#40 Morrigan's Cross: Book One of the Circle Trilogy by Nora Roberts

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

As a storm rages, the tale of a powerful vampire's lust for destruction—and of the circle of six charged by the goddess Morrigan to stop her—begins. One of the chosen is a medieval sorcerer whose quest will take him through time—and into the arms of a woman courageous enough to link her destiny to his own.

Going in, I wasn't sure how I'd like this book, seeing as I'm not a huge fan of romances. But if it's paranormal, you know I've gotta try it out! :P So I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it as much as I did. I found that Roberts', who tends to be too overly descriptive and flowery in the romances of hers that I've read, didn't annoy me so much here. Probably because those descriptions were instead directed towards a different outlet. These descriptions nicely portrayed the beautiful landscapes and hills of Ireland. And even New York city, while the characters were there for awhile... I felt as if I were able to see it from the point-of-view of a tourist visiting for the first time.

Overall, a fun read, and I'm looking forward to the next two in the trilogy, both of which are waiting here on Mt. TBR. :D

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#39 Motor Mouth by Janet Evanovich

My Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Barney, Hooker, and friends are back, tearing up the race track, and tearing up the town! The action takes place in a wild race around Southern Florida and Concord, North Carolina, home of NASCAR. Barney and Hooker "borrow" a NASCAR trailer to save a friend, only to discover that in addition to the two race cars and their friend Gobbles in the back, there's also a naked dead man wrapped in plastic! And that's not all... turns out the cars house their own secrets as well.

Now on the run from a couple of hit men, the head of R&D at Huevo Industries, and the police for questioning on a murder they didn't commit, Barney and Hooker team up with old pals Felicia and Rosa to clear their names, and try to figure out what's going down in downtown!

This was another great Evanovich read which I enjoyed just as much as its predecessor Metro Girl. It had a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, and you're left wondering just what's happening right up until the very end.

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#38 Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

Raven is a Goth teen who lives in "Dullsville"... where nothing interesting ever happens! Until the Sterling family moves into the haunted house on top of Benson Hill, and the rumors start flying that they're vampires since they're never seen during the day.

Raven, who as a little girl proclaimed she wanted to be a vampire when she grew up, has had a strong attraction to the house even during the long years it sat empty. So she's determined to uncover the truth about the spooky new family... especially the darkly handsome 17-year-old Alexander.

This was a quick and enjoyable teen book that ended on a cliffhanger, leaving me anxiously looking forward to the sequel, which unfortunately I don't yet have. :( Despite the teen target audience, the author is good at keeping you wondering right up until the very end.

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#37 Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris

My Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

I ate this book up in a few days! Which was surprising because I'd been wondering why my reading pace had slowed down somewhat with my last few books. It's become obvious to me that I chew through the ones I really enjoy while the other stuff that's just okay kind of drags at a steadier pace. Hmmm....

Grave Surprise continues the story of Harper and Tolliver started in Grave Sight. Harper has an unusual talent for being able to find the dead, and discover their last living moments including how they died. She's often called upon by distressed parents or various law enforcement officials to help in missing persons cases, to see if a body can be located... for Harper can only find the dead, not the living.

Harper and Tolliver are called to Memphis by anthropology professor Dr. Clyde Nunley to "read" a graveyard, the records for which were only recently discovered. Little do they realize that Dr. Nunley is hoping to expose Harper as a fraud since no one else has had access to these records besides himself. But the entire class gets more than they bargained for when, besides being spot on for each person buried in the centuries-old cemetery, Harper discovers the body of 11-year-old Tabitha Morganstern, abducted from Nashville 2 years prior, in one of the existing grave sites. Harper had been called in on Tabitha's case back then but had failed to produce results when she couldn't locate the body. So her and Tolliver begin to wonder if this is too much of a coincidence and that perhaps they were set up to find this body. Unfortunately, the police and FBI aren't too pleased with the coincidences either...

The action keeps going nonstop right up until the very end. I anxiously await the next book in the wonderful new Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris.

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#36 Hot Spell by Emma Holly, Lora Leigh, Shiloh Walker, and Meljean Brook

My Rating: 6 out of 10 stars (average of all stories)

The Countess's Pleasure by Emma Holly
Not quite as erotic as some of Emma Holly's other works that I've read, though still definitely hotter than your standard paranormal/fantasy romance as well.

Georgiana, a widowed countess from Britain, travels to Bhamjran, a British Victorian India, and unknowingly meets up with the man of her dreams, or at least, a dreamy man... well, then again, he's not really a man but a demon. Iyan is part of a separate paranormal race known as the Yama; they aren't actually demons as you might think of them in terms of evil spirits or minions from the various levels of Hell. But besides their sculpted bodies, perfect features, and unwillingness to succumb to emotion, they are also able to draw energy from humans in a most unusual way.

