Review: Descent Into Dust by Jacqueline Lepore

Descent Into Dust (Emma Andrews, Book 1)
by Jacqueline Lepore
Release Date: March 15, 2010
2010 Avon Books
Softcover Edition; 359 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-06-187812-1
Genre: Fiction / Paranormal / Historical / Gothic
Source: Local Library

4 / 5 Stars

Summary

Twenty-five-year-old widow Emma Andrews grew up in the shadow of her mother's madness, so when she arrives at Dulwich Manor in the midst of a mysterious plague and soon thereafter begins to see specters, her family fears fate has finally caught up with her. But one guest among them knows Emma's visions are more than a trick of the mind. Valerian Fox has hunted the great vampire lord Marius through time and across continents, and he knows Emma has a remarkable destiny. She is Dhampir - a vampire hunter.

Surrounded by those who would use her powers for their own ends, Emma does not know who to trust or what she can believe. But when her young cousin is marked for death, she must embrace the terrible inheritance that lies in her very blood to save those she loves.

My Thoughts
The idea of a vampire gothic novel brought this one to my attention, and I was intrigued by the concept.  I've been fascinated by the paranormal since learning how to read, and pretty much devoured every gothic romance / suspense book in sight as a teenager.  The combination was an irresistable draw, and I am happy to say this book met my expectations.  With plenty of action, suspense, and mystery to make the events rather intriguing and with the age-old secrets that you just can't wait to discover, I eagerly read each page from beginning to end.  With a burgeoning romance on hand as well, this book captured my attention and was very engrossing.

Descent Into Dust is your typical "vampire" novel, but engaging characters and interesting byplay gives the story a fresh take and breathes new life into what could have been a predictable story.  Emma Andrews arrives at her cousin's country home, Dulwich Manor, to visit family after the death of her husband, to find her young cousin, Henrietta, under the thrall of a man named Marius, a man whom only Emma can see properly and whom the others think is Henrietta's imaginary friend.  Soon she sees and hears other things around the Manor and in the countryside, things that make her question her sanity and her very being.  Emma soon learns some very shocking truths about her mother and her own heritage that will change her life forever, and make her realize that she is not as powerless as she thought.   And make her realize that she is definitely not insane.  The question is, will she be able to live up to the expectations now being put on her shoulders?

Emma is not your usual vampire hunter heroine considering the story is set during the Victorian Era and Emma behaves exactly like a Victorian lady would behave.  You will not see someone running around in men's clothing, shunning society, or doing some of the other things you sometimes see in other novels.  Emma continues to behave exactly like a lady would behave during this period and drinks her tea, minds her manners, gets in trouble when being alone with a man, and pleads a headache when she can't stand the company of those around her; mind you, she also does some sneaking around, and involves herself in some butt-kicking scenes, all with long skirts.  Just learning to control her powers, I love how she always seem so confused when they manifest, and doesn't always know what to do with them.   At the same time, she gives in to family duties, and forces herself to spend time with her sister embroidering baby clothing although it is not something she would rather be doing.  Spending most of her life on the outside, trying to fit in, Emma is trying to find her destiny and her path while others are continuously watching her for the signs of insanity that befell her mother before she died.  Used to making herself feel normal, Emma endures all of the vampire scenes with an abnormal calm, perhaps a result of her upbringing where any signs of emotional duress would put her under the microscope, so to speak.

I enjoyed the byplay between Emma and Sebastian, the stereotypical gay character, someone somewhat sarcastic and catty and a bit of a dandy, a character I adored although I am tired of the stereotyping, as well as between Emma and Valerian Fox, a character I found rather intriguing as he has secrets that I wish to know.  The emerging relationship between Fox and Emma is becoming interesting and I can't wait to see where the author takes it in the following books.

Although Ms. Lepore's novel is rather formulaic in that we have the gothic setting, the old Manor house with its dark, mysterious etchings, the stormy nights, the creepy characters, and things that go bump in the night, I didn't find it formulaic in the least while reading.  While there were some things to nitpick, such as the immense knowledge of vampires in the common folk, something I found interesting since I don't believe the tales took place until much later and it definitely wasn't common knowledge, they were minor and didn't really bother me too much.  I love secrets and this book had plenty of them, and plenty more to reveal in books to come. 

Verdict
Descent Into Dust was a pleasant surprise and I enjoyed it very much.  I was glad to return my Gothic reading days and can't wait to read the second book in the series, Immortal With A Kiss.

