Vampire for Christmas

Vampire for Christmas

by Felicity Heaton

I liked this book a lot more by the end of it because it did not really start off very strongly. The characters started off doing a lot of internal monologues even though they were together and you really did not get a sense of who they were. The story moves fairly well though there is not a lot of action involved. I was really happy with the fact that Christmas was a fairly important part of the story and not just in the title.

Shannon is a demon hunter who wants to be transferred away from her current partner, who happens to be a vampire. Rafe is a vampire doing time with the agency for misdeeds in his past. He and Shannon have been partnered for two years and are going on their last mission before they are to be split up. Rafe wants to convince her that they should stay together.

When a demon threatens Christmas, the season of peace and goodwill, its the chance Rafe needs to show Shannon what is real.

Rafe is a little bit of a stalker, Shannon is a bit of a bi**h a good deal of the time, but they have a serious chemistry. This is a nice read for the holiday.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

“The demon began to bubble and melt into a big pile of ooze. Rafe looked confused, but he was staring at her, not the demon. “I saw you stick your fingers in its eye,” she said and ran her hands down her chest and legs, squeezing some of the slime out of her clothes. “That was disgusting.” He smiled and shrugged. “It was the only weapon at my disposal, and it weakened it enough for you to kill it.” Shannon frowned. “What do you mean by that? That I couldn’t kill it without your help?” He shrugged easily again. “I could have killed it… although, your distracting it by letting it play with you like a ragdoll was appreciated.” She smiled and then it fell away when she caught a flashback of how violently the demon had tossed Rafe around. “You okay?” He”

― Felicity Heaton, Vampire for Christmas

Firecracker

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Firecracker
(Last Call #6)
by Moira Rogers

This is the last book in the Last Call series and I am hoping that maybe another will turn up at some time. This short form erotica has worked for me partly because of the use of paranormal characters and a drink that can get them together. While it at first seems that it is about one night stands there is a serious element of romance behind the pairings.

Firecracker: Too hot to handle. Looking for a fireproof lover.

Phoebe Capello is the mythical Phoenix. She is lonely and has been celibate for years because it is almost impossible to find a lover who can handle fire. Jarrett Chance is a stunt driver and a Hell hound who has no problem with fire. He lives danger every day and finds a night with Phoebe to be both thrilling and dangerous.

If you have not tried this series you should definitely give it a look. Kamikaze will get you started and you may not stop until you get here. Enjoy!

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Frostbite

Frostbite
(Last Call #5)
by Moira Rogers

This was another perfect vignette that captured a moment which could only happen in this world. The characters came across perfectly regarding who and what they were. The club has been established though we really do not have a concrete description of the place only pieces. The language changes for each character to show that they are individuals but because they are in the same place there are references that seem to come up all the time. I love the concept of these books.

Frostbite: Looking for a partner immune to supernatural seduction.

Kelsey Almeida has lived a lot of her life in silence, she is a Siren, and her voice can make men do anything she desires. Kelsey has gone to the Last Call to find out someone who will not fall at the first word she speaks.

Cain is a reaper who cannot be swayed by human emotion but does have human needs. He finds the Siren beautiful and knows that because of the ice in his veins her voice cannot move him to obsession like a mortal man.

The perfect couple once again brought together. Recommended just like the others because it is short but very entertaining, not to mention extremely hot!

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Kelsey was perilously close to melting his frozen soul, and he was too hungry to stop her. God help them both.

Midnight Rising

Midnight Rising
(Midnight Breed #4)
by Lara Adrian (Goodreads Author)

This is finally Rio’s story. Rio was betrayed by the one person he would never see it coming from and it left him completely devastated. I was feeling so much for Rio from the time he got injured and all through his rehab that I was so happy to see him seeming to come out of his funk.

This is another great entry in the saga of the Breed Warriors and the mates who find them when they need them most. The story takes up a short time after the end of Midnight Awakening and continues in a way that makes it perfectly clear what is happening. The language is just what is expected from the varied characters as they have been introduced. The story is told from multiple points of view allowing you to get the full picture without wondering how the information came to be. Most of the characters are already well established with personalities that let you know who they are right away. The new characters also come out of the gate with full blown personalities which make it easy to see who they are and what they will be to the overall story line.

Rio stays in Prague after the other Breed Warriors return to Boston telling them he will destroy the cave which had been used as a stasis chamber. But months later and it still stands and he has become to weak to do anything. Dylan is on vacation with friends of her mother when she sees the ghost of a woman who leads her to Rio and asks for her help to save him. A new villain rises to take the place of the one thwarted and he has plans that will devastate not only the world of the Breed but that of the humans who have no idea what lies just outside their safe world.

There is some good action scenes along with a romance that is hard fought to exist.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

He had let Eva down and he knew it. But she had paid him back in spades. Her betrayal had rattled him on a soul-deep level. It had made him question everything, including why the hell he should be taking up precious space in this world.

