Upon a Midnight Clear, Sherrilyn Kenyon

Yay for Christmas!

Really this is a 2-in-1.

Our first story is very Scroogesque.

Aidan is a human actor who has been royally screwed over by everyone he trusted, even his family. Especially his family.

Now said family is out to kill him. To do so, Aiden's brother has called on the god of pain to kill him.

Leta, a dream god, has set out to save him.

The long and short of it is that Leta dies and then comes back as human and they live HEA. We do see Zeus for the first time and my previous assessment is accurate: ass hat.

Our second story is more interesting as far as the series goes. We get to see where all the characters are over the holidays.

There are 2 groups of weres. The Sanctuary gang and the non-sanctuary gang. After Unleash the Night, Wren and his friend weren't exactly welcome at Sanctuary, nor did they really want to be. Except Fang. He and Aimee are still star crossed. Though Aimee's father does indicate that if she chooses Fang, he'll still love and support her.

All the ex-hunters are together, too. Kyrian, Julian, Valerius, Zarek and families. Nick is there, too, looking in the window, but doesn't go in. Stryker can see what he sees and Nick won't do that to his friends.

I feel so bad from him.

The last is Ash's Christmas. He's with Alexion, Danger, and the demons at home. Styxx is there, too. Briefly. If you remember from Night Embrace, Styxx is Ash's human brother. He hated Ash and wants to kill him, but at the end of the book Artemis imprisons him and sentences him to live Ash's life as Ash lived it. To see it from his point of view. To see the things as they were, not clouded by Styxx's hatred. Now Styxx is trying to make amends. And failing. But he is genuinely trying.

Ash then goes to Olympus to be with Kat and Sin. Artemis is there obviously, but that not who he goes to see, of course. (As a side note, I read this one before Devil May Cry and it seriously threw me off. But that's neither here nor there.) Kat is very pregnant and Sin teases Artemis about being a grandmother. She freaks and stomps off.

Worth it!

Upon a Midnight Clear, Sherrilyn Kenyon

Kiss of the Night, Sherrilyn Kenyon

I was very confused at the beginning of this one.

So, this is the story of Wulf. Wulf is Talon's best friend and he enters Talon's story (Night Embrace) by phone. What threw me off was at the start of this one, Talon is single. At first I thought I'd messed up the order, but a quick check confirmed the order.

Then Talon and Wulf have a phone conversation and I realize it's the same conversation as in Night Embrace. Just from Wulf's point of view.

This book takes place at the same time as Night Embrace and Dance with the Devil.

Once that was established it was all good.

So, Wulf is a Norse hunter - think Beowulf - who was cursed so anyone not of his bloodline forgets him after he leaves their presence. How sucky is that? He also never got vengeance.

How does that work, you ask? Well, Loki tricked him and exchanged his soul for another hunter's. It was never his choice to become a Dark Hunter.

Anyway, the reason I enjoyed this one so much was that we learn so much more about Apollites and what their lives are like. And how they view the Daimons.

Dark Curse, Christine Feehan

Nicolas De la Cruz it is!

So, we meet Lara here. Well, we met/learned about her in Dark Demon when Natalya saw the history of the knife. She was the little girl in the vision where Razvan, her father, was using her for blood. We also saw her escape with the help of two dragons who, we learn here, are her great aunts in dragon form.

Lara is now back in the Carpathian Mountains, an adult trying to find out if her beloved aunts are real, and to save them if they are (They are, she does). She remembers what happened to her, all the horrors and trauma, but it's also fantastical and she's become unsure if she just made parts up to make sense of her horrific life. Specifically, made up the aunts.

So, she's back and searching the mountains for the ice cave where she was held prisoner. Her first attempt is pretty fail. She and her friends get attacked and wounded. They rush back to the Inn for help. After arriving at the Inn, Mikhal (Dark Prince) takes over to help heal her friends. Before she can go into the Inn, she runs across Nicolas, looking for a meal.

