Fantasy In Death ~ J.D. Robb

Bart Minnock, founder of the computer-gaming giant U-Play, enters his private playroom, and eagerly can’t wait to lose himself in an imaginary world, to play the role of a sword-wielding warrior king, in his company’s latest top-secret project, Fantastical. The next morning, he is found in the same locked room, in a pool of blood, his head separated from his body. It is the most puzzling case Eve Dallas has ever faced, and it is not a game. . . . NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas is having as much trouble figuring out how Bart Minnock was murdered as who did the murdering. The victim’s girlfriend seems sincerely grief-stricken, and his quirky-but-brilliant partners at U-Play appear equally shocked. No one seemed to have a problem with the enthusiastic, high-spirited millionaire. Of course, success can attract jealousy, and gaming, like any business, has its fierce rivalries and dirty tricks-as Eve’s husband, Roarke, one of U- Play’s competitors, knows well. But Minnock was not naive, and quite capable of fighting back in the real world as well as the virtual one. Eve and her team are about to enter the next level of police work, in a world where fantasy is the ultimate seduction-and the price of defeat is death. . . . [From B&N]

The thirtieth installment in Robb’s In Death series crawled along at an atypically sluggish pace for the first half of the novel. The murder of an up and coming gaming company exec thrusts Eve into the complicated world of e-speak and e-geeks; she finds the minutiae of technology and gaming tedious and, unfortunately, so did I. For the first time while reading an In Death novel, I felt like the plot wasn’t going anywhere. And another first, I put it down several times and had to remind myself that I really needed to pick it back up. As soon as Eve waded through the tech-speak and settled on a primary suspect the pace picked up and didn’t slow down until the novel’s end. That kind of non-stop, headlong rush to find and stop the killer is what I’ve come to expect from this fantastic series, and the latter half of the novel showed that Robb/Roberts was still writing the In Death books in fine form.

Still, I suppose every once and a while, especially in a series of this length, it’s necessary to shake things up a bit. Sure, past books in the series have dealt with technology, but this one focuses almost exclusively on the ins and outs of game programming. It was a great way to pull the EDD department more fully into the plot and to showcase Roarke’s skill, and yet, somehow, it never fully does. Feeney, McNab, and Roarke have been used more effectively with technology plot threads before. So *shrug* I don’t know. It didn’t really work for me.

An introspective Eve also hasn’t been a hallmark of this series; she’s far too uncomfortable with feelings and emotions to spend much time contemplating them. But that changed slightly in this novel. The case required her to consider friendships, partnerships, but so have other plots. Having her do so now, I guess, shows how far she’s come, and that she’s becoming more open to allowing people in.

One thing that hasn’t changed: How wonderful Eve and Roarke’s relationship is. There were several moments in this book that I just loved, quiet moments, honest moments. Their relationship continues to develop beautifully and, if for that alone, I will always read these books, no matter how many there come to be.

All things considered, Fantasy In Death was not a favorite, nor would it rank close to the top ten, but it was still good. I haven’t, in fact, read a bad book in this series yet.

Raine Benares, in trouble again

It’s finally here! Lisa Shearin has posted the first three chapters of Bewitched & Betrayed on her website.

I have been waiting and waiting, and man, this book is going to be gooooood! Now, of course, it’s going to be an awful wait until April. Guess I’ll have to read those first three chapters a few times until then.

Not familiar with the Raine Benares series? Get reading!

Magic Lost, Trouble Found
Armed & Magical
The Trouble with Demons
Bewitched & Betrayed (April 27th, 2010)

(Skimming) Divine Misdemeanors – Laurell K Hamilton

Okay, so, this one veers superficially towards a police procedural plot that was developed in several of the early Anita Blake books. But this time it’s Merry’s turn; she’s called in by the police to help investigate the gruesome murders of L.A.’s demi-fey. And…that’s about where the plot ends.

Having read the first chapter on LKH’s site, and having followed that up with a few spoilers posted on various sites, I pretty much knew all I needed to know about this one. Hence, the skimming. I rifled through the pages looking for Frost’s name, and/or Doyle’s, and read those sections. The rest got a cursory glance.

So what did I think?

• Barinthus’ character “development” was ridiculous. Another good character gone stupid.
• Poor Julian.
• Mistral is still a pain in the butt.
• As much as I actually kind of like Sholto, do his “extra bits” need to be referenced in every single scene he’s in?

I could go on, but my intent is not to slam the book, or the author. I still read – okay, skim – the books, mostly because I’ve come this far. Ah, well.

Holiday Grind ~ Cleo Coyle

It’s Christmastime and when manager and head barista Clare Cosi finds a red-suited body in the snow, she adds solving Santa’s slaying to her coffeehouse menu. Soon, a few clues convince her his death was something more than a mugging gone awry.

