Title: Web of Deceit Author: Jennifer Estep Series: Elemental Assassin #0.4 Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Assassins, Dark fantasy, Elements Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Jennifer Estep Year: 2011 5th sentence, 74th page: Inside, I knew that the house boasted the finest things that money could buy.
This short story takes place when Gin is a teenager. It’s told from the point of view of Fletcher Lane, Gin’s assassin mentor, and focuses on Gin’s first solo job as the assassin the Spider.
Another thoroughly enjoyable short edition to the Elemental Assassin series. It features Gin’s first kill, her youth and the pride and care that Fletcher takes in his young apprentice. I’m still only halfway through the first novel, and it is obvious in this how much Gin cares for her mentor, so it was incredibly nice to read about his feelings towards her.
I’m kind of obsessive over assassin books at the moment. They feature people who should, theoretically be completely deplorable, but often highlight this intense vulnerability and lack of family that many people would probably understand. And if not, well, it’s still fun to read about some incredibly badass characters (woman) who is able to hold life or death in the palm of her hand… literally.
Title: Poison Author: Jennifer Estep Series: Elemental Assassin #0.1 Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Assassins, Dark fantasy, Elements, Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Jennifer Estep Year: 2011 5th sentence, 74th page: I winced, waiting for the pain that I was sure to feel from his vicious bite.
This short story takes place when Gin is a teenager and is told from the point of view of Finnegan Lane, Gin’s foster brother.
I always enjoy short stories from a different perspective. And this fit that bill perfectly. I have read this while I’m only halfway through Spider’s Bite, but it already helps to understand the relationship between Gin and Finn so much better.
Although it is written with Finn’s jealousy reeking off the pages, it is also very easy to see how their sibling relationship so quickly developed. Gin has the hero-worship need for acceptance from her big brother, and Finn has the jealousy that so many older siblings initially get around their younger counterparts.
This was a really fun and insightful look into the world of Gin and why there is such a bond between herself and Finn, and it just makes me want to finish Spider’s Bite all the more quickly.
She’s supposed to be a vampire hunter, an SOB. He’s supposed to be her target. But lust, hormones and a little bit of fate seem to be getting in the way of her first kill.
I really liked the narrator of this story. She had a completely relatable voice. She was pithy, sarcastic and full of sass. There was also this great sense of vulnerability and innocence in everything in this story that was, well, not entirely relatable, but certainly enjoyable to read. And that was all before the romance and the vampires got involved!
I love the idea of the main couple being naturally at war. That there is something far more at stake (pun intended) than just their lives, but their families, their hearts and their futures. It’s definitely a great indication of what the rest of the series is going to be like, and the first thing I did when I finished this short story was to order the first book of the series.
Title: Hell in a Handbasket Author: Lucien Soulban In: Blood Lite (Kevin J. Anderson) Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again) My Bookshelves:Comedy, Dark fantasy, Demons Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Pocket Books Year: 2008 5th sentence, 74th page: He patted his stomach.
A baby is left at the gates of hell… and well, all hell breaks loose.
I laughed a LOT at this short story. And full on laughing out loud as well. Not just quite inside giggles or secret smiles to myself. I chortled loudly and very happily as I read this story. It was funny, cute and had that slightly sarcastic and witty humour that I tend to love.
There is also a dash of mystery in this short story. Primarily, who in the hell would leave a baby at the literal gates of hell? But as that mystery is uncovered… well, it gets even funnier and more entertaining. And the retaliation when they find out what’s going on was just amazingly poetic.
Title: Knowledge of Evil Author: Raven Hart In: The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance (Trisha Telep) Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect) My Bookshelves:Dark fantasy, Paranormal romance, Vampires Pace: Fast Format: Short story Publisher: Robinson Year: 2008 5th sentence, 74th page: “What?” I was becoming intoxicated – the point at which I would be unable to stop drinking her blood even if I wanted to; the point at which if I were going to make her a vampire, I would have to feed her my own blood.
