Stakes & Stilettos Review

Sarah Dearly is still adjusting to her life as a vampire after being bitten by a blind date in Bitten and Smitten. But unfortunately, nothing is working out for her. After getting staked instead of hired for a job, Sarah decides to go to her high school reunion in the hopes of brightening her mood.

At the reunion, Sarah runs into a girl she went to school with, who happens to be a witch. Sarah can't remember the girl but that doesn't stop the witch from recognizing her. The witch traps her in the bathroom, blows glitter in her face, chants some stuff in Latin and completely creeps Sarah out. Not long after the incident, Sarah finds herself suffering from every typical vampire myth there is. She can’t go out during the day anymore and worst of all she has this insane desire to attack people and drink their blood!

After some brain storming, Sarah realizes the witch at the reunion put a curse on her. She is finding this new vampire life extremely depressing and needs to find a way to have the curse lifted. To make things worse, a guy calling himself The Red Devil has been saving Sarah lately but her boyfriend Thierry is convinced he is not the real Red Devil but rather, an imposter.

The Red Devil has been saving vampires from harm for centuries but has been missing for the last 100 years. Sarah would like to think that this man is her own guardian angel who is going to watch over her and make everything better. Who is this man and is he the real Red Devil or someone very dangerous?

Thierry’s wife refuses to grant him an annulment and this makes Sarah very upset. One thing after another happens to poor Sarah and yet she still has a smile on her face and even a sense of humor about everything. Will the curse be lifted, the Red Devil’s identity discovered, and annulment papers signed so Sarah can finally get her happily ever after?

Stakes & Stilettos is the fourth book in the Immortality Bites Series featuring newly turned vampire Sarah Dearly. The first person narrative flows brilliantly and I was hooked from the first sentence. A truly gifted writer knows how to captivate their audience and knows how to write in a way that is so intriguing that their readers will not want to put their book down; Michelle Rowen is that writer.

Stakes & Stilettos has the perfect combination of paranormal, romance, mystery, humor, suspense, and chick lit all wrapped up into one superb novel that will knock your socks off! The humor in Stakes & Stilettos is REALLY FUNNY and the little comments Sarah makes to the reader are absolutely hilarious.

Hollywood, take notice! Stakes & Stilettos would make such a great movie!! I am completely hooked and can not wait for the fifth and final book in the Immortally Bites Series, Tall, Dark & Fangsome, due out September 2009.

Stakes & Stilettos will be released on March 31, 2009!

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Immortal Danger Review

Maya Black’s life changed forever when she was attacked in an alley and turned into a vampire. She said goodbye to her career as a cop in L.A. and decided she would still hunt the bad guys despite her situation. But the bad guys she hunts are her own kind. She doesn’t differentiate between vampires, werewolves or demons; if they’re evil she will hunt them down and kill them.

Adam Brody has traveled from Maine to L.A. to meet Maya and ask her for help. His niece Cammie has been kidnapped by a group of vampires who plan to present her to their master as the ultimate gift. Adam knows of Maya’s reputation as the toughest vampire out there. No matter how hard anyone tries, she is unstoppable. Adam is hoping Maya will take on his case and help him bring his niece home safely.

When Adam and Maya meet it is instant chemistry between the two. He helps defend her in fight after fight, and Maya can’t help but wonder if Adam is even human. He doesn’t smell human, and his blood sure as hell doesn’t taste like it. So what is Adam and if he has his own abilities, why would he need Maya’s help?

Maya and Adam team up and travel to Las Vegas to find Cammie and to battle the Born Master, Nassor. Maya has a history with Nassor and is only too thrilled at a chance to defeat him once and for all. Will they find Cammie and bring her safely home or will Nassor receive his gift and put an end to this mission?

Immortal Danger is a paranormal romantic suspense novel by the very talented Cynthia Eden. This book is a stand alone story but has potential to become another series. There is plenty of suspense, steamy sex scenes that sizzle, and a romantic storyline that you can’t help but root for. Cynthia Eden keeps the reader on the edge of their seat from the first page to the last satisfying page.

I love how the author seamlessly meshes werewolves, demons, vampires, and other paranormal beings into her stories as if they usually live amongst each other every day. The battles that Maya and Adam fought were very well written with every scene described in just enough detail that I could picture it perfectly.

Overall, I immensely enjoyed Immortal Danger and every other Cynthia Eden book that I’ve read so far! This author does not disappoint and I highly recommend Immortal Danger to readers who are looking for a book that will keep them up all night reading.

Immortal Danger will be released on March 31, 2009!
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Full list of current and upcoming books by Cynthia Eden

Huntress Book Cover

Here's another book I didn't know about! Info from Marjorie M. Liu's site.

