one of the vampires from the Compliance Bureau, is found messily dead, Elisa is pulled in for questioning by the Ombud's Office where she has been working. She's put on administrative leave while the investigation goes on which makes her very determined to find out who killed Blake.

Elisa has also attracted a stalker who is sending her creepy notes which talk about their very close relationship. Elisa has no idea who's sending the messages but she's concerned that the stalker seems to be targeting her friends including Connor.

This was a very entertaining story filled with both action and vampire politics. I like the way Elisa's  relationship with Connor is progressing. I also like her determination to make her own choices and not let anything, including disappointing her parents, get in the way of making the right choices for her life. I enjoyed the worldbuilding and the near-future setting of the story. 

Favorite Quote:

"We follow the rules we can; we break them if it's necessary to save others. "Put that on a damn pennant, I thought, and fly it above the loft.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: Sucker Punch by Laurell K. Hamilton

Sucker Punch
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Series: Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Book 27
Publication: Berkley (August 4, 2020)

Description: A brutal murder, a suspect in jail, and an execution planned—but what if the wrong person is about to be killed? 

When a fellow U.S. Marshal asks Anita Blake to fly to a tiny community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on an emergency consult, she knows time is running short. When she arrives, there is plenty of proof that a young wereleopard killed his uncle in the most gruesome and bloody way possible. As the mounting evidence points to him, a warrant of execution is already under way.

But something seems off about the murder, and Anita has been asked for her expert opinion on the crime scene. Despite escalating pressure from local cops and the family’s cries for justice for their dead patriarch, Anita quickly realizes that the evidence doesn’t quite add up.

Time is against Anita, as the tight-knit community is up in arms and its fear of supernaturals is growing. She races to uncover the truth and determine whether the Marshals have caught the killer or are about to execute an innocent man—all in the name of justice.

My Thoughts: When Anita is called to assist a fellow Marshal in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, she goes to help out a man who she has mentored. She finds a case that should be simple - a wereleopard has killed his adopted father - but it turns out to be much more complicated.

Marshal Win Newman isn't convinced that Bobby Marchant actually killed his adopted father. And once Anita gets a look at him and at the scene, she has her doubts too. But a warrant of execution has been authorized and they have limited time before they are required by law to execute it and end Bobby's life. 

Anita and Win have to convince the Sheriff that they need to do more investigating before they'll execute the warrant. They find the victim's estranged sister and her husband looting the house almost before the body had been removed which adds them to the list of possible suspects. Also, there is something very suspicious about the victim's stepdaughter.

Adding to the tension is that Marshal Otto Jeffries shows up to notch up the tension. Otherwise knows and Olaf and a serial killer who has fixated on Anita, Jeffries is trying to convince Anita that they can have a relationship which doesn't end with her tortured, raped and murdered. Anita calls her best friend Marshal Ted Forrester to come help her with Olaf. Anita also calls in some of one of her fiance's people to act as advocates for Bobby and, incidentally, to protect her from Olaf. 

Most of this story deals with the mystery and much less of it is concerned with Anita's very complicated love life. There is quite a bit of discussion about her domestic situation but just a couple of kisses for any demonstration of it. Anita's ardeur does rear its head when she accidentally rolls a stripper that she is interviewing but otherwise seems to have it under control.

I liked this story because it wasn't so involved with Anita's sex life. I did miss the presence of Jean Claude, Nathaniel and Micah though. I thought the mystery was pretty well done. I liked the investigation into the victim's death. While the story didn't have what anyone would describe as a happy ending, it did provide a satisfying resolution to the case while leaving a number of issues to be solved in later books. 

Favorite Quote:

There are three types of people in this world: those you protect, those who fight with you, and those who fight against you. You killed to save those under your protection and to defend your own life and the lives of the people who fought beside you. It was simple math until the monsters became your friends and the people who were fighting beside you still wanted to kill them. Then it all went to hell.

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

ARC Review: Wicked Hour by Chloe Neill

Wicked Hour
Author: Chloe Neill
Series: An Heirs of Chicagoland Novel (Book 2)
Publication: Berkley (December 3, 2019)

Description: In the second pulse-pounding novel in the USA Today bestselling Heirs of Chicagoland series, vampire Elisa Sullivan gets drawn into the shifting sands of Pack politics.

