Graveyard Child by MLN Hanover

Black Suns Daughter, Book 5

It seems like a lifetime goes by before another BSD book comes out. Geeze!

It's time for a family reunion ... OF sorts. Jayne heads back home to get some questions answered but is met by resistance from her father and some others that decided to crash the party. This is a book of really revelations. Jayne finds out what's inside her, details about the Black Sun and the Black Suns Daughter, why it's there, how it was put there and questions if what went on was the work of something else or the bad person she thinks, Eric.

Jayne's brother, Jay, is getting married. His girlfriend, Carla (who is latina), is pregnant. You can only imagine how that went over with the Hellers' super religious upbringing. What's the problem? Something visits Carla and tells her something about Jayne, then Carla is kidnapped and shit hits the fan. Moving on ... Graveyard Child is the name of a rider. A scary strong rider with tons of personality that had me giggling when the battle took place. During that final battle, Jayne gets help from an unlikely source ... Because, let's be honest, she was getting her ass kicked. Their are lots of twists and turns in this one. I love that Jayne will be on her way to sleep, and sit up remembering something or realizing something that means a whole hell of a lot.

If I say one little thing, it's going to give away everything and you'll probably figure it all out before getting the book yourself.

I must say ... I complained a lot about Jayne during the beginnings of the series but the character has grown and matured into someone I like. So if you are like I was and hated the series after book 1 or 2, I promise that it gets better.


4.5 Stars
Carla (Latina), Chogyi Jake (Asian)

Lord Of The Abyss by Nalini Singh

Royal House Of Shadows, Book 4

Liliana is the ugly, and slightly deformed, daughter of a man called the Blood Sorcerer. She casts a spell and ends up in the Black Castle. Not only does she drop out of nowhere, but she drops almost in front of the Guardian of the Abyss. Instead of killing her, like I thought he should have considering his reputation, he throws her in the dungeon to decide what to do with her later. Why? Because she doesn't cower in fear.

I can dig that but it's been done a lot. Anyway ... We find out that Liliana is on a mission to keep the kingdom of Elden from dying and the way to do that is to get this Guardian to remember his old life.

Liliana is described as being dark skinned, hooked nosed, whip backed, and has one leg shorter than the other, but the Guardian ends up thinking she's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. Of course. This, plus her tales, cause him to begin to remember his life and fall in love with her in the process.

Once all that lovey stuff is worked out, they start their journey to Elden to face Liliana's father and reclaim the land. Thankfully I 'saw' every single detail of this novella. It was quick but it wasn't lacking anything. I could do without the sex. I'm sick of sex in books. I just want to read the story, get in the middle of a fight, and have a good nights rest. I don't understand but anyway ... Aside from the sex, the novella was actually pretty decent. I'm still not a big fan of Nalini's work, but maybe I'll get there one day.


3 Stars
Liliana (Dark Skinned) Guardian (White?)

Book Sex

I may regret my words but I can't stop myself right now.

I am frustrated beyond mention.

Why is it so hard to find a decent paranormal that is not drowning in sex? I'm beginning to think that Paranormal and Erotic mean the same thing. WTF, why? I am sick to death of the words 'cock' and 'pussy.' Authors that I've read in the past have slapped me int he face and can't seem to stay away from it. It's like ... Oh ... This person has a new book out, can't wait to buy it ... Then part way through, cocks are being thrown like rocks to a glass house.

I'm willing to bet these are the same people who read 50 Shades of Grey but yet won't allow their husbands to watch porn.

Idiots.

It's no secret that I can't stand erotic books but why can't I stand them? It takes away from the story. You're gonna cut from the action, much like a commercial, to have sex, then tuck yourself back in and go back to telling stories. GTFO.

My tolerance for this is very low. Obviously.

Some I can get with if it's written in a way that's not nasty. LA Banks is by far my favorite. I read all of her sex scenes. R Tezak is a newer favorite if I'm going to deal with sex at all. Great Paranormals with very little to no sex ... Jane Yellowrock, Hunter Kiss, Shadowchasers, Black Suns Daughter, Lightning Rider, Santeria Habitat, Anna Strong. Probably a few more, but damn ... Just those few out of all the Paranormals that are out ...? *sigh*

Every time I get disappointed I say, "I need to finish writing my own book," and then my ADD kicks in and I start doing 3 other things and I get lost. *sigh*

What is the point of this rant? None at all ... I need a nap.

