11 years of hunky dragons and their mates- who would of thought!

When I picked up You Slay Me in 2004, who knew I was starting an 11 year love affair with dragons and their mates. It's been a long wait since the last book in 2012 so I'm happy to see my favorites back in a new theme of Black Dragons with Kostya, one of the moodiest of all the dragons.
Aoife Dakar goes to a Goth Faire with a new guy she has met and ends up in the Home for the Bewildered for 2 years after witnessing a magical murder and actually telling people about it. She also gains possession of a magical ring which holds the key to ending the curse on the dragons. When Aoife literally runs into demon dog Jim and then saves Kostya from drowning, her life takes a huge turn for the strange. Kostya is smoking hot literally and figuratively and Aoife falls for him in a big way.She winds up meeting Aisling, Drake and other dragon folk and becoming the one person who might end the dragon curse.

I so enjoyed this book and Aoife's quirky character. Some might find her annoying but I enjoyed her bizarre euphemisms for swear words and her confusion about everything going on around her. Efferjim the demon is back being the snarky, narcissistic Newfie called Jim and helps add to the confusion in Aoife's life. Aoife and Kostya are the latest in a long line of dragons and their mates whose stories have been fun to read. I look forward to the continuation of the Black Dragon story.

It's been a long time since the last book in this series and I was so happy to see this one. I have always enjoyed the Lizzy & Diesel stories and this one is just as much fun as the others. Lizzie and Diesel are after another of the Seven Deadly Sin Stones, this time the Stone of Avarice. As usual the duo is competing with Diesel's cousin Wulf and his wacky lackey, Hatchett, to get the stone. Lizzie's friends Clara and Glo play significant parts in this book along with Glo's supposedly magic broom and enchanted Magic 8 Ball. There is an interesting new villain, Martin Ammon, who has some pretty funny moments in the book.

This is a nice mix of fun and mild suspense with a touch of forbidden romance between Lizzie and Diesel. I hope the next book in the series comes in a much lesser span of time than this one.

Worth the wait! Shield of Winter by Nalini Singh

What a great book! Vasic is an Arrow tasked by Kaleb Krychek with finding a group of E-Psy (Empaths) in hopes that they may be the key to the infection that is coursing through the NetMind. Vasic is paired with Ivy Jane, a young woman who was damaged by a badly botched reconditioning at the age of 16. The hope is that the E-Psy can do something to combat the infection which is making the Psy go into mass killing frenzies. The episodes are happening faster and deadlier as each day passes.
Vasic, who has been the typical unfeeling automaton in previous books, begins to discover feelings he thought were gone when he is paired with Ivy. She is initially leery of Vasic but gradually discovers that she is falling in love with him. The work that the two are part of is a heavy burden and there is an added roadblock concerning a medical procedure that Vasic underwent prior to their meeting and which may cause serious problems in the near future.
The best part of this book was seeing such an emotionally damaged man learn to love another person, to forgive himself for past actions and to watch his slow change into a caring person. Once Vasic opens his heart to Ivy, he discovers multiple instances of emotional bonds he has created with others without even realizing it. Ivy feels so much for Vasic, love for him and sadness for his pain and she helps him realize that he is more than what he did in the past and that he is worthy of happiness.

The nature of the story is such that there is contact with many of the favorite characters but also the introduction of some new people. There are twists and turns with people who have been small parts of previous books but essential in this one. The suspense level is high on several levels which balances the emotional scenes between Vasic and Ivy. I got a big kick out of his inability to control his TK ability when being passionate with Ivy and having to go to Judd for advice. Let me just say that the love scenes are steamy both literally and figuratively! 

I'm hoping that Aden will have a book in the near future. He has been a big part of this wonderful series and deserves his happy ending too.

Tangle of Need by Nalini Singh

Adria, wolf changeling and resilient soldier, has made a break with the past—one as unpredictable in love as it was in war. Now comes a new territory, and a devastating new complication: Riaz, a SnowDancer lieutenant already sworn to a desperate woman who belongs to another.

For Riaz, the primal attraction he feels for Adria is a staggering betrayal. For Adria, his dangerous lone-wolf appeal is beyond sexual. It consumes her. It terrifies her. It threatens to undermine everything she has built of her new life. But fighting their wild compulsion toward one another proves a losing battle.