With Clare’s NYPD Detective boyfriend distracted by his own cold case, Clare discovers on her own that Santa had a list that he was checking twice- and the folks on it were not nice. But Clare had better watch out, because if she fails to stop this stone cold killer, she may just get the biggest chill of her life.

If you enjoy the common tropes of cozy mysteries, and what’s more, if you like them to be executed well, you should be reading Coyle’s Coffeehouse Mystery series. This eighth installment reinforced the strength of the qualities that addicted me to the series after reading its debut, On What Grounds, back in 2003. That said, Clare has come a long way, both in her personal life and in her sleuthing career.

The first thing that drew me to this series were the characters. Clare, for instance. Liking the amateur sleuth isn’t a requirement – and I can think of a few that left me cold – but that certainly wasn’t a problem with Clare Cosi. She’s a single mom, fiercely protective of her daughter, and the manager of a popular coffeehouse, a job she’s passionate about. Her history with her ex-husband left her with a few wounds, but she put them behind her, both for her daughter and so that she could work with him in running the coffeehouse. The last, I think, shows her determination and tenacity. She brings that iron will to Holiday Grind and shows some real cojones when she finds herself in more than one sticky situation.

More than the mystery, though, at this point in the series I found myself reading for the relationsips, specifically to see where Clare and NYPD detective Mike Quinn were at. I LOVE this aspect of the series and it’s one of the things that will keep me reading. In this installment the new couple whethers their first complication – and that had me more on the edge of my seat than Clare’s race to find the killer.

These books are a treat, and this one was even moreso, owing to its holiday theme and the pages of holiday recipes at the back. I had no sooner turned the last page that I wanted to know when the next one was going to be released. (August 3, 2010, if you were wondering, and it’s going to be called Roast Mortem. Heh.)

You can read an excerpt from Holiday Grind here.

Kindred in Death ~ J.D. Robb

What follows is a not-quite-a-review review. Because, dude, this is the 29th book in this series. What more can you say?

From the book jacket…

When the newly promoted captain of the NYPSD and his wife return a day early from their vacation, they were looking forward to spending time with their bright and vivacious sixteen-year-old daughter who had stayed behind.

Not even their worst nightmares could have prepared them for the crime scene that awaited them instead. Brutally murdered in her bedroom, Deena’s body showed signs of trauma that horrified even the toughest of cops; including our own Lieutenant Eve Dallas, who was specifically requested by the captain to investigate.

When the evidence starts to pile up, Dallas and her team think they are about to arrest their perpetrator; little do they know yet that someone has gone to great lengths to tease and taunt them by using a variety of identities. Overconfidence can lead to careless mistakes. But for Dallas, one mistake might be all she needs to bring justice.

Hard to believe, but Kindred in Death is indeed the 29th book in Robb’s/Robert’s In Death series. It’s a remarkable run, really, made even moreso by the fact that I’ve loved each and every release, and that I continue to crave more. The last book, Promises in Death, was an emotional wringer and an installment I loved due to M.E. Morris’s increased involvement in the storyline. So I was going into this one with high expectations for a solid follow-up. I wasn’t quite prepared, however, for the fact that it would hit rather close to home.

“The loss of a child goes deeper than any,” he said. “It doesn’t pass the way other losses may. However the loss came, a parent looks inward. What could I have done, what didn’t I do?”

Last month I lost my brother, the one closest to me in age, the one I was closest to, and I see my mother working through these questions every day. Imagine my surprise then when I’m hip deep in one of the series that I consider an escapist pleasure and all of a sudden I see it mirroring, in a way, something happening very close to home. I guess it made the reading a little bittersweet…any time MacMasters or his wife began to talk about a future without their daughter in it, any time lines read like the ones above.

But moving back to the story.

That the crime involved a cop’s daughter certainly made things tense for Eve and her team, and she took a few knocks in this one that she won’t forget any time soon. But this one also hit at her because of the nature of the crime, bringing back memories from her own childhood, and the abuse she suffered. Roarke, ah, Roarke, was there as always to help her put the pieces back in place after they’d come loose from the work.

Kindred in Death is typical of what we’ve come to expect from this series. I, for one, know this is one formula I will never tire of.

Running Hot ~ Jayne Ann Krentz

Luther Malone, ex-cop and member of the Arcane Society, is reluctantly paired with Grace Renquist, a genealogy research librarian who is much more than she seems. On assignment in Hawaii, the two high level aura sensitives quickly realize that there’s a lot more going on that what their boss, Fallon Jones, told them.