Scorpion by Aleksandr Voinov

Memory of Scorpions, Book 1

Let me start off by saying that I'm not much of a fan of romance. I avoid it all costs when it comes to books. Usually my favorites are books that avoid copious amounts of it and just give me a lot of blood and guts. This was the complete opposite.

Kendras wanders into a tavern after having clearly been in battle. His foot is nearly crushed, he's limping, tired, and has no idea where his men are. There he is approached by a grey-eyed man who pays him a silver coin for sex and offers to take him with him to rest and heal. When Kendras and Steel, the grey-eyed man, make it to the place Steel and his mercenaries are staying, he is tended to and fed so that he may heal for the purpose Steel has in mind. Still, all the while Steel needs him for something, Kendras' only need is to find his officer and the surviving men of the Scorpion unit.

It came across like Steel wanted Kendras to be his sex toy but not go so far as acting as a slave.

I can't get my thoughts together ...

After he touches base with the surviving men, theirs this awkward moment between Kendras and Steel that changes how they view each other and themselves. My heart broke a little, especially considering what the officer saved Kendras from before he became a Scorpion because it messed with his head a bit and nearly had him doubting himself. It's when the reader realizes that Steel wants Kendras to stay with him, be loyal to him, and maybe even love him.

Ok ...

After the officer is found, everything changes. He goes from just being the officer of the Scorpions, to Adrastes who is a big freaking deal. By the end of it, Kendras has to decide if he will go with the Scorpions or stay with Adrastes and still be a Scorpion.

---

My summary will never do this book justice. Kendras is part of a group of people called the Jaishani who are dark skinned with blue eyes. Steel is a grey eyed blonde and the rest of the men are varying shades of white or black. It's M/M. I thought, initially, that I wouldn't like it. I thought their needed to be a warning or something ... I don't even know what ... But once you get into it, the fact that it's M/M doesn't even matter. These are men. Real men. They're strong, they're amazing fighters, fiercely loyal, and even loving. Their are relationships and beautiful dynamics to them. It's romantic but not in a M/F kind of way. It's just strong. It's manly.

This is not your typical M/M book. This is a real story that connects you with all the characters in an intimate way. You want to go on the journey with Kendras, you want to find out what Steel is up to, you want to rip Steels head off for how he treats Kendras, you want to feel the confusion when a certain person meets his end during a kingly battle ... You feel every single word of this. Everything.

Beautifully written. The world building was on point. I 'saw' everyone. Nothing was overdone. It's just ... Perfect. I cannot wait for book 2.

I requested this book from Netgalley because of the cover alone. I'd complained lately that I couldn't find anything (other than street lit) that had a black male lead ... Especially not for anything remotely Paranormal. This is a fantasy novel (or maybe high fantasy. Is their a difference? I'm new to this genre) so their is nothing paranormal about it but it kind of falls along the way of not being historical (because their is no real history here), but not something I'm used to so I'm going for it. Anyway ... Black male leads I've read in the past can't touch Kendras at all. Things that matter right now, like race and sexual preference, are not an issue in the world Voinov has constructed. Kendras is a man. Yes, he may be dark skinned, but he's a man first.

Now usually I shy away from sex in books. I can't stand anything erotic. I skip those pages if I happen to be reading one of those books. But this ... I can't even say it's erotic despite the amount of sex. Why? Because it wasn't excessive. I mean yes, their was a good deal of sex that happened, but it never took up too much space or diverted from the story. It wasn't nasty at all ... Ever! EVER! I wish their were more of this to read.

I apologize if this review doesn't make sense. I'm still blown away.



5 Stars
Kendras (Black) Officer (Black ... :-) )

The Queen's Revelation by M.T. Harrte

Alexis Wolfe, Book 2

Before I can begin, I must address how much this book cover disturbs me. The series' main focus is a loc'd black female wolf shifter, yet the cover ... Looks like this. To get to the bottom of it, I asked the author if the choice of cover was that of the publisher or if it were her decision, why put a white male on the cover.