Vampires were made, not born — until Elisa Sullivan came along. As the only vampire child in existence, she grew up with a heavy legacy, and tried to flee her past. Then circumstances drew her back to Chicago, and she stayed to keep it safe. With shifter Connor Keene, the only son of Pack Apex Gabriel Keene, at her side, she faced down a supernatural evil that threatened to destroy Chicago forever.

After the dust from the attack has settled, Elisa is surprised when Connor invites her to a usually private Pack event in the north woods of Minnesota, and by the warm welcome she receives from some of Connor’s family, even though she's a vampire. But the peace doesn't last. The shifters tell tales of a monster in the woods, and when the celebration is marred by death, Elisa and Connor find themselves in the middle of a struggle for control that forces Elisa to face her true self — fangs and all.

My Thoughts: This is the second book starring Elisa Sullivan and Connor Keene. They resolved their childhood issues in the first in this series but now are wondering if they can have a romantic relationship being that she's a vampire and he's a werewolf and the next Apex of the clan. When Connor is invited to a christening in Grand Bay, Minnesota, in a pack that is still hiding its supernatural heritage from the rest of the world, he asks Elisa to ride along on his motorcycle. He feels there is something wrong with the pack and wants Elisa's input.

They arrive to find that the pack is firmly divided between the old guard who are hanging on to power with every bit of their strength and the young members who want something different for the pack. Add to that the recent death of a young pack member, an attack on another by some strange creature, and the death of one of the elders in a particularly gruesome way, and you have a case that will take all of Connor's and Elisa's various skills to solve.

Elisa is also still trying to learn how to deal with the monster within who has always been a part of her life and her most closely guarded secret.

I liked the fast-paced action of the story. I liked the Minnesota setting. I liked the snarky dialog. And I especially liked the growing relationship between Connor and Elisa.

Favorite Quote:

Paloma blanched when she saw us coming, then tried to play casual by flipping the "Open" sign to "Closed."

"Wow,: Theo said. "I don't know if we should go in now that she's turned that sign around."

"Yeah," I said, pushing open the door. "It's a real obstacle."

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: Serpentine by Laurell K. Hamilton

Serpentine
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Series: Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (Book 26)
Publication: Berkley (August 7, 2018)

Description: Vampire hunter Anita Blake has always managed to overcome everything she faces. But this time there’s a monster that even she doesn’t know how to fight...

A remote Florida island is the perfect wedding destination for the upcoming nuptials of Anita’s fellow U.S. Marshal and best friend, Edward. For Anita, the vacation is a welcome break, as it’s the first trip she gets to take with just wereleopards Micah and Nathaniel. But it’s not all fun and games and bachelor parties…

In this tropical paradise, Micah discovers a horrific new form of lycanthropy, one that has afflicted a single family for generations. Believed to be the result of an ancient Greek curse, it turns human bodies into a mass of snakes.

When long-simmering resentment leads to a big blowp within the wedding party, the last thing Anita needs is more drama. But it finds her anyway when women start disappearing from the hotel, and worse, her own friends and lovers are considered the prime suspects. There’s a strange power afoot that Anita has never confronted before, a force that’s rendering those around her helpless. Unable to face it on her own, Anita is willing to accept help from even the deadliest places. Help that she will most certainly regret—if she survives at all, that is…

My Thoughts: Anita and Micah have been so busy traveling for their various jobs that Nathaniel is feeling neglected. Fortunately, Edward's destination wedding in the Florida Keys with his long-time girlfriend Donna is giving them a chance for a romantic getaway. But work is threatening to interfere when first Micah's job encroaches when he's called to bring an in the closet, but out of control, shifter home from the bar where he is drowning his sorrows.

Then a young woman who has been flirting with Nathaniel and one of their bodyguards goes missing and is found gruesomely dead. One of the local detectives has decided that Nathaniel is guilty and is using a secret psychic power to get him to confess.

When a second woman is kidnapped and she's a member of Donna's wedding party, Anita, Edward, Bernardo and creepy Otto are called in to locate her using Nathaniel in his leopard form as a tracker. They find her but two other young women disappear.  Bringing together Micah's case of a family that believes they have been cursed which causes some of them to grow snakes from various parts of their body and their cop with his secret psychic abilities.

Unfortunately, this situation with the kidnappings and people turning to serpents is almost overpowered by the relationship issues that are going on in the story. Besides the Anita, Micah, Nathaniel drama there is drama between Donna and Edward since she is very jealous of Anita and Edward's relationship. She is convinced, and has confided on one of her bridesmaids, that Anita and Edward are having an affair. The bridesmaid goes more than a little crazy and is determined to tell Donna's children Peter and Becca about the affair. Peter knows that there is no affair but eleven-year-old Becca needs to be protected so that her opinion of the man who has been her father since she was six isn't damaged.

