Just Kickin' It » Books

Dark Lover by J. R. Ward

Jac Star — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:59:28 +0000

This is the first book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and yet another vampire story.

For the most part this book is about Wrath, a pure blood vampire and semi-leader of the brotherhood. A group of vampire warriors whose main purpose is to hunt and kill Lessers. Lessers were once human, but they sold their souls to become vampire hunters.

Wrath is supposed to be the king of the vampires but instead he chooses to fight. Until he meets Beth. Beth is a human, or half-breed if you will. Her father was a vampire, but in the black dagger brotherhood world, vampires aren’t changed through biting, they are bred the same way humans are. The ‘change’ to vampire happens in the mid-twenties and Beth is about to go through her change.

Wrath was asked by Darius (Beth’s father), to help her through the change. As a favour to his brother, Wrath agrees. He does not expect to fall in love with the half-breed. Dark Lover is the story of Wrath and Beth, how they deal with the ‘change’ and each other.

What I liked most about this story is that it’s not really human-oriented. These vampires don’t feed on humans and as a whole, they don’t really care for humans in general. Their soul purpose is to keep the vampires alive. These vampires feed only on other vampires.

What I didn’t really care for, is that the story is told from so many perspectives. Some minor characters share their views, I am assuming at some point in the series these characters won’t be so minor. I just couldn’t get into this “Mr. X” character. He’s the bad guy. I really didn’t care what he was up to, I didn’t want to know what he was plotting, or what his strategies were.

The novel as a whole, is written very well and I look forward to reading the next book. The Black Dagger Brotherhood is very intriguing.

Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Jac Star — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:24:45 +0000

This is the fourth book in the Night Huntress series and it is quite possibly the last in the series. I can’t confirm that at the moment but regardless of it’s truth, there will be spin off stories of the side characters, so that’s a piece of good news.

Cat begins having dreams about a man from her past. The man is a master vampire and claims to be her husband. She has no recollection of the past but Gregor is persistent in getting back his wife.

This could ultimately destroy everything she has with Bones. Meanwhile, Bones becomes a stubborn jerk and leaves Cat in a pile of garbage. Literally.

Cat has to make a choice in life, and she sacrifices it all in order to lose the husband she doesn’t want, and gain the husband she knows and loves.

This is another excellent book. If it is the final one of the series, it was a great way to end it. There are moments when I want to punch Bones across the face. He behaves like a child and doesn’t trust his own wife. I’m glad for the character change though, it’s good to show that even our favourite characters have flaws. Nobody is perfect, even drop dead gorgeous vampires.

I look forward to the spin off on Spade and Denise. Should be interesting.

Faeries Gone Wild – Anthologies

Jac Star — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:00:28 +0000

This is a book of four short stories by four different authors.

First, Tall, Dark, and not so Faery by MaryJanice Davidson. In this story, a faery comes across a house full of supernatural beings. Her job is to count them, but this is no easy feat. She meets the man of her dreams. A separate love story unveils itself as well.

I really enjoyed this one. MJ Davidson was the reason I bought the book, and thankfully, she did not let me down. You get to know some pretty unique characters, but Davidson doesn’t go into too much detail. Just gets your appetite wet for some more!

Second, Pixie Lust by Lois Greiman. In this short story, a faery meets a developer and they fall deeply in lust. That’s basically the story. Yet for some strange reason Greiman decided to spend over 100 pages discussing the lust between the two characters, and only 10 pages on the plot. Lust at first sight. I get it. BORING.

Third, Dust Me, Baby, One More Time by Michele Hauf. A tooth faery becomes jobless as the mothers in her town decide she doesn’t exist. Around the same time she meets a sandman and together they devise a plan to save the tooth faery and be together as well. This one is slow going, but eventually picks up. It’s alright.

Last, A Little Bit Faery by Leandra Logan. A half-breed Luna faery heads to the mortal realm to discover herself, her dad, and a hunky fireman. This story has some substance to it and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There is a back story behind the fireman and the faery as well. It’s not just a love story, it’s got some exciting criminal activity as well. It was a great way to end the book.

Overall, I found this novel just a bit bland. Two good stories, and one mediocre one. It was a good change of pace for me though.

Faefever by Karen Marie Moning

Jac Star — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:23:22 +0000

This is the third book in the fever series.

Mac is becoming more clever. She creates a device to keep her safe in the dark. Aside from the obvious benefits (avoiding the Shades), she no longer has to carry flashlights.

She also learns more about Barrons, V’lane, and the Fae. She figures out how to control herself around “the Book” and V’lane. Mac then decides to help Rowena and the sidhe seers in their quest to save the planet. It seems a simple plan, stop the Fae from entering by reinforcing the walls between the worlds.

She then tricks Barrons into helping his enemy in hopes of strengthening the walls. It will take everyone and all their power to do this, and even still it seems unlikely. Mac learns the art of negotiation and thus Barrons agrees to her plans.

Halloween becomes a night to fear and death is all around. Mac must survive, and she’s completely alone, and in the dark.

There is a huge twist at the end which again leaves me wanting to jump right into the next book.

The series just keeps getting better and I recommend these books to anyone who wants to read something new and different about the Fae. Tinkerbell, who?

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

Jac Star — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:09:54 +0000

This is the fourth book in the Sookie Stackhouse (Southern Vampire) series.

I found myself bored and struggling to read through this book. Which is how I felt about the second book in the series as well. It seems I have a pattern of liking every other book.

Every time I picked up this novel I saw the cover and just shook my head in disgrace. I realize all the covers in the series are very cartoonish but this one in particular just annoyed me.