"It was actually my choice. Alexis has quite a few men in life and I wanted one to be represented. The next book will be of Alexis or possibly her and a male."

I suppose I could understand this logic if their were a second POV or more time spent with the other male outside of Alexis. She was literally everywhere with everyone in the scenes so IMO it doesn't warrant one of her guys getting the cover when she (Alexis) hasn't even had a cover and the series is about her. This may not be an issue to anyone else but me, lol. I'm that person who does judge a book by it's cover. Literally. Plus, I would love to see a sista with locs on a book cover.

Anyhow ...

The Queen's Revelation picks up at the search for Alexis' daughter, Anastasia. Anastasia was kidnapped by the former queen, Samirah, and Alexis' mate, Mason. Since they're having no luck, Ethan, the ghost, wants Alexis to garner support from all those in her court so that they will WANT to help her find her daughter. This comes with problems. The big one being Samirah's assassination attempts every time Alexis goes to visit with the other supernaturals. Aside from that, we get a new character named Orrin who is a troll. He's huge, ugly, super strong, pretty fast and has lots of fighting tricks up his sleeve. Not to mention, he is very kind and now completely devoted to Alexis.

Now here's my problem. Why is she throwing her goods around? She tried to get laid 3 times before she finally won that battle. One of those times was with Orrin. She actually thought she was about to have sex with a super big troll, with an erection that is eye level to her ... He even explained that some troll women die during sex. This heffa gonna tell him that she's still wolf and can bend her body in plenty of ways.

I threw my Kindle away ... In the trashcan ... For about 5 seconds before I panicked and got it out.

That was such a forehead slapping moment.

Anyway ... It's fast paced and never dull but the writing still needs a little work. It's easy to follow, yes, but it's really ... Simple (for lack of better word). It reminds me of a children's chapter book. I finally got better descriptions of some people but not many. Ethan was described in detail several times, right down to his clothes. I got a better sense of what Alexis and Thadius looked like, plus I know what the trolls and goblins look like quite well ... And even the newer character, Deacon. Some of the rest are still a mystery. I still like Alexis as much as I did in book 1 but she was very annoying this round with throwing her pu**y around at every turn. It kind of made me chuckle every time she didn't get laid. What else? Hmm OH! By way of personality, Palo and Orrin were the only ones that seemed different from the rest this go round. Alexis and Thadius are virtually indistinguishable and hopefully book 3 will give them their own personality, mannerisms and even way of speaking. But still, I'd like to see how this Samirah thing plays out. I hope it doesn't continue to drag, though ... I'll be reading the next one and pimping it out since their aren't many black female shifter protags out there.


3 Stars
Alexis (Black), Thadius (Greek), Palo (Samoan)

A - Ariel

I saw a blog about an A to Z Blog Challenge. Went to sign up, but the sign up was closed. However, I still want to do this. On to the blog!

A is for Ariel. Growing up on Disney, before things became complicated, I have a million fond memories of The Little Mermaid. Even now as an adult, I still know every single word, every single song, every facial expression ... Just ... Everything. I didn't realize how much I'd missed those Disney movies until I was waiting in a pediatric office with my kid, and this movie was playing. She kept shushing me because she couldn't listen to the movie and me at the same time.

And let's face it, how much more diverse can you get? We have a human Prince in love with a Mermaid who has a surrogate father who is a crab ... A Jamaican crab at that.

I blame Disney for my need to escape reality and pour myself into a world that makes no sense, and is completely real at the same time.

Blood Trade by Jane Yellowrock

Jane Yellowrock, Book 6

Helloooooooooooooo Faith Hunter fans! Thanks to a goodreads.com giveaway, I won a copy of Blood Trade but I just couldn't wait to get it so I bought the Kindle version anyway. Hehe. Now ... where do I start?

Jane, Eli and the Kid are in Natchez Mississippi dealing with Big H. In Death's Rival, we never got to meet Big H but we do this time. He has some Naturealeza vamps that Jane is being hired to deal with for 40k a head. Also, some witches have gone missing and ... Do you ever think about what would happen if Vampires could be "Zombies?" Oh it's something freaking cool. So now Jane has to deal with all this shit on top of being depressed about her failed relationship with Rick.