This was another entertaining episode in the long-running Anita Blake series that most fans will want to read.

Favorite Quote:

"If you decide day after day to make good, positive, moral choices, they you are not evil. In fact, you would be the definition of a good person."

"You're saying that she's not evil because she has decided to be good?"

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

Friday Memes: Serpentine by Laurell K. Hamilton

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.

Beginning:

I was standing in the air-conditioned hush of Forever Bridal in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but since all I could see was a rack of plastic-wrapped wedding dresses taller than my head, I could have been in any bridal shop in any part of the country.

Friday 56:

"We're supposed to be protecting you, not watching the show," Nicky said.

Nathaniel paused with his hand on the door to the bathroom. "Can't you do both?"

"Not really and not well."

This week I am spotlighting Serpentine by Laurell K. Hamilton - the 26th book in the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series. Here is the description from Amazon:

Vampire hunter Anita Blake has always managed to overcome everything she faces. But this time there’s a monster that even she doesn’t know how to fight...

A remote Florida island is the perfect wedding destination for the upcoming nuptials of Anita’s fellow U.S. Marshal and best friend, Edward. For Anita, the vacation is a welcome break, as it’s the first trip she gets to take with just wereleopards Micah and Nathaniel. But it’s not all fun and games and bachelor parties…

In this tropical paradise, Micah discovers a horrific new form of lycanthropy, one that has afflicted a single family for generations. Believed to be the result of an ancient Greek curse, it turns human bodies into a mass of snakes.

When long-simmering resentment leads to a big blowp within the wedding party, the last thing Anita needs is more drama. But it finds her anyway when women start disappearing from the hotel, and worse, her own friends and lovers are considered the prime suspects. There’s a strange power afoot that Anita has never confronted before, a force that’s rendering those around her helpless. Unable to face it on her own, Anita is willing to accept help from even the deadliest places. Help that she will most certainly regret—if she survives at all, that is…

Book Review: Blade Bound by Chloe Neill

Blade Bound
Author: Chloe Neill
Series: Chicagoland Vampires (Book 13)
Publication: Berkley (April 25, 2017)

Description: The thrilling final installment of Chloe Neill’s New York Times bestselling urban fantasy series sees sinister sorcery advancing across Chicago, and it might usher in the fall of Cadogan House....

Since the night of her brutal attack and unwilling transformation into a vampire, Merit has stood as Sentinel and protector of Chicago’s Cadogan House. She’s saved the Windy City from the forces of darkness time and again with her liege and lover, Ethan Sullivan, by her side.

When the House is infiltrated and Merit is attacked by a vampire who seems to be under the sway of dark magic, Merit and Ethan realize the danger is closer than they could have imagined. As malign sorcery spreads throughout the city, Merit must go to war against supernatural powers beyond her comprehension. It is her last chance to save everything—and everyone—she loves.

My Thoughts: BLADE BOUND concludes the Chicagoland Vampires series. It begins with a wedding. Merit and Ethan are set to tie themselves together for eternity. We get to tag along on Merit's girls night out where she and friends overindulge on chocolate. Things have been quiet in Chicago for four months after Sorcha's defeat but, naturally, things can't stay that way.

The night before the wedding Merit surprises a vampire in Ethan's office who seems to be mentally ill. He is frantic because he is hearing voices. The next day when Merit and Ethan are taking wedding pictures they come upon a riot where humans hearing voices are fighting.

Something is going on in Chicago. Both Gabriel and Mallory have has a sense of unease. It shouldn't be Sorcha since the wizards have put up wards that should trigger if she comes back to Chicago. But next the weather starts getting colder. While snow in August isn't impossible, the temperature and the amount of snow, especially since it is falling from a clear sky, make it clear that something magical is happening.

The center of the magical disturbance is traced to Sorcha's Towerline building. Ethan and Merit break in and discover Sorcha's workroom and manage to gather some of her notes before needing to leave ahead of guards. Mallory and Catcher manage to decipher the cryptic notes which show that Sorcha is building a magical construct to help her get revenge on Chicago, Merit and Mallory.