Midnight Awakening

Midnight Awakening
(Midnight Breed #3)
by Lara Adrian





I do have a thing for the tortured soul warrior/alpha male. They make me feel so much more for them because they have endured so much and keep going on whatever mission they have to keep them sane. Tegan is the warrior who is being highlighted here and he has had a half life for a very long time. I knew there was something tragic in his past but finding out made me like him even more. He was completely true to what you would expect from someone who had been hurt so badly.

The characters are perfectly drawn and easily related to. The story while extreme in many ways could be about anyone who had a tragedy in their past that defined how they reacted to others in the future. I liked everything about this because I really felt for both Tegan and Elise who were two people who were doing their best to cope with a bad situation which had been thrust upon them. There was no lag in this but a steady buildup to a finale that was both anticipated and surprising.

When Elise lost her husband she was devastated but able to go on because she had her son, but with the loss of her son she feels there is nothing left to truly live for. Elise leaves the Darkhaven she has always called home and moves out into the world to take revenge on those who helped take her son from her. Tegan lost his mate over 500 years ago and has not allowed himself to feel for another female since that time. He is dedicated to protecting the Breed from the Rogue threat but does not believe he deserves to have a mate because he was not able to protect his first one. When he finds out what Elise is doing he wants to keep her safe even though she seems fully capable of taking care of herself.

This had some great action along with some very tender scenes between two very different and yet similar people. Breed warriors make great mates! I would highly recommend this!

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I want to hold you while you drink from me. I want to feel you bite into me.” Touching her, he felt her uncertainty. “I’ve never done it that way before.” “Good,” he said, entirely too pleased to hear it. “I’ve never asked anyone to do it that way before. So, will you, Elise?” She frowned, but her eyes were rooted on his throat. “I don’t want to hurt you…” He chuckled, adoring her all the more for her concern. “Come here,” he said, wrapping his hand around her nape and guiding her down to the exposed column of his neck. “Sink your teeth into me, Elise. Take your fill.”

Untamed Magick

Untamed Magick
(Pentacles of Magick #1)
by Eliza Gayle

Having never read this author before I was pleasantly surprised that it was as good as I had hoped. This was a very quick and enjoyable read that caught my attention from the first page. I found the characters to be interesting and able to elicit emotion for their plight even while making this very hot. The way they interacted with each other was perfect for what was going on in their world, though there should have been more conflict. Once I started, I could not put it down and read it right through the night.

Anger,greed, and lust, all luring them to the evil potential of their magick.

The Scott family has lived under a curse/prophesy for centuries which tells of the destruction of the entire family. Two sets of twins each holding a magick which could corrupt and kill them all, they can never stay together for any extended period of time. It is said that a woman will be their eventual downfall and every man is wary any new woman coming into their lives.

Graelen Scott is rich, handsome, and a witch, he hides in his house wondering if he will ever be able to save himself and his brothers from the prophesy. Every day he fights the pull of the dark magick within him and he can feel himself weakening. Rena Gallagher is a researcher and historian at the Museum of Art History in San Diego, she also happens to be an empath. Rena has come into possession of Tarot cards which have been in the Scott family for generations and has come to Graelen to get answers she cannot find on her own, what she does not know is that they were stolen. Though she may hold his destruction Graelen is instantly drawn to Rena and she to him, and maybe the prophesy was wrong and she can be his salvation.

This book contains untamed desire, untamed rage, and of course untamed magick. Loved it and will be going on in this series.

* I listened to this for my second reading and it was a nice experience. Though I found the narrator to be good at giving voice to the characters she sometimes came off as just sounding like she was going for sultry. Still well worth the time.

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Four male witches born every other generation. Two sets of twins bound to carry The Power through the family line, if they could avoid the seductive call of the darkness every time they used their powers. The combined power of the four would be unlike any other, but the cravings created from using their magick would darken their souls piece by piece until the ability to tell right from wrong would disappear, and the magick would quickly destroy their life forces.

A Caress of Twilight

A Caress of Twilight
(Merry Gentry #2)
by Laurell K. Hamilton (Goodreads Author),
Laural Merlington (Narrator)



This was a perfect entry in the story as it has progressed so far. The writing continues to develope the characters and bring them more fully into the light. I love this series just as much as I do the Anita Blake series. They are somewhat similar with multiple male characters who are a part of the romantic life of the lone female. But vampires and faeries are two totally different types of mythological creatures.

Meredith and her men return to Los Angeles and all go to work for the Grey detective agency. With the addition of real Sidhe warriors to the company business picks up in a big way. Merry is asked to the scene of a murder by Detective Lucy of the LAPD because she does not think that it is a simple slaying. After seeing what happened though Merry does not know what happened Rhys has seen more and tells Merry what killed them is bad and he knows the spell from a long time ago.

Merry has also been summoned by a Sidhe living in exile who has a request to make of Merry in her capacity as the descendant of fertility goddesses. Merry wants to know why she was exiled from the Seelie Court by Taranis before she agrees to help her since she is already risking her life and that of her men by even being around her. What she learns brings death to a lot of people and them scrambling to find a solution.

