Review: How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire by Kerrelyn Sparks

Title: How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire
Series: Love at Stake, Book 1
Author: Kerrelyn Sparks
Publisher: Avon
Length: 371 Pages Approx.
Publication Date: July 26, 2005
Available Format: Paperback, Mass Paperback, Kindle Edition, eBook, Audiobook
Source: Bought
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Book Description:

Roman Draganesti is charming, handsome, rich...he's also a vampire. But this vampire just lost one of his fangs sinking his teeth into something he shouldn't have. Now he has one night to find a dentist before his natural healing abilities close the wound, leaving him a lop-sided eater for all eternity.

Things aren't going well for Shanna Whelan, either. After witnessing a gruesome murder, she's next on the mob's hit list. And her career as a dentist appears to be on a downward spiral, because she's afraid of blood. When Roman rescues her from an assassination attempt, she wonders if she's found the one man who can keep her alive. Though the attraction between them is immediate and hot, can Shanna conquer her fear of blood to fix Roman's fang? And if she does, what will prevent Roman from using his fangs on her?

This book was extremely funny and the romance was rather cute. Picture this, extremely old vampire, highly feared among his peers, bites into the neck of a rubber doll (I will leave the way he does this for you to find out when you read the book) and ends up dislodging one of his fangs from the root. He needs to reattach the fang before the sun forces him into slumber and his gums seal clean. But when he makes it to the only clinic available, a 24 hour dentist office, the doctor present not only refuses to attach a "dog tooth" in a "human" but she's attacked by a group of mobsters from whom she was hiding.

Review: A Quick Bite by Lynsay Sands

Title: A Quick Bite
Series: Argeneau, Book 1
Author: Lynsay Sands
Publisher: HarperCollins
Length: 315 Pages
Publication Date: October 25, 2005
Available Format: Hardcover, Paperback, Mass Market Paperback, Kindle Edition, eBook, Audiobook,
Source: Bought
My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Book Description:

That hot guy tied to Lissianna Argeneau's bed? He's not dessert -- he's the main course!

Lissianna has been spending her centuries pining for Mr. Right, not just a quick snack, and this sexy guy she finds in her bed looks like he might be a candidate. But there's another, more pressing issue: her tendency to faint at the sight of blood ... an especially annoying quirk for a vampire. Of course it doesn't hurt that this man has a delicious-looking neck. What kind of cold-blooded vampire woman could resist a bite of that?

Dr. Gregory Hewitt recovers from the shock of waking up in a stranger's bedroom pretty quickly -- once he sees a gorgeous woman about to treat him to a wild night of passion. But is it possible for the good doctor to find true love with a vampire vixen, or will he be just a good meal? That's a question Dr. Greg might be willing to sink his teeth into ... if he can just get Lissianna to bite.

This is the story of Lissianna, who for centuries has had a little complication: she faints at the sight of blood; a little inconvenience for a vampire don’t you think? In comes Gregory, a doctor who claims he can cure anyone’s phobias. Thanks to Lissianna’s mother’s machinations, Greg wakes up tied to Lissianna’s bed and she cannot resist the urge to bite the nice looking doctor.

ARC Review: Club Monstrosity by Jesse Petersen

Title: Club Monstrosity
Series: Monstrosity, Book 1
Author: Jesse Petersen
Publisher: Pocket Star
Length: 233 Pages
Publication Date: April 29, 2013
Available Format: Kindle Edition, eBook
Source: NetGalley
My Rating: ★★★★☆ 
Get it @: Amazon | Goodreads

Book Description:

Natalie’s one of Frankenstein’s creations and works in a New York City morgue. So of course she needs therapy. She and her friends—er, fellow monsters—have formed the world’s most exclusive, most dysfunctional support group. What could go wrong?