Nicholas is in the Mountains to tell Mikhal about the plan the Malinov and De la Cruz brothers concocted centuries ago. He's on his way to the Inn to do just that when he sees Lara. His plan is to tell the Prince the plan, then die before he becomes a vampire. Seeing Lara, he figures it's his last meal. He figures out pretty quick that she's his lifemate.

Now, if you were used from birth as food for your father and psycho great-great grandfather, having someone take your blood is not going to be something you appreciate.

She stabs him.

Dark Possession, Christine Feehan

So, at the end of Dark Celebration, Manolito is mortally wounded saving Shea and her baby. We know he survived but that's about it.

We also know that he found his lifemate, MaryAnn, took her blood, but didn't tell anyone.

We start this one with him waking up before he's supposed to. See, we know Carpathians use the earth to heal and rejuvenate them. When one is so badly injured, the healer will command you to sleep, which the patient shouldn't be able to disobey.

So, he wakes up in the rainforest with no idea how he got there or what's going on. Even worse, because his wound was mortal, they had to pull his soul back from the afterlife (stick with me, it's fantasy). So, that means when he wakes up early, part of him is still in the afterlife. Because of that, he's existing both worlds. Think: really freaky hallucinations that can make you feel pain.

So, the question is, what made him wake up early? An evil vampire plot?

Nope. Distressed lifemate.

Dark Hunger, Christine Feehan

This is another novella, so I read it as a part of Darkest at Dawn, which has Dark Hunger (14) and Dark Secret (15).

We meet the first of the De la Cruz brothers in this one. The 5 brothers are ancients that were sent out to fight the vampires by Mikhal's father. Most of the hunters were sent out as individuals, but the brothers stayed together and resettled in Brazil. They've made a home there.

We've heard about the jaguar people before, and we meet some here.

Juliette and her sister, jaguars, attack a research facility in the middle of the rainforest they think is experimenting on animals. While in there rescuing the animals, Juliette runs across Riordan, a Carpathian who is being kept prisoner. See it's not really a animal research facility, that's just the front, really it's a way to trap and experiment on vampires, which for them means anyone they feel like. Drained of blood, in constant pain from shackles and chains coated in vampire blood, he doesn't immediately see Juliette as his savior, but as another captor. Before her, the human society of vampire hunters only came in during the day when he couldn't do anything, so he sees her presence as their first mistake.

Of course when she speaks, he realizes who she is to him, plus she's clearly rescuing him. Once she takes off the chains, he feeds. He doesn't really warn her, so she's obviously not pleased. He does it because it's the only way they both get out, but still, a bit of warning would be nice. He figures he can't take the chance she'll refuse.

Juliette is what I was really thinking when I asked for a vivacious woman (Dark Prince). Now I said something like this in reference to Jaxon in Dark Guardian, but this is much more on point. Jaxon was a cop, so she had that angle, but Juliette is a match for vivacious.

She's very sexual, and very comfortable with that. She really embraces it. Being jaguar, she goes into heat on occasion, so being sexual has never been an issue. She's also highly independent and comfortable with her own abilities. She's lived with her sister, Jasmine, and her cousin, Solange, for most of her life, battling and hiding from the jaguar men. She knows who and what she is, and she's happy with it.

The jaguar men have been kidnapping jaguar women to get them pregnant. Which means gang rape until their victims are pregnant. We discover the reason for that is, at least in part, because of a vampire's influence. Jasmine is kidnapped by one group so Juliette and Solange go after them while Riordan has to sleep. They find her, but unfortunately it's too late to save her completely. She's still alive though. They wait as long as they can so Riordan can join them as soon as possible, but they have to engage before he can.

They rescue Jasmine, but Solange and Jasmine want nothing to do with Riordan or his brothers, despite being offered safety at the family's ranch. Riordan has to take Juliette to convert her because her wounds are so bad.

I liked this one for it's simplicity. That doesn't mean it had no interest, none of that depth I've been going on about. Just that it was...light, maybe? No, that's not right, because there was the whole gang rape thing. That's close though, it was mostly a pleasant and light read. I guess it's that there wasn't a lot of mistrust and back-and-forth between Juliette and Riordan like in the other books.

