Archive for January, 2008
Dead Sexy by Tate Hallaway
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What do you get when you combine a witch that shares her body with a powerful goddess, a vampire love interest, and a bunch of college kid zombies?
If it’s a story created by Tate Hallaway you get a well-written, evenly paced, paranormal fantasy that’s difficult to put down.
The Story
Our main character, Garnet Lacey, is a witch that works in a combination occult bookstore/herb emporium. In this book she’s got more trouble on her hands than she can possibly handle. Not only has a gorgeous detective linked her to the murders of several Vatican assassins but she’s started noticing a dramatic increase in the local zombie population. It seems as if someone is deliberately making zombies from innocent college students. Additionally, her vampire ex-boyfriend is in town, something her current vampire boyfriend has a hard time dealing with.
Although Lacey wants to investigate the zombie problem she also knows she has to do something to get the police off her track. She decides to cast a love spell on the detective investigating the Vatican murders. Unfortunately, she makes the spell a little too strong and spends a lot of her time fending off his affections. She reverses the spell but that of course makes the detective restart his investigation. This is where Lacey’s ex-boyfriend comes to the rescue by devising a clever solution for closing the murder investigation for good.
The closer Lacey gets to finding the person responsible for making the zombies the more she puts herself in danger. This causes Lililth, the goddess that periodically possesses Lacey’s body, to go into “attack mode” and attempt to wreak bloody havoc on those around her.
Tate Hallaway does a fine job combining humor and romance with darker subjects like witchcraft and zombie possession. That’s not an easy task to accomplish but she pulls through by writing believable characterizations and fleshing out a very detailed urban setting. You realize these are people you could meet everyday and just not know about their special powers.
This all makes for a great entertaining read. Although Dead Sexy represents the second installment in the series you don’t need to read the first book, Tall, Dark, and Dead in order to understand the storyline. You should, because it’s a good book, but it’s not necessary. This is, in my opinion, a testament to the effectiveness of Tate Hallaway’s talented writing style.
Get the books in the series:
Tall, Dark & Dead (Garnet Lacey, Book 1)
Dead Sexy (Garnet Lacey, Book 2)
Romancing the Dead (Garnet Lacey, Book 3)
Dead If I Do (Garnet Lacey, Book 4)
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See also: Romancing the Dead by Tate Hallaway
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
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With Moon Called Patricia Briggs stirs up a storyline containing great action, a few sprinkles of romance, and a dash of adventure. This is the first installment in the Mercy Thompson contemporary fantasy book series.
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Mercy, the shapeshifting coyote heroine, is working in her mechanic shop when Mac, a newly-turned werewolf stumbles in seeking shelter and food. Mercy is initially reluctant to help him because she makes it a point of staying out of werewolf matters. Additionally, because this werewolf isn’t a member of the local clan she knows he’s technically considered a trespasser, a situation that often times results in death. However, she can sense that this young werewolf knows next to nothing about his situation so she decides to give him a job working in her garage and let him sleep there at night.
The action begins when she discovers he’s being hunted by other werewolves and humans. A fight ensues and Mercy ends up killing a werewolf while defending Mac. It’s then that she realizes she needs the help of the local Alpha, Adam.
Although her intent is to place these problems in the hands of the local werewolf clan, when a werewolf turns up dead on her doorstep and two of her closest werewolf friends are kidnapped (one of which is a teenage girl), Mercy realizes she can no longer sit on the sideline and watch the story unfold. She joins the hunt for the kidnapped victims and their persecutors and along the way learns some surprising facts about the werewolves she thought she knew.
What follows is a great story by Patricia Briggs involving the local vampire seethe, a new group of deadly werewolves, local witches, and a gremlin. Although she considers some of these characters to be her friends, the situation at hand forces the different races to side with their on kind. Thus, Mercy finds herself unsure of who she can trust.
Patricia Briggs has created a wonderful character with Mercy Thompson. Mercy is strong but yet vulnerable at the same time – something many readers can probably relate to. One admirable character trait is her ability to step out of the limelight and let other (often stronger or knowledgeable) characters provide assistance when she gets in over her head. Additionally, she doesn’t try to be the “super heroine” that’s so headstrong she ends up getting into deeper trouble. Quite the contrary: she asks for help when she truly needs it. Mercy also has a wry sense of humor which Patricia Briggs inserts nicely into the storyline.
