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.

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This is the first book in the Night Huntress series. Cat is a half-human, half-vampire mix. She goes to college during the day and hunts vampires on evenings and weekends. She’s doing well juggling this alter-ego lifestyle until she meets Bones.

Bones is a handsome vampire who has the same motives as Cat. He is also a vampire slayer, but he aims higher than the sleazy vampires that Cat meets in bars. Bones is determined to take out the big kahunas that are giving the word “vampire” a bad name.

Cat learns to be more than just a seductress with a lucky streak, when Bones trains her to be armed and dangerous. It’s not long before her vampire half takes over.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and it’s a great beginning to a series that I can only imagine will be just as good. Cat is a great female heroine, starting off a bit rough around the edges, but learning to love as well as embrace her strength and speed.

For those paranormal-romance lovers (like myself), this is a win-win.

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This is the first book in the Fred the Mermaid series.

Fred is a half-mermaid, half-human cross with green hair and super strength. She works as a marine biologist in Boston and keeps her mermaid self a secret. She only grows her tail when she knows that no human will see it. She can live and breathe under water, the same as she would on land, so no one is the wiser.

Fred does her job and minds her business. She has very few friends and mostly keeps to herself. Until Thomas walks into her life and requires her help in solving the pollution issue at the lake.

At roughly the same time, Artur shows up and claims he needs her help for the same reasons, and it’s not long before the three form a love triangle. Does Fred choose the Thomas the handsome doctor, or Artur the royal mermaid? Either way, her life will never be the same.

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It’s a quick read and a lot of fun. But for a story about mermaids, very little takes place under water.

If you enjoyed the Queen Betsy series by Davidson, you will enjoy these mermaid tales as well!

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This is the first book in the “Succubus” series and it’s stellar. It’s about four sexy demon girlfriends, who all have slightly different contracts with Satan. Not that I’ve seen Sex & the City, but this is a lot like that television show.

The main character is the succubus, Lily. Her specific contract with Satan is that she has to lure men in (not hard since she’s eternally gorgeous) and sleep with them. Once the man is “finished” in the bedroom, he is also finished for life, because at that moment he bursts into flames and is delivered to Satan herself.

Lily is not only considered a succubus, but she’s one of Satan’s Chosen. Which means that Satan shows favouritism to Lily and her 3 girlfriends, and the 5 of them are often seen painting the town red.

It might sound like the dream job, being eternally beautiful and having sex as much as you want with no commitment and no post-sex drama, but Lily wants more. After over 3,000 years as a succubus, why shouldn’t she want a relationship? Being a succubus can be quite lonely after all, she never gets to wake up next to anything but a pile of ashes.

While drowning in her own woes, she meets Nathan Coleman. Nathan is wealthy, intelligent, and gorgeous. He seems to have written the book on dating and Lily falls too hard and too fast.

Meanwhile, it seems there is a secret cult out to destroy the girls and Lily has been tasked by Satan herself to find the leader of the pack and stop them before it’s too late.

I have to say that I absolutely loved this book but for obvious reasons, it’s just not for everybody. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets put on the “book-burning” list that Phillip Pullman’s Golden Compass series is on.

A story favouring Satan can’t be thought of too highly by the religious folk, that’s for sure.

But if you like nice, light, paranormal fiction with powerful female leads, then this is the story for you!

I was disappointed in the last 30 pages or so. I won’t give any spoilers away but it seemed a little much. Perhaps this was Harper’s segue into the next book? Either way, I’ll be reading it very soon.

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This is the first book of the “Fever” series and was recommended to me by a trusted employee at my favourite book store. It’s a paranormal “romance” about the Fae.

This was my first experience with a Fae novel and I’m wondering if this is what they are all like. I understand “Fae” is short for “Faery” (or fairy). And when I think of fairies I think of Tinkerbell.

In Darkfever, the Fae are recognized as “Seelie” and “Unseelie” and basically they are a bunch of 8-foot tall aliens in human disguise. Weird? Well if this is what all Fae are, then no. But as I said, this is all new to me, so bare with me at my attempts to explain it.

