Kiss of a Demon King

Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole

My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
I was starting to fear that Kresley Cole had gone the way of Laurell K. Hamilton and Karen Marie Moning (before she snapped out of it) and was writing books only about sex. This book was heavy on the sex part until the ending. Then she toned it down and allowed the plot to take over.

One thing that I like about KC's characters is that they follow the same shades of gray that "real" people live with. Her characters are never "only" good or "only" bad. I think this makes for real story writing - or at least as real as you can get with demons, valkyries, vampires, witches etc.

What I didn't like, and this complaint applies to the previous book as well, is that the hero supposedly had a "sith ifrican" accent, but the dialogue didn't live up to giving that accent voice. Minor, I know, but I get such a kick out of the way a character's voice comes alive with word usage.

Pub. Date: January 2009

Series: Immortals After Dark Book 6

Synopsis: Sabine, Sorceress of Illusions: the evil beauty who surrenders her body, but not her heart.

Rydstrom Woede: the ruthless warrior who vows to keep her at all costs.

With each smoldering encounter, their shared hunger only increases. If they can defeat the sinister enemy that stands between them, will Sabine make the ultimate sacrifice for her demon? Or will the proud king lay down his crown and arms to save his sorceress?

Recommended Reading:
Dark Desires After Dusk (Immortals after Dark Series #5) by Kresley Cole
Dark Needs at Night's Edge (Immortals after Dark Series #4) by Kresley Cole
Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night (Immortals after Dark Series #3) by Kresley Cole

Dark Desires After Dusk

Dark Desires After Dusk by Kresley Cole

My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
I didn't think I would enjoy this book as much - I hadn't cared for the main guy when he appeared in other books. I was surprised. He stayed true to his characterization in the other books, but became "real" with surprising depth.

As usual, I was surprised by plot twists and the world of Immortals that KM has created becomes a little darker.

Pub. Date: May 2008

Series: Immortals After Dark Book 5

Synopsis: Cadeon Woede will stop at nothing to atone for the one wrong that will haunt him forever. But once he secures the key to his redemption, the halfling Holly Ashwin, Cade finds that the woman he thought he could use for his own ends and then forget haunts him as much as his past.

Raised as a human, Holly never knew that some frightening legends are real until she encounters a brutal demon who inexplicably guards her like a treasure. Thrust into a sensual new world of myth and power, with him as her protector, she begins to crave the demon's wicked touch.

Yet just when he earns Holly's trust, will Cade be forced to betray the only woman who can sate his wildest needs — and claim his heart?

Recommended Reading:
Dark Needs at Night's Edge (Immortals after Dark Series #4) by Kresley Cole
Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night (Immortals after Dark Series #3) by Kresley Cole
No Rest for the Wicked (Immortals after Dark Series #2) by Kresley Cole
Lover Enshrined (Black Dagger Brotherhood Series #6) by J. R. Ward
The Darkest Night (Lords of the Underworld Series #2) by Gena Showalter

Dark Needs at Night's Edge

Dark Needs at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole

My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
Okay, aside from the fact that my future husband is on the front cover (just as soon as I find out who he is)...

I had a hard time getting into the book at first. There was some strange wording, the character dialogue was at odds with the "behind the scenes" thoughts, and my head spun a little bit as I tried to remember who was who.

About 60 pages in, the wording and character development straightened out. I loved the plot, it wasn't the usual ghost love story. KC constantly surprises me with the twists and turns that her stories take.

Pub. Date: April 2008

Series: Immortals After Dark Book 4

Synopsis: Néomi Laress, a famous ballerina from a past century, became a phantom the night she was murdered. Imbued with otherworldly powers but invisible to the living, she haunts her beloved home, scaring away trespassers — until she encounters a ruthless immortal even more terrifying than Néomi herself.

To prevent him from harming others, Conrad Wroth's brothers imprison him in an abandoned manor. But there, a female only he can see seems determined to drive him further into madness. The exquisite creature torments him with desire, leaving his body racked with lust and his soul torn as he finds himself coveting her for his own.

