D Like Doll E Like Evil

Title: D Like Doll E like Evil
Author:Omid Olfet
Genre: Horror
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars





John's mother and father have split and John losses his connection with her, the only thing he has that connects him to her is a doll.  John moves in with his dad and step mother, whom he struggles to find any affection towards.  Shortly after he becomes mute and no one understands why.  When he opens his mouth to speak, all he says is utter gibberish.  Throughout the course of John's young life events occur that make his feel more animosity towards his step mother, which in turn puts a strain on the relationship with his father Max.  Stepmother is able to manipulate his father enough to make him turn on the young boy as well. Causing him to turn more towards his doll which in turn has some interesting effects on the step mother. Will John be able to overcome his evil step mother or will he succumb to her tactics as well?


I like the idea of this story, young boy loses his mother, is abused by his step mother, therefore turns to the only thing he has that connects him to his mom, a doll.  Great idea, a lot potential, but very poorly executed.  The novel is rather short about 67 pages long, so while it is a quick and easy read there are still many questions left at the end of the novel.  We know what happens, but readers are left with more questions than need be.  There were many parts of the story that felt awkward and didn't fit well with the rest of the story. 


Some of the wording was off for example in the beginning of the novel when Max's mother is speaking "'Everything is God's will never forget that.' Max's mother named Martha said"  When reading that sentence it feels choppy.  This kind of choppy sentence structure continues throughout the rest of the novella which makes it difficult to read.  There are also no spaces between paragraphs so it feels as though one is reading a rather long paragraph rather than a book.  In the same sense, there is no spacing or clear distinction between speakers making it hard on the reader to determine who exactly is speaking.


I think Omid has a wonderful idea for a great novel, it just needs to be cleaned up a bit.  Part of me wonders if the book was originally written in another language, different from English, and then translated, which might explain some of the awkward sentence structure.  If you enjoy horror and can look past odd sentencing and long paragraphs, the by all means pick up a copy of this book.  I personally had a hard time finishing it, thus giving it a rating of 2 out of 5 stars.

The Girl In Between by Laekan Zea Kemp Book Review

Title: The Girl In Between
Author: Laekan Zea Kemp
Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Source: Ebook
Rating: 2 out of 5 paws


All Bryn wants is a normal life, a life where she doesn't fall asleep for weeks on end.  It seems her Klein-Levin Syndrome is getting worse as her episodes are happening more frequently.  But that isn't what scares Bryn the most.  WHile she sleeps she spends her time on a beach reliving her memories, alone, that is until a boy washes up on the shore.  Even while awake she is plagued with hallucinations of shadows creeping around her, shadows that feel like they are watching, waiting to hurt her.  It seems like her only hope is Dr. Banz who has created an experimental trial, but he knows more about her situation than he lets on.  Bryn must figure out what the boy in her dreams mean, could he be real?  What are the shadows and what do they want?  Bryn must find out who the boy is before it is too late.  For both of them.

I had this book on my kindle to read list for a while now and never got around to reading it.  I fell in love with the cover and the concept of the book.  Only, I didn't fall in love with the book.  It was a struggle to even finish the book.  First of all there is a lot of fluff in the story, fluff that doesn't help push the story along and felt more life slice of life things rather than something important to the story.  I get she wanted a normal life with her friends and to go to school, but there was so much in it that didn't make me want to continue with the story, and actually bored me.  The premise has a lot of potential.  A lot that could have been done with it, but for some reason...wasn't.


The ending, was just....unsatisfying.  It just stopped as if the story was unfinished and the author decided to publish it anyway.  I  understand the novel is a part of a series, but it just leaves the reader wondering, what the heck.  We barely learn anything about Bryn other than she has KLS and has 2 friends and a boyfriend who from I gathered is borderline abusive, but she keeps going back to him.  There wasn't any depth to Bryn, we don't get her inner turmoil, her fears, worries etc aside from the general things of being a teenage girl.  The book is told from two viewpoints, Bryn and Roman, but the voices are the same.  There is nothing to indicate which one is speaking other than their names at the beginning of the chapters.  She consistently judged her cousin for her choices which made me not like her at all.  There were times when Dani needed her and she just "wasn't in the mood of Dani's drama."  How is that supposed to make me like her when Dani stood by her all the years with this disorder?  That's not how you treat friends.