All Jane Yellowrock books seem to have some riddle that needs to be figured out before Jane can rescue someone or do what she needs to do. The one we're dealing with here has to do with ... Ah crap I can't say ... But the one piece that remains busy, I'm sure will be dealt with in book 7. So ... Jane has Eli running around with her, trying to kill these crazy vampires and find the witches but now she has a child in her care. Someone came back into her life that she was familiar with in her childrens home, and now that woman's child is in Jane's care. It produced a lot of 'real' moments for Jane. The biggest one being Beasts' desire to have kits, and Jane's desire to have a child ... Knowing it can't really be possible based on her life so far. The other 'real' moment is when ... Rick ... *smiles* ... *sigh* ... And then she and Evan Trueblood work their shit out. FINALLY. I mean ... Jane finally said the things I felt she's needed to say for a long time, and because of that, she may have gotten Molly and Angelina back. I sure hope so.

Since Eli has been downgraded to brother-status, I won't hold out hope for he and Jane anymore. However, Bruiser now has an interesting life to lead since he's Onorio now. :-) What will that mean for him and Jane? What will that mean for Rick and Jane? I think they just need to have a threesome and gtfover it. OH and Jane has yet to deal with the binding. CRAP ... So much still to do.

It seems like every time I get my hands on a Jane Yellowrock book, I can't even think straight after reading it enough to give a decent review. It was just awesome. I wanted more action earlier on but it was still good. Awesome. I love you, Jane.


4 1/2 Stars
Jane (NA), Eli (B/W), Soul (B), Rick (French/NA)

P.S. I am super interested in finding out what's up with Soul.

Captured By Kenya Wright

Vampire King, Book 2

I just realized ... Just now ... That I didn't post the review for book 1. It kind of doesn't matter since I'm putting this review up and it's basically the same so here goes.

From book 1, Samuel is an undercover vampire prince who helped a domina escape the confines of the Quiet King's castle. According to this vampire tale, domina's are certain women who can have children by vampires, and can hold 6 fetuses at once. The Quiet King uses the births to raise the number of his army, but their is a catch ... If a male is born with black lines down his legs, that means one day he will be strong enough to over throw the current king, so the Quiet King has them killed. One, however, was smuggled away ... Samuel. Now, in book 2, we learn that Brie's red hair is significant. Turns out she's a blood mage. A blood mage is basically a woman with very special blood. It can make a prince turn into a king at a very fast pace and also SPOILER make humans turn to vampires END SPOILER. Now because of this new information, Samuel, Brie and a few others are going back to the castle to sniff around to get answers about the Quiet King's first queen, Phinova, who had hair like Brie and blood like hers as well.

Now ... On to the review. This is an erotic book so I'll just skip over that part. I like the way the vampire is depicted in this series. It's different but not so over-the-top different that you can't even believe it (despite the fact that they're not even real to believe in). It's written well, of course. Kenya Wright does a fabulous job with everything she writes so I don't have an issue there. My issue is with Samuel. I feel like he just completely underreacted. Have you ever met a person who overreacts at the stupid things and almost doesn't react when it really counts? If your woman was caught with a man with SPOILER two dicks, END SPOILER what would you do? Would you ask her what was going on? Ask him what was going on? Back down at all? Well that's what he did ... But yet ... He ripped someones head off for even voicing a desire. That aggravated the crap out of me. After that, everything was smooth sailing. I will say that I'm not a fan of Brie. She brings nothing to the table. She's just a woman. Lol. I suppose in these types of romances that the big strong men want the meek gorgeous lady ... Reminds me of Black Dagger Brotherhood. Another comparison ... Maybe I missed it in book 1 but ... Is everyone white? I guess since this isn't Urban Fantasy (even though BDB is urban fantasy and Ward happens to be racist with a slash of sexist) that Wright may have decided to craft a world where everyone is one color. I hope I'm wrong. Someone correct me and I will edit this.

Overall ... The series itself is good. I was hoping for the worst for Brie by the end but I guess I can hold onto that feeling until the end of book 3. Can't wait to get into that one.




3 Stars