Review: Crimson Midnight by Amos Cassidy

Title: Crimson Midnight
Series: The Crimson Series, Book 1
Author: Amos Cassidy
Publisher: Self Published through Kindle Direct Publishing
Length: 341 Pages
Publication Date: March 15, 2012
Available Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Supplied by the Author
My Rating: ★★★★★
Get it @: Amazon

Description:

Rose wants excitement, bright lights and late nights, but she gets more than she bargained for when she swaps her wholesome country life for the hustle and bustle of London.

The city night is home to hungry shadows, eager to consume her. Rose discovers there is more to this world than what the mundane eye sees, and that she herself is a part of it. Unexpected friendships are forged and unwanted, sometimes dangerous, attractions flare.

London becomes a playground for magic, danger and supernatural threat. While her life, and those of who she loves, hangs in the balance, she must endeavour to embrace her new nature and assist in identifying the hidden threat before it succeeds in its dark purpose.

An Urban Fantasy filled with moon-praising, flat-dwelling vampires, chic corporate werewolves, bar-tending warlocks, ravenous demons and much, much more.

Step inside…

This book is right up my alley, it has all the Urban Fantasy elements that I love:

• Crafty and powerful Witches and Warlocks ü 
• Strong and pretty friendly vampires ü
• Hot and steamy werewolves ü
• Deadly and somewhat unhinged fairies ü
• Unknown superpower as the main character ü
• Some nasty demons  ü
• Action and adventure ü
• A good fast paced storyline ü
• And a great city to host all the paranormal activity ü

Crimson Midnight is one of those books that once you pick up its hard to put down unless absolutely necessary. You know which ones I’m talking about, the ones that you eat while reading because you can’t stop; yup, one of those.

Review: Straight to Hell by Michelle Scott

Title: Straight to Hell
Series: Lilith Straight, Book 1
Author: Michelle Scott (Click to read Interview)
Publisher: Self Published
Length: 179 Pages (approximately)
Publication Date: September 8, 2011
Available Formats: Kindle Edition, eBook
Source: MOBI Format provided by the author
My Rating: ★★★★☆

Description:

Lilly Straight had it all, the husband, the daughter, the house, the money, the perfect life we all dream about every now and then. But after a series of events force her to give up her haute couture life style, Lilly most find a way to make ends meet if she wants to be able to support her family. It is at that moment that you belief you have begun to figure things out that life chooses to play one of its crazy cards and literary turn your world topsy-turvi. That is exactly what happens to Lilly, thanks to an accident she was sent straight to hell and now must honor a bargain with a demon done by one of her ancestors some generations back in order to be able to continue to care for her family. As succubi, Lilly must tempt people so that they fall to their doom, but is she capable of sacrificing other’s souls in order to save her own?

Straight to Hell was a surprising reading with a story that once it has grabs you it refuses to let go. The story mixes the typical aspects and struggles of everyday life while adding as extra pressure the paranormal realm to create a compelling story with the age old battle of good vs evil. The book follows the life of a struggling mother trying to find her footing after practically losing all she was used to and finding herself barely able to scrape by for survival. To top things off she has to look after her nice and her irresponsible younger sister. And as if that wasn't enough there is a very sexy incubus who’s giving the rounds around our heroine.

Review: The City of Eternal Hope

Title: The City of Eternal Hope
Series: Standalone
Author: Rina Grant
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Length: 14 Pages (approximate)
Publication Date: January 10, 2012
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Free Download
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Get it @: Amazon

A good short story about the decisions we make in life and the consequences that arise from them. The City of Eternal Hope tells the sorry of Bhasset, a female demon, and her downfall from grace. Bhasset’s job is to lure unsuspected humans into willingly give away their souls to her. But when she sets her eyes on Tim she doesn’t realizes that her doom is close. This is a (as far as I’m aware) a kindle only short story of approximately 14 pages long. To tell you more about it will give away the whole plot, but if all you want is to read a quick story that makes you rethink your choices in life you can check this one out.

Evangelina Green by Susan Firtik

Title: Evangelina Green
Series: The Color Guard, Book 1

Author: Susan Firtik
Publication Date: August 9th, 2011
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition
Length: 144 Pages
Source: Bought
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Get it @: Amazon

Evangelina Green has recently undertaken the mighty job of restoring her and her sister’s childhood summer home into its former glory; coincidently she is trying to, hopefully, help revitalize the town as well. However, being back to this house doesn’t only bring back memories; it also brings back secrets and stirs huge trouble that is somehow connected to her past. More intriguing it is that all the unraveling events are somehow connected to her unknown father; demonstrating that when destiny knocks on your doorstep there is little you can do to avoid it.

The authors of most – if not all – of the series I have read so far, when having multiple characters to develop, have a tendency to give each characters his/her own book to fully explore their story; meanwhile those character’s participations in other installments of the same series tend to have little showcasing. Something I found refreshing and ended up enjoying about Firtik’s writing is that she took the time to feature other sisters and their love interests; even thought this seems to be a series just like any other. However, I felt that it chopped the story a bit in some places while in other there was a natural transition between the intertwining stories.

The world construct presents sexy werewolves, mysterious vampires, an evil witch and a demon; all very well defined characters. My only complaint is that, in a few parts, the action in the story slowed to a crawl; this parts usually where too centered on brushing and cleaning and re-building the House to its former glory. The House is another character in the story; one that hopefully will have a major plot line in future books. However, this is the first book of a series so the foundation for the story needs to be set.