Mac Lane goes to Ireland to investigate the murder of her sister when the police throw in the towel. It’s not long before she runs into Jericho Barrons, and a couple of strange beings.

Jericho has most of the answers that Mac needs but he isn’t always the easiest person to talk to. Soon she finds herself Jericho’s prisoner and partner in a save-the-world mission.

All I’m going to say is that I’m glad there is a glossary at the back. It’s not only helpful for the obvious reasons (reminder and quick definition of the new fictional words), but it gives you a simple pronunciation guide.

Given that the majority of the story takes place in Ireland and involves a lot of ancient history, there are too many Gaelic words that are so far different in spelling than pronunciation that it can be hard to wrap your head around.

Example, “Sinsar Dubh” is pronounced “shi-sa doo.” Whoever heard of a silent ‘n’, ‘r’, and ‘b’?

But despite my complicated review, the novel is actually pretty smooth. It is simply about an all-American girl with a fresh manicure finding strength she never knew she had.

And if you’re looking for the traditional paranormal story, well there might be mention of a vampire as well.

I look forward to reading the next book in the series and I’m glad to have been introduced to Karen Marie Moning.

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This is the first of the Riley Jensen Guardian novels. Riley Jensen is half werewolf and half vampire, a truly rare breed that makes her dhampire, AKA the “mule” of the paranormal world.

She’s also got a twin brother, Rhoan who she senses is in great danger. On her mission to save him she finds herself in more danger and the twists and turns just don’t stop. She learns, perhaps a little late, that no one can be trusted.

Riley must team with the vampires to find the enemies and take them down. However, life is just not that easy. This is the week of the full moon, which also happens to be the mating period for all the wolves. As soon as the sun goes down, the lust goes up, along with the aching passion for doing the moon dance in the nude with whoever happens to be in her presence.

Bring on Quinn. Riley gets partnered up with a very old, but very sexy vampire named Quinn. You don’t have to be very creative to imagine what happens between the two!

I absolutely loved this book. It’s got so much adventure and romance it felt like I was reading a James Bond story where James Bond meets a nymphomaniac.

I look forward to reading the rest of this series and can only hope it keeps up with the first book!

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This is the first book in the “Kitty” series. It’s about a werewolf named Kitty. She hosts a late night radio talk show where the supernatural call in to get advice and the curious call in to find out about the supernatural.

She ends up meeting and befriending a werewolf hunter, a vampire, and a detective. But she also loses some close friends within her pack, and gets on the bad side of one too many people.

Soon Kitty finds she’s doing everything she can to keep her show, her life, her dignity, and avoid crossing paths with a murderous lunatic.

It’s a good read, and I loved the character development.
Can’t wait to read more!

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This is the first book in the Morganville Vampire series. It is the story about Claire Danvers, a 16-year-old college student in Morganville, Texas. She is 2 years younger than all of the other freshmen, and she’s small for her age. This seems to be the reason she is always picked on. The hazing becomes too intense when she’s beaten up, thrown down the stairs, and threatened with worse to come.

Claire immediately leaves the campus residence looking for a sage place to love when she comes across the “Glass House, owned by Michael Glass. Along with the mysterious Michael, who sleeps through the day, there are two other roommates, Shane and Eve. Claire seems to fit right in with the gang and finds it a relief to finally have some friends in Morganville.

It’s not long before they fill her in on the truth of the town – it’s run by vampires. If you’re not under ‘protection’ you are as good as dead. Even though the vampires can’t come out during the day, they have humans (under protection) that run the show for them. For Claire, this puts a whole new meaning to “crooked cop.”

I loved the conspiracy and adventure in this book. I loved the manipulation and twists. I loved that Claire was brave despite her size and wise beyond her years. I hated the poor girl’s parents!

It was easy to see why Claire liked Shane. He’s good looking, funny, and he very quickly took her under his wing. For the most part he treated her like a little sister, so I found the ending a bit weird. At the end of the book there is an excerpt from Eve’s diary, and this is where I found some peace with Shane. Seeing Shane through Eve’s eyes (an unbiased on-looker) made the ending cute, instead of weird.