The paced of the story was just dragging, but then again when you have a story revolving around teen angst, drinking, sex rather than the actual story, it will drag on.  It doesn't really get into the plot of the story until almost the end, about the last 30% of the novel.  I don't want to spend 70% of a novel with slow build up.  I want to be excited to see what happens, suspicious of Dr. Banz early on not towards the end.  There were numerous sentence fragments, run on sentences, almost like an editor didn't read through it.


I haven't decided if I will attempt the next book in the series, but I do not think I would recommend The Girl In Between.

Nevermore

Title: Nevermore

Author: David Niall Wilson

Genre: Paranormal, Suspense, Occult

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Lenore finds herself drawn to a tavern amidst a swamp, the Dismal swamp to be exact.  There she stares out the window at a specific tree; drawing.  Faces amongst the branches, one such face startles the young barmaid waiting on her.  She begins to tell Lenore the story of Thigpen an evil man who was killed the prior year.  As Lenore listens to Anita's story and continues to erase lines freeing the souls of those trapped within, Edgar is in the room next door writing when a story takes over and he writes the tale Anita is telling.  Together with Lenore, Anita, and a young boy named Tom become trapped within a tale of their own; they become pawns in a battle between good and evil, a battle against the Dismal Swamp itself.

I am a huge Edgar Allen Poe fan, especially the Raven, so much so that I have a tattoo on my calf making a reference to the writer.  So when I came across this novel and seen it included Lenore and Poe as central characters I decided, why not let's see.  This is the first book of his that I have picked up, and I have mixed feelings which seems to be happening a lot lately.  The story starts of incredibly slow, and confusing in the beginning as to what is happening and the importance of the events that are happening.  The middle part does pick up a little bit in pace in interest, but it is still a little difficult to get into.  It felt like there was a lot to the story that wasn't being told, more hidden beneath the words.

I liked the characters and personalities David gave to the characters especially Grimm.  I liked that a raven had personality and was as much a character as Poe or Lenore.  This would be great as a series as I could see Poe and Grimm acting in different capacities much like this story.  It is dark, magical, thrilling trip through time, magic, and even a little bit of love.  We see the romance between Lenore and Poe that fans may have thought about when reading "The Raven."  Which is enjoyed seeing a variation of Grimm's tale of The Raven included in this novel. 

I recommend this novel for those who like the paranormal, suspense, thriller, and magic.  Reading this book will make time disappear and make you want read more of Poe's stories with a different outlook on his tales.  I will give this a rating of 3 out of 5 stars.

Grave

In the third installment of this series, Emma and company survived those who were sent to kill them and now are trying to survive the dead and their Queen.  Emma wants to free Nathan from his torment of living a half life, both dead and alive.  But she cannot accomplish this without coming face to face with the Queen herself.  But she cannot do this alone, which she is not.  Even with the hunters and her own army of dead, will she have enough power to defeat the dead Queen.

I had the honor of reading this book from the publish through Netgalley.  As I stated before this is a great way to find new books and help publishers and authors get some honest opinions. 

I had wanted to like this book so much, but it feel short for me.  I think part of the issue is that I had not read the previous books prior to trying to read this one. So I was a little lost on what was happening.  Sometimes you can jump into the middle of a series and still understand, but other times you need to read the series from the beginning and this is one of those series. That being said I will focus on writing because I had more questions regarding the story than I should have due to my own silliness of not reading the other books beforehand.

The way the story is broken up is through character perspective rather than chapters, that made it a little more difficult to follow along and understand what is happening to which character at what time.  It did not feel very fluid for me but that could also be because I didn't read the prior novels.  The book is classified as young adult and it definitely reads that way.  It didn't feel like there was much depth to the characters, but I get the feel that this is a story where the characters grew from the beginning so the characters I got where the deepest they could get for the story, like they hit their mark if that makes sense.

I do recommend the series and I will go back and read the series from the beginning.  Once I do that I will add to this review.  For now my rating is a 3 out 5 stars, and I imagine when I read the whole series that rating will increase.