Overall I enjoyed the story and I am looking forward to the next installment, Tatianna Yellow (from which an excerpt is included at the end of the book). Her story was left hanging and I want to know what will happen to her and her sexy vampire.

The Bite Before Christmas by Jeaniene Frost and Lynsay Sands

Title: The Bite Before Christmas
Series: Anthology
Author(s): Lynsay Sands, Jeaniene Frost
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: October 25, 2011
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Bought
My Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository

I love me some Bones!! Not to mention that i love the Ian time!!

Jeaniene Frost has a new short story from her acclaim series Night Huntress. The story is a part of an anthology along side Lynsay Sands called The Bite Before Christmas. Like the title suggests, the story takes place during the holiday festivities. The stories that compose this anthology are "The Gift" by Sands and "Home for the Holidays" by Frost.

I will try to keep the review as spoiler free as posible.

The Gift by Lynsay Sands

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

I haven't read this short story yet, so will update this part of the review once i have gone through it

Home for the Holidays by Jeaniene Frost

Rating: ★★★★☆

I love this story and the fact that we get more of Bones' past shown to us. Chronologically, this story comes almost immediately after the events on One Grave at a Time, which was released this past August.

In Home for the Holidays Cat is getting ready to do something completely out of the ordinary in her typical lifestyle; spend some time at home, battling no one, and celebrating the festivities, not to mention spending some serious time with her delicious husband Bones. The celebration kicks off with Bones' B~day Party. But what is suppose to be a joyful time among family and friends takes a turn for the worse when a dark secret gets revealed. Lives become threatened, friendships might be broken and with a marriage in danger the stakes could not be higher (for a short story that is).

If one thing is certain is that Jeaniene Frost knows how to torture us fans of her books. For those of you ladies that have been claiming more Ian time, he gets some in this story, however, the story's main focus remains Bones and his back-story. Unfortunately for those of you who are Vlad fans he doesn't make an appearance in this one, but we do get a glance at Fabian, Mencheres, Kira, Spade, Denise, Annette and a new Vampire that becomes the surprise of a century (or two) for Bones. The story also explores a bit more in depth the world of Demons and the how their inner workings.

Triad by Lauren Dane

Title: Triad
Series: Witches Knot, Book 1
Author(s): Lauren Dane
Publisher: Ellora's Cave
Publication Date: 2005
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition
My Rating:  ★★★☆☆

My first erotica read. I found this book while I was searching the kindle store at amazon a few weeks ago; In there, I organize the entries based on the book’s prices and always begin with the lowest price ($o.oo) first. This book was free and even though it was originally published in 2005 the description hooked me right away.

The book in incredibly steamy and the plot is very engaging. However, I have a few problems with the book. As a disclaimer let me say that, not only is this my first erotica read it is also the first book that I read by Lauren Dane.

Here is my own summarize of the book’s plot, spoiler free:

Lee is the strongest witch her family has seen in generations, with her power of dream walking her job, along with the rest of her family, is to protect the people of New Orleans. Lee has been dreaming with a mysterious guy for the past two months, she doesn’t know the guys but feels an inexplicable connection to him. When she finally meets him a series of events threaten to break her, her family and the peace in New Orleans apart while a new series of dreams about another man threatens her relationship with her dream man. Can Lee be strong enough to face this new evil that is on the mists and is she capable of loving one man and lusting for another?

Now, what I liked about the book is its story and its characters, they are both very well written and interesting. What I don’t like is that the action takes place way too quickly.

DISCLAIMER: After the SPOILER ALERT mini banner below there will be some plot spoilers, I try to keep them at a minimum but some of them are hard. If you don’t like spoilers of any kind do not read what comes after the banner.

SPOILER ALERT – SPOILER ALERT – SPOILER ALERT

Review: Blood Rights by Kristen Painter

Title: Blood Rights
Series: House of Comarré, Book 1
Author: Kristen Painter
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: October 1, 2011
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition
Source: Bought

My Rating:  ★★★★☆

Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository

Wow, now this is the kind of story I enjoy; fast paced, with a really good story.

Chrysabelle is the best of the comarré, certainly the most expensive one, one of the many women raised to become a vampire’s life source. She has lived her life as decreed by tradition but when her patron is found dead and all signs point her as the culprit she must run away in order to find a way to clear her name. But when her journey takes an unexpected turn for the worst an unlikely ally might be her only hope. Malkolm, an outcast vampire have the power to help her but also a weakness that might kill her. With katana in hand and blades flying, she will be tested like never before.

Blood Rights is the first of in a series called House of Comarré by Kristen Painter. I saw this book through a blog and was kind of intrigued by its cover. The last thing i was expecting was such a wonderful, well-constructed world. Blood Rights grabbed me the same way the Night Huntress books have done. I found myself wanting to strangle some of the characters and knock some senses into others. I have always believe that a book should be able to tap into one's emotions so that you can truly feel like the characters do; in that this book is extremely well accomplished. I’ll recommend this book to anybody who enjoys vampire stories especially if they like their vamps allergic to sun, silver, wood (of sorts), and holy paraphernalia.

Write down below if you plan to read it, are already done with it, or any other comment that you might have.