Dark Hunger, Christine Feehan

Dark Melody, Christine Feehan

So we're back with the band and I really liked this one.

For many reasons.

So, if you remember, everyone in the band (Dark Challenge, Dark Fire) has a lifemate except for Dayan. At the end of Dark Fire, he went on the run with the human, Cullen Tucker, evading the human society of vampire hunters.

He meets Corinne, a songwriter. The complication? Corinne has a heart condition, she doesn't have much time to live. On top of that, she's pregnant with her husband's child. You read that right, husband.

But don't worry, no adultery here, she's a widow. Her husband was murdered by the society.

So, all that creates a few of the dynamics I've been hoping for.

In Dark Symphony, I talked about the idea that the conversion process would eliminate any illnesses or handicaps. Here, however, we have to consider the idea that while conversion does do that, the body has to be strong enough to survive the process. In addition, can a baby be converted? Can it be converted in the womb? If conversion shifts and reshapes the organs, could a baby survive?

The answer is no. A baby could not, and the body can be too weak to survive.

Then there's the husband thing.

Catch Me, Lisa Gardner

So, what's new mom, DD Warren up to now?

Well, she's back on the job and hunting a serial killer.

Well, two actually. Well, one confirmed, one suspected.

See, someone is killing sex offenders. Two died while DD was on maternity leave, and her first case now that she's back is another.

Three makes a pattern.

Then DD finds Charlie hanging out outside the crime scene. DD is suspicious and hauls her in. Charlie tells DD about the murders of her 2 childhood friends exactly one year apart. Now, as the anniversary approaches, Charlie is sure it's her turn.

Not a pattern, but on the way.

She doesn't want DD to stop it, she just wants DD to solve it.

Kinda sad, huh?

What makes it sadder is that Charlie is another tragic past character.

Sigh. Lisa needs to update her playbook.

Love You More, Lisa Gardner

So much for happy endings.

At the end of Live to Tell, DD and Alex were getting together. As had Danielle and her man. The baddies had gotten what they deserved. And for once, it didn't seem like anyone got away with murder. Sounds like a happy ending for me.

And now it's all ruined.

Sorta.

We start with a State Trooper accused of killing her husband - an abuser. Only then they realize the kid is gone.

Troopers responded to the death at the house, but fucked up the crime scene before they realized there was a missing kid.

So, Ms. DD gets called in.

And everything is wonky from the get-go.

The Trooper, Tessa, is weird. The timeline is weird. The story itself is weird. Everything adds up at face value, but not when you scrape the surface. It's like.....2+2=4, right? But then if you look at decimals, you find out, actually, it's 5.

See what I'm saying. And Tessa is definitely a 5.

So DD starts investigating. Now, the case is this weird mob conspiracy. Basically here's what you need to know.

Fallen, Karin Slaughter

I love this one! This series just gets better and better.

So, we learn a lot about Faith, her mom, and her mom's past. Remember I mentioned Will investigated Faith's mom? Well, now we get some answers.

So, Faith had her baby. I don't think I mentioned she was preggers, but she was. Like her first child, this was an oops baby. The father doesn't even know about the baby until this book. Kinda a shocker for him since they'd broken up before Faith even knew she was pregnant. She also found out she had diabetes at the same time.

So, Faith's life has been pretty all over lately.

Now, she's just had her baby and is returning home from mandated work training when she realizes something is wrong: her mom isn't answering any of her phone calls.

She finally makes it home in time to find one dead, one hostage, one with a gun, but no mom. Her mom managed to get the baby into the locked shed where her weapons are kept, but other than that, there's no sign of her mother.

Faith calls 911, but storms the house herself and kills the remaining two baddies. And despite one being a hostage, they are both baddies.

So, we start with some harcore Rambo shit from Faith.

After that it gets a bit more complicated.

Fractured, Karin Slaughter

Will Trent is back - and Angie is living with him.