Prayers For The Dead

Hidden deep within underground caves, caves that should have been closed off, archeology students find a dead body.  Detective McLean begins his investigation only to realize it is the body of a missing journalist.  The murder appears to be a part of a ritual, but of what kind.  McLean has the uncanny feeling that there is something more hidden within this murder than what it appears to be.  As he follows his instincts and with the help of a remarkable and unlikely allies, the detective begins to track down this killer.  One who believes he answers to a higher power, one who believes he is doing good rather than evil.




This is a book that I had the honor of receiving from the publisher through NetGallery (if you haven't checked out NetGallery do so it's pretty great).




The story starts out very strong with the murder which readers see happen when they read the prologue.  Then the strength of the novel continues until the end.  There are moments when it feels like the story wavers a little bit and has elements that feel like they don't make sense to the story, but that doesn't take away from the story itself.  The story itself is an easy read, there isn't much that goes deeper than what the author is telling us which is a good thing.  Oswald takes time to get readers familiar with his characters especially if they hadn't read one of the previous novels before.  I like that I was able to pick up this book and read it without prior knowledge of these characters.


The characters are strong and interesting, it is easy to relate to them and hope things work out the way you want them to as the reader (some stories it doesn't which makes for a great novel).  There is a nice blend of both science and paranormal throughout this book that really keeps you guessing and entertained. Some things were a little humorous that you don't see in other mystery books such as the use of poop as evidence, but it makes you wonder how often everyday cops have to analyze poop in order to solve a crime?  Gross right, but funny nonetheless.


I simply loved reading this book and hope to go back and read the previous novels and eagerly anticipate the next one.  I highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a good book to read regardless of genre preference.  I would give this a rating of 4 out of 5 simply because there were moments when it seemed like the story lulled.

The Wrong Girl

Hannah is the companion to the earl's daughter, who can mysteriously start fires with her hands.  Often she feels trapped within her affliction of narcolepsy as well as within the confines of the home.  She longs for freedom and the ability to experience life.  What she didn't want was to be mistaken for the earl's daughter and kidnapped.  Those who kidnap her try to convince her all they want to do is help her and she is not their prisoner.  But what they don't know is that they had taken the wrong girl.  What will happen when they find out the girl they took is not who they thought she was?


This book was far from what I was expecting, I am not entirely sure of what exactly I was expecting with this novel.  It starts off weird with Hannah being forced to live in the attic with the earl's daughter, Violet.  Kidnappers mistake Hannah for Violet and Hannah decides to play along.  One of the kidnappers Jack can start fires as well and tries to convince Hannah all they want to do is help.  Enter a little Stockholm Syndrome as Hannah falls in love with Jack but is afraid because she's not who he thinks she is.


What is with young adult novels having the girls fall in love with their kidnappers especially ones with a temper?  Seriously what kind of image is that portraying to young women? This isn't the first book that I have read that has this happening.  Couldn't there be someone else they fall in love with?  That being said, the story itself is slow moving like molasses slow, but once you get about half way it gets a little better, but not much.  The end leaves readers with more questions than answers which I guess could leave the door open for the next novels (this is the first in a trilogy).  There were times I felt lost at what was happening and I couldn't find myself getting attached or caring too much about the characters.


I enjoyed it enough to be able to finish it, but I don't know if I can say I enjoyed it enough to read the next books in the series.  Another reviewer on Amazon by the name of Dani described the book as X-Men meets Jane Eyre, which I agree would be an amazing concept (someone write that please), but it doesn't execute that theory quite as well as it could have.  So, I don't think I would recommend this book to too many people unless I know they would enjoy a book like this, primarily young adults, as for a rating, I'm stuck at a solid 3 out 5 for this one.  It fell short of the mark for me.

Banshee's Embrace

Jacqueline is confused at what is happening to her after a strange attack.  She should have died, but her husband sacrificed his life for hers.    Strangely, since then she is drawn to death, moreover she can see when it is coming for someone.  Even stranger is the urge to sing for those who are dying.  All of this happening to her becomes disturbing and affects her emotions.  Jacqueline meets Toby who has been charged with keeping an eye on her, as he knows the truth about her banshee origins, and how rare half-banshees are.  While they are rare, if in the wrong hand she can be a very powerful weapon, and Toby must work to help keep her safe from those who want to use her.  Jacqueline finds herself falling in love with Toby when she is kidnapped by another wizard and she must use her powers to save herself and the man she loves.