Yet even if Conrad can win Néomi, evil still surrounds her. Once he returns to the brutality of his past to protect her, will he succumb to the dark needs seething inside him?

Recommended Reading:
Dark Desires After Dusk (Immortals after Dark Series #5) by Kresley Cole
Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night (Immortals after Dark Series #3) by Kresley Cole
No Rest for the Wicked (Immortals after Dark Series #2) by Kresley Cole

Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night

Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night by Kresley Cole

My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book had a unique plot. I was constantly guessing and surprised at each twist and turn. Exciting characters and scenes. I enjoyed this book alot - although it isn't a standalone book (should be read immediately after No Rest for the Wicked.

I am enjoying this series. There is a continuous plot between all books, the characters are remaining true to character and it's just darn-good writing.

Pub. Date: October 2007

Series: Immortals After Dark Book 3

Synopsis: Bowen MacRieve of the Lykae clan was nearly destroyed when he lost the one woman meant for him. The ruthless warrior grew even colder, never taking another to his bed — until a smoldering encounter with his enemy, Mariketa the Awaited, reawakens his darkest desires. When sinister forces unite against her, the Highlander finds himself using all his strength and skill to keep her alive.

Temporarily stripped of her powers, Mari is forced to take refuge with her sworn adversary. It's rumored that no one can tempt Bowen's hardened heart, but soon passion burns between them. Though a future together is impossible, she fears he has no intention of letting her go.

If they defeat the evil that surrounds them, can Mari deny Bowen when he demands her body and soul — or will she risk everything for her fierce protector?

Recommended Reading:
No Rest for the Wicked (Immortals after Dark Series #2) by Kresley Cole
A Hunger like No Other (Immortals after Dark Series #1) by Kresley Cole
Dark Needs at Night's Edge (Immortals after Dark Series #4) by Kresley Cole

Darkfever

Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

My review
rating: 4 of 5 stars
I wasn't sure I wanted to pick up another Karen Marie Moning book - her last two books were too much sex-sex-sex and not enough plot. I dove into this book with a little skepticism. It was written in first person which gave it a different feel than KMM's other books.

This book reminded me why I started reading KMM to start with. She has a vibrant sense of humor, writing witty dialogue (and in this case interior monologue), living-breathing characters, incredible settings and she brought back the plot in this book! I counted two scenes in the book that truly qualify as "erotic" and a small scattering of references.

I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the next two books of the series.

Pub. Date: August 2007

Series: Fever Book 1

Synopsis: MacKayla Lane’s life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she’s your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman. Or so she thinks…until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death–a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed–a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae….

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister’s death, her every move is shadowed by the dark, mysterious Jericho, a man with no past and only mockery for a future. As she begins to close in on the truth, the ruthless V'lane–an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women–closes in on her. And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac’s true mission becomes clear: find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book–because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control of the very fabric of both worlds in their hands…

Recommended Reading:
Bloodfever (Fever Series #2) by Karen Marie Moning
Faefever (Fever Series #3) by Karen Marie Moning
To Tame a Highland Warrior (Highlander Series #2) by Karen Marie Moning
A Hunger like No Other (Immortals after Dark Series #1) by Kresley Cole

Different Seasons

Different Seasons by Stephen King

My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
I've picked up this collection of short stories off and on over the last two years. The first three stories I was familiar with the movies, but still found King's writing far superior. So superior that I had to put the book down long enough to let the nightmares go away. The stories aren't horror in a sci-fi sense, but horrible in the truth of human actions.