This story was action-packed and filled with new dangers for Merit and Ethan. Merit has her courage tested. She and Ethan are still trying to decide what they feel about the prophecy that they will have the first vampire child. Merit is very concerned for that future child's safety.

This was a great conclusion to an excellent series. I look forward to seeing where Neill takes the spinoff series which will begin in 2018.

Favorite Quote:

"And we know the fireball juju doesn't work," I said. "So what will?"

"The world's biggest bear trap?" Mallory asked. "Extra-large elephant gun? Freeze ray?"

"Excellent ideas, Wile E. Coyote."

Mallory growled. 

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

Friday Memes: Blade Bound by Chloe Neill

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.

Beginning:

It was midnight in Chicago, and all was well.

Friday 56:

I was getting married today. And I was feeling pretty damned good about it.

This week I am reading Blade Bound by Chloe Neill. This is the final book in her Chicagoland Vampires series. Here is the description from Amazon:

The thrilling final installment of Chloe Neill’s New York Times bestselling urban fantasy series sees sinister sorcery advancing across Chicago, and it might usher in the fall of Cadogan House....

Since the night of her brutal attack and unwilling transformation into a vampire, Merit has stood as Sentinel and protector of Chicago’s Cadogan House. She’s saved the Windy City from the forces of darkness time and again with her liege and lover, Ethan Sullivan, by her side.

When the House is infiltrated and Merit is attacked by a vampire who seems to be under the sway of dark magic, Merit and Ethan realize the danger is closer than they could have imagined. As malign sorcery spreads throughout the city, Merit must go to war against supernatural powers beyond her comprehension. It is her last chance to save everything—and everyone—she loves.

WoW: Dating the Undead by Juliet Lyons

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. She has a linky widget at her site each week for your post and to make it easy to find posts by other people.

The purpose of the meme is to spotlight books that we are eagerly anticipating. It is fun to take a look at what others are waiting for. I have noticed that it has expanded my wishlist though. Be warned!

Dating the Undead

Juliet Lyons

May 2

For mortals wanting to get up close and personal with the beautiful undead, there's...

V-DATE, THE UNDEAD DATING SERVICE

Silver Harris is over clingy men―maybe men altogether. But when she shares a toe-curling kiss with a sexy Irish vampire on New Year's Eve, she wonders if maybe it's human men she's done with. Silver turns to the popular vampire dating site, V-Date, but soon she's in over her head and her mysterious hottie is nowhere to be found...

Logan Byrne can't get that sassy redhead out of his head―or that kiss! When his boss assigns him to spy on V-Date members, he meets Silver again. Turns out, the police are recruiting humans to snitch on vampires through the dating site. As the snark and sparks fly, feelings between Silver and Logan grow deep and suddenly Logan isn't so sure he can betray her, no matter how dangerous the consequences might be.

Book Review: Archangel's Heart by Nalini Singh

Archangel's Heart
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: A Guild Hunter Novel (Book 9)
Publication: Berkley (November 1, 2016)

Description: One of the most vicious archangels in the world has disappeared. No one knows if Lijuan is dead or has chosen to Sleep the long sleep of an immortal. But with her lands falling into chaos under a rising tide of vampiric bloodlust, a mysterious and ancient order of angels known as the Luminata calls the entire Cadre together to discuss the fate of her territory.

Accompanying her archangelic lover Raphael to the Luminata compound, guild hunter-turned-angel Elena senses that all is not as it seems. Secrets echo from within the stone walls of the compound, and the deeper Elena goes, the uglier the darkness. But neither Raphael nor Elena is ready for the brutal truths hidden within—truths that will change everything Elena thinks she knows about who she is…

Nothing will ever be the same again.

My Thoughts: Elena and her archangel lover Raphael are both on tenterhooks during a period of calm since the last cascade fearing that another cascade could happen at any time. they are also keeping a close eye on Lijuan who seems to be losing her mind and isn't going to go mad with causing major damage and destruction. Things are happening in Lijuan's China that leads the archangels to the conclusion that she is either dead or has chosen to sleep. This leaves a power vacuum in the area. Something must be done. The Luminata call a meeting in their stronghold in Morocco to decide what to do about China. Each archangel can bring two seconds to the meeting.