She left the force after getting hurt in Triptych, and they're engaged.

Gave me false hope, damn it. They're still a disaster. An engaged disaster, but a disaster never-the-less.

We also meet Faith.

I'm a fan of Faith.

Faith is not a fan of Will.

See, Will's last assignment was to root out corruption and he came across Faith's mother in the process, who was then forced to resign.

So, yeah. Faith + Will = Tension!

And they're working a missing persons case. She's the partner of Leo, the guy who was the partner of the cop from Triptych. When Will realizes they're not at a murder scene, but a kidnapping scene, Leo gets kicked off the case and in trouble for missing the clues, and Faith gets partnered with Will.

Kisscut, Karin Slaughter

Grant County continues...And everyone needs freakin' therapy.

This one was so sad. It starts with the death of a young girl, at Jeffery's hands. She's pointing a gun at a boy a bit older than her and threatening to shoot him. Jeffery has no other choice. Still it tears him up and he constantly second guesses himself for the rest of the book.

As you meet the kids who knew the girl, Jenny, you start to realize there is something seriously wrong. Especially after meeting her intended victim, Mark.

There's this one part that is so reminiscent of the recent Steubenville horrors, that is gives you chills. Heartbreaking. And this predates Steubenville by a lot.

Sara is still dancing around Jeffery. They're actually planning on having dinner when Jenny threatens Mark. Well, actually, Jeffery leaves Sara to answer a page and she goes into the bathroom where she finds a murdered infant - someone gave birth and immediately killed the baby. Sara had seen Jenny come out of the bathroom and, after seeing if it's possible to save the baby, goes after her. She finds the standoff and sees Jeffery give in to his only choice.

 Jeffery needs to see someone to deal with his actions, and they need couples therapy if they're going to make this second chance work. Sara can't let go of Jeffery's affair/one night stand. She can't let it go and he can't keep apologizing.

Lena is obviously still struggling with her rape and kidnapping. She's back on the job with the caveat that she see a therapist, which she conveniently "hasn't done yet." I really hope she does. These kinds of stories always talk about therapy and how the characters need it, but never actually have their characters do it. Then the character manages to just pull themselves out. It's really annoying. That's not how it works for 98% of the population. People need help! Therapy doesn't make you weak or crazy.

Unholy Night, Seth Grahame-Smith

This book is the tale of the three wise men, as imagined by the author of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (which was excellent, BTW - way better than the movie.).

As this book involves some religious figures, and that can be a touchy subject, I should start with 2 disclaimers:

1)      If you are hyper religious, and find any fictional portrayal of Christian figures as bad or blasphemous, don't bother with this book or review. You'll just be unhappy.

2)      If you are hyper non-religious, and don't see the point in discussing religion you may want to stop reading this review here. You may enjoy the book as a straight work of fiction, but I am going to go into thoughts on the religion it touches on, which you may not enjoy.

OK, so, the book is not about Jesus. Or Mary and Joseph. Well, maybe the holy couple a little. Sure, the holy family is in it, but it's not about them. The main character is a thief named Balthazar. He's more the kind of guy who might follow disclaimer number 2. He's murdered, he's stolen, he has no remorse, and certainly no faith. We meet him as he's riding across the desert attempting to evade the Judean soldiers chasing him. He's stolen from the governor of a nearby town.

He doesn't make it. 

Darkness Bread, Stella Cameron

So, after I finished Shadow of Night, I had to pick a book to distract me. I happened to be on vacation, so my choices were limited. As I said in the review of Shadow of Night, all I wanted to read was the third book of that series. I didn't have that, so I chose this one.

I'm repeating all this because this book had an uphill battle. This is a book from the Chimney Rock series which focuses on a pack of werehounds. The werehounds have been dying out, along with all the other shifters. The females are dying during pregnancy with their children. The first book of the series, Darkness Bound, explains all this. I read it pre-blog, so it's not reviewed, but the basic idea is the leader of the pack, Niles meets and falls for his mate, Leigh. Sean, the main character of this story is Niles' second in command and plays a large part in protecting Leigh. We discover Leigh is a particular race that is thought to have no magical abilities, but actually just has very rare ones. The idea is that these rare abilities would allow them to carry children for the werehounds (don't worry, I'll come back to this one in Feminist Corner).