Review: Tempted By Fate by Kate Perry

Tempted By Fate (Guardians of Destiny, Book 3)
by Kate Perry
Release Date: December 1, 2010
2010 Forever Books
Paperback Edition: 338 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-446-56462-5
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Source: Review Copy from Publisher

4 / 5 Stars

Summary
Willow Tarata is a Guardian who trusts no one. She hunts those who prey on the vulnerable. And she's driven by a vengeful goal-find the man who murdered her mother. Yet suddenly Willow's quarry now has her on the run . . . straight into the sights of San Francisco's most dangerous detective.


Three bizarre murders have Inspector Rick Ramirez baffled-and determined to uncover the truth. But to catch the real killer, he needs the help of his prime suspect, Willow Tarata, even though this fierce and sexy blonde is challenging his professional cool. And now, unless they believe in each other and trust their deepest instincts, a relentless evil will end both Willow's and Rick's life-and claim this Guardian's extraordinary powers forever . . .

My Thoughts
One of the things I really enjoyed about this novel is that I never felt confused about the events that were happening or about the characters that were introduced. This is the first novel in this series I have read, and typically, entering in the middle of a series is not always beneficial, as you always feel like you are missing something important, something that may have already been discussed in another book. While many things are assumed, the really important factors, like the Guardians and who they were, were explained succintly and in such a way that I always felt like I knew what was going on. And although all of the characters were new to me, I never felt confused and bewildered because comments were made about obscure things that happened in previous novels. Naturally, there were things that did occur in previous novels that were being alluded to, but it wasn’t frustrating, and all it did was make me more interested in picking up the first two books in the series.


I thought Willow was a fantastic female character and I really enjoyed her kick-butt attitude. She was strong physically, but at the same time she was presented as being vulnerable and caring. While she could be ruthless when she wanted to be, there were moments when her vulnerability really shone through and you got a glimpse of the real Willow. She was continuing to deal with the mental anguish of losing a mother at ten years of age as well as the responsibilities of being a Guardian of Wood without having someone to guide her and teach her properly. I find Rick to be even more interesting than Willow and would have liked to know more of his thoughts as he slowly deviated from the straight and narrow and started breaking some of the rules by which he lives his life. It’s interesting how he breaks away from the norm because of a woman, and the struggles he goes through as he realizes that life is more than just black and white. He often wonders how he could fall for a woman who tests the law and its rules so much; he sometimes looks on it as a joke upon himself, a twist of fate.

Verdict
If you like paranormal romance, then I highly recommend Tempted by Fate. With romance, action, suspense, ascerbic wit, and plenty of mystery to keep the pages turning, it is another good addition to this series, but can also be read as a stand-alone if you prefer.  I am definitely looking forward to the next book in this series and look forward to meeting the next Guardian, the Guardian of Water.

Review: Ghosts & Echoes by Lyn Benedict

Ghosts & Echoes: A Shadows Enquiries Novel
by Lyn Benedict
2010 Penguin Group
Release Date: April 27, 2010
Trade Paperback; 362 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-441-01870-3
Genre: Urban Paranormal
Source: Review Copy from Penguin Group Canada

4.5 / 5 Stars

Summary
Sylvie Lightner is no ordianary PI.  She specializes in cases involving the unusual and unbelievable, in a world where magic is real, wher hell is just around the corner - and where death isn't the worst thing that can happen to you...

Sylvie is trying to take is easy.  She's just saved the world but lost her lover in the process.  And putting those she cares about in danger has never been part of her job description.  Distracting herself from her grief, Sylvie investigates what appears to be a simple robbery only to uncover a complex case of roganized murder with a magical edge.

But she has an ever more pressing mystery to solve.  Chicago cop Adam Wright has picked up a spiritual hitchhiker: the ghost of a dead man who desperately wants to live again.  Wright believes Sylvie is the only one who can rid him of the spirit - a spirit she finds strangely familiar...

My Thoughts
Ghosts & Echoes is the second book in this series, following Sins & Shadows, and I thought it was a much better novel than the first one.  The first one left me with too many unanswered questions and a lot of "What is exactly going on here?" questions, questions that didn't really come up in this very entertaining, quick-paced, action-packed sequel.  And you don't have to read the first novel in order to enjoy this one, although it doesn't hurt just for background information.