He’s a vampire who loves the pursuit of knowledge. She’s a vampire expert who is obsessed with having more time to find more information. Is this the perfect match, or something far more sinister?
I have a more-than-slight obsession with tales about intellectuals. I am an intellect. I’m obsessed with learning. And understanding. And just experiencing in general. So it was really fun to read a vampire romance that featured two such characters. Alright, the rest of the story was so incredibly cliché. And more than a little irritating in parts, but mostly, it was just fun to read about people who wanted to be immortal simply for the fact that it means a forever of learning.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story, but I found the ending a little too predictable and cliché. The couple ended up together, and he was way too smitten. It was a great story, but the ending did fall a little flat.
Sent to Paris by the High King of the Vampires, Devlin is not prepared to fall in love with the very woman he was hired to kill.
Following on from The Eternal Warrior, I wasn’t sure where this story would go. I know that the main series focuses on Cin Craven. And, as with the other two short stories that I have read in this series (I have yet to actually read one of the novels), I absolutely loved this!
I loved the lead couple in this – Justine and Devlin are both awkwardly righteous and filled with honour. They are fun, and reading about their unconventional courtship was a different pace from any of the other stories that I have so far read in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance. The fact that this ties in perfectly with The Eternal Warrior and the Morrigan’s masterplan just made it all that much more enjoyable.
Title: Ode to Edvard Munch Author: Caitlin R. Kiernan In: The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance (Trisha Telep) & By Blood We Live (John Joseph Adams) Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Dark fantasy, Vampires Pace: Slow Format: Short story Publisher: Robinson Year: 2006 5th sentence, 74th page: But if she is Indian, the girl on Cherry Hill, she has no trace of an accent when she talks to me about the fountain or her favourite paintings in the Met or the exhibits she likes best at the Museum of Natural History.
A lyrical waxing and waning of a man’s relationship with his vampire and the dreams that she brings with her.
I loved the lyricism in this short story. It gave the tale a sense of the old classics, written in the times when you didn’t just use one word to describe “tired” but an entire paragraph. And there was the same sense of multi-layered meanings. The idea that if I read this a hundred more times, I would find something else hidden amongst the intense symbolism.
Whilst the storyline is convoluted and dark, I love the symbolism and the descriptive language used throughout this story. It made every moment of convoluted story telling so much more vivid and intense. Something that makes me want to find more of Kiernan’s tales.
5th sentence, 74th page: But I will never forgive you.
In the dawn of a new millennium, the goddess Morrigan must forge a new race of warriors to protect both Faerie and the human world from an unimaginable evil. This short story is a prequel to the Cin Craven series, first published in The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance.
I had no idea what to expect from this short story – I just know that I bought The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance because this tale was in it. It is a prequel to the Cin Craven series, and I’ve been hanging out to read the rest of the tales in the series. And I really wasn’t disappointed. This was thoroughly enjoyable, kind of cute and had just the right amount of sass.
Cullen and Morrigan feel like they are setting the scene for a massive battle. But, The Eternal Warrior also just tells their own personal story and highlights the intricacies of all that (I’m assuming) comes before. There is this weird push and pull between the two that I find kind of intriguing – it is obvious how much they care for one another, but there is so much bitterness there, and the extra spice made me kind of sad that the story ended so soon. Now I need to pick up the next Mammoth Book and read The Righteous.
Title: Dead Until Dark Author: Charlaine Harris Series: Sookie Stackhouse #1 Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!) My Bookshelves:Dark fantasy, Paranormal fantasy, Vampires Pace: Medium Format: Novel Publisher: Ace Fantasy Year: 2001 5th sentence, 74th page: I began squirming to the bed table, not happy but resigned.
Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She’s quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn’t get out much. Not because she’s not pretty. She is. It’s just that, well, Sookie has this sort of “disability”. She can read minds. And that doesn’t make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He’s tall, dark, handsome – and Sookie can’t hear a word he’s thinking. He’s exactly the type of guy she’s been waiting for all her life…
But Bill has a disability of his own: He’s a vampire with a bad reputation. He hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of – big surprise – murder. And when one of Sookie’s coworkers is killed, she fears she’s next….
I’ve had this suggested again and again and again. So I finally decided that it was necessary to read this. And I’m really glad it did. It turned into one of those good-bad guilty pleasure stories. Something that I want to keep reading, but not the jaw dropping, earth shattering story that I was half expecting. This might be because I could see a lot of parallels with Twilight. Which I hate.
Sookie is kind of a fun and entertaining voice through which to tell the story. She is witty, and a little sarcastic. And not in the slightest bit tough. Which is a complete departure from the kinds of stories that I normally read. She’s a waitress with a keen sense of intelligence and loyalty – but she does tend to lean on the men around her for support. For somebody who normally reads stories about fiercely independent women, this was actually a really lovely departure that I continuously thought about and dreamed of.
Bill honestly bores me. Which is probably the biggest problem that I have with this book. He’s just a vampire that runs around. And courts Sookie. And just someone that wasn’t really engaging. Actually, the main reason why I want to continue reading this series is Sookie and her friend Sam. Bill is handsome, dark and runs around in the dark. That is basically it. Maybe in Living Dead in Dallas he will become a little more multi-layered.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR NALINI SINGH DIVES BENEATH THE SURFACE OF HER PSY-CHANGELING WORLD INTO A STORY OF PASSIONATE DEVOTION AND SELFLESS LOVE…
Security specialist Bowen Knight has come back from the dead. But there’s a ticking time bomb in his head: a chip implanted to block telepathic interference that could fail at any moment – taking his brain along with it. With no time to waste, he should be back on land helping the Human Alliance. Instead, he’s at the bottom of the ocean, consumed with an enigmatic changeling…
Kaia Luna may have traded in science for being a chef, but she won’t hide the facts of Bo’s condition from him or herself. She’s suffered too much loss in her life to fall prey to the dangerous charm of a human who is a dead man walking. And she carries a devastating secret that Bo could never imagine…
But when Kaia is taken by those who mean her deadly harm, all bets are off. Bo will do anything to get her back – even if it means striking a devil’s bargain and giving up his mind to the enemy.
I’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for this to come out…. And once it finally arrived, well, I read it in less than 24 hours. It was just like every other book in this series, amazing, sweet and impossible to put down.
Kaia is so damaged, and yet caring and tender. I love that as her past unfolds, you can understand why she’s quite standoffish. But it’s her ability to care and love that truly shines through. There’s a reason why whenever things are going to hell in a handbasket in my own life, I pursue stories such as this – with Singh’sPsy-Changeling world there is always a happy ending. And a character like Kaia who is able to overcome everything in her past and be purely good. The fact that she is a dominant maternal, unlike any of the other changelings in the entire series just made the cockles of my heart warm all the more.
Silver Silence ended with Bo being shot. And although he’s had some kind of shady moments throughout the series, I was completely taken away and a little horrified. He’s an incredibly key character to the large overarching tale that ties all of the many Psy-Changeling stories together and I just couldn’t imagine how the trinity would work without him. Luckily, Singh obviously created him to be like this, because he didn’t die, he was just put into a top secret medical facility. Although in past books Bo has just been an amazing ally (and in some cases potential enemy), he didn’t seem like much more to me before Ocean Light. Then I fell just as madly in love with him as every other character that has had their tale told.
Other than the amazing love story and tale of conspiracy created by the resistance to the Trinity, Ocean Light also introduces the world of BlackSea. An underwater realm full of swimming changelings and mystery. Now I want another tale of the changelings of BlackSea to come out… it looks like I’ll just have to wait a little while until it does.
Title: Hell in a Handbasket
Title: The Eternal Warrior
Earth and Skye 