Book Review: Dark Taste of Rapture by Gena Showalter

Those of you that read this blog (of which there is one) will know that a few months ago I reviewed the previous book in this series.  The alien huntress series to be exact. I think I pointed out that the end was a bit of a cop out. And I would like to say that I hold to that statement because it is clear to me that Showalter can write endings where a near all powerful father doesn't appear out of no where to help the main characters.

This book is about Noelle and Hector in the alien force. I was kind of surprised when that pairing was said because during Ava's book it was hinted at that she might sleep with him but it seemed weird. It seemed like he didn't care. I don't really know because that time line might have been tampered with. The issues is I am not sure how much of that invading alien parasite group was wiped from everyone's memories when McKell's daddy zapped them away. Or did he not do the magic mind trick? See I forget these things. Because I feel like they should have at some point talked about the aliens seeing as they were the main bad guys and plot of the last handful of books.

Anyway Hector can make his arms into human torches, which sounds awesome but has some bad stuff attacked to it because he is not super great with the control. I really enjoyed the ending and how it worked his powers and the big issue of the plot into the finale.

On the other hand there was this big deal that Noelle didn't have pain receptors but it like barely came up. Although it was hinted at that it made sexy time hard on her she seemed fine in all the scenes. I guess I wanted a scene where Hector had to work extra hard to make her happy. But that's me.

Of the alien huntress series this one had the best consistency of character actions and plot moment. It had the least aliens which I find odd given the name of the series but I figure every series does not have the same intensity in each book.

I was glad when Hector stopped shaving his head because I find it really hard to get into a bald guy. Because I mean how hot is that cover art? Smoking right? And I didn't really want to spend time trying to figure out how he would look like with no hair. I like my men with luscious hair, you should see my boyfriend's hair.

Overall I enjoyed the book. I have liked some of Showalter's work more but this one was about in the middle. I don't love this series the same way I love Lord of the Underworld.

Book Review: The Darkest Secret by Gena Showalter

Secret is the seventh book in Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series. The series follows a group of immortal warriors who back in the day opened Pandora's box and then were cursed to carry the demons they released. They fight a group of humans who are lead by one of their former members. The series is perhaps one of my more favorite paranormal romance series out there. Most of the characters are a wide aray of interesting and crazy.

Amun is the lead warrior for this story and I would say while I found him interesting he was never really one of the big draws. He is the keeper of Secrets and thus doesn't speak for fear that the secrets he holds in his head will spill out and ruin people's lives. In previous books he communicated through sign language and mostly didn't have much to say. And while a few of the warriors have weaknesses I never really saw a huge issues with Amun not talking, I mean its not that huge of a handicap. But thing again having your mind filled with thousands of secrets of others doesn't sound pleasant.

Playing opposite Amun is Haidee or Hadiee or whatever. She is a semi-immortal who back in the day cut of Amun's best friend's head. Which you would think would have made some complications. But not really, they are both kind of like "what behading?" I will say that the reasons that they would not work out were in fact numerous but were treated like it was no big deal. I can't tell if I was just having trouble connecting with the characters or what but I just couldn't get into the book.

Oh I still read it in one day, but it just wasn't my favorite story out of the series. I was interested in what is going on with Strider, William and Paris. Because those three have issues. Mostly Paris and I find it hard that Showalter has been teasing me with his book for several books now. I checked the website and his book is two away, and it said heroine unknow, which is silly because we all know who it is.

I think there was a real potential with these characters to do something really crazy plot wise, but we ended up with what I consider a safe story. True they did go to hell for their little adventure but the tension wasn't crazy high. I miss the days when Aeron was trying to kill Danika. Anyway the part that bothered me the most was the end. Haidee dies and then the angel is like "she is not coming back" and then she comes back. It is not explained, they are just sorta like "well that's really awesome." I mean yes they were saying that she was born from a goddess blessed womb and had reborn a bunch of times but mister angel had been pretty sure she wasn't coming back.

I still liked the book and found a great deal of it worth while but this just sort of felt rushed. As much as I love the publishing rate that Showalter keeps up maybe she could slow it down to give each book extra time.