Undetected in the modern world and under pressure to stay that way, Natalie Grey, Dracula, Bob the Blob, and others (including the fetching wolfman Alec) meet regularly to talk about the pressures of being infamous in the Big Apple. Topics include how long it’s been since their last sighting, how their “story” creates stereotypes they can’t fulfill, and—gasp—sometimes even their feelings. But when their pervy Invisible Man, Ellis, is killed in a manner reminiscent of the H.G. Wells novel, it’s clear someone’s discovered their existence and is down for some monster busting.

Led by Natalie—and definitely not helped by Hyde’s bloodthirsty tendencies—the members of Monstofelldosis Anonymous band together for security and a little sleuthing. And maybe—maybe—if they don’t end up dead, they’ll end up friends somewhere along the way.

When I requested this book at NetGalley, I did it solely because of its blurb. Who could turn down the chance to see our favorite classical monsters adjust to modern day times? That they feel that they need to have a support group in order to be able to deal with all the changes that come with centuries of human evolution was just the icing on the cake. Based on that premise I was expecting to have a grand time while reading the story; and I’m so glad to say that the novel delivers.

Although the story is mostly mystery and horror, none of the deaths that occur throughout the narration are described as they are happening. No, these occur behind the scenes and we later find out about their gruesomeness alongside the characters. In a story about monsters that is quite a refreshing approach, so my hat tips to Ms. Petersen.

ARC Review: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Eternity Cure
Series: Blood of Eden, Book 2
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Length: 446 Pages
Publication Date: April 30, 2013
Available Format: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle Edition, eBook
Source: NetGalley
My Rating: ★★★★★
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Book Description:

She has done the unthinkable: died so that she might continue to live. Cast out of Eden and separated from the boy she dared to love, Allie will follow the call of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic vampire Sarren. But when the trail leads to Allie's birthplace in New Covington, what Allie finds there will change the world forever-and possibly end human and vampire existence.

There's a new plague on the rise, a strain of the Red Lung virus that wiped out most of humanity generations ago-and this strain is deadly to humans and vampires alike. The only hope for a cure lies in the secrets Kanin carries, if Allie can get to him in time.

Allison thought that immortality was forever. But now, with eternity itself hanging in the balance, the lines between human and monster will blur even further, and Allie must face another choice she could never have imagined having to make.

The Eternal Cure picks up a few months after the events of The Immortal Rules. Allie has been hunting Sarren, following the pull she feels toward her sire, Kanin. She’s getting close, she can feel it; her objective is to free Kanin from the evil hands of “crazy Psycho Vampire” as she calls Sarren. Unfortunately for her, things do not go quite as she envisions them.

Review: A Hidden Fire by Elizabeth Hunter

Title: A Hidden Fire
Series: Elemental Mysteries, Book 1
Author: Elizabeth Hunter
Publisher: E. Hunter
Length: 423 Pages
Publication Date: October 13, 2011
Available Formats: Paperback, Kindle Edition, eBook
Source: Bought for Free
My Rating: ★★★¾☆☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Goodreads
Worth Noted: As off January 5, 2013 the book remains free in both Amazon and Smashwords.

Book Description:

"No secret stays hidden forever."

A phone call from an old friend sets Dr. Giovanni Vecchio back on the path of a mystery he'd abandoned years before. He never expected a young librarian could hold the key to the search, nor could he have expected the danger she would attract. Now he and Beatrice De Novo will follow a twisted maze that leads from the archives of a university library, through the fires of Renaissance Florence, and toward a confrontation they never could have predicted.

A Hidden Fire is a paranormal mystery/romance for adult readers. It is the first book in the Elemental Mysteries Series.

I read this novel as part of Katie's Kick'n It Free-Style at Gotta Have Paranormal with a Kick. The challenge consisted of four groups of readers, each one with a randomly assigned book (that had been previously suggested). The books had to be free eBook downloads from the major book selling sites (mostly Amazon and B&N). My team, Feisty Femme Fatales, was assigned A Hidden Fire. NOTE: The tallies are up and our book won the challenge, it was the book with the overall best rating!!

