ARC Review: Nalini Singh - Lord of the Abyss

Royal House of Shadows Series:


Book 4:

Lord of the Abyss: Prince Micah/Lord of the Abyss and Liliana

Summary:

Liliana is the daughter of the Blood Sorcerer who massacred all that were at Elden including Micah’s parents; he also cursed Micah as his mother cast him to a far off realm where he would be safe. In a vision Liliana saw that at midnight the night Micah’s siblings come back to recapture the kingdom Micah never came, without his presence the siblings fail and the Blood Sorcerer captures them for a fate worse than death.  Liliana can’t let that happen, as one of her father favorite victims she knows how cruel he can be and Micah is her only chance at defeating her father, so she set off to find him.  Where Micah is, even her father won’t go.  As Lord of the Abyss, Micah is what all evil fears, if the Lord of the Abyss comes for you your evil soul will burn in the Abyss for eternity. Micah has absolutely no recollection of anything before becoming the Lord of the Abyss, to him this is all he has ever been. When a frail ugly woman drops into the Black Castle he has no idea what to do with her, so he throws her in the dungeon until he can figure out what to do with the strange female that shows him no fear, a first for him. In their next meeting Micah is intrigued and Lilana knows she can’t be sent to the dungeon, from there she can’t get Micah to remember and she needs him to remember so she offers to become his cook. Knowing she doesn’t have much time so she starts doing all she can to make him remember knowing the whole time as soon as he finds out who she really is he will hate her.  More and more Micah finds himself enjoying the strange Liliana’s company her stories are unusual and her lack of fear is intoxicating. Micah finds himself wanting her and what the Lord of the Abyss wants the Lord of the Abyss gets. Lilana cannot believe that Micah wants her, no man has ever wanted her, she knows she isn’t pretty and has had that thrown in her face her entire life, and Micah keeps perusing her as if he doesn’t care that she is ugly. As days pass Lilianna knows her time is running out her father has started sending his minions after her and Micah is remembering more and more, but her betrayal is hanging over both of their heads…

Summary:

Oh how I love Nalini Singh, she does it again with this story. She is one of the few authors that can really take a shortened version of a full length book and really still do the characters justice.  This was my favorite story of the series, I freak’n love Micah. He is my favorite with all of his arrogant “Of Course… I’m the Lord of the Abyss”… comments, his unabashed desire, his loneliness, good heart and uncorrupted soul, how could you not fall for him? I know I succumbed to the Lord of the Abyss. I have seen in forums and blogs readers complain that the hero and the heroine are always drop dead gorgeous and they want an unattractive character, well ladies, here it is and Nalini did it very well. I know I didn’t care that Liliana wasn’t the most attractive character, sure I knew this was a “Beauty and the Beast” make over, but during the entire story it didn’t matter that I am used to reading about almost perfect leading ladies and this one wasn’t . If she had never transformed I wouldn’t have cared, because I liked Lilana so much. She has all the insecurities a real woman would have, but still had her inner beauty and strength and thank you for having a man recognize that.  It makes me love the book even more. Though thank you Ms. Singh for not making her a hunch back too, I don’t think I could have gotten past a hunchback. JK!  As I was getting to the end of the book I was concerned I wasn’t going to get a good ending battle and I am happy to say I was wrong I was pretty satisfied with the end battle, but what would have made the ending even better, is if each author had written their characters battle and included it in this book, so we could have had all of the battles that were raging around the castle. That would have been pretty awesome! We do however still get a conclusion, so don’t read that and get disappointed.

Rating:

*This book was provided to me by the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review.

ARC Review: Jessica Anderson - Lord of the Wolfyn

Royal House of Shadows Series:

Lord of the Wolfyn: Prince Dayn and Reda Weston

Summary:

The night of the attack Prince Dayn was out tracking a Wolfyn riding out his anger at having to give up his woman of common birth, he is expected to marry someone of noble blood. When his father mindspeaks with him as vampires can do he sees the carnage that has become of the castle and his heart breaks that he was not there to help protect his home and family. His father manages to tell him before his death that he is being sent away for 20 years, then a female guide will appear and she will have four days to return him to Elden to unite with his siblings and then Dayn finds himself in a strange realm where the mythical shape shifters Wolfyn (the shape shifting is a mere myth in Elden) rule and and realm traveling is a common occurrence.  Human cop Reda’s foundation was rocked to the core when her partner was killed and she just stood there when they were on duty, she never thought of herself as a coward until that fateful day. Now unsure what to do with her life she clings onto her past, in particular a book that her mother gave her,  a one of a kind version of the Wolfyn and “Little Red Riding Hood”. Dreams leading up to finally getting her hands on the book show her, her “woodcutter” but suddenly Reda is being sucked into a strange land and suddenly her woodcutter is alive and demanding her to take him someplace, this must be a dream. It takes several brushes with death before Reda believes this is all real and she is to take her sexy woodcutter to some place called Elden to save his kingdom.  With her cowardice haunting her, she is determined to help her woodcutter Dayn reach his home, but with a dark witch and the Wolfyn after them it’s not looking good. Reda and Dayn know they only have four days together and despite the constant danger they are determined to make the most of those days an steamy nights, until Dayn’s secrets catch up with him and Reda is betrayed…

Review:

This is a great spin on “Little Red Riding Hood” dark and dangerous with a sexy male lead.  Dayn is sexy enough to lick and bite, and flannel never looked so good. Well in my mind anyway. There is evil and danger lurking in every corner in this book and made for an interesting read. The love scenes were erotic and hot, you won’t be disappointed there.  I do have to admit there were times when Reda annoyed me and I wanted to yell “Man up and grow a pair” at her; however, she did make up for it when she saved her prince. And hey any women that is that good with a bow and arrow is ok in my book. I also wondered what did happen with Reda’s mother, did she really die, did she get taken into one the vortexes? You never really find out, but that is more one of those vague, hmmm moments that is besides the fact and doesn’t really affect the book at all. One other thing that had me going hmm was in the first book, Nicolai said Dayn was mindspeaking with him to come help him, but in this book, Dayn could not reach anyone to mindspeak with, again doesn’t affect my enjoyment of the book but one of those small inconsistencies that can happen in multibook series that I picked up on. This book was full tilt action and sexiness and you won’t be disappointed in this installment of this series. Jessica Anderson is going on my list of authors to check out more books by as soon as possible. Overall, a good read.

Rating:

*This book was provided to me by the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review.

Review: Jill Monroe - Lord of Rage

Royal House of Shadows Series:

Lord of Rage: Princess Breena and Osborn

Summary:

Princess Breena is a witch and a dreamwalker, but her dreamwalking never quite worked. Her dreams only ever lead her to one man a dark warrior that she has started to consider her dream lover. It is her dream lover she is thinking of when her castle is attacked and she is flung somewhere out in the wilderness. Osborn and his two brothers are the last three of the proud race of the berserkers.  His entire clan was massacred by what appeared to be vampires from the Kingdom of Elden. For the past years since the massacre Osborn has hired out his sword and tried to do the best he could with his brothers. Now, those same people who hired Osborn have turned on him so he returned to his peoples land to raise his brothers and live in peace, the only thing he looks forward to his the torture and pleasure he receives in his dreams each night. Breena finds herself walking and walking for how long she has no idea, but when she finds herself in a clearing with a small house. When she enters the house it’s to find food and three beds, hungry and exhausted she helps herself to both.  Osborn and his brothers enter their house to find their food eaten, the chairs broken and a strange woman in Osborn’s bed. Almost at once Osborn realizes it’s the woman from his dreams, and she wants to use him like every other person. Breena realizes her dream man is real and a hell of a lot more mean in person, not only will he not help her, he kicks her out of his home. What happened to chivalry, shouldn’t he want to help her?  Desperate, Breena manages to convince Osborn to let her stay at least one night. Osborn knows he’s made a huge mistake by letting her stay…

Review:

I really enjoyed this book. Jill Monroe is a new author to me, which is all part of the master plan for this series, to get you to read someone you might not have read before by tempting you with Gena Showalter and Nalini Singh, and I fell hook line and sinker and that was a good thing. I really enjoyed Breena as the protected princess turned warrior, her determination and grit is admirable. She was sheltered her entire life and wished for more and when her life falls instead of give up and wilt away she blossomed as a warrior. I love berserkers, in fact I don’t think there are enough books about berserkers. There is this one, one by Karen Marie Moning and one by Kresley Cole and I can’t think of any others, which is a damn shame. (Readers if you can think of any others please let me know in the comments because I want to read them.)  Osborn was cranky and irritable, he hasn’t had much good happen in his life since his people were massacred but he has tried to the best he could for his brothers and he fears it hasn’t been enough. When Breena shows up he knows he’s not good enough for her but she doesn’t make it easy for him to stay away and he grumbles the whole time he’s helping her and despite himself their passion burns brighter then even in their dreams. I really enjoyed this pairing of pampered princess and the untamed berserker.  Where there isn’t as much direct action as some of the other novels in this series it was in no way boring. Breen and Osborn along with his brothers kept things entertaining as well as their internal struggles. Now, what confused the crap out of me through the whole book and series was the timeline of this book and where it falls. This book probably should have been released first, I think it would have made more sense as the first book of the series; I definitely would have worried less about the timeline.  Other books appear to take place 20 years in the future yet this one seems to take place right after the attack, at least I think it does, and it doesn’t add up with the rest of the books. To this day, even after I’ve read all four I am still not sure how this timeline fits in with the rest of the books, unless Breena was just chilling with Osborn waiting for 20 years. I don’t know, it just doesn’t fit, but it’s still a fantastic book and one of the best of the series.  

Rating:

*This book was provided to me by the publisher through NetGalley for an honest review.



Review: Gena Showalter - Lord of the Vampires

Royal House of Shadows Series:

Lord of the Vampires: Prince Nicolai and Jane Parker

Summary:

“The Blood Sorcerer” decided that he should be a King and over took the castle of the Kingdom of Elden.  Terrified for their children the King and Queen of Elden combined their magic and sent their four children to far off lands, implanting the need to survive and revenge, the only thing that made the journey with each of their children was their timepieces that would count down the time to their return.

 Prince Nicolai is the eldest child and the heir to the throne; he is a day walking vampire and has his own powerful magick. Nicolai has always been the darkest of the children and considered quite the seducer of women. When Nicolai lands in a strange kingdom he finds himself with no memory and an overwhelming need for revenge. Worse yet, his magick has been repressed, his timepiece stolen and he has become a sex slave to the two princesses of Delfina, with dark sexual appetites.  Time passes for Nicolai, but he has no idea how much, however he has found a way to summon a woman to come to his aid. Jane is a human scientist in her own realm but has knowledge that there is at least one other realm out there.   She has spent years trying to figure out how she could travel between those realms. After a brutal car accident almost a year prior Jane is just pulling her life together when she starts having dreams of a dark gorgeous man and then a book arrives, unable to help herself she reads from the book, only to be pulled into another realm disguised as a princess. Nicolai immediately knows the woman he summoned for has arrived and now all they have to do is escape and figure out what… Nicolai has no idea, but he knows time is running out. What ensues is the fight of their lives.

Review:

Ok, what is good about this book is that it is action packed and it moves along quickly. You barely have time to catch your breath before something new happens. In typical Gena Showalter fashion Nicolai is a gorgeous alpha male type that you can’t get enough of and there are plenty of steamy scenes to keep anyone satisfied. It’s a quick read that will leave you wanting more.

Ok, now what I felt was missing was there was something missing from a usual Gena Showalter books that makes it hers. Her trade mark humor was missing and something else that I can’t quite put my finger on but that something that makes it a Gena Showlater novel that we all love and adore. It may just be that this is a short piece, longer then a novella, but by no means a full length novel so it feels somewhat rushed and not as flushed out. Also, it feels like the novel just abruptly ends, I literally was confused when I went to turn the page and expected a new chapter but found one of G. Showalters previous books instead. I was like Huh?? Where’s the rest? Timeline wise I really think that this book should have been third in the series rather than first, but I understand the marketing ploy, put PNR heavy hitters Gena Showalter and Nalini Singh at the beginning and the two relatively new to PNR in the middle, makes sense.  This was also the only fairytale of the four books I could not place, I never would have known which one it was if I hadn’t seen it on genashowalter.com.

Overall, it was a good read, I wouldn’t say it was fantastic, but I definitely wanted to continue to the next book to see what happens to the rest of the children.

Rating:

*If you have not yet read this series and are looking to start it the reading order I would read it in if I was to start all over again would be: Lord of Rage, Lord of the Wolfyn, Lord of the Vampires, Lord of the Abyss