Mixing between the races is generally frowned upon. But then again, "What happens in Bhamjran, stays in Bhamjran." And Georgiana is committed to living for herself now, even if that means taking pleasure where she can find it... in the arms of a demon!
My Rating: 5 stars


The Breed Next Door by Lora Leigh
I plan to read some of Lora Leigh's other Breed books so this novella was a good introduction to the race, and the writing style of the author. I liked it a bit more than the previous story because there was some additional elements of danger that weren't present in the previous story.

Lyra is a human, and unknowingly living next door to a "Breed", a genetically engineered human clone species bred to serve, usually in a warlike capacity. The Breed species were very ill-treated by their masters, until the revolution that is, fought side-by-side with humans who also thought their treatment too cruel. Many escaped to live in the real world among humans, trying to hide their true identity. Tarek was such a creature... and sexy as hell to boot! And the two of them are forced into close quarters after the people hunting Tarek decide to go after Lyra instead...
My Rating: 6 stars


Falling for Anthony by Meljean Brook
Anthony is a Guardian, a special type of angel created to protect the human race from evil. After being killed by a Nosferatu while serving as a medic during the Napoleonic Wars, Anthony is made into a Guardian, a special type of angel created to protect the human race from evil. Though most Guardians must wait 100 years first if they choose to fall, Michael the archangel has decided to send Anthony back after only a few short weeks, to protect the very family he unknowingly helped to betray to the Nosferatu who attacked him.

There's a whole back story, which is pretty intense, but when I tried to get into it, the summary got super long, so suffice to say, I really enjoyed this story the most of all of them so far. Though the sex scenes could've been a wee bit longer >:-> the story was definitely well fleshed-out.
My Rating: 7 stars


The Blood Kiss by Shiloh Walker
Roman Montgomery, the Wolf King of Wolfclan Montgomery, believes he has found his true mate. Unfortunately, she's the daughter of his sworn enemy, Lord Eduard Capiet, head of The House of Capiet. While on a mission to free his younger brother from the hands of Eduard, he abducts Eduard's daughter Julianna, not wanting to leave her in the hands of such a monster as Eduard, who's archaic old ways have drawn the eye of the Ancients.

There's a bit of similarity to Romeo and Juliet. Not just in the names, but also in the fact that the 2 Houses are sworn enemies. And Roman and Julianna fall in love. Fortunately, the story doesn't end in tragedy as Romeo and Juliet does. And there was enough action and danger going on, since the erotica wasn't as sizzling as some of the other stuff I've read, to keep the story interesting for me.
My Rating: 7 stars

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#35 Charmed & Dangerous by Candace Havens

My Rating: 6 out of 10 stars

Bronwyn is a high Witch, working as a kind of one-witch secret service to the British Prime Minister. Her arsenal includes a combination of potions, spells, explosions, mind-reading tricks, and general butt-kicking skills. While she's traveling the globe to protect the PM and a middle eastern sheik (I'm not sure that she actually ever specifies what country he's from), she's pining for her warlock back home, Dr. Sam... despite the fact that she's promised herself not to fall for any man—especially a warlock.

This book is written in a diary/journal format, which in this case was actually a drawback as I don't think that format worked all that well with this story, and didn't add much to it at all. The storyline itself was interesting though, and I was kept in the dark about who the culprit behind all the assassination attempts was all the way to the end. I have the next book in this series, Charmed and Ready, waiting on Mt. TBR and hope to get to it shortly.

I actually hedged between giving this a 6 or a 7, but went with a 6, because of my complaint about the journal/diary format.

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#34 Awaken Me Darkly (Alien Huntress, Book 1) by Gena Showalter

My Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

Mia Snow is an agent for A.I.R. (Alien Investigation and Removal). She's been hunting aliens her entire life, and hated them ever since she was a little girl and they had killed at least one of her brothers, the other gone missing and never found.

Now she's on the hunt for an Arcadian that's killing human men and leaving them to be found in compromising positions. But if she's to find who's behind these murders, and save her partner in the process, she must accept help from the most unlikely of sources: a tall, exotic Arcadian by the name of Kyrin en Arr. And as she gets closer to the truth, and closer to Kyrin, she discovers some shocking secrets about herself in the process.

I went into this book not sure what to expect. I was thinking I might just be getting another romance in a paranormal wrapper, but I couldn't be further from the truth. :-) I totally enjoyed Gena's writing style, and Mia's kick ass character reminded me of the Anita Blake of old. This book would probably be considered more Paranormal Fantasy, or even Sci Fi because of the Aliens, though some of the powers they exhibit are very similar to what we see in Vampires in other stories: strength, quick moving, mind control, enhanced life, etc.

After finishing this story, I immediately added the rest of the series to my wishlist. There's currently one other published, Enslave Me Sweetly, with the next two coming in June and July 2007 actually being YA, and a return to the non-teen version in January 2008. I believe the YA books, going by the series title "Teen Alien Huntress", will take place in the same world but with different characters. (I added the forthcoming titles and release dates to the Ongoing Releases Dates thread at BookObsessed if you want all the details.)

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