Their coming together is an inferno…and a melding of two wounded souls who promise each other no commitment, no ties, no bonds. Only pleasure. Too late, they realize that they have more to lose than they ever imagined. Drawn into a cataclysmic Psy war that may alter the fate of the world itself, they must make a decision that might just break them both.  (Synopsis from B&N.com)

Hardcover, Penguin, 432 pages

Reading Tangle of Need was a good/bad experience. Good in that it was an excellent book and bad in that it's going to be a long wait until the next one comes out. The main part of the book is about Riaz and Adria, both members of the Snow Dancer pack who have incredible chemistry between them. He unfortunately has a mate named Lisette who is married to and in love with another man.  Adria has ended a long term relationship with a submissive named Martin that finished badly. Riaz is determined to live life alone and Adria wants to protect her heart at all costs.  As the relationship develops between them, both parties have to re-evaluate what they really want in their future and what are they willing to do to make that future happen.  Unlike previous couples, this one would seem to be the easiest to get together because they are both packmates and changelings, but the obstacle of the mating bond is a constant sword over both of their heads.

One of the nice things in this book is how Ms. Singh has given the reader a look at the relationship between Hawke and Sienna and how it is progressing. The level of understanding between them, the perfectness of their mating is exquisitely portrayed in this book. There are glimpses of other couples in the book as well but Hawke and Sienna really stand out without overshadowing the main couple. So much more about the pack system and how it stands or fails is explained in this book.

The tension between the changelings, the Psy and the Pure Psy people is ratcheting up and there is a lovely little cliffhanger of an ending that makes you want to scream with frustration that the next book is not in your hand immediately!

Copper Beach by Jayne Ann Krentz

A rare book. An ancient code. An all-new novel from the New York Times-bestselling master of passion and the paranormal.

Within the pages of very rare books some centuries old lie the secrets of the paranormal. Abby Radwell's unusual psychic talent has made her an expert in such volumes-and sometimes taken her into dangerous territory. After a deadly incident in the private library of an obsessive collector, Abby receives a blackmail threat, and rumors swirl that an old alchemical text known as The Key has reappeared on the black market.

Convinced that she needs an investigator who can also play bodyguard, she hires Sam Coppersmith, a specialist in paranormal crystals and amber-"hot rocks." Passion flares immediately between them, but neither entirely trusts the other. When it comes to dealing with a killer who has paranormal abilities, and a blackmailer who will stop at nothing to obtain an ancient alchemical code, no one is safe.( Synopsis from B&N.com)

Hardcover, Putnam, 352 pages

Copper Beach is the start of a new paranormal suspense series, A Dark Legacy . Abby Radwell is a bookseller working primarily with private collectors. She has the power to take psychic energy from book and use it to disable people but primarily she uses her senses to find “hot books” for her carefully vetted clients. She gets involved in the search for a lab book with tremendous energy potential and needs help with a blackmailer-enter Sam Coppersmith. Sam comes from a family that has a long history of paranormal work and research. Added to his background with an unnamed government agency and he is the perfect man for Abby-personally and professionally. There is a lot of chemistry between the two characters and they get involved with each other and the search for the book right from the beginning. Abby is being pressured to find the book by her family and possibly also from an unknown blackmailer. Sam's father was involved in the beginning of the experiment that created the lab book and Sam knows the consequences should it fall into the wrong hands. Floating around in the background is the mystery of how Sam’s ex-fiancé ended up dead, why Abby’s family needs her to find the lab book, and who the mysterious blackmailer is. The suspense of the story keeps you turning page after to page to see what will happen next. This book is a bit of a departure from her Arcane series but just as enjoyable.

Spells and Stitches by Barbara Bretton

In the latest novel from the USA Today bestselling author, raising a baby is hard, but raising one with magical powers is even harder...

Sugar Maple, Vermont, knitting store owner Chloe Hobbs couldn't be happier about her pregnancy. But with the arrival of the town's newest resident, things are about to get a lot more magical.

Baby Laria is six pounds, eleven ounces of perfect, and Chloe and Luke are over the moon. But when they learn that Laria takes after her mom in the sorcery department, it becomes clear that their baby might have more power than even a pro like Chloe can handle... ( Synopsis from B&N.com)

This is the fourth book in the Sugar Maple series and it keeps getting better with each one. The premise of the series is that the town of Sugar Maple is populated with magical creatures of all kinds who have transplanted their village to Vermont after the Salem Witchcraft trials. Chloe Hobbs is half human and pregnant by her human lover, Luke, a policeman who has moved to the town.  She is the last in a line of Hobbs women who are the key to keeping Sugar Maple safe.

