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

Dark Dream, Christine Feehan

Well, I was kinda right, we are meeting a legend, just not Gabriel and Lucian.

OK, some housekeeping first. This is a novella. You can get it in ebook, but if you're like me, you prefer a actual book you can hold. Which leads to a slight problem. You can't just by Dark 7 by itself. There are a couple of ways you can buy it, but my suggestion is as part of Dark Nights. It has 7 and 11, so you get 2 for 1!

I really like this one, possibly because it's short and therefore, flys by. Not that I was a rush for it to finish, but it didn't have the back and forth the others in the series have had.

So, we discover that back in the day, Mikhal's (from Dark Prince) father sent several ancient hunters out into the world to help protect it from the vampires. At the time, they didn't know some humans could be lifemates, so he was basically sentencing them to death. Provided they killed themselves before turning vamp.

Falcon is one of those hunters.

When he was sent out into the world, he was compelled to write a journal, dedicated the lifemate the thought he'd never meet. He decides its time he ends his life, but wants to see his home, the Carpathian Mountains, one last time.

Sara, a woman with the ability to see the history of objects, finds Falcon's journal when she's 15 at an archaeological dig her parents are involved with. Unfortunately, she also comes across a vampire at the dig. The vamp kills her family and 15 years later she's still running from him. She finds herself in Romania, near the Carpathian Mountains, fighting to establish a home for children with special gifts, like her.

After seeing Falcon feeding - almost turning, if we're honest - she thinks he's a vamp, but she doesn't get a good look at his face. Of course, he sees her for what she is, his lifemate and takes off after her.

Only, she knows him. She has the journal, remember? And she dreams about him. She even had a bust of him made!

Which is why it moves fast, she doesn't fight it much. She thinks he's a vamp briefly, but she understands fairly quickly the differences.

My favorite thing about this one, besides the fact that Sara recognizes her feelings for him and embraces them instead of fighting tooth and nail, but Falcon calls in help when needed. Before he can convert Sara, Falcon has to go to ground for the day. She drives up to where Mikhal lives with the plan of meeting him that night. Only, she seems a vampire's puppet with all her kids. She takes off after them and ends up in a major wreck. So, Falcon calls on other Carpathians for help - Jacques and Shea respond.

I love the character interaction! That's been one of the things missing for me so far: once they find their lifemates, they kinda just...go. I like that we're getting some more interplay. It's not that we haven't had any just not as much as I would have liked.

Definitely a good little read.

Dark Dream, Christine Feehan

Busted, Karin Slaughter

Another short story. This one is between Criminal and Unseen.

Will is on his way to an undercover gig. He stops for a frozen coke and it all goes to hell.

The convenience store is robbed and a cop shot. Will does some heroics and takes out the baddies.

Well some of them. Amanda and Faith show up, mostly to make sure Will's cover stays intact, and of course to round up all the baddies.

Not as good as Snatched, and really just acted as a set up for Unseen. (yup, read this one out of order, too.)

Busted, Karin Slaughter

Snatched, Karin Slaughter

So, this is a review for a short story (quickie) in the Will Trent series, taking place between Fallen and Criminal.

Snatched is a....well, I want to say a sweet story and it is at the end, but it feels wrong to say a story about a child abduction is sweet.

So, in Criminal, we learn that Will has been placed on "airport duty" as punishment for having his hair too long (yeah, I read these a bit out of order, sorry). Sara likes his hair longer, so Will's not willing to cut it.

We also learn in Criminal that's not really the reason. Turns out, Amanda, in typical Amanda fashion, is doing it so Faith can have some time with her mom after her mom's kidnapping ordeal. His hair is just an excuse. Or a torture device...

I Love Amanda. :)

So, Snatched is a story about Will's time in the airport. Airport duty is when he sits in a bathroom stall waiting for some guy to proposition him.

While in the bathroom, Will sees little girl feet in the stall next to him. He gets a hinky feeling about her and the guy she's with.

Sadly, he's right to be concerned.

He saves her, returns her to her mom, gets the baddies, and once again, all is right with the world.

Until all breaks loose in Criminal.

Snatched, Karin Slaughter

Possession in Death, J.D. Robb

This one is 31.5 in the Eve Dallas series, falling between Indulgence in Death and Treachery in Death. I didn't review Indulgence here, obviously, so as a quick recap Eve investigates a series of murders. She discovers they're a part of a game (literally) between two rich dudes (think the Koch brothers) for a bet of $1.

This book starts right after she leaves one of the murderers after interrogating him. She's distraught at the waste of life. For no other reason the "entertainment." She arrives home just in time to entertain her friends (her family really, though not by blood) at a BBQ - a great scene.

As she's driving one of her guests home, she sees an old woman covered in blood. The woman is a gypsy and Eve unknowingly makes a pact with her. Eve agrees to find the woman's granddaughter, a ballet dancer - she doesn't seem to care much who killed her lol.

Anyway, the woman's...essence? in Eve's head causes Eve to see and talk to ghosts. She also starts taking on the woman's characteristics, such as speaking Russian like a native and getting the woman's ankle tattoo. She of course saves the day in the end.

This was probably the most supernatural of the books so far. There have been some elements in previous stories, but this was almost primarily about paranormal abilities and Eve's abilities in the vein. Still, good 'ol Eve rejects anything she can't explain, which leads to some interesting rationalizations.

Another short and sweet quickie.

Possession in Death, J.D. Robb

Flirt, Laurell K. Hamilton

This is another baby book, like Micah. Just as good too. Anita gets kidnapped and forced to rise a zombie.

A rich asshole wants his wife resurrected. She died in an accidental explosion and there's not much to work with. He doesn't just want her raised for a night to say goodbye; he wants a legit resurrection. Anita refuses of course so he cooks up this plan. Well, I should say he cooked it up before he asked, expecting Anita to refuse. Oh, you need a human sacrifice to do it too. SMH Not cool man, not cool.