I enjoyed the story, the author managed to refresh a concept that has, lately, become a bit overdone; I tip my hat to her for achieving this. It has many memorable characters in its roaster. Beatrice (or B, as she prefers to be called) is a strong female character and a great lead to the story. Gio is, well, he is complicated... Gio begins as a strong character, but there is one particular moment after which my perspective on him changes 180°. Among the rest of the characters we have Carwyn, one of Gio's best vampire friend, -and in my honest opinion- one of the best characters of the series. Did I mention he is a priest? Yup, he is both a priest and a vampire with a particular taste for Hawaiian shirts. Other great characters include Isadora (Beatrice's grandmother) and Caspar (Gio's butler/son/human best friend/ehh... you get the picture).

Review: Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill

Title: Friday Night Bites
Series: Chicagoland Vampires, Book 2
Author: Chloe Neill
Publisher: New American Library (NAL)
Length: 357 Pages
Publication Date: October 6, 2009
Available Formats: Paperback, Mass Market Paperback, Kindle Edition, ePub, Audiobook
Source: Bought
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository | Goodreads

Book Description:

VAMPIRES IN CHICAGO!

You’d think headlines like that would have provoked the fine citizens of the Windy City to take up arms against us blood-sucking fiends. Instead, ten months later, we’re enjoying a celebrity status reserved for the Hollywood elite —fending off paparazzi, who are only slightly less dangerous than cross-and-stake-wielding slayers. Don’t get me wrong. Joe Public isn’t exactly thrilled to be living side by side with the undead, but at least they haven’t stormed the castle… yet.

All that will change once they learn about the Raves, mass feeding parties where vampires round up humans like cattle and drink themselves silly. Most civilized vampires frown on this behavior –but that doesn’t make good copy for first-time reporter looking to impress his high-society family.

So now my “master” —centuries-old yet gorgeously well-preserved Ethan Sullivan— wants me to reconnect with my own upper-class family and act as a liaison between humans and vampires… and to keep the unsavory aspects of our existence out of the media. But someone doesn’t want people and vamps to play nicey-nice —someone with an ancient grudge.

They say that when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. But what happens when life unexpectedly decided to give you fangs? Well, you pack your sarcasms as close to heart as possible, you make sure your secret chocolate stash is safe, you strap on your katana and ready yourself to go straight into the lion’s den.

Review: Archangel's Consort by Nalini Singh

Title: Archangel’s Consort
Series: Guild Hunter, Book 3
Author: Nalini Singh
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Length: 656 KB (Aprox. 337 Pages)
Publication Date: January 25, 2011
Available Formats: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audiobook, eBook
Source: Bought
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository

Book Description:

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux and her lover, the lethally beautiful archangel Raphael, have returned home to New York only to face an uncompromising new evil…

A vampire has attacked a girls’ school—the assault one of sheer, vicious madness—and it is only the first act. Rampant bloodlust takes vampire after vampire, threatening to make the streets run with blood. Then Raphael himself begins to show signs of an uncontrolled rage, as inexplicable storms darken the city skyline and the earth itself shudders.

The omens are suddenly terrifyingly clear.

An ancient and malevolent immortal is rising. The violent winds whisper her name: Caliane. She has returned to reclaim her son, Raphael. Only one thing stands in her way: Elena, the consort who must be destroyed…

Archangel’s Consort picks up a few weeks after the events in Archangel’s Kiss. Elena and Raphael are finally back in New York City, but the place no longer feels like home for Elena. She not only needs to deal with the constant harassment from news crews and the average onlookers, she also has to deal with her gem of a father (please note the sarcasm). Raphael fares no better, having a few vampires fully giving in to their desires thinking that Raphael is dead and won’t punished them. And because things cannot just be peaceful around this two, the very fabric of the world is threatened when all the disrupting signs point to an archangels awakening. But not just any archangel, one of the Ancients, a being so old that even Lijuan might not be enough of a match.