The Luminata are supposed to be a monklike group of angels who are searching for enlightenment. Raphael and Elena know that something is off when they arrive. The atmosphere sets off Elena's senses. She feels that she is being spied upon and she feels that Gian who leads the Luminata is too focused on her. Elena has a secondary reason for going to Morocco. She is trying to track down her mother's family. Her mother was orphaned at age 5 when her mother left her in the care of a kindly nun promising to return but never did. Elena has unique coloring that she feels is inherited. She hopes someone will have known her grandmother.

Her visit with some of the other seconds to a nearby town only ramp up her feeling that something is really wrong. The people there are all very frightened of angels. Also, the only people who live in the town are humans. Usually even the smallest town has some vampires too. Asking about her mother frightens the older people even more.

This was an entertaining episode in the Guild Hunter series. I love seeing Elena and Raphael's love grow stronger as they get to know each other better. I also like seeing more of the other angels who owe fealty to Raphael. This one gave readers a chance to learn more about Aodhan who is recovering from an abuse filled captivity. I also enjoyed seeing more of Raphael's mother who is an awesomely powerful archangel.

Favorite Quote:

Elena nodded. She might only be a "baby" angel, but she'd learned lessons in her mortal life that stood her in good stead in the immortal world. One of those lessons was that, sometimes, the worst dangers wore a pretty or "trustworthy" face. Slater Patalis had been as handsome as sin.

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

Friday Memes: Archangel's Heart by Nalini Singh

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.

Beginning:

She was tired.

Not old in years. Just tired. While her vocation called to her as powerfully as it had always done, the reality was a relentless workload that offered little time for the life of study and reflection that she craved.

Friday 56:

Elena spoke the words of love in her grandmother's language, felt Raphael's response in the look he gave her. It was blue fire and it was furious tenderness.

This week I'm taking a break in my reviewing schedule to read a recent arrival in one of my favorite series. Archangel's Heart by Nalini Singh is the ninth Guild Hunter novel. Here is the description from Amazon:

One of the most vicious archangels in the world has disappeared. No one knows if Lijuan is dead or has chosen to Sleep the long sleep of an immortal. But with her lands falling into chaos under a rising tide of vampiric bloodlust, a mysterious and ancient order of angels known as the Luminata calls the entire Cadre together to discuss the fate of her territory.

Accompanying her archangelic lover Raphael to the Luminata compound, guild hunter-turned-angel Elena senses that all is not as it seems. Secrets echo from within the stone walls of the compound, and the deeper Elena goes, the uglier the darkness. But neither Raphael nor Elena is ready for the brutal truths hidden within—truths that will change everything Elena thinks she knows about who she is…

Nothing will ever be the same again.

Book Review: The President's Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth

The President's Vampire
Author: Christopher Farnsworth
Series: Nathaniel Cade (Book 2)
Publication: Putnam Adult (April 28, 2011)

Description: The ultimate secret. The ultimate agent. Nathaniel Cade returns. 

For 140 years, Nathaniel Cade has been the President's Vampire, sworn to protect and serve his country. Cade's existence is the most closely guarded of White House secrets: a superhuman covert agent who is the last line of defense against nightmare scenarios that ordinary citizens only dream of.

When a new outbreak of an ancient evil-one that he has seen before- comes to light, Cade and his human handler, Zach Barrows, must track down its source. To "protect and serve" often means settling old scores and confronting new betrayals . . . as only a centuries-old predator can.

My Thoughts: A political thriller meets a paranormal story in THE PRESIDENT'S VAMPIRE. Nathaniel Cade has been sworn to protect the country as the President's vampire for 140 years. He is the most secret of secret agents. His handler is Zach Barrows who had a very promising political future and job in the West Wing before he was drafted into service with Cade.

In this episode, the second in the series, Cade and Zach are tracking down a conspiracy which intends to turn humans into lizard people and bring about a new world order. I liked that flashbacks to earlier in Cade's history. I liked the relationship between Cade and Zach which lets each of them play on their strengths.

The story was fast-paced, exciting and bloody. Fans of thrillers and the paranormal will enjoy this story.

Favorite Quote:

It had all the hallmarks of a good compromise: it didn't look like it was going to make anyone happy.

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

Friday Memes: The President's Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth

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.

This week I am spotlighting The President's Vampire by Christopher Farnsworth. This book has been on my TBR mountain since Sept. 9, 2011. I probably bought it right after I finished Blood Oath but it got set aside until now.
Here is the description:

The ultimate secret. The ultimate agent. Nathaniel Cade returns. 