After a very difficult and grievous affair in the first novel, Sylvie returns to her job and prefers to take on cases that do not involve witches, vampires, werewolves, or anything else that is magical, but somehow ends up right in the middle of a magical muddle by helping a neighbour deal with some local thefts.   Soon she is dealing with some serious black magic and her own flesh and blood is deeply involved.    Having to deal with necromancers, black magic witches, werewolves, and rebellious teenagers is soon causing Sylvie and her partners major trouble with a lot of people, including the local police force.   To make matters worse, Sylvie has another case, a Chicago cop who is causing her a lot of problems as well, especially as she begins to suspect very early on who the spiritual hitchhiker is inside of him. 

These two plot lines seem to run parallel to each other throughout the novel, but they actually entertwine quite nicely and fit together towards the end.  I did find that some of the 'talks' and 'discussions' about spiritual bodies and ghosts had a tendency to go on a tad too long and I was wishing they would get on with the storyline, but a lot of it was fairly interesting and I have to give credit to the author for her creativity.  'The Hands of Glory' were particularly gruesome and I certainly have no wish to sleep with those under my pillow or anywhere near my body, thank you very much.  (You'll have to read the story to find out more, no spoilers!!)  I also particularly liked how Sylvie dealt with the rebellious rich teenagers in this story.  It's sad to think what people will do for kicks just because they have too much money and are bored with their lives and never have to work for anything.  I had a lot of compassion for the teenagers because they dabbled in something they knew absolutely nothing about and got swindled by some sweet-talking people.   And they paid the price for it as well.

I particularly enjoyed Sylvie's dilemna with regards to the Chicago cop and his spiritual presence.  I don't want to say who it was, but it did pose a huge moral issue for Sylvie and I liked how the author dealt with the dilemna of what she would do with her conflict of interest.  Would she cross the line and suffer the consequences or would she be selfless and do the right thing?  It made for fascinating scenes and reading and I wasn't sure until the end as to what she would do.  It certainly made for some interesting character development with regards to Sylvie and I grew to like her tremendously.  She's tough, courageous, a killer, but at the same time, she's compassionate and cares deeply about others.  She will do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Verdict
Ghost and Echoes is a smartly written, engaging novel that will capture you right from the beginning.  It has a lot of action, a lot of supernatural activity, a lot of suspense, psychological thrills and chills, and can be somewhat creepy at times.  If you are interested in strong female characters and mysteries with a paranormal twist, then this may be the book for you.  For me, I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in this series.

Review: Soulless by Gail Carriger

Soulless (The Parasol Protectorate, Book 1)
by Gail Carriger
Copyright: 2009 Orbit Books
Pages: 373
Edition: Trade Paperback
Genre: Paranormal
Source: Local Library

5 / 5 Stars

Summary
Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many tribulations.  First, she has no soul.  Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead.  Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there?  From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire - and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampire appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia is responsible.  Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society?  With her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing?  Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

My Thoughts
I found this debut novel in this series to be truly delightful and engaging.  The witty dialogue, especially between Alexia and Lord Maccon, caught my attention right from the beginning, and had me hooked almost immediately.  I found myself laughing quite often at the silliness of the situations Alexia often found herself caught in the middle of and how she managed to extricate herself. Apprently a lot of the conflict between Lord Maccon and Alexia began over an incident involving a hedgehog and I was quite glad to discover that we do find out exactly what this incident is all about. 

The world that Ms. Carriger created was inventive and fun.  The werewolves, vampires, and other supernatural beings are all integrated in London society and have a place in society.  There is a combination of science and old London society that is quite fascinating in this novel, even if the old standards of werewolves and vampires offer nothing relatively fresh in the area of the supernatural.  I kept envisioning the vampires as bees as they were often referred to as "hives" and "belonging to a hive" and I couldn't get the image out of my mind.  Furthermore, as it is the queen who can only reproduce new vampires, the image became more further implanted that way.  Alexia, as a preternatural, was a breath of fresh air.  She is the antithesis to a supernatural as she has the power to neutralize the effects of a supernatural being and turn them almost human while she is touching them.  The scene where she helps Lord Akeldama see the sun for the first time in hundreds of years is very touching.  I'm very curious as to how Ms. Carriger will develop the theme for preternaturals in her future novels as I found the concept truly original and intriguing.

The interaction and sexual intensity between Lord Maccon and Alexia was fun and full of humour.  It made for some of the best scenes involving witty dialogue in the novel.  As they are both Alpha in their respective states, it made for a lot of interesting scenes, especially when one or the other found themselves in compromising or vulnerable positions.  And as some of the scenes were witnessed by third parties, it brought the hilarity to even higher proportions.