Huntress (July 2009)

CHRISTINE WARREN “Devil’s Bargain” Supernatural bounty hunter Lilli Corbin made a pact with the Prince of Hell: She agreed to recover a book of prophecies. When she learns it could trigger the apocalypse, Lilli is forced to make the ultimate choice: save her soul, or the man she loves?

MARJORIE M. LIU “The Robber Bride” Welcome to a post-apocalyptic world where where humans are fed on for their life forces. Now it’s up to Maggie, one of the last survivors, to hunt down and destroy an army of darkness…

CAITLIN KITTREDGE “Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go” Ava is a demon slayer who needs help from mage Jack Winter to reach the demon underworld—a place of dark seduction…and, maybe, one of no return.

JENNA MACLAINE “Sin Slayer” London 1889. Jack the Ripper is killing off the city’s vampire population, and now it’s up to Cin Craven to hunt him down—and save the infected Michael, the love of her undead life.

Darkness Calls Book Cover

Look what I found on Marjorie M. Liu's site! I must have been under a rock to not have seen this cover sooner!! I loved Iron Hunt, can't wait for this one!!! Here's the summary from her site.

Darkness Calls (July 2009)

They are the obsidian shadows of my flesh - tattoos with minds, hearts, and dreams. By day, they protect me. But when night calls to them, they leave my body, dissolving into their true form - as demons…
Nomad born and bred, demon hunter Maxine Kiss has always relied upon herself to fight the darkness that surrounds her, the predators-human, zombie, and otherwise - who threaten the earth. But one man has penetrated her lonely life: Grant, the last of his kind. With music he is able to control any living creature…including demons. And now his life is in danger.
Haunted by the past, determined to change the future, Maxine soon understands that to save Grant, she has only one choice-to lose control, and release her own powers of darkness…

The Dead Girls' Dance Review

Claire Danvers is trying to be a normal college student but life in Morganville is far from normal. She still can’t go out at night without worrying about being attacked by vampires. The bullies at the college are still torturing her and Shane is still incredibly sexy and tempting to her. When we last left Claire in Glass Houses, one of the roommates was brutally attacked. The story picks up right where the last one left off, as if no time has passed.

After Shane called his father and his biker friends for help, they arrived in full force but unfortunately they did anything but help. They are on a mission to kill all of the vampires in Morganville and any association with the bikers means a sure death sentence for the roommates.

Monica is still up to no good but this time the tables have changed. Claire finds herself in a situation where she has Monica’s life in her hands and she has no choice but to save her. Shane is in grave danger, Michael isn’t coping well with his little problem, and Eve is right there by Claire’s side through it all. Will one of the roommates not make it out alive this time or will brilliant Claire find a way to save the day?

The Dead Girls’ Dance at a local fraternity sounds like it would be a lot of fun, especially for gothic Eve. But the dance is on the same night as the roommates’ showdown with some vampires and disaster ensues. The vampires of Morganville are a mixed bunch with some being evil, but some actually kind and trust worthy. Can Claire depend on her new ally Amelie or will she turn out to be like all of the rest?

The Dead Girls’ Dance is the second book in the Morganville Vampires Series featuring Claire, Shane, Michael and Eve. Claire barely has had any time to adjust to Morganville since arriving because of the constant chaos surrounding her. The romance between Claire and Shane is growing, Eve and Michael are becoming closer, and they are all running for their lives. Everywhere they turn; someone is attacking or trying to kill them, especially Claire. Will the roommates find a way for everyone to make it out alive or will there be casualties this time around?

The Dead Girls’ Dance is a thrill ride from beginning to end and has made Rachel Caine a new favorite on my list. The writing flows very well and is so captivating that I couldn’t put this book down at all! Everything about The Dead Girls’ Dance is perfect and made it a pleasure to read. The suspense is intense and I love the characters and how they are developing. Overall, this is a damn good book and I can’t recommend this series enough!

Glass Houses Review

Morganville Texas is not your typical family oriented town with barbeques every weekend and ballet recitals during the week. Morganville is primarily run by vampires and going out late at night can get you killed. Claire Danvers has no idea what she’s getting herself into when she moves to Morganville to attend college at the young age of sixteen. After being beat up on by bullies in the dorms, Claire finds herself moving into The Glass House and living with three other roommates.

The Glass House is owned by Michael Glass, a musician, and shared by his roommates Shane, and a very gothic Eve. Claire is shocked to find out from her new roomies that vampires actually exist and that she is in grave danger if she isn’t Protected by a vampire. The bully who beat Claire up is Monica, a very dangerous girl who you don’t want to mess with. She has connections and with the snap of her finger she can have you killed.

Claire tries to attend her classes and go about life as usual but every time she steps foot outside, someone tries to kill her. How will Claire live to attend her graduation with vampires around every corner? Will Claire drop out of school or will she make it through her first semester in Morganville?