Reading it the first time took me away and made me fall completely under the spell of the story. This narrator does the same thing only I feel even more because she really does make it seem even more real. Great book!

Time Kissed Moments 1

 Time Kissed Moments 1 (Kiss Across Time #2.5)
by Tracy Cooper-Posey

 

All the stories are very well done and give background on the characters before, during, and after they met. There are multiple Star Trek references which take it up even higher in my eyes since I am a total Trekkie. The language is perfect for each character and helps to establish their personalities more solidly as they tell their stories to each other. There are seven stories in all telling a piece of the time for each of the immortal men who have become a part of Taylor’s life.

‘Time and a Punk or Two’ is about an 86 year old man about to catch a plane when he spots a man who looks like someone he knew in the war many years before. When two young punks come and take up the seats next to him they knock him to the ground and do not care. He decides that he will not take it and wants to confront them. The blond man who looks so much like his old friend comes to his aid and helps him to maintain his dignity. This was the perfect way to kick off the start.

‘Time and the Woman’ finds Alexander years after his encounter with Brody, Taylor and Veris having discovered their secret and made it his own. He meets Brody again after many years and though he has some idea of the future ahead of Brody, he still has many years before it happens. The woman Alex finds himself with is not someone he wishes to spend an eternity with. This was actually the perfect story to end on.

This is a ménage romance that has MMF, MM, and multiple sex scenes. If you are easily offended avoid this. But I love it all and this was a very nice reminder of why I fell in love with these characters to start with. I would recommend to anyone who likes vampires or romance.

 

My rating: 4.6 of 5 stars

 

 

Renegade

by Erica Stevens

This was a roller coaster ride for me because my emotions were riding along with the characters from the opening lines. Have you ever felt so much a part of the lives of the characters that you sometimes had to set the book aside to calm yourself down? I had to do that multiple times because I would get so upset when something happened that I needed to step away. I love these characters and want things to go a certain way and when things bad happen I need to stop and breathe. That is a testament to the reality of those characters and the world they live in.

Aria and Max have escaped from the Palace with the help of Jack, Braith’s little brother. Jack informed Aria that Braith is to be married and therefore there is no reason for her to stay for him, in the process breaking her heart. Max has been so traumatized and believes that Aria was treated just as badly as he had been. Though she has told everyone she was not mistreated they do not believe her. But Max also wants more from her than she wants to give.

Braith feels just as betrayed as Aria when he discovers that she has left the Palace without saying anything to him. He feels she lied about her feelings and was only biding her time until she could escape. This makes the normally kind Prince a vampire who starts to indulge in all the vices he had hated in the past, and all to forget a human he had come to care for.

This was a really great sequel to that first book and just makes me that much more anxious to continue the series. There is more explanation and a little less action but it balances out well. I would really like everyone to give this series a read. There is enough heat and sweet for everyone.

 

 

 

My rating: 5of 5 stars

 

“He’s not going to leave here without her,” Jack’s gaze was steady, yet sad as he stared at the two of them. “He won’t be separated from her again, and he’ll kill you if you try to stop him”
― Erica Stevens, Renegade

 

Bonded

by Nicky Charles

It was really hard trying to figure out what order to read the books in this series. I have read the first 4 out of order with this being the last one I read, but it still has not lessened my enjoyment of the story. I just convinced myself this was the way and they are just giving me background they didn’t have time for before, yeah I am good at self delusion, it’s why I read in the first place. This was maybe a little longer than I thought it had to be, it made things a little boring at times. But the overall feel was one that kept me interested and wanting to hear more from the characters.

Brandi is in her last year at the Academy and has a crush on the legendary Reno Smith,an operative for Lycan Link, and she gets a chance to meet him in person. Reno is teaching a class on self-defense in human form at the Academy as part of his duties and when his assistant fails to show up Brandi gets her chance to impress him. This encounter starts a on-off relationship that is bizarre in how it progresses.

While that is going on the Purists are pushing their agenda and causing a lot of harm across the country. Reno and his enforcers are in the middle and being targeted for their efforts to rid the shifter community of these bigots. The purists are going to cause trouble for everyone but especially for those not having the pure heritage they claim is important.

The story is two pronged here focusing on Reno and Brandi as well as the Purist movement. You also get introduced to characters that you are going to see in later books like Kane, Ryne and Damien who play key parts in other areas. This story has complications, devotion, loyalty, love, betrayal, and a cornucopia of emotions both good and bad. I cried for them and cheered and yelled at their stupidity. I loved it in other words, give me something that reaches into the mind and makes it a part of your reality and that is heaven for me. Definitely recommend!

 

 

 

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

 

 

“Lycan society is dominated by pack life. A pack is more than a large family. Each member is highly dependent on the others for nurturing and support. When one member falters, the whole pack suffers. For this reason, pack members are highly protective of each other, instinctively recognizing that the common good supersedes personal wants and desires.”
― Nicky Charles, Bonded