Also, I loved the way the big ‘fight’ scene at the end was written. I felt like I was watching a horror/suspense movie and I found myself jumping out of my seat and holding my breath at parts. It’s creepy when people come out of no where and peep in the window. The image of a face pressed against glass is just plain scary!

I would recommend this book to any paranormal/supernatural fiction book-reader. This is right up your alley! It’s light and fun, and it takes us back to vampires being the enemy.

I look forward to reading book #2 in the series.

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So I thought I’d post my thoughts on this mediocre book.

The concept is different. It’s Harry Potter meets vampires (vampyres) meets Janet Evanovich. The story is about a girl who becomes “Marked” – this means that she is on her way to becoming a vampyre.

Unlike some vampire novels, this one is unique in the sense that everyone is completely aware of the existence of vampyres – you don’t get “bit” in order to become one, and not everyone who is “marked” overcomes the “change.”

No one knows how or why some are chosen versus others, and once you’ve been chosen and marked there is nothing you can do to reverse it.  Once you become marked you have to go to the “House of Night” to learn about your new life and the changes that will occur over the next few years.

The House of Night is a school for vampyres and this is why the story reminds me of Harry Potter. The Hogwarts School of Wizardry is similar to the House of Night. There is magic involved in both.

This story is of Zoey Redbird, different from all other first year “fledging” students. She must overcome the change and feels specifically chosen by the Goddess, Nyx.

The story is ok and you learn to like this Zoey girl – she’s tough and she doesn’t take crap from the snooty popular girls.

What I didn’t like about the novel was the way it was written. I generally don’t like novels written by two authors because you can tell when the writing styles change. This however, is a mother-daughter team. I am under the impression that the mother wrote the book, and the daughter added flavour to make it young and fresh. The only problem with this is that she adds her flavour in parentheses.

Sentence. Sentence (side note). Sentence (inner thought). Sentence. Sentence (note to self). Sentence (hand gesture).

It’s like the TV Show Family Guy, when one of the Griffins says something and then they have a flashback or “clip” to explain the sentence. It absolutely works in Family Guy. In Marked – it becomes absurd.

If you like the simplicity of Janet Evanovich’s writing style, you’ll likely enjoy the Cast duo. If you can see past the overuse of parenthetical nonsense, the story is bearable. It’s full of pet cats and receives brownie points for slipping in a “your mom…” joke.

Otherwise this is just like watching a good movie with a terrible script.

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This is the story of a teenage girl who falls in love with a vampire. It’s not your typical vampire story, there is no gore, no sharp teeth, and very little blood.

Despite that, this book has it all! It gets your heart racing with all of the twists and turns that one novel can manage.

Isabella (Bella) Swan is an average, plain, boring, teenage girl who moves back to a small town to live with her single father. On her first day in high school, while trying not to be noticed, Bella comes across a very different family. More specifically, she sees a beautifully unique boy. His name is Edward Cullen and she is drawn to him.

It’s not long before the two become friends and she learns his deepest, darkest secrets. She should be afraid, and he reminds her time and time again that it’s in her best interest to stay away. But she can’t. There is a connection between the two that cannot be denied, and they fall in love.

He tries to be human, and she tries to fit in with his vampire family. But trouble follows her everywhere. She has many near-death experiences. How long can this vampire put his love before his thirst for her blood?

I recommend this book to any female. I’m not certain this is a book for guys. It might be, but I think it depends on their interest. If you’re expecting horror and gore than look elsewhere. If you’re ok with danger and suspense then look no further!

The reason I recommend this to the girls is because it’s a true love story. You know in high school when the average girl and the hot guy start dating? Or when the quiet, straight-A -student girl meets the dangerous, rebellious guy and wants to enter his world but be safe at the same time? OK so maybe it only happens in movies, but every time it does, our female heart flutters away, and you can’t help but blush as you secretly wish it was you.

This novel is quite the page-turner. I finished it in less than three days, and I am a very slow reader. Believe me, I couldn’t put it down!

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