Patricia Briggs includes a proper balance of sexual tension and action adventure, something both the romance and contemporary fantasy fans will appreciate. The story flows beautifully and has an ending that is as surprising as it is well written.
In summation, with Moon Called Patricia Briggs has once again spun a believable tale of werewolves, vampires, and witches in modern day society. Any fantasy book that makes you think "hmmn, this could really happen" has done its job as a paranormal fantasy book. Patricia Briggs delivers ten-fold.
You’ll definitely want to purchase Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1) as well as the other books in the Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson fantasy series.
Dante’s Girl by Natasha Rhodes
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This action-packed story progresses like a roller coaster ride: the tension builds and peaks several times throughout the book.
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Our heroine, Kayla Steele, works behind a cosmetics counter in a department store; it’s a dead end job with no potential for growth. She spends part of her time daydreaming about the day that her boyfriend will propose to her. As a matter of fact, the story begins with her anxiously awaiting their date that night.
Unfortunately, her boyfriend, Karrel Dante, never shows up. He’s got a good reason though. As Kayla deals with her anger and disappointment about Karrel she starts learning more about who he really is. Turns out Karrel was keeping a dark secret from her: he’s an agent working for an underground organization that kills supernatural creatures, werewolves to be specific. Kayla is shocked to learn about this secret world but as she delves even deeper into learning more about Karrel she puts her own life in danger. The very creatures that Karrel fought to protect humans from are now hunting her.
The brilliance behind this fantasy story is that we, the readers, learn about this secret world along with Kayla. The vampire and werewolf societies in the book are wonderfully presented. Natasha Rhodes doesn’t make assumptions about the reader’s knowledge of these supernatural beings – this gives the story more depth.
Natasha Rhodes is responsible for writing other books that deal with the supernatural, in particular, Blade Trinity, Final Destination, and one of the Nightmare on Elm Street books. It’s no wonder she’s able to weave a captivating paranormal fantasy tale of intrigue, horror, and action.
This book also contains a few romance elements that add a bit of sexual spice to the overall storyline. Natasha Rhodes is careful not to let this overshadow the action in the story however.
This represents the first installment of a new fantasy book series. The next book, Last Angel, is due out in a few months. As such, I recommend that you read Dante’s Girl now and get ready for the next volume.
Interested? Add Dante’s Girl to your collection.
My Sexy Werewolf Obsession
Posted by: | CommentsAs you know, I love reading books on contemporary fantasy. You know, the books that take place in modern day but also include characters that have special powers. Some would call them monsters – I personally love them and love reading about them.
One genre that really captures my attention are stories that include a sexy male werewolf character. There’s something about a tall, somewhat hairy, incredibly virile and strong “otherworldly” type that appeals to me. So I’ve summarized the books that include characters that fit this category below:
Women of the Underworld Series by Kelley Armstrong
There are two sexy male werewolves in this series: Clayton and Jeremy. Clayton is the love interest of the main character, Elena. Elena is the only known female werewolf in the world. She became one when Clayton purposefully bit her. Now, you may wonder, “what’s so sexy about a guy that bit a woman and deliberately made her into a werewolf?” Well, you have to read the books to understand. Elena and Clayton have a complex relationship that we learn more about as the series progresses.
The next sexy werewolf in the series is Jeremy. Jeremy is the Alpha of the local werewolf pack. He’s older than Elena and Clayton, more of a father figure. However, he’s incredibly handsome, level-headed and strong. He’s also single. There are several events in the books that require Jeremy to show just how powerful he can be and in my mind, that simply makes him all the more appealing!
Purchase the entire series of Kelley Armstrong books that contain these characters:
Bitten: Women of the Otherworld Book 1
Stolen: Women of the Otherworld Book 2
Broken: Women of the Otherworld Book 6
Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs
Patricia Briggs’ books contain several characters that fall into the “sexy werewolf” category, but there are two that stand out: Adam and Samuel. Adam is the local Alpha with a fairly large pack containing both male and female werewolves. Adam is totally entrenched in living a normal human life and usually keeps to himself. However, in the second book in the series he’s kidnapped. This forces Mercy (the heroine of the series), along with some of Adam’s pack members, to go looking for him. Adam is sexy because he’s so level-headed and calm and will die for any of his loyal pack members and friends. It’s only in the second book that we see some vulnerability, but that’s only because his daughter’s life is at stake.
