Category Archives: Adult Paranormal Romance

Title:  Fury of Ice

Author:  Coreene Callahan

Genre:  Adult Paranormal Romance

Release Date:  June 5th , 2012

Homicide detective Angela Keen thrives on the city’s rough streets. But when she becomes the prize of all prizes in the dragon-shifter world due to her “high-energy” status, she gets more than she bargained for. Kidnapped by Lothair of the Razorback clan, Angela barely survives captivity before managing to escape. Hurt and alone with nowhere to hide, she faces certain death when Lothair uses the trace energy she leaves in her wake to hunt her down. But before he can reach her, a mystery dragon-shifter intervenes and saves Angela’s life.

Now a guest of the Nightfury clan, Angela regains her strength as her rescuer, Rikar, the last living frost dragon, gradually breaks down her mistrust. Surrendering to her desire for Rikar, but still uncertain of her feelings, Angela goes against his wishes and agrees to be used as bait to lure Lothair into the open. As the battle commences, the true struggle comes from within: Will Angela return home to the life she loves, or forsake it all to be with Rikar?

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review:  I am a huge fan of dragons, so when I first got wind of this series I was really excited.  I inhaled the first book, Fury of Fire (review here) and was thrilled to receive the second one through the Amazon Vine program.  Especially since it focused on Rikar, I really gravitated towards his character in the first book and was eager to see how his story played out.

We pick up right where we left off in Fury of Fire, Angela has been captured by Lothaire and Rikar will do anything possible to get her out.  When we meet up with Angela she is currently under Lothaire’s control and it was not easy to read what she has been through.  However, it did establish her as an extremely strong character and able to think on her feet.  I admired her courage in the face of evil and her ability to fight for her life and not just cringe and wait to be rescued.

Meanwhile, poor Rikar is losing his mind trying to find her and deal with a new member of the pack.  I will not give away the identity of that member, but I should have seen it coming and just didn’t.  Rikar is trying to help the new guy through the change and get Angela back.  I liked getting to see him with the rest of the pack because each member is so unique and distinctive.  Coreene does a great job of giving each character their own individual voice, so I never got confused about who is talking.  I love that about her writing.

While we get the point of views from both Rikar and Angela, we also get to see inside Lothaire and a couple other characters heads that you will have to wait and find out about.  I know that having the point of view change so much might sound like it would be confusing, but it actually had the opposite effect.   Seeing this world through so many eyes made the story flow very well and kept the plot moving forward.  Each character held a piece to the overall puzzle and as we change point of views we get more pieces coming together to make the overall picture.  It was a well-balanced book that did not linger too long on the action, the down time or the romance.

Speaking of the romance, Angela had quite a few issues to work through before she could give her heart to Rikar.  She had an emotional journey to go on before she could enter any kind of physical one with Rikar.  And he was there for her every step of the way.  Who would have thought that the guy who was giving Bastian a hard time in the last book would turn out to be just a big of a sap?  These two were walking on eggshells around one another trying to feel the other out and see where they stood.  They almost talked themselves out of a relationship before it even got off the ground, but luckily they let their guards down long enough to give their feelings a chance.  It was a very different courtship from the one we saw with Bastian and Myst and I was happy to see Coreene change it up a bit to keep it exciting.

The overall story arc with Ivar is still going strong and man is that one creepy guy.  He is seriously twisted and I think he is just going to keep getting worse from here on out.  He does not have as much page time as he did in the last book because Lothaire is really in charge of the battles in this book.  However, I know we have not seen the last of Ivar and I am sure he will continue to cause problems in future books.  He is a fantastic villain, easy to hate and definitely one I want to see brought down in the end.

Overall, I am just completely hooked on this series!  The dragon shifters in this world are fascinating and I cannot get enough of them.  Luckily at the end of this book we get a sneak peak at the next book, Fury of Seduction, due out in October.  I am so psyched to know who that book will be about and will be counting down the days until I can get my hands on it.  If you have not checked out this series and are a fan of dragons and paranormal romance, then you are missing out!  Make sure you read Fury of Fire first and then dive right into Fury of Ice.

FTC:  I received this ARC in the mail through the Amazon Vine Program.

Title:  Angel Betrayed

Author:  Cynthia Eden

Release Date:  June 26th, 2012

Genre:  Adult Paranormal Romance

Sammael – call him Sam – was an angel once. An angel of death. But the dispassionate, watch-from-above thing just wasn’t working for him when it meant watching evil torture innocent souls day in and day out. It might have cost him his wings, but these days, he gets to apply the direct method on the bad guys. Problem is, what’s making his life difficult is a bad girl…

Seline O’Shaw needs protection, and with the hounds of hell on her tail, she’s not going to quibble too hard about where she gets it. Sam’s virtue is questionable, but he’s smoking hot, massively powerful, and owes her a favor. So what if she’s getting a little case of angel lust? There are some damn deadly sins after her hide…

Summary from Goodreads.com

My Review:  I am a big fan of Cynthia Eden, she is a master storyteller and her books are always memorable.  I have read and loved her Night Watchers books and her Midnight books and was thrilled to see her enter the world of angels.  This first book in this series, Angel of Darkness (review here), introduced us to this world and once again affirmed my love for Cynthia.  We meet the hero for Angel Betrayed, well I am not sure I would call him that, but we do meet Sam in the first book.  He was an enigma for me at first, because I was not sure if he could be trusted and I was eager to see what Cynthia had in store for him in Angel Betrayed.