I was really excited about this book because it is something different from the typical, ghosts, vampire, werewolf, demon, angel stories we have been seeing all too often.  The idea of the main character being a banshee had a lot of potential for me and I had very high expectations for something unique.  That being said the book was very well written and entertaining, but it didn’t hit the mark for me.  The beginning was rather confusing and seemed to stumble a bit as it gives readers a back story of Jacqueline.  But once you get about 25% through, the story really picks up and begins to fly.

The book is paranormal romance, I would have personally enjoyed it without the romance aspect to it. I know sometimes it adds depth to the characters and gives them something more than her being a banshee and him a wizard trying to save her, but sometimes it also takes away from the story.  It almost feels like it began to take away from the story.  The romance didn’t help build a connection to the readers, nor did it seem to be natural.  The book unfortunately does not stand out as all that fantastic to me, yes it is a good read and a great way to spend an afternoon.  But there isn’t much that is making me excited to read the next book or hold on to the characters the way I do with another book.

Would I recommend this novel, sure. I think there are people who would greatly appreciate the story and get enjoyment out of it.  As for a rating, I would give this a 3 out of 5 star rating for the reason that it’s didn’t grasp me and hold on, and I have forgotten most it shortly after reading it.

Black Bird

Black Bird is a manga series that follows the life of schoolgirl Misao, who can see supernatural beings such as demons and such. After she turns sixteen, she is frightened to learn that now these beings are hunting her and seek to kill her.  A childhood friend Kyo, comes to rescue time and time again.  Surprisingly, Kyo is also a demon and Misao learns she is known and the Bride of Prophecy, a rare and coveted being.  Kyo is the one who needs to protect her from the blood-thirsty demons who wish to feast on her blood and become more powerful. 

This is a relatively shorter series, about 12 volumes I believe, but it reads rather quickly as I have found with most manga series.  The artwork in this is beautiful and I found myself wanting to cos-play as Misao.  The story follows the artwork in the beauty and fine crafted story-telling skills.  It held my attention throughout all the volumes and makes me want to watch the anime series/drama if there is one, I haven't looked.  I found the story and plot to be very interesting and wanted more when the series came to an end.  It was unique in that it wasn't vampires needed her blood or needing her blood to sustain themselves, but rather to gain power over one another.  Also in that it was only her blood that could do this rather than any person that they would come across.

If you enjoy manga series, or are looking for something a little different than novels, I would suggest checking out not only this series but other manga series.  This one particularly is great for those who enjoy the supernatural and demon type of stories.  I give this series as a whole a rating of 3 stars.



The Night Alive by Heather Graham

Abigail has just finished her training at the FBI academy, and is awaiting her new assignment when she gets an odd message from her grandfather stating he needs her.  Upon her arrival she makes her way into the tunnels under her grandfather's tavern where she finds the body of her grandfather.  With a string of murders in the area, Abby believes someone killed him and asked for help from the FBI.  They sent her a consultant to help investigate the crimes, and then the Krewe Unit.  There is something that makes this unit special, they all have paranormal attributes, Abby herself can see the dead.  She believes it is just her ancestor the pirate Blue Anderson, but there are more.  The investigation begins to hit close to home when they discover all the victims have one thing in common....the tavern.  With tunnels traveling throughout Savannah the killer can slip in and out without being noticed.  Someone is pretending to be a pirate and murdering innocent women, but not any pirate, Blue.  Will the team be able to find the killer before it is too late?

To say I couldn't put this novel down would be an understatement, I honestly had it with me everywhere I went trying to read it any chance I got.  There is something for everyone, mystery, suspense, romance, humor, even a little history.  I think one of my favorite characters is the ghost pirate himself, Blue.  He doesn't say much and he doesn't even appear much in the story, but even as a reader you just know he is there watching.  He is a presence that lingers throughout the novel.  I love it!  Abby is a smart strong woman that learns to trust her instinct and fight for what she believes it.  I found it hard to believe that she didn't piece together one of the most telling clues to the killer (nope won't tell you).  It was almost obvious to me as the reader, it should have been so to her.

Even though there were elements of predictability, it was a great story.  Graham weaves her tale beautifully and paced perfectly.  She tells it in a way that lures readers into the story the way the killer lured his victims into dark places.  I loved the use of tunnels under the city and pirate lore.  There were things I didn't like, people they used as suspects but others they didn't and I had to wonder why.  There is one big telling clue to the killer and no one figures it out until it is too late, as stated I couldn't understand why they couldn't figure it out.

Night Alive is the first book by Heather Graham that I have read, and I must say she gained a fan in me.  Something I did not realize was that it is a part of a series, but you don't need to read the other books to understand what is happening.  The Krewe Hunters are explained in this book, and made me want to read the other books in the series as well as other books by Graham.  I may end up needing a shelf dedicated to her the way I do for Ted Dekker and Sherrilyn Kenyon.  I give this book a rating of 4 out of 5 because there was too much predictability within the story.  I look forward to reading more of Graham's novels.

Illusion by Sherrilyn Kenyon

In this installment of the Chronicles of Nick, Nick is expelled to a parallel universe where he is not the Malachi, his mom married Bubba, and everyone is normal for the most part.  The Nick from this world is now in his body cowering in fear as Caleb, Zavid and Kody are trying to figure out what happened to Nick and how to get him back before his generals destroy the world.  Someone did this to Nick, making him vulnerable in both worlds so that they may be able to kill him easier, but they underestimated Nick and those who care about him in both worlds.

I am a little sad to say Illusion felt like it was lacking something.  It seemed to progress slowly and drone on until the real action took place.  I missed seeing Acheron having a role in the book, even though he does make an appearance, it is not in the way that I expected.  But true to form Nick triumphs and kicks butt out of the big bad in this novel.  I expected more things to be revealed about Nick, but things are revealed about Kody and Savitar, making the plot thicken.  There is now a bigger mystery that surrounds Kody, and I almost feel the need to write down her family tree to keep everything in order. 

Like with the other books in the series there are twists and turns throughout the book.  Once you think you have everything figured out Kenyon changes things and blows you away.  I honestly started and finished this book within 5 hours or so.  I wanted to see what would happen, where the story would go and what would happen to our Nicky-poo.  As with all her other books, Kenyon brings the story life and makes her characters all jump off the pages.  I simply hunger for more about Nick and other members of the Dark Hunter series.  I like that she has a series devoted to Nick, and kind of gives an insight to his character more.  I have read almost all the Dark Hunter novels and always wanted a book just for Nick, and I guess his story took more to tell.  I almost hoped there would be a series dedicated to Acheron.  One could only dreams...hmm Acheron...oh wait we are talking about Nick.

I have this image of Nick in my head and I don't know if anyone else does, but I picture a young Gregory Peck, swaave and smoothe, sexy but at the same time a little awkward.  Somewhat of an old sole in a young man's body.  A man older than his years.  I wonder if that is something Kenyon goes for with Nick, maybe not. 

Anyway, I got a little sidetracked.  Illusiion is a good book for the series even if it felt a little slow.  It continues to set the stage for something bigger to happen to Nick and I can only speculate at what that will be, some things I know from the Dark Hunter series, but I am waiting to be completely blown away with the ending to this series whenever it happens.  But for now on to the next book!

Old Farmer's Road By Isaiyan Morrison

I have to say that Old Farmer's Road is one of those books that is chilling and suspenseful.  Old Farmer's Road has been the center of several mysterious deaths for centuries. No one knows of the true horrors that reside in that swampy area except for two teenagers: Isaac and Elsie. They quickly befriend Cecilia shortly after she moves from California to Minneapolis. The conduct a ritual that turns Cecilia into the same rare creature they are, an Impa. Each day Cecilia is plagued with a voice asking for "just one more," and a hunger that can only be quenched by the flesh and essence of humans. Soon the voice and the hunger become more than she can bear, and Cecilia tries to find another way to save herself as well as the unwilling victims of Isaac and Elsie. Meanwhile Jan and Derek are investigating the murders since Derek brother became one of the victims. Little do they know the truth that is lurking in the swamp. There is some truth to the old legends revolving around Old Farmer's Road, but is there a way to eliminate an ancient evil with a grudge against the town?