Book Review: Ecstasy In Darkness by Gena Showalter

Its interesting how reading a series out of order can show the growth of a writer. The Alien Huntress series was one of the first ones that Showalter put out there, but this book was published this past year. She has been slowly taking her time juggling several series and her growth shows.

The last book I didn't feel the characters. Neither of them seemed that real to me. This book has a huge jump in the interest. Every character has more character too them. The dialogue has a more natural feel and sound more like stuff I would say to my friends. Also the plot is way more interesting, I am much more intrigued by a race of disease ridden aliens trying to wipe us out. Well wipe out everyone, because they have to spread the disease to live. Which really seems like an interesting idea. I desperately want to know more about this but Showalter is making me work for it.

The main male for this book is Victor McKell who was a bad-ass vampire in the last book. After the vampire king found out he didn't kill Bride he got kicked out of the underground world. Seeing as this series goes with the whole alien thing, vampires are really aliens that made it to earth a long time before the other aliens came knocking.  Remember the disease aliens? Well they found out that Bride's blood stops the disease so they want to talk to McKell. So the alien investigation forces send Ava and Noelle to bring him in, and these two pretty much are the coolest girls ever. Ava is the lead in this book.

So Ava and McKell get the hots for each other and in the mean time they are trying to a) figure out more about vampires that live above ground and b) stop the queen of the disease aliens from destroying everything c) deal with the mating bond thing d) figure out what these magical door ways that follow McKell are about. The answers are the following. A) there are lots and they have to drain a human dry to go out in the sunlight. B) McKell's daddy has some neat stuff that kinda makes the mystery  less epic. C) They like it but Ava doesn't want to be a vampire just yet, well maybe. D) McKell's daddy comes from an alternate reality and has magic doorways.

Yeah that last bit comes in at the eleventh hour and just sorta ends the tension. I was horribly worried there for a while about the disease aliens and what was going to happen. I mean I was on the edge of my seat, and then daddy is like "Calm down, I got this!" and there goes the tension. The big bad evil woman is not so scary when the time traveling vampire just sends her away because he doesn't like that its pissing his son off.

On the other hand Ava and Noelle make me crazy happy. They have that trash talk to your best friend thing down. I loved it. Best friend trash talk is the best kind. They make it very realistic, although they take it a little too far at times. They suffer from serious ADD in a couple scenes. It sounds so much like my friends and I when we get in rants. I loves me some silly rants.

This book has convinced me that I need to go back and read the rest of the series.

Quote of the day

"So what'd the girls say when you asked about the carnage?"

"Ava said her hand accidentally slipped and made contact with her guy's nose. I said Repeatedly? And she said, 'Uh, yeah. I'm really clumsy.' And Noelle said her guy was trying to escape, so she took him down like we'd trained her. And oh, we shouldn't worry about the gaping wound in his neck because he probably had that before he entered the bar."


-Gena Showalter, Ecstasy In Darkness

Book Review: Enslave Me Sweetly by Gena Showalter

The interesting thing about this book was the single character point of view. That might sound like a weird thing to say because books have different points of view. But the simple fact is that most romance novels alternate between the points of view of both lead characters. This style works best in romances because it gives the reader both sides of the story. I was also thrown off because I know that in the same series Showalter does you the alternating point of view. Anyway the point is it threw me off.

This book is part of the Alien Huntress series. In this series it is the future, there are lots of aliens on planet earth, and there were some wars. I am not clear because this is only the second full length book I have read from the series. Eden the main lead for this book is an alien. She is a Raka which have golden hair, skin and eyes. I mean really their skin looks like gold. Playing opposite of her is Agent Lucius. (I am really getting annoyed with that name btw.)

They are trying to spot an interplanetary sex slave ring. I sorta forget the rest. I am not saying its bad. But it kind of didn't make an impact on me. Also I am trying to work out recently and my ability to read is going down a bit. I just wasn't moved by either character. They weren't bland but they just weren't developed enough for me to have an opinion. By the climax I was still mostly unattached to either character.

I do really like the cover. So there is that.

Quote of the day

I don't hate you.. I just don't like that you exist
-Gena Showalter

Writers Block and Halloween Blues

I am stuck once again when it comes to writing. I am sitting here at Barnes and Noble most likely annoying the cafe lady because I only bought one thing, and I can write. This is half because I am distracted with playing with my blog. But I feel bad because just days ago I wrote 5 pages in one sitting.