Alright, on with the plot. Eric’s memory gets wiped but Sookie finds him and takes him in. Shortly thereafter, Jason goes missing.

Sookie wants to believe that the witches responsible for erasing Eric’s memory have also kidnapped Jason, but there are no leads on this theory.

This new Eric is completely endearing and Sookie struggles to resist his charm. Again, Bill is out of the country but given that he is officially the ex, Sookie finds herself thinking about him less.

Shape-shifters, vampires, and werewolves get together to fight a war against the witches that are causing trouble in town. But these witches are not easily defeated. They are very powerful and are ingesting vampire blood to boot.

There is a pretty good twist at the end, however apart of me wanted Sookie to end up with Alcide, again. Or perhaps she should end up with the new Eric and become committed to him. That’d be a great twist.

I don’t want to deter anyone from reading this book. If you like the series so far, this one will be enjoyable as well. There is lots of actions and with witches in the story, it proves to be more of a challenge for the original characters.

I, however, just could not get into it. I find I don’t care for any of them, aside from maybe Alcide, but even he gets on my nerves. I think I will wait a bit longer before picking up the next book. But I am determined to finish this series come hell or high water.

At Grave’s End by Jeaniene Frost

Jac Star — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:51:23 +0000

This is the third book in the Night Huntress series.

Holy stressful! Lots of masters and betrayers are in this story. New vampires are created to help Cat and her team. But are their hearts in the right place?

A new enemy, Patra, will stop at nothing to accomplish her goals. Patra is very old and one of the deadliest vampires out there. She not only has her super strength, speed, and other vampire traits, but she is also fluent in witchcraft.

Cat finds herself in situations that she can’t get out of. She is not familiar with these spells and curses and she can’t seem to avoid them.

People die, hearts are broken, and Cat can’t stop for one minute.

The battle is intense from beginning to end. What could possibly happen next?

Fish out of Water by MaryJanice Davidson

Jac Star — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:24:57 +0000

This is the third and final book in the Fred the Mermaid series.

Fred is the go-between for all “surface-dwellers” and undersea folk. She talks to all the reporters and does all the interviews and answers most of the mermaid questions.

She also gets an official proposal from Artur.

King Mekkam notices the strange disappearance of a good portion of his mermaids and can’t quite place the cause.

Jonas is annoyingly chipper and demands a lot of Fred’s attention as he plans the wedding to Dr. Barb.

Fred is beyond stressed, when her father returns to make an effort in getting to know her and apologizes to the king. Which you can imagine only increases her stress level.

What good would a family reunion be without Dr. Thomas? It’s a good way to end the series.

I absolutely loved the banter between Fred, Jonas, and Thomas in the last few chapters. It made an extremely tense situation, supremely humorous.

Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning

Jac Star — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 16:06:29 +0000

This is the second book in the fever series.

Mac Lane is embracing her new persona as a sidhe seer and null. She is learning her strengths but finding herself in sticky situations.

First, Mac wakes up in a building full of Shades. Second, Mac notices the return of an angry O’Bannion, with vengeance on the brain. Third, Prince V’Lane is up to his tricks and scams. Fourth, Mac’s dad returns and demands that Mac leave Barrons and Ireland.

Trust me when I say, these are just to a few of the issues that Mac comes across in this novel.

She learns a lot about her adoption, her Irish heritage, the Fae, Faery, and Barrons. By the end of the story, Mac learns something about the Sinsar Dubh, but as the reader we don’t know what it is that she’s discovered. This leaves us wanting to jump into the next book without delay!

There is no struggling to get through the language or pronunciation this time, but just in case you have some difficulty there is a glossary and guide at the back of the book.

The series is quite promising and I look forward to reading the next.

One Foot in the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

Jac Star — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:23:14 +0000

This is the second book in the Night Huntress series. It starts off four years after the first book ends, but from cover to cover it’s go, go, GO!

Cat is still leading the team of highly trained men, and capturing or killing master vampires. Her and her mother are still living in disguise with new identities.

Soon Cat discovers there is a hit on her life and the dangers are worse than she could ever imagine. To make matters worse, Bones has returned. He finds her and starts dropping little messages to let her know.

Again Cat needs Bones to help her take out the master vampires and abolish the contract on her life. But having him close again will only make it that much harder to leave in the end. Does she even want to?

Together they join forces, her team with Bones’s team to devise a master plan for the master vampire.

Some steamy vampire ex’s threaten Cat’s relationship with Bones but it’s not long before he forces her hand in marriage. They discover who her father is, but does she want to have him walk her down the aisle? Or have him killed instead?

This novel is spicy to say the least. Good luck putting it down before it’s finished!

Swimming Without a Net by MaryJanice Davidson

Jac Star — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 19:31:42 +0000

This is the second book in the Fred the Mermaid series. It’s been a year since Fred has seen either Thomas or Artur, but life for the most part has returned to normal.

Jonas and Dr. Barb are still together and mating like rabbits. Fred is still working at the aquarium. Both Thomas and Artur have not contacted her once in the year that has passed.

Fred is then summoned to the Cayman Islands for a “family reunion” or a gathering of all undersea folk, led by the King to decide the fate of all the mermaids.

It’s an opportunity to discover her heritage, more about the dirt bag biological father, but also an opportunity to see both Prince Artur and Dr. Thomas again.

Fred needs to make a decision between the two but the choice becomes more and more obvious.

Jonas is invited to the hearing as well but his presence is obnoxious. He can really get under your skin.

I liked Thomas and Jonas each a little less after reading this book, however King Mekkam is just plain awesome! He’s the bees-knees. Love his use of the English language.

It’s a nice segue into the final book of the trilogy.

Sleeping with the Fishes by MaryJanice Davidson