Glass Houses is the first book in a Young Adult paranormal series that is addicting from the first sentence to the last. The characters are engaging, unique and nicely fleshed out. The dialogue, fight scenes, action, suspense, and romance are all top notch and had me glued to the pages of this book. I read this book in two non stop sittings and was immensely impressed with Rachel Caine’s writing. I look forward to reading book two The Dead Girls’ Dance and finding out what happens next in the exciting lives of Claire, Shane, Eve and Michael.

Cynthia Eden Books

Doesn't this guy look like Dexter??? I love this cover. Another Cynthia Eden book that I am SUPER excited for!!

Midnight’s Master
Release Date: July 2009

Publisher: Kensington Brava

Genre: Paranormal Romantic Suspense

Length: Novel

Description
In a world of shadows, desire conquers all…

In this sexy, gripping novel, Cynthia Eden draws readers deeper into the realm of the Others—vampires, shifters, and sinfully attractive demons whose powers are matched only by their dark hungers…

Tall, dark, and formidable, Niol Lapen is the last demon on earth most people would ask for a favor, yet the sexy little reporter who wanders into his club dares to do exactly that. Holly Storm already knows too much about his kind, and Niol has no wish to help her get in deeper over her head. But working alongside her may be the only way to stop a killer, even as it ignites a primal desire unlike anything he’s known.

Holly has seen firsthand what Niol is capable of, but that doesn’t frighten her nearly as much as her body’s instinctive reaction to him, or the wild, fierce passion that would tempt her to follow him through hell itself. Something evil and relentless is prowling the streets of Atlanta. And as Holly’s search leads her into danger that even Niol could never have predicted, she’ll uncover a secret that could rip her world apart….

Cynthia Eden News

Thanks to my friend Linda for pointing this out to me. Cynthia Eden has posted a new book cover and excerpt on her site! I am literally foaming at the mouth with excitement. Man does she have some awesome covers! The excerpt is so good too!


“In the Dark” in Belong to the Night
Book Description Book Excerpt
Release Date: September 2009
Publisher: Kensington Brava
Genre: Paranormal Romantic Suspense
Length: Novella

Description
FBI agent and leopard shifter Sadie James’ undead ex, Liam, still arouses her deepest desires, distracting her from tracking the brutal rogue shifter who is terrorizing Miami. By teaming up with Liam, Sadie has a better chance of solving the case, but as passion consumes them, she stands to lose more than just her heart.

Excerpt
* * *
Her dead lover stood on the other side of the bar, rubbing his hand against the back of some long-legged redhead and looking very much alive.
Sadie James drew in a deep breath. Caught the scent of smoke. Expensive perfume. Sweat.
I went to that jerk’s funeral. Cried over his grave.
A grave he didn’t seem to be occupying.
She’d even taken flowers to the graveside.
The redhead laughed. Tossed back her head. The man turned, braced his hand against the wall behind her head and leaned in even closer to her.
Rage had Sadie’s back teeth grinding together.
She stalked across the bar, elbowing dancing men and women out of her way. Her fingers curled, and a hard fury tightened her body.
Two years. For two damn years she’d thought he was dead. While he was out there screwing redheads. Redheads who wore really trashy pink dresses.
He was bent over the woman now. His mouth poised over her throat.
Sadie was going to rip the bastard apart.
The redhead laughed. A high, tipsy giggle.
Sadie growled.
And even though she was still at least ten feet away, and the music blaring from the band jumping on stage was ear-splitting loud, Liam Sullivan stiffened. His dark head snapped up. He spun around, scanning the crowd.
His eyes, too damn blue and bright for a dead man, locked on her. She saw his stare widen and his lips began to curve into a smile—
A smile she’d knock off his still too-handsome face. “Liam.”

Curse the Dawn Review

Curse the Dawn is the fourth book in the Cassie Palmer urban fantasy series. I strongly recommend reading the series in order to fully understand the characters and the world Cassie lives in. I did not know this was book four in the series until after I started the book and found it difficult to read without the prior knowledge of the series.

The characters are rarely described at all, leaving the reader with just a bunch of names in their head without a clear picture on who is who and what kind of being they are. The story starts off with action and the action doesn’t let up at all. Normally, I enjoy a book with lots of fight scenes and near death situations but in Curse the Dawn I found it to be overwhelming and boring at times.

Everything but the characters is described in extreme detail which can make the story feel overly wordy. There is very little romance or anything else going on besides Cassie fighting for her life in scene after scene. The story reads like an action adventure movie script and would probably make a great movie. I couldn’t even go about describing or summarizing Curse the Dawn as I normally would do in my reviews, because I simply could not comprehend what I was reading.

There were good parts to this book but then it would return to another overly detailed fight scene and my eyes would glaze over. Normally it takes me about 3 days to read a book, but Curse the Dawn took me over 2 weeks. I do not think that my distaste for this book is solely because I haven’t read the other books in the series, as I have never had a problem like this before. I saw a lot of potential in Chance’s writing but the excessive details, lack of any characterization, and over abundance of fight scenes really turned me off to this series. Overall, Curse the Dawn is an interesting book but just not my cup of tea.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Win a Apple IPod Touch

Check out this contest over at Bitten by Books!

Please let them know RachaelfromNJ sent you if you enter!

The Last First Book We Ever Wrote

Hello there! My name is Bree, and I’m one half of the romance-writing, virtual-crime-fighting duo known as Moira Rogers. I’m here today because Bitten by Books was kind enough to agree to help us celebrate something really exciting that only comes once in an author’s lifetime: the release of the first book we ever wrote.

Awesome, right? We sure think so! Of course, the part that takes a little bit of explaining is the part where Crux is, in fact, our sixteenth ebook to be released. A lot has happened to us since fall of 2007, when we first sat down to try and tell the story of Mackenzie and Jackson, the heroine and hero who have to fight an evil supernatural conspiracy spanning generations to win their chance at a happy ending. We scampered off to hone our craft on short stories and novellas and learned from our experience. But we always came back to this story, because in the end we loved our tough determined heroine and her smooth talkin’ detective hero too much to leave alone.

Today, in honor of Crux’s release, we’ve teamed up with Bitten by Books for a chance to make someone else just as excited as we are. We have in our possession a NEW Apple iPod touch 8 GB (1st Generation) (Retail Value $229.00), perfect for listening to music AND reading books through the awesome application Stanza. The Apple iPod touch 8 GB also holds 1,750 songs or 10 hours of video. Go here to read all about it. We’re also going to give $50.00 and $25.00 Visa Gift Cards to two lucky runners up! All you need to do is read the rules below and enter this awesome contest. And if you happen to pick up a copy of Crux, we hope you’ll love Jackson and Mackenzie as much as we do!

Book Excerpt: “Jackson Holt makes a decent living as a private investigator in New Orleans, home of one of the largest underground supernatural populations in the United States. He and his partners have never met a case they couldn’t crack…until a local bar owner asks him to do a little digging on her newest hire.

New Orleans is the fourth destination in as many months for Mackenzie Brooks, a woman on the run from a deranged stalker. After all, any man who shows up on her doorstep claiming to be her destined lover has more than a few screws loose. But crazy doesn’t explain why he always finds her no matter how far she runs.

When her well-meaning boss puts a PI on her case, Mackenzie comes face to face with the incredible truth: magic is real, and whatever spell has kept her hidden and separate from the paranormal world is rapidly deteriorating.

With time running out, she has no choice but to trust Jackson as he struggles to uncover the truth of her past-and her destiny.”

GENERAL CONTEST INFORMATION:

The contest ends on Friday 3/20/09 at 11:59 pm PST and the winners will be contacted the following week.

Riding On Instinct Contest

Click here to enter The Riding On Instinct contest

Unseen Review

Gemma LaPorte knows her last memory was eating oatmeal and watching the rain come down, but it hasn’t rained in three days. She’s lying in a hospital after being involved in a car accident that may have left a man dead. She doesn’t remember hitting the man with her car and fleeing the scene but when Detective Will Tanninger puts the pieces together, all signs point to Gemma being the culprit.


Despite being suspicious of Gemma, Will still trusts her and doesn’t believe that she’s a cold blooded killer. After visiting a doctor, Gemma discovers there might be something mentally wrong with her that could explain her black outs and lost time. A friend claims to have seen Gemma driving down the road and waving to her, but she has no recollection of this happening. Is Gemma losing her mind or is there something more sinister going on?


In the meantime, there is another killer on the loose and one by one he is murdering women. He seems to have his sights set on Gemma but with all the drama in her life she has no idea of his intentions. Will Detective Will Tanninger be able to protect Gemma from the killer, solve the case, and clear Gemma’s name?


Unseen is a romantic suspense novel that loosely carries on the storyline first developed in Wicked Game written by Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush. While there is a back-story that is being continued in Unseen, both books are separate stories and can be read independently. Unseen grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let go until the exciting conclusion. Nancy Bush writes excellent suspense and has exceeded my expectations.


The story is full of twists that the reader will not see coming and that’s what makes a great mystery. While Unseen is a romantic suspense, the book is 95% suspense and 5% romance, which is ok by me! I would rather have an exciting storyline then pages full of sex scenes any day. Overall, Unseen is a superb book that I thoroughly enjoyed and would definitely recommend to mystery readers.