For 140 years, Nathaniel Cade has been the President's Vampire, sworn to protect and serve his country. Cade's existence is the most closely guarded of White House secrets: a superhuman covert agent who is the last line of defense against nightmare scenarios that ordinary citizens only dream of.

When a new outbreak of an ancient evil-one that he has seen before- comes to light, Cade and his human handler, Zach Barrows, must track down its source. To "protect and serve" often means settling old scores and confronting new betrayals . . . as only a centuries-old predator can.

Beginning:

NOVEMBER 29, 2001, NEAR PARACHINAR, PAKISTAN

Nathaniel Cade watched the men from his hidden perch as they walked up the narrow mountain path.

Friday 56:

Graves—whatever his real name was—had been part of every major covert operation the CIA pulled in the past four decades. His résumé read like the Agency's greatest hits.

Book Review: Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

Dead Ever After

Author: Charlaine Harris

Publication: Ace Hardcover; First Edition edition (May 7, 2013)

Description: THE FINAL SOOKIE STACKHOUSE NOVEL 

There are secrets in the town of Bon Temps, ones that threaten those closest to Sookie—and could destroy her heart....

Sookie Stackhouse  finds it easy to turn down the request of former barmaid Arlene when she wants her job back at Merlotte’s. After all, Arlene tried to have Sookie killed. But her relationship with Eric Northman is not so clearcut. He and his vampires are keeping their distance…and a cold silence. And when Sookie learns the reason why, she is devastated.

Then a shocking murder rocks Bon Temps, and Sookie is arrested for the crime.

But the evidence against Sookie is weak, and she makes bail. Investigating the killing, she’ll learn that what passes for truth in Bon Temps is only a convenient lie. What passes for justice is more spilled blood. And what passes for love is never enough…

My Thoughts: I don't have much to say about this story except that I was satisfied with the conclusion. Even though I have been avoiding other reviews for fear of spoilers, I have heard enough to know that there are a variety of opinions about the way Charlaine Harris chose to end her series. I thought that she kept the story true to Sookie's character.

I liked seeing some favorite characters and some villains make a reappearance in this story. I felt satisfied with where those characters were. I was glad to see Mr. Cataliades and Diantha play a major role in this story. I really liked getting a chance to catch up with Quinn too. A brief appearance by Alcide let us catch up on his life too. 

I thought that the part of the story that dealt with Sookie's relationship with Eric ended up the only way it could given both Sookie's and Eric's characters. It gave Sookie a good chance to demonstrate her resilience and show that, despite all that happened to her through the series, she was still a good Southern girl. "Steel magnolia" wouldn't be a bad description for her. 

Throughout the series Sookie lost a lot of the innocence that she began the series with. Each new type of supernatural and each new thing she learned about her own heritage rubbed off some of the innocence but left a much stronger person. 

Read it and then go back and savor the whole series again. That is what I plan to do.

Favorite Quote:

"Karin is called the Slaughterer."

"Well, that's silly. The Slaughterer's just...cumbersome. 'Karin the Killer' would be way better."

If Bill had been prone to such gestures, he would have rolled his eyes. "Sookie..."

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

Friday Memes: Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

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.

This week I am indulging myself by choosing a book from my TBR mountain that I have been really eager to read. I chose Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris which is the final book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. I have been reading Sookie's story from the beginning and have mixed feelings about the series coming to a close. Here is the description:

THE FINAL SOOKIE STACKHOUSE NOVEL 

There are secrets in the town of Bon Temps, ones that threaten those closest to Sookie—and could destroy her heart....

Sookie Stackhouse  finds it easy to turn down the request of former barmaid Arlene when she wants her job back at Merlotte’s. After all, Arlene tried to have Sookie killed. But her relationship with Eric Northman is not so clearcut. He and his vampires are keeping their distance…and a cold silence. And when Sookie learns the reason why, she is devastated.

Then a shocking murder rocks Bon Temps, and Sookie is arrested for the crime.

But the evidence against Sookie is weak, and she makes bail. Investigating the killing, she’ll learn that what passes for truth in Bon Temps is only a convenient lie. What passes for justice is more spilled blood. And what passes for love is never enough…

Beginning:

The New Orleans businessman, whose gray hair put him in his fifties, was accompanied by his much younger and taller bodyguard/chauffeur on the night he met the devil in the French Quarter. The meeting was by prearrangement.

Friday 56:

"I was talking to my honey. I didn't hear you come in," she said chidingly. "What have you been up to? You over 'the flu'? I started to bring you a can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle."