EmberShane

Every.  Time.

*Paranormal Romance*

Dragon Fire is the newest book in The Forbidden Love Series by Danielle James. James is one of my all-time favorite PNR authors. Her books are always steamy and fast-paced and this latest edition follows suit. Toni, a dragon shifter, meets Dylan, demi-god and son of Poseidon, at a paranormal Halloween party. The attraction is immediate and the budding romance brings about Poseidon's wrath. Toni's entire paranormal family gets involved in an attempt to keep the couple safe-no easy task since Poseidon is, after all, a god. With the introduction to sea paranormal creatures, which I have a weakness for, this could be my favorite novel in the entire series. Five Stars!!

*Paranormal Romance*

In this fifth installment of the Keepers of Hell series, we get to see Lucas' and Ryver's story. Lucas, a wolf shifter and brand new to The Guard, is given his first task of returning Ryver, Lucifer's daughter, to Hell in order to help repair a giant, gaping portal that's allowing all manner of demons loose upon the earth. Recommended to anyone looking for a fast-paced, quick adult PNR read. Five stars!

I am only 30 pages into this book.  I've never read anything by this author before, but I'm sensing this could be one of those magical moments where the planets align, a choir sings in the background, and you fall deeply in love with an author's work.  It has so much potential.  So far, it's haunting and beautifully gloomy, dark and other worldy with elements of macabre.  Basically everything you'd want in a retelling of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher rewritten for a YA audience.  My fingers are crossed that this novel isn't just deceptively awesome in the beginning. 

Posted above is the actual cover for the edition I read.

*Historical Romance*

Lady Patience books passage for herself and her four charges to England because she has been tasked with ensnaring titled husbands for them. Before boarding, she meets Captain Grant St. Benedict. Cue the romance.

This was my introduction to Annette Blair, and I wasn't disappointed. Charming story and characters and the further along I read, the more I enjoyed it. Even though I totally called the surprise concerning the Marquess way early in the book, that fact did not damper my satisfaction in reading it play out. I appreciated the side story plot of Patience's aunt and Rose's daughter, Amy. The sexual scenes were a little mild, but enjoyable. I wish there had been an additional scene of the couple's actual first time together after so many mini scenes leading up to it. But even without it, I was engrossed in the story. Four stars!

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours at my local branch of a nationwide bookstore.  Today, I spent some time at my favorite, and rather large, gently used bookstore.  In both cases, I was annoyed because I couldn't use my Kindle to connect to the internet.  First of all, this is 2016.  Why isn't there complimentary wi-fi at national shopping chains?  I can MAYBE understand the used bookstore not having internet connection (even though it's in an uppity part of town and brings stacks of money in) because it's not a national chain.  Okay.  But what about the national bookstores?  What excuse is there?  Is this somehow linked to the animosity a lot of stores have with ebooks?  I can't really think of another reason.  I'm going to be honest.  I've actually not bought a book because I had no wi-fi connection and couldn't look at the reviews.  Not that reviews are the end-all for me on buying a book, but I do find sites like BL and GR valuable to see if any of my friends have read and reviewed a book and their particular opinions regarding it.  When you read in mass quantities, hardbacks and paperbacks can drain your wallet.  I try to buy only those I love or ones I'm pretty sure I will.  Am I the only one that feels this way?  Am I overlooking another reason for the wi-fi bans?  In my personal experience, I can guarantee free wi-fi would actually boost paper sales. 

*NA Fantasy*

This book begins in 1875 London, but... like... in an 1875 London from a parallel dimension-one where there's magic and no one blinks twice kind of 1875 London.  The heroine, Sondrine, works for her aunt's curio/apothecary shop and is one day visited by a mysterious stranger wanting to trade an antique for herbs.  The antique in question is a snow globe which will impact her future and catapult her into a secret world she never knew existed.  Her journey is no accident though as the mysterious stranger is actually a bounty hunter sent by the king.  Turns out, Sondrine has been chosen to squash Winterhaven's evil queen.

I loved this book!  It was full of adventure and strong characters.  The plot was strong and I didn't always predict what was going to happen.  The writing was vivid and I loved the world(s) Nelson created.  I can't wait to see how Sondrine and Shán's relationship evolves in the next book.  =) 

*Horror with a Comedic Twist*

The Plot: George and Lou are two thugs that freelance as transporters. They take a job on that involves delivering a werewolf to bigger thugs who aren't quite as friendly. Things go very wrong when the wolf escapes.

My Thoughts: I don't really read a whole lot of horror. I have to be in a certain mood for it. But I find myself wishing this style of horror was its own genre. I would read more of it if it were. Jeff Strand does an excellent job of turning the grisly into a punchline. Hilarious and witty, I loved to hate Ivan (the werewolf) and hated that I found him somewhat charming when he wanted to be. The story was solid and still left you with about as much as a feel-good type of ending as you could hope for in a horror novel. Scott Thomas, the narrator, did a great job with the voices. Overall, this was an enjoyable listen and I would definitely read or listen to something by this author again.

**This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast.

I downloaded a free book from Amazon to my Kindle yesterday and tried opening it up to start reading it today.  Only, the book won't open.  I've tried deleting it completely from my Kindle and Cloud and re-downloading it.  Still, it won't open.  I've never encountered this issue before.  Can anyone tell me if they have and if/how they fixed it?  If you need to see the book in question, the link is HERE.

*Sci-Fi/Fantasy*

The Plot:  An accidental discovery by government-endorsed scientists opens up a portal to another world in another dimension.  This world is filled with fairytale-type creatures, one of which is a dark elf girl who is bent on creating a little destruction on Earth and taking a hostage back to her home planet.  Cassie, Elizabeth, and Duncan are three ordinary bystanders who just happened to be nearby when the elf shuttles to our planet, somehow altering their mundane human lives by giving them magical powers.  Now it's up to the three of them to right the disaster the elf and her pet basilisk bring.  And did I mention Bigfoot yet?  Yeah... We get a great new spin on Bigfoot.

My Thoughts:  This book was amazing.  It would make great material for a movie.  Lots of action and opportunities for some awesome CGI.  The worlds, the characters, the plot... All top quality.  I did get a little confused early on because there are several character introductions in a short time period, but it didn't take long to sort them out.  I look forward to continuing this series!

*I received this book for free via storycartel.com in exchange for an honest review.*

I just recently got up to date with Cole's IAD series.  When the withdrawals for waiting for the next book began, I decided to give her Aracana Chronicles series a try.  This is a YA/New Adult/Apocalyptic/Paranormal Romance novel.  After a solar flash leaves the earth in an apocalyptic state, select survivors begin to discover they've been reincarnated to play out their roles in a deadly game.  These characters are based off a deck of Tarot cards and come with their own unique super abilities.  The first section of the book is a little slower, as it's centered more on character development.  But the action comes pretty quickly once the solar flash hits.  Jackson Deveaux, the romantic interest, is super hot.  I don't know that I've read a romance with a Cajun for the lead.  I listened to the audiobook version and both narrators, Emma Galvin and Keith Nobbs, did an excellent job.  Definitely continuing this series.  Five stars!

I need to begin this review with some rather strong feelings regarding the cover.  This is not the cover for the book that I have.  Normally, I don't mind all that much that booklikes doesn't give you an option to switch covers.  But when I looked up this book to add to my reading list on here, and saw this was the only cover available, I tried to update it.  This is the first time it's really annoyed me that the reader can't select the actual cover image for their particular edition.  It's not that I consider myself a cover snob... Well... maybe a LITTLE.  But this actually happens to be a novel that I chose primarily based on the cover at the time of download.  Which was this one:

I love this cover.  Dark and brooding.  Clearly Paranormal.  I think it accurately portrays the novel inside.  The original cover?  Not so much.  I don't know that I would've picked up the novel based off the original cover without someone suggesting it to me personally.  I'm still kind of new to booklikes, so maybe I just haven't discovered the right way to change covers.  If this is the case, please feel free to give me step-by-step.

As far as the novel itself, I loved it!  The gargoyle spin isn't something you see a lot of, and I found it refreshing.  Conor, one of many gargoyles tasked with protecting humans and, at times, other creatures is assigned to Emma's protection.  Emma has no idea she's a half-demon and has a myriad of powers just waiting to be unleashed.  Cute characters, lovely fantasy world, and great writing.  Can't wait to follow the rest of the series.

I read this book last summer and it got me hooked on the series!  Highly recommended if you like cozy mystery-type reads. 

LINK HERE

*Dystopian YA*

An incredibly enjoyable read. Bond did a very nice job creating a believable love triangle. In some stories, there is a large consensus among readers who the clear and obvious match will be. I don't really consider those to be love triangles. In Reap, I really am not sure who I'd rather Abby end up with. Crew and Kyan are pretty much equal to me at this point. Maybe Kyan, but only because Crew comes with a whole lot of drama, LOL.

I've read some reviews that compared this novel to the Divergent series. While I can see that, this book actually reminds me more of The Hunger Games. First, we have Olympus-the capital of the regions. It reminded me a LOT of The Capitol of the districts. This is where the Greaters live. The Greaters are used to being pampered and getting their way. They use the Lessers as pawns for their entertainment and resources. Then-as the title implies-there's a "reaping" that occurs. I don't want to give spoilers, so I'll leave it somewhat ambiguous. They're not harvesting children for a deadly game, but they're harvesting something shady. King Cole reminds me a lot of President Snow as well. Extremely manipulative and will get what he wants at all costs.

I will definitely be adding the rest of this series to my TBR list. Recommended to anyone who enjoys dystopian YA and love triangles. Five stars!!

The trouble with falling in love with a spectacular series is the waiting on new books to hit once you've caught up.  Part of you wonders why you are expected to continue in your normal routine as if you never learned of this new-to-you, spectacular series.  This is kind of where I am at the moment.  I will need help with my recovery.  The timing of my beginning Jennifer L. Armentrout's Lux series couldn't have come at a better time.  I'm depending on it to fill the void.

*YA/NA Paranormal Romance*

Wow. I don't like to make absolute statements. But... I'm thinking this might just be my all-time favorite YA/NA Paranormal Romance. And that is saying something. I was the figurative baton-twirler leading the Twilight parade. And I will always love Twilight. But this book. It's like many other Paranormal Romances in that it follows the recipe for success: Strange, mysterious, hot guy. New girl in town. Dude is cocky and often jerk-like in order to keep new girl he's actually attracted to away from him for everyone's safety. LOL. That is the springboard for most of the YA/NA romances, yeah? But this book is on a whole new level. It's hilariously witty. It's steamy (within the bounds of YA). It's angsty. Oh, how I love the angst. Eagerly anticipating reading the rest of this series. FIVE ENTHUSIASTIC STARS! I'll leave off with a quote.

"My palms itched to have a close encounter of the bitch-slap kind with his face."