Samuel, a physician, is totally enamored of Mercy. Mercy, one of the most practical and unassuming female characters you’ll come across in any paranormal fantasy book, doesn’t lead Samuel on. And Samuel doesn’t force himself on her but instead, patiently pursues her. Samuel is the strong-but-silent type. He’s also quite gorgeous, but what puts him in the “sexy werewolf” category is his kindness. Yes, there’s incredible strength there as well but he never abuses it.
There are 3 books in this series and both of them are fantastic. You can read a review of
Blood Bound, Moon Called, and Iron Kissed at this site.
Even if you’re not into the “sexy werewolf” thing, readers of paranormal fantasy will definitely appreciate the solid storylines in these books. The writing flows well, it’s full of dialogue and action, and the characters are believable. Read at least one book in each of the two series I described above and tell me if they aren’t as great as I’ve said. When done, come back and drop me a line in the comments section.
See also:
Heart of Stone by C.E. Murphy
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C.E. Murphy has written a remarkable fantasy story that combines love, heartbreak, self-imposed exile, revenge, and redemption. If you think this describes a soap opera or a romance novel you’re wrong. It’s far from it. C.E. Murphy spins a tale that firmly places the book in the paranormal fantasy genre, but does it in such a way that the human side of the “monsters” is so believable, I found myself sympathizing with even the most deadly of their kind.
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Margrit “Grit” Knight, a young female attorney, literally “runs into” the midst of a murder investigation: someone is killing young women in New York’s Central Park. As the person discovering the latest victim, she’s soon placed under surveillance by the police department. Not because they suspect her, but because she was approached by a mysterious stranger in the park upon finding the body who fits the description of their primary suspect and has been seen in his presence several times since.
The stranger, Alban Korund, introduces Grit to the underworld, something she has a hard time understanding and accepting at first. But after meeting individuals from four of the Five Races (the races of supernatural beings that existed since the dawn of time) and witnessing their powers she’s hard pressed to deny their existence.
Grit soon ends up working for not only Alban (she’s not quite sure of his innocence in the killings) but is also forced to perform investigatory work for one of the vampires. This places her in direct contact (and conflict) with Janks, a member of one of the most violent of the Five Races. Her trial attorney experience, specifically, her negotiation skills, serve her well during these encounters; surprisingly enough, Janks develops an admiration for her. He’s still evil, but he’s impressed by her unwillingness to back down.
In the end, Grit learns the identity of the killer but ends up on the killer’s Potential Victim’s List. Again, she’s forced to use her legal experience when attempting to rationalize with the killer during the climax of the book. C.E. Murphy pulls this off well and does something that I greatly applaud her for: she doesn’t drag out the ending. It’s quick, surprising, and believable.
What I find interesting about this book is that C.E. Murphy writes about aspects of the supernatural world that you don’t come across too often. As a matter of fact, I can’t remember reading any books that reference one of the races discussed in this book. That’s one of the reasons this book works: it’s not a rehash of books written about the more popular supernatural beings, i.e., vampires and werewolves. Although vampires make up one of the races, I won’t tell you about the others because I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you; you’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn about the other cultures. Although some of them are killers, they all have a moral code that they live by.
C.E. Murphy moves the story along by interspersing the mythologies of the Five Races with modern day New York City.
There’s romantic tension between the 3 main characters but C.E. Murphy makes sure it doesn’t detract from the main storyline. Overall this is a great read. At 448 pages you probably won’t read it in an afternoon, but that’s a good thing. There’s a lot to learn here and if it takes a few days to digest some of the information presented, all the better.
This is Book 1 in a trilogy. Book 2 (called “House of Cards”) just came out. I suggest you get started by purchasing Heart of Stone (The Negotiator Trilogy, Book 1) – it’s well worth it.
Here are all of the books in the trilogy, as listed at Amazon:
Heart of Stone (The Negotiator Trilogy, Book 1)
House of Cards (The Negotiator, Book 2)
Hands of Flame (The Negotiator, Book 3)
See also:
Demons Are Forever by Julie Kenner