Review: Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh

Title: Archangel’s Kiss
Series: Guild Hunter, Book 2
Author: Nalini Singh
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Length: 685 KB (Aprox. 340 Pages)
Publication Date: February 2, 2010
Reviewed Format: Kindle Edition, Paperback, Mass Market Paperback, Audiobook, eBook.
Source: Bought
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository

Book Description:

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find herself changed—an angel with wings the colors of midnight and dawn—but her fragile body needs time to heal before she can take flight. Her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, is used to being in control—even when it comes to the woman he considers his own. But Elena has never done well with authority…

They’ve barely begun to understand each other when Raphael receives an invitation to a ball from the archangel Lijuan. To refuse would be a sign of fatal weakness, so Raphael must ready Elena for the flight to Beijing—and to the nightmare that awaits them there. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan holds a power that lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena…

The story opens with Elena trying to adapt to her new wings and new lifestyle. After spending a year in a coma as a result of both her near death and Raphael’s kiss that turned her, she most learn to retrain her body and her new feathery appendages. She also needs to catch up in her history and learn the rules that govern the angelic culture. But just because she is at the Refuge, a place –like the name implies– that is sacred to all angels, doesn’t mean that life and political machinations won’t try to destroy her.

Review: Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh

Title: Angels’ Blood
Series: Guild Hunter, Book 1
Author: Nalini Singh
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Length: 339 Pages
Publication Date: March 3, 2009
Reviewed Format: Paperback, Mass Market Paperback, Kindle Edition, eBook, Audiobook.
Source: Won as a Giveaway Prize
My Rating: ★★★★★
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository

Book Description:

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux knows she is the best —but she does not know if even she is good enough for this job. Hired by the dangerously beautiful archangel Raphael, a being so lethal that no mortal wants his attention, Elena knows failure is not an option— even if the task is impossible.

Because this time, it's not a wayward vamp she has to track. It's an archangel gone bad.

The job will put Elena in the midst of a killing spree like no other—and pull her to the razor's edge of passion. Even if the hunt does not destroy her, succumbing to Raphael’s seductive touch just might. For when archangels play, mortals break...

This series had been recommended to me so many times already that I honestly lost track. Then I joined Gotta Have Paranormal with a Kick: Vets VS Newbies Reading Challenge and my partner, Vet Angela (yup, I’m the newbie of the duo) chose Angels’ Blood for me. I cannot thank her enough! There are few series that I get hooked on like “can’t stop reading.” It happened when I discovered Night Huntress by Jeaniene Frost, Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward, The Midnight Breed by Lara Adrian, The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning, and it just happened again with Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunter, who would have thought that ethereal beings such as angels could be so devastatingly hot!

Review: Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill

Title: Some Girl Bites
Series: Chicagoland Vampires, Book 1
Author: Chloe Neill
Publisher: New American Library
Length: 341 Pages
Publication Date: April 7, 2009
Available Format: Paperback, Kindle Edition, Audiobook.
Source: Won as giveaway prize
My Rating: ★★★★☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository

Book Description:

Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn't exactly glamorous, but it was mine. I was doing fine until Chicago's vampires announced their existance to the world —and then a rogue vampire attacked me. But he got only a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker ...and this one decided the best way to save my life was to make me the walking undead.

Turns out my savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now I've traded sweating over my dissertation for learning to fit in at a Kenwood mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan "Lord o' the Manor" Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred-year-old vampire, he has centuries' worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects my gratitude -and servitude. Right...

But my burgeoning powers (all of a sudden, I'm surprisingly handy with some serious weaponry), an inconvenient sunlight allergy, and Ethan's attitude are the least of my concerns. Someone's still out to get me. Is it the rogue vampire who bit me? A vamp from a rival House? An angry mob bearing torches?