Pub. Date: August 1983

Synopsis: Four mesmerizing novellas, including the ones that inspired the movies The Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil, and Stand by Me. Hope Springs Eternal (Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption): The most satisfying tale of unjust imprisonment and offbeat escape since The Count of Monte Cristo. Summer of Corruption (Apt Pupil): A golden California schoolboy and an old man whose hideous past he uncovers enter into a fateful and chilling mutual parasitism. Fall from Innocence (The Body): Four rambunctious young boys venture into the Maine woods and in sunlight and thunder find life, death and intimations of their own mortality. A Winter's Tale (The Breathing Method): A tale told in a strange club about a woman determined to give birth no matter what.

Recommended Reading:
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King
Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
Night Shift by Stephen King
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Host

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
I tried to go into this book with an open mind, but I kept waiting for the obsession that took over me with the Twilight series to happen. It didn't. This book was easy to fall into, and once I allowed myself to be confused about the plot (my confusion only lasted the first 30 pages, then everything was explained and made sense) it was well done in it's own right. Still disappointed my expectations of the author of the Twilight series.

A good book in it's own right, light Sci-Fi, heavy on emotion and human actions. An original plot - not that I read much Sci-Fi to acurately judge - but some of the characters fell flat. They were too one-sided and lacked dimension. A lot of good plot space was taken up with mundane details.

Pub. Date: May 2008

Synopsis: Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.

Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves - Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.

Recommended Reading:
Prom Nights from Hell by Meg Cabot, Kim Harrison, Michele Jaffe, Lauren Myracle, Stephenie Meyer
City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments Series #1) by Cassandra Clare

You're Not You

You're Not You: A Novel by Michelle Wildgen


My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
I walked into this book not expecting anything. (Although I'm still confused what the cover means.) A well written book that goes through all five of the reader's senses.

Pub. Date: July 2007

Synopsis: Bec is adrift. It's the summer before her junior year in college. She's sleeping with a married professor, losing interest in her classes, and equivocating about her career. She takes a job caring for Kate, a thirty-six-year-old woman who has been immobilized by ALS.

As it turns out, before the disease Kate was a stylish and commanding woman, an advertising executive and an accomplished chef. Now, as she and Bec spend long days together, Bec begins to absorb Kate's sophistication and her sensuality, cooking for her, sharing her secrets, and gradually beginning to live her own life with a boldness informed by Kate's influence. The more intense her commitment to Kate, the further Bec strays from the complacency of her college life. And when Kate's marriage veers into dangerous territory, Bec will have to choose between the values of her old life and the allure of an entirely new one.

Recommended Reading:
Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner
American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
Songs Without Words by Ann Packer
Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

If You Deceive

If You Deceive by Kresley Cole


My review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
There wasn't much of an action/adventure plot in this book, it seemed to focus more on the emotional side of the story. I thought that worked perfectly with the hero, a man who was used to getting his way by brute force. He had to earn and be good enough to earn the heroine's love. A very good love story.

Pub. Date: May 2007

Series: MacCarrick Brothers Book 3

Synopsis: Burning vengeance...
Ethan MacCarrick was a heartbreakingly handsome rake until a powerful nobleman ordered him brutally beaten and his face scarred for a crime he didn't commit. Ethan's reprisal — bankrupting the nobleman and forcing his exile — does little to appease his wrath. Ten years later, a haughty, mysterious beauty enchants Ethan — the daughter of his enemy. At last, Ethan will have the revenge he's craved; he'll promise her marriage, seduce her, then cast her aside.

Bitter hardships...
When Madeleine van Rowen's family was suddenly plunged into destitution and dishonor, she steeled herself against further heartache. She never weakened, never trusted, until a towering, scarred Highlander relentlessly pursues her, breaking down her defenses.

At what price forgiveness?
The passion between them burns hotter than Ethan's fury, and soon he finds he can't let her go. But when Madeleine uncovers the truth about him, can Ethan convince her to accept all he now offers — when he once destroyed everything she had?

Recommended Reading:
If You Desire (MacCarrick Brothers Series #2) by Kresley Cole
If You Dare (MacCarrick Brothers Series #1) by Kresley Cole
No Rest for the Wicked (Immortals after Dark Series #2) by Kresley Cole