Verdict
Soulless was a fun and unique novel, involving a lot of witty and intriguing dialogue.  Although it took me a long time to read it, it was definitely not because I found the novel boring or uninteresting.  I have already bought Changeless and am definitely looking forward to Blameless when it is released in September.

Review: Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs (& Contest)

Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson series, Book 5)
by Patricia Briggs
2010 Ace Books
Hardcover Edition; 342 Pages
ISBN:978-0-441-01819-2
Genre: Urban Paranormal

4/5 Stars

Summary (Press Release)
Mercy Thompson, car mechanic and shape-shifter, never knows what the day - or night - may bring in a world where "witches, vampires, werewolves, and shapeshifters live beside ordinary people". But she is about to learn that while some secrets are dangerous, those who seek them are just plain deadly...\

Mercy is smart enough to realize that when it comes to the magical fae, the less you know, the better.  But you can't always get what you want.  When she attempts to return a powerful fae book she previously borrowed in an act of desperation, she finds the bookstore locked up and closed down.

It seems the book contains secrets - and the fae will do about anything to keep it out of the wrong hands.  And if that doesn't take enough of Mercy's attention, her friend Samuel is struggling with his wolf side - leaving Mercy to cover for him lest his own father declare Samuel's life forfeit.

All in all, Mercy has had better days.  And if she isn't careful, she may not have many more...

My Thoughts
Silver Borne is the fifth installment in the popular Mercedes Thompson urban paranormal series.  I enjoyed this one tremendously, and as usual, it was the interplay between the characters that I truly enjoyed, not necessarily the plot around the Silver Borne, which I actually found really weak. 

In Silver Borne, we see Mercy struggling to deal with her relationship to Adam, alpha of the local werewolf pack.  Mercy, as a shapeshifting coyote, is strugging to fit into the pack, and is meeting resistance from many of the other werewolves who don't think she is equal to the task as Adam's mate or as part of the pack.  Trouble meets Mercy and Adam on one of their dates, as Mercy suddenly finds herself doing something wholly unexpected and dangerous, and discovers later that mind-control, from the pack, was used.  With Mercy's innate ability for certain kinds of magic and talents, she was able to fend off some of the mind-bending, but this raised awareness of how much danger and how many problems she and and Adam could face in the future.  I like how her relationship with Adam develops in this story and how it isn't such a smooth path as relationships are not always sweet and carefree.  It is interesting to see how they work through their problems and how they deal with their strengths and weaknesses in their relationship.  That it wasn't just about sex, but about love and respect and learning about each other is what fascinates me.

With Mercy's other talent being trouble, it is inevitable that it would find her in leaps and bounds in this novel.  When Samuel decides to hurt himself, she suddenly finds herself knee deep in more trouble, especially as she tries to protect him from others, the pack leader, and from himself.  Samuel is one of my favourite characters in this series and I really enjoyed this part of the book.  The relationship between Samuel and Mercy is very interesting and reminds me of a brother and sister who feud a lot, but when it comes down to it, will protect each with their very beings.  Mercy went out of her way, even to displeasing Adam, to protect Samuel and I was so glad she did.  She jeopardized other relationships by protecting Samuel and jeopardized other lives, innocent young lives, in doing so, but also had to pay the price for doing so.  I enjoyed the character development in this story and I think we saw Mercy grow up a bit novel as she realized how much her actions could really hurt others, and not just herself.

Silver Borne definitely moves swiftly from one scene to another, and is very densely plotted.  There are a few loose threads however, and some things did not always flow smoothly.  I was somewhat disappointed in the story line around the silver borne.  While I really enjoyed all of the characters and the events that happened were fun and interesting, the storyline itself was somewhat weak.  I am hoping that maybe it will be explained more fully in the next novel.  This is why I did not give the book five out of five stars.  I also have to admit that I missed the vampires in this novel.  It didn't make the novel any less interesting, but I really enjoyed that aspect of these novels in the past.  However, with a huge number of werewolves, a coyote, some fae, a fairy queen, and a gremlin, there are certainly enough otherworld creatures in the novel to satisfy anyone.