I am beginning to wonder if the only time I have strokes of creativity is when I am trapped in a car for 5 hours. But the major issue appears to be music. I have trouble writing if I don't have the right music for the scene, and the next couple of scenes don't really have that much of a feel to them. They are basic build up and kind of dull if I am being perfectly honest. Frankly Pandora can only do so much when it comes to assisting me in my music dilemma.

I need to get back to my outline and check that I have this right.

On a related note there is a new Gena Showalter book coming out tomorrow and I am pretty sure that the next Nanili Singh is not long off.  I am stoked about both. But just a bit more about Singh because she is giving the entire book to two wolves. And I have been waiting for this book for a while. The last two books were all Psy and humans  and frankly I didn't care as much about them. Which is good because I have just been re-reading old stuff. Also considering watching Lord of the Rings all over again. But I am not sure if i will be able to sit still.





Pandora keeps getting annoyed because I am skipping songs I don't like.

Not to mention I am having trouble figuring out what I am going to do for Halloween. Originally I was just going to purchase one of those normal slutty versions of something from the costume store. But then Chris was going to dress up as the medic from Team Fortress 2 and I was going to go as the Scout.

Medic

Then I wanted to try and get a few friends to dress up as the survivors from Left 4 Dead.

Clearly I would be the only girl.

Chris also suggested I dress up as Kerrigan from Starcraft, which would be super cool even if I did have to dye my hair red.

But as of right now, only a few days off, we have nothing planned. Which is really starting to worry me.

Authors I Bookmark part 2

Next on my list is Gena Showalter:

From what I can tell Showalter is one of the more senior writers amongst the bunch. Showalter and Cole also acknowledge each other in their books. Which is why it is no surprise that I am also a fan of Showalter. She has more books under her belt than some of the other authors, and way more series.

Lords of the Underworld, a series about men possesed by deamons and plauged by humans who believe killing them will rid the world of evil, might be one of my favorite series of all time. I have re-read all of the books. I have a personal connection to feeling like the world is against you and I must say the deamon warriors make for a different take. The next instalment is part of a two duo with Cole. The second that book drops I will be talking about it.

Showalter's Atlantis series also proves and interesting. It has a similar amount of species as Cole's Lore but all are contained within one city. Although it seems that the female leads of this series always spend so much time trying to run away.

I dont understand this "RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!" thing that happens in romance novels. If a big pretty werewolfe/dragon/magical creature/man came up to me and was like "people are trying to kill you, quick get in my expensive car!" I would have the reaction something like "of course!" But that just might be because all I do is read these books so I know where that is going, and I like where it will be going. Please some one tell me i am not the only one!

aaaAAnyway, back to Showalter. I find that the majority of her books are conistantly good. The only books I find hard to pick up are her Alien Hunter novels but I will not pass judgement before I read them so wait till then.

The one shortfall of Showalter is that her male leads have a tendincy of the "tarzan syndrome". Its alot of "me tarzan you jane" and "do as I say," which is fine in small doses but gets annoying when its the majority of the book. Luckily only a few of the books have fallen victim so on the whole her books are very readable.

Showalter gets a B+ for her overall score.


And now for my new favorite author: Nalini Singh.

I would like to take a quick moment to point out that I am a big fan of werewolves, I will always pick shapeshifters over all other races. So I tend to do the happy dance the second I find a series based around the idea of shapeshifters. Singh pretty much wrote my version of a wet dream. Her world not only includes shapeshifters but a race of "Psy" with powers of the mind. Her series takes place in the future so that means there are lots fun gadgets that keep the stories interesting.

The latest book Branded by Fire might be on my top ten all favorite romance novels. I simply find the world that Singh creates one of the best out there. I had a little trouble getting in to some of the characters but the political intrigue makes the stories nail bitters even when the two main characters are making gooy eyes at each other for seven chapters at a time. Sometime in the next couple of weeks I will do a full review

But lets go back to the shapeshifters. Singh not only brings in my wolves but she also stirs in leporads. The amazing thing about this is that each group has a set of dynamics, and watching (or rather reading) the two interact might be my favorite part of the series.

Singh's overall score is an A.

tune in next time for more authors to watch.