During the first book, we also meet Silkywidden, a mysterious cat. Well, she is also a shifter, and part of the same race as Leigh. She and Sean have fallen in love while acting as go betweens for Leigh and Niles in the first book. This book starts with the necessity for a decision: Can Sean and Elin (Silkywidden) be together? Niles is concerned because Elin is fey. She's not, but she's not telling anyone that because she wants to make sure Sean wants her, not just her possible reproductive abilities (again, I'll come back to this, patience). See, Elin was kidnapped as a baby and raised by the fey Queen. Niles is worried Elin is a spy for the Queen - and to be fair, the Queen does want her to do that. She's refused. Leigh already suspects Elin's true origins, and she sees the love between the two, so he's firmly on their side. Niles is harder to convince. In the first book, they encounter a traitor among the hounds, this seems to put them all in a distrusting mood.

Shadow of Night, Deborah Harkness

OMG!! I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE INDEFINITELY!!! THERE'S NOT EVEN A RELEASE DATE YET! OR A TITLE! WTF am I going to do?!?! *whine*

Obviously, I liked it. And I was devastated when I finished that I have to wait an indefinite amount of time. In fact, all my other books looked boring - all I wanted to read was book 3.

To catch up anyone who hasn't read my review for the first book, A Discovery of Witches and this one are part of the All Souls Trilogy. I'm not surprised at all this book won the 2012 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Paranormal Fantasy.

At the end of the first book, witch Diana and vampire Matthew escape into the past in an attempt to find a teacher for Diana and keep the council, the group that ensures the agreement keeping the species/races separate is kept, from attacking again. This book starts as Diana and Matthew...land(?) in 1590.

Matthew is Matthew Roydon, an actual historical figure little is known about, and is friends with many other historical figures such as Sir Walter Raleigh and Christopher Marlowe, known as Kit. Kit is actually not a fan of Diana. He's jealous of her really, as Matthew loves her, not Kit. Most of these friends, including those I just mentioned, are part of the School of Night. Through the book, Diana, a historian, gets to meet many other figures Rabbi Loew, Queen Elizabeth, even Emperor Rudolf.

Bloodline, James Rollins

Another one from one of my regular series. The Sigma series is kind of like Di Vinci Code meets….G.I. Joe.

Sigma is the covert arm of DARPA. Already a cool idea, right? The organization is super secret, some parts of the government not even knowing they exist and even fewer knowing what they do. They recruit former military/special forces/special operations and retrain them in scientific disciplines. Most of the operatives tend to be a bit of problem children while their in the military. It's kinda that cliché about the kid who gets in trouble in class because he/she is too smart and too far ahead of the other kids.

I've actually been getting a little bored with the series, but not anymore. Sigma's nemesis is a shadowy criminal organization called "the Guild," the secret in all secret societies. Up until recently, I was totally on board, but in the last book or so, I was getting a little sick of it. I was ready to beat the Guild and move on. I would have been mightily disappointed if Rollins had tried to drag it out for more books. Luckily, I didn't have to be! 

Danse Macabre, Laurell K. Hamilton

Holy pregnancy scare, batman!

So, this book leans primarily on the relationships again. While I'm still ok with that, I hope we don't lose the Executioner aspect of the books. I mean, the series is "Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter." I like Anita's work with the police and I like the cops. Dolph may be acting like a bigoted asshole at the moment, but I still have hope he'll realize the error of his ways. And Zerbrowski is always entertaining.

So, as you can tell, the book starts with Anita and Ronnie discussing Anita's missed period. Anita does end up taking a home pregnancy test which shows she's preggers. Spoiler: she's not. However, that's not what I find interesting about this book. What I find interesting is the reaction of the people in her life.