 This book was probably one of the best books I have read so far this year.  There is so much in it that makes it a great novel to read, one that I couldn't put down.  I would lay awake reading telling myself "one more page, just one more.  Just to the end of the chapter" then it would be 3 in the morning and I would growl at myself.  When I did put it down, I couldn't stop thinking about it.  There were points in this book that were down right terrifying as Morrison describes the Impa and their feeding habits. I thought the folklore around the Old Farmer's Road was interesting and a great use of how small towns hold on to things.  I enjoyed that Morrison used a different legendary creature that we don't see too often in literature.  Instead of relying on the vampire lore, Morrison created something even more terrifying.

Morrison's writing simply radiates off the page as the characters develop and become something new right before our eyes.  Readers quickly get dragged into the story and it clings to them until the bitter end, although I hope there will be more books from Morrison.  I give this book a 5 out of 5 because it is completely unique and well written.

See my other review of this book at Onlinebookclub.org as well as countless other reviews of phenomenal books.

Inferno By Sherrilyn Kenyon

Oh my do I love Sherrilyn Kenyon's novels.  She is one of my top favorite authors, right beside Kim Cormack.  Inferno is the fourth book in the Chronicles of Nick series and boy is it a great book!  Nick is still learning to deal with his Malachi powers and how to deal with Kody being sent to kill him when another entity begins entering his head calling itself the "Harvester." Through everything happening to him, Nick must learn how to not allow hatred to enter his heart or else that will be the end of him, and possibly the world as we know it.  Soon Nick finds himself in yet another battle, but with an ally he never expects to have.  Continue the epic series and see what happens to Nick next and where his journey takes him.

While reading the Dark Hunter series, Nick was one of my favorite side characters, and with his series he is quickly becoming one of my favorite main characters.  There is some much being through at this poor kid that it is a wonder he still has the strength to wake up every day.  As the novel progresses Kenyon lets out little tidbits of information about Nick, his father, and his friends that keep the readers entertained, surprised and eager for more.  Nick is probably one of the strongest teenaged leads I have read about in a long time.  He does complain a bit about things, but who wouldn't?  At the same time he takes his responsibilities and changes seriously.  He does what he can to protect the ones he loves and learn how to remain the man he is and not become the man he was designed to become.

As with most of her books, Kenyon has a strong balance between action, history, backstory, and romance.  We see a lot of character develop, not only individually but also as friends.  I appreciated seeing more of Caleb and Acheron in this novel.  Knowing what I know about Ash's and Nick's relationship in the future, it breaks my heart to see their friendship developing and cultivating (I almost dread the novel in this series that portrays their future).  Inferno gives us a little more backstory on Caleb and Kody both and how they came to be involved in Nick's life.  I enjoy when authors add backstories to their supporting characters because then we get insight into them and how they interact with the main character.  Kenyon does a wonderful job at this in all her books.

There is a lot of action and information thrown at the reader at once.  One may think this is a bad thing, but it isn't.  It works for the story line to have thrown at you as your read the way things are thrown at Nick as he progresses through his change.  I cannot wait to pick up the fifth book and find out what Kenyon has in store for Nick next.  I give this book a 3.5 out of 5, it didn't seem to stack up to the other books by Kenyon that I have read.  There seemed to be something lacking, but I am not sure what it is.

Graveyward Shift

Graveyard Shift (Reapers Inc series; book 1) by Angela Raquet.  Source: Kindle edition.  Ratings: 4.5 out of 5 stars


Lana is a reaper, I wouldn't call her a lousy one, but she does as little as she can without causing troubles, sometimes.  She spends most of her time hanging out with Gabriel, yep the archangel himself, at a local bar called Purgatory.  But while at the annual ball, she learns of a shocking promotion and information that could change the very fabric of Limbo, even Inferno itself.  She now needs to scour the earth looking a perfect soul, one that would save the realm as they know it.  Without the soul, all could be lost, but Lana and her team are not the only ones searching for the soul.  There are others who want nothing more than to see her mission fail.  What is so special about Lana, that only she can be able to find this soul?

I highly enjoyed reading this book.  I downloaded it as a change of scenery so to speak as lately I have been reading a lot of the same genre.  I was interested in it from the beginning.  I enjoyed the take on the afterlife as being set up as a small realm of its own with its own residents interacting with each other and specific faiths having their own "island" so to speak.  No pantheon is left out in this one and I love it.  The main character is one we can all love for many reasons, one being that she bends the rules so that she may be able to help the souls she has harvested.  The development we see in this character is fantastic.  In the beginning Lana despises her job and does the bare minimum, she doesn't consider herself much of anything special.  But as the story progresses and she learns about her quest; the true story of Limbo,  and herself; she changes quite a bit and becomes a strong courageous character.

The Grim Reaper, I found to be an interesting character, I never imagined him as a corporate big wig. His personality wasn't what I would expect of the Grim Reaper, but then again I have never met the creature so how would I know what it's personality is like.  He seemed to be standoffish, reluctant to inform his employees of the dangers they are getting into with the mission he provides.  The book portrays him as only caring about the money and not where the souls go after they care collected, even seems reluctant to pay his employees their fair share of profits. Almost like he wants to stick to a minimum wage.  But I liked his character.  I liked that he was something different than what has been done in the past with a character of similar standing.  At first he seemed to not like Lana, but she grew on him as the time progresses and he begins to actually care about her well being (so we think, but then are proven otherwise). He seemed to almost have had a soul himself and that is not normally an aspect of Grim that one includes in Grim Reaper characters.

There are plenty of things throughout this novel that make it unique from other novels that I have read in the past and recently alike.  Each character has their own personalities, opinions and characteristics that make them their own even if we have seen them in other things such as the Grim Reaper and even Gabriel.  She makes them her own characters, I almost forgot Gabe was an archangel which was refreshing in its own right.  The way she describes things is its own.  She doesn't spend time focusing on describing everything, but when she does it is precise and to the point, and yet in such vivid detail that you can almost feel as if you are here beside Lana the whole time.  Her battle scenes with the pirates, I felt like I was on the ship with Lana fighting them off and the fear of getting demon acidic blood on me, the ship or anything else.  Made me want to be there and be a reaper or even at least meet her.

This was a fantastic read, I didn't want to put it down for a minute.  I cannot wait to be able to download all the other books and read the series to see what is next for Lana and her crew.  Pick it up today in kindle version or even in paperback.

MoonGlow

Moonglow: Kristen Callihan; Darkest London series; release date 2012
                    paranormal romance: source: Paperback
Rating 4 out of 5 stars

Summary: With the death of her husband, Daisy Ellis can finally live the life she desires, one with freedom to do as she pleases.  Until suddenly a series of mysterious murders come knocking on her door causing her to narrowly miss being attacked by a creature thought to be lore: a werewolf.  This causes her to fall into the arms of someone even more mysterious for safety: Ian Ranulf.  Ian tries to live his life hiding from society, almost in a hermit like nature. He is the Marques of Northrup, but there are times when it seems as though he wishes he could be of a different heritage.

But the murders that are sweeping through London are threatening to expose his deepest secrets he longs to hide. Ian and Daisy work together to quickly find the source behind the dreadful murders: the identity of the werewolf.  As they do so and are in close proximity to one another, they being to fall in love.  Although both are hiding things from one another, could those secrets be more dangerous to each other than the terror that threatens the night?  Daisy's sister Miranda and her husband Archer (formerly a good friend of Ian) know the secrets Ian is desperately trying to hide. Could their knowledge expose Ian to Daisy before he is ready to reveal who he truly is?


Review:  This is a novel I won from a giveaway at Goodreads; and I have to say if I did not win the novel I would have gone out and bought it. I went out and bought her other novel Firelight right after I read this one.  Callihan takes us into the darkest streets of London (hence the series name duh).  Both of her main characters have a secret and their own horrid past they are desperately trying to hide from the world and in turn each other.  Ian, himself, fights a daily war with himself regarding his secrets and his past.  But could that be his ultimate downfall?

The plot to the story was rather interesting in itself.  Murders being done by a werewolf we have seen before in different formats.  Werewolves are nothing new, and I admit I thought "not another werewolf story." She takes something so familiar and changes it into something of her own, and makes it seem new.  In "Moonglow", this werewolf's motive is simply killing women who have the same scent.  One that he is drawn to for one reason or another (and no I won't tell you because that just takes away from you reading it).  It was well written and well thought out, she stands her own ground in this genre and does a phenomenal job at it.

The story she creates captivates her audience from beginning to end, and then leaves them wanting more.  She had added to my addiction to not only reading, but also paranormal romance.  Once you open the book you step into a new world, or rather a new London.  I enjoye reading this novel and suggest it to others and look forward to reading more of her work.

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