I love the varied people who live in the town and how Luke deals with them and they with him.  Chloe is a great character with her pregnancy hormones causing random disasters all around her. I would recommend reading the earlier books but the backstory is skillfully interwoven into this book and the reader is able to follow the relationships with no problem. Elspeth, the troll, is a riot, going around being a major meanie to human and "magick" folk alike. The stress of imminent child birth, meeting Luke's family, and keeping herself from wrecking things makes Chloe's story so much fun to read.  That said there are moments of suspense in the book and there lurks through the whole book portents of future trouble. The ending is big and emotional.I hope there will be more tales of the folks from Sugar Maple in the future.

RPL NOTES:  This book will be available in the Adult New Fiction section after December 26, 2011. The earlier books in the series are available in Adult Fiction.

A Funny Thing Happened in Computer Class Last Night.....

I was teaching my computer class last night and I was talking about Facebook. One of the students asked me how one posts a picture, so I went into My Pictures to show them how you do it.  In the course of scrolling through the pictures, this picture popped up onto the screen.

And, when I say the screen, I mean a big movie screen that my laptop was attached to. One of the students said " What is that picture?" and they all started to chortle.  I explained about writing the blog and a little about the Psy/Changeling series. One of the ladies thought it sounded pretty good ,so maybe she will read them.  Today, I was thinking about the fact that I have never written about this really excellent paranormal series from author Nalini Singh.

The premise of the series is that a race of humanoid beings called the Psy have developed a protocol called the PsyNet which keeps all emotion supressed. All of the members of the Psy are connected to the Net telepathically and on some level physically. There are different types of Psy ability and different levels of pyschic ability, the highest being Cardinal. A conservative group of Psy are advocating for a protocol called the Silence, because the PsyNet is starting to break down and some  Psy are going insane.  There is a power struggle going on among the ruling group, the Psy Council ,and lots of backstabbing and mayhem is happening. ( Hmm- kind of sounds like Washington LOL)

In addition to the Psy, the country is populated by various races of animal Changelings. The largest ones are the Snow Dancer Wolfpack and the Dark River Leopards, both based in California. There are also humans in the mix.  The Psy and the Changelings have an uneasy truce which is fracturing from pressure by the conservative Psy faction.

The first book in the series is Slave to Sensation and tells the story of Sasha Duncan, daughter of a Council Member, and a Cardinal E Psy ( Empath). She is starting to feel emotion and has been labeled as damaged.  This makes her dangerous to the PsyNet and she is marked for rehabilitation, a super lobotomy. She makes her way to the Dark River group and into the life of the Alpha, Lucas.

This a a great series if you enjoy paranormal romance and are not a big fan of the vampire, bloodthirsty, paranormals ( which I am not). There is plenty of action and romance and the ongoing back and forth between the two races is interesting. I was luck y enough to meet Ms. Singh at the ALA convention and get a signed copy of the book shown above.

RPL Note: We have all of the books in the series at RPL in the Adult Fiction area. Kiss of Snow is in New Fiction.

Quicksilver (Arcane # 11) by Amanda Quick

Virginia Dean wakes at midnight beside a dead body, with a bloody knife in her hand and no memory of the evening's events. Dark energy, emanating from the mirrors lining the room, overpowers her senses. With no apparent way in or out, she is rescued by a man she has met only once before, but won't soon forget.
Owen Sweetwater inherited his family's talent for hunting the psychical monsters who prey on London's women and children, and his investigation into the deaths of two glass-readers has led him here. The high-society types of the exclusive Arcane Society would consider Virginia an illusionist, a charlatan, even a criminal, but Owen knows better. Virginia's powers are real-and they just might be the key to solving this challenging case. (synopsis from Barnes & noble.com)

Amanda Quick, aka Jayne Anne Krentz, aka Jayne Castle, adds another excellent book to the Arcane series of paranormal romantic suspense.  Whew! that was a mouthful- sort of like explaining this series.  A patron in our library came in and had the 7th book in the series and wanted to start from the beginning, so I was called over to help them make a list so they could take them out in order. Trying to explain that they went back and forth between author names and between contemporary and historical genres was difficult.  Then, explaining that the latest two trilogies within the overall series include a futuristic setting just added to the complexity.  And that is what I love about these books, the complexity and the continuity.



After reading this book, and talking to the patron earlier, I think I am going to crack open the earlier ones and re-read the entire series. I own them all as books and in audio as well. There is a teaser for the next book Canyons of Night by Jayne Castle at the end. I can't wait!

Library note: This book will be available in the adult NEW book section  at RPL after April 19.  The other books in the series are also on the shelves in the fiction section and as audio CD.