My initiation into Chicago's nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war ...and there will be blood.

There are certain series or books that become so popular that in most book conversations of the genre they belong to, they get mentioned. One (mostly me) wonders if said book or series is really as good as people say, or if it's just hype. Then the cards fall on the table and you end up with a copy in your hands. Then it happens, after reading the book you become obsessed (hook, line and sinker) to the point that you wonder why on earth I didn't started this earlier. That was the process I went through with Some Girls Bite.

Review: Riser by Becca C. Smith

Title: Riser
Series: The Riser Saga, Book 1
Author: Becca C. Smith
Publisher: Publisher House if available
Length: Number of Pages, Word Count, File Size, etc.
Publication Date: June 5, 2010
Available Format: Paperback, Kindle Edition, eBook
Source: Supplied by the author through IO Book Tours

My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Get it @: Amazon | Book Depository

Book Description:

Black swirling holes churning madly in the center of every corpse. This is how eighteen-year-old Chelsan Derée sees the deceased. Her ability to connect to the black spinning holes allows her to control every dead thing within a four-mile radius.

But that's the least of her problems. It's 2320 and Chelsan Derée has to survive another year of high school, which for her is pure and utter torture, mainly due to the fact that her schoolmate Jill Forester's favorite activity is making Chelsan's life a living hell. If that isn't enough, Chelsan's impossible crush on Ryan Vaughn makes her brain do somersaults on a regular basis, especially since she is positive he doesn't know she exists. And being eighteen Chelsan has to deal with the pressure of whether or not she should take a little pill called Age-pro, which cures aging, making the world eighteen forever and highly over-populated.

When Chelsan's mother, Janet, is brutally killed, along with everyone else in her trailer park, Chelsan finds out that she was the intended target. Chelsan must use her power to raise and control the dead to save herself, protect her friends and take down the man responsible for murdering her mother.

Chelsan is an 18 year old living in L.A. in the year 2320. Although some technology breakthroughs have allowed civilization to have some wicked technology, life pretty much remains the same. Except for one tiny detail… Immortality comes in the shape of a pill. You read it right; the secret for immortality has been breached and encapsulated for public consumption.

Review: Hounded by Kevin Hearne

Title: Hounded
Series: Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 1
Author: Kevin Hearne
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication Date: May 3, 2011
Reviewed Format: ePub
My Rating: ★★★★★

To be honest, I picked this book because of its cover. I thought I had found a book that I had seen in Goodreads some months ago but I couldn’t be more wrong.

Let’s start by clarifying, this book is not the one I originally thought, this is an Urban Fantasy novel (I was expecting a Paranormal Romance) about the last druid on earth and his battle to protect our planet from the destructive forces of evil.

When I started reading it and realized that it wasn’t the right book and I had no idea what to expect off of it, I hadn’t research it before hand and it sure wasn’t following the plot I had pictured. However, I cannot be more pleased that I made this mistake. For it allowed me to discover a fantastic action/adventure story, and an UF nonetheless; I had missed those recently.

Atticus O’Sullivan is the last druid alive, he is a 21-year-old Irish man (a 21-centuries-year-old that is) living in hiding from the rest of the magical community, calling a small town of Arizona home. His life is rather simple, he owns an occult shop near the University campus selling everything from tarot cards to medicinal teas to the town’s people, he trims the garden of an old lady near his house and has the occasional spat with a neighbor. He also had man’s best friend by his side; a beautiful Irish wolfhound named Oberon that, hands down, is my favorite character in the entire book. You see, Oberon can talk to Atticus through a mind connection; by far the funniest lines in the book are always spoken by Oberon. I enjoyed this book a lot, is one of those reads that you can sit back and finish it in a day or two while just loosing yourself in the story and forget your problems; after all Atticus has enough to go around. The book is action packed, and beautifully written. My favorite part of the book is its intrinsic connection with nature and the role it plays in the healing of both the body and the mind.