Verdict
Silver Borne is another excellent addition to the Mercy Thompson series.  It was fun, exciting, interesting, with a variety of quirky and fantastic characters that really make this series stand out.  The writing is superb and I was caught up in the action right from the beginning.  If there was anything amiss in this book, it was the silver borne itself, and its role in the story, which is one of the few things I found to be weak.  I can't wait to read more about Adam, Mercy, Samuel, and Ariana in future instalments of this series.

Silver Borne was sent to me as a review copy by Penguin Canada.

Contest Time

I have one (1) copy of Silver Borne to give away.

Here are the rules:
1) You must be a follower of my blog.
2) Leave a comment with your email address telling me about your favourite supernatural character (and why) from any book.
3) Contest is open to Canada and the US.
4) Contest closes April 30, 2010.

Good luck!

Book Review: Kitty's House of Horrors by Carrie Vaughn

Kitty's House of Horrors (Book 7)
by Carrie Vaughn
2010 Grand Central Publishing
294 Pages
Softcover Edition
ISBN:978-0-446-19955-1
Genre: Urban Paranormal

4.5/5 Stars

Summary (Press Release)
Talk radio host and werwolf Kitty Norville has agreed to appear on TV's first all-supernatural reality show. She's expecting cheesy competititions and manufactured drama starring shapeshifters, vampires, and psychics. But what begins as a publicity stunt will turn into a fight for her life.

The cast members, including Kitty, arrive at the remote mountain lodge where the show is set. As soon as filming starts, violence erupts and Kitty suspects that the show is a cover for a nefarious plot. Then the cameras stop rolling, cast members start dying, and Kitty realizes she and her monster housemates are ironically the ultimate prize in a very different game. Stranded with no power, no phones, and no way to know who can be trusted, she must find a way to defeat the evil closing in...before it kills them all.

My Thoughts
This is the first Kitty Norville book that I have read and I was very impressed. I really wasn't sure what to expect, and at first it sounded like the usual urban paranormal fantasy whereby you gather a group of supernatural beings, put them in a remote location, and see what happens. Luckily, there was nothing usual about this novel, as with a dose favouring 'And Then There Were None' by Agatha Christie thrown into the mix, and many plot twists and turns, the novel takes on an ominous and dark tone, with Kitty thrown right into the middle of it.

The tensions between the characters begin fairly early in the novel, particularly between Grant and Anastasia, who both believe and suspect that there is something sinister about the whole thing and wonder if it has anything to do with the Long Game and the dangerous vampire Roman. Roman is slowly consolidating his power base and the supernatural world is becoming worried at his growing power.

Then one morning, the vampires' companion is found dead, three of the production assistants are found murdered, and Kitty and Jeremy discover a silver fence built around the compound effectively shutting them in. When they are fired at by someone using silver bullets, they realize that someone is hunting them down; further traps are discovered set up around the lodge that has everyone uneasy and worried. Kitty, Tina, Grant, and everyone else must either band together to stop what is happening or risk their lives in the process.

Vaughn does an excellent job at weaving many of the plot lines together and picking up some darker plot lines that leave you wondering what is really going on. You learn more about Roman, Anastasia, Grant, the Long Game, prejudice against supernaturals, and other important plot details that hopefully will stretch into future books and it looks like the future will be pretty ominous for supernatural beings. Ms. Vaughn includes some witty and fun dialogue to break some of the tension and I really enjoyed her tongue-in-cheek humour and the ironic slant in many of the scenes. While the novel started more slowly and was more fun, the second half of the book was quite intense, with fear and destruction, death and pain, all leading up to the big conclusion as to why this was happening. The writing style was crisp and clear, with lots of details; I understood exactly what was happening at all times.

I really enjoyed Kitty's sarcastic humour. I found her to be strong, interesting, kind, difficult, always trying to balance out the human and the wolf part of her being. Seeing her lose control a couple of times made her seem more human to me, as odd as that sounds. Watching people around you die, it only seems natural that you'd get stretched to the breaking point and would want revenge. The rest of the characters were pretty odd too, but that is expected of a group of supernatural beings. Conrad is the only human of the lot, and while he annoyed me at first, he actually grew on me towards to end. His character is believable because I think many people would be skeptical at first if someone told them they were a werewolf or a vampire, even if they believed in something like that. To watch him struggle with coming to terms with that was fascinating.

Verdict

Kitty's House of Horrors was a solid piece of work with plenty of action, twists, and turns, and suspense to satisfy any reader. Fortunately, it looks like there will be more books in the series as the ending suggests epic battles are on the way. I am looking forward to reading more about Kitty Norville in the future.