Sam is not a warm touchy feely kind of guy.  He has so much rage inside him, many fear being anywhere close to him.  Can’t say I blame them because he does not have a soft spot for anyone.  That is until he meets Seline. She approaches Sam on the premise of her needing his protection, but her true intentions take a little while to come out.  She was a spitfire and I loved her for not just bending to Sam’s will.  The result of the two of them butting heads was an intense chemistry and passion for one another.  Although trust was something they were not willing to give out to one another right away.  They had to learn to let someone else in and it was not an easy task to accomplish.  I enjoyed their journey together throughout this book, they came to learn so much about one another and themselves which helped me really connect with them.

The action in this story was non-stop.  It was one conflict after another being fired Sam and Seline’s way and I soaked in every minute.  They barely had time to stop and breathe, which kept me flying through the pages to decipher who was really after whom.  The Fallen may not be perfect, but the angels that still have their wings are not either.  They think they are better than the others, but in Angel Betrayed we learn that everything is not what it seems in Heaven.  I am sure this theme will continue through the rest of the series and I am very interested to see how it will play out.

The ending of this book had me on the edge of my seat!  There were quite a few moments I did not see coming and thought there was no way Sam and Seline were going to make it out.  Cynthia did an excellent job of building the suspense and had me guessing the outcome until the very end.

Overall, this book was amazing.  It had everything I wanted and more!  For any fans of paranormal romance, this is a series you cannot miss.  I suggest starting with the first book, Angel of Darkness first and then reading this one.  The end of the book sets up two different stories for two very different Fallen and I anxious to see who will get their story next.

FTC:  Thank you to the publisher for sending me this ARC for review.

Title: Shadow’s Edge

Author: J.T. Geissinger

Genre: Adult Paranormal Romance

Release Date: June 19th, 2012

Deep within the primeval forests of southern England, a race of beautiful, savage shape-shifters lives hidden from the everyday world. Bound together by ancient bloodlines and a ruthless code of secrecy that punishes traitors with death, the Ikatisend their leader Leander on a mission to capture one raised outside the tribe before she can expose their secret. When Leander tracks the unsuspecting outsider to Southern California, the hardened warrior is prepared for a fight—but not for the effect the sensual young beauty has on his heart.

Jenna spent her childhood in hiding, on the run from someone—or something—her parents refused to discuss. She trusts no one, not since her father’s mysterious disappearance, not since her mother’s sudden death, and definitely not since she began exhibiting strange, superhuman abilities. When handsome, enigmatic Leander appears, promising answers to the mysteries that shroud her past, she knows she shouldn’t trust him either. But their connection is undeniable, and as powerful as the enemy hell-bent on destroying every one of their kind…

Summary from Author’s Website

My Review: I am always leery when an author sends me an email asking if I will review their book. I am just not always sure if it is something that will fit in with my style and I do get some very strange requests at times. However, when J.T. approached me about Shadow’s Edge I read the summary and was very intrigued. It sounded like it fit in perfectly with the genres I love to read so I agreed to review it.

I am so glad I trusted my gut with this book, because it was awesome! It is a new take on shifters and the mythology was fascinating. The shifters in this world are called Ikati and have been around for centuries. They can shift, usually into some animal form, but have many other talents as well. Some of them can change into mist, others can use their powers of suggestion to persuade people to do something and the list continues from there. I liked the new twists added to the shifter mythology and enjoyed all of the information we were supplied about them.

Jenna was a great character, she has been alone so long though that she does not trust anyone. And while she does feel something right away for Leander, she does take the time to try to sort through those feelings and make sense of the new emotions pouring through her. She wants to trust him, but a lifetime of running has kept her guarding her heart. She did get in a couple of really clever jabs in on Leander and I love that she did not just fall into his arms without establishing her own boundaries first. Here is one example that I found highly amusing, Keep in mind I am just showing some of the scene not the whole thing. Leander has just ordered a very expensive wine from the place Jenna works in.

“Yes,” Jenna said acidly, “it suits you perfectly. The ’61 Latour is the ultimate penis wine.”….

“Really?” He said, controlled and calm. “How very amusing. Pray do enlighten me.”…

“I call them the penis wines,” Jenna replied, keeping the same tone of lightly contemptuous civility though her blood was boiling. She knew there would be hell to pay for this, knew her job was most likely kaput, but for the moment she could care less.

“They are the ridiculously expensive wines purchased as a show of masculinity by a certain species or men—excuse me, males—who have no real appreciation for their value but feel the pathetic need to display their tale feathers.”

Her small smile grew larger as his disappeared altogether. “I think a man secure in his masculinity would choose something a little more…substantial, shall we say. A little less showy.”

I mean come on? How could you not love a girl with a sharp tongue who calls it like it is?

Leander was someone I instantly liked. As the alpha, he has had to put others first and makes decisions based on what is good for the whole group. He is set in his ways, but Jenna is pushing his boundaries and making him question the world he has grown up in. He may be all alpha male, but he does respect Jenna’s wishes and tries to take things slow with her while acclimating her to his world and the idea of being with him.

The secondary characters stood out as well. Leander’s brother Christian tried to stay in the background, but his comments and actions leapt off the page whenever he appeared. He is the second son, so he has resigned to always being second best and I felt for him. I wanted someone to be there to comfort him. I am eager to get in his head at some point and hope we get a book from his point of view in the future. The other character I really enjoyed was Morgan. Being a woman within the Ikati society is not easy and she has made some tough choices because of how her life has played out. She was very upbeat when we first meet her and she had me laughing out loud at multiple points during the story. I am keeping fingers crossed that we get to see more of her as well.

Overall, I loved this book. We get a lot of information about the Ikati society and how it works, but got some great action in there as well. There is tension with the villain, between Leander and Jenna and within the Ikati themselves. The mythology is something we are familiar with, but it had just enough twists to keep it interesting and refreshing. I would highly recommend this book to any lover of paranormal romance. It is one I stayed up long past the time I should have gone to bed because I just had to know what was going to happen. I cannot wait for the next installment in this series!

FTC: I received this ARC from the author for review.