I was *thisclose* to just posting the cover’s blurb if only for this line: She’s a librarian, for heaven’s sake. Ha. I kinda hope people say that about me. All underestimating and such. But the dust jacket’s synopsis was a lot longer then mine and both do a good job of confusing those not initiated into Krentz’s Arcane Society books. So really it was a half a dozen one or the other. (Such a strange phrase, that. Did I mess it up? Anyway…)

Since way back, I’ve been reading Jayne Ann Krentz’s books. And Jayne Castle’s. Her novels, like Nora Roberts’, are comfort reads for me. They’re kind of like a really plush robe that’s been worn countless times and is easy to slip on and wrap yourself up in. I don’t anticipate them as I do the series books I read, but you’ll always find my name at the top of the library’s reserve list for each new title. And so, while I knew it would take me no time to finish it, I settled in with Running Hot, knowing as I did that it would be an enjoyable ride.

It was. And yet I felt like I was slipping. Luther appeared in another Arcane book, I think it was Sizzle and Burn, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember if the injury he was healing from in this new novel was a result of the action in the previous one. At least not until he clarified it. But even then it bugged me that I forgot. So, in a way, that goes to prove that these books aren’t so memorable, just nice and easy for the moment.

Luther and Grace were nice characters, both scarred by life and put through the wringer more than a time or two; their attraction was immediate, and the time it took to act on it scarcely longer. That surprised me. Usually Krentz’s couples don’t beat around the bush, but the sexual relationship took off far faster in this one then in previous books it seemed. Plus, and this was my main gripe, Luther was twice divorced and yet he had no problem sliding into a committed relationship with Grace. It didn’t quite gel. I also thought that their talents – both having to do with aura reading – could have been played up a bit more. As it was, they were nice, sure, but not as sympathetic as some others, and their chemistry was lacking a little.

Krentz’s world of para-sensitives proved to be just as interesting, even moreso, I think, for the introduction of a Siren, a type of talent we’ve yet to see in the books. I also enjoyed the development of Fallon Jones’s character, the few mentions of Zack Jones, and the new information provided on the Nightshade group.

If you read Krentz’s books, you’ll definitely want to continue with Running Hot. And if you don’t? Well, I’d have to say try one of the early ones for yourself, and see what you think. You’ll either want to continue or you’ll feel just fine letting them pass you by.

Lord of Misrule ~ Rachel Caine

I’m going to cheat just a bit and insert the back cover’s synopsis here:

In the college town of Morganville, vampires and humans have coexisted in (relatively) bloodless harmony…until the arrival of Bishop, a master vampire who threatens to put the evil back in evil undead and smash the fragile peach. But Bishop isn’t the only threat…

Violent black clouds promise a storm of devastating proportions. As student Claire Danvers and her friends prepare to defend Morganville against the elements – both natural and unnatural – the unexpected happens: Morganville’s vampires begin to vanish one by one. Discovering why leads Claire to one last choice: Swear allegiance to Bishop…or die.

Two things: 1) Carpe Corpus – the next book in the Morganville Vampire series – is going to be really, really good and, 2) I really, really do not like the cover of Lord of Misrule.

Let me start with the cover. Shane is my favorite character. This is the first time “Shane” has appeared on a cover for the series. That is not at all how he is in my head and so, as I read, it seriously messed with my reaction to parts I would have been sighing over. I hate that.

As for the little bit of premonition about the next book being good? Well, all I really have to say about that is “Claire’s birthday.” Which won’t mean much unless you read the series. As for how this one fared, well, it had some wonderfully tense moments, some incredibly sweet ones, and all it did was whet my appetite for the next one. Caine packs a whole lot of punch into a really short page count, that’s for sure.

Right now I’m even more interested in how the titles are playing into the plot. I didn’t know much about the actual history behind “The Feast of Fools” and “Lord of Misrule,” still don’t really, but what little I’ve read is fascinating. And I’m wondering if the correlation is to Bishop or to Myrnin. Which, again, means nothing unless you follow the books. Sorry.

I’ve been a fan from the start and will continue to buy these books as long as Ms. Caine writes them. Great storytelling combined with strong, memorably characters will always keep me coming back for more.

Raine Benares Series ~ Lisa Shearin

“My name is Raine Benares. I’m a seeker. The people who hire me are usually happy when I find things. But some things are better left unfound.”

In Magic Lost, Trouble Found it turns out that one item that’s better off buried is an amulet, one that latches on to Raine, quite literally, and begins to cause all sorts of trouble.

Magic Lost is a wonderful introduction to a cast of memorable characters. And for a character driven reader, that’s enough justification to head to the bookstore to purchase the second book before finishing the first. Raine is my type of heroine: Strong but not stupid about it, stubborn yet yeilding, and protective of those she loves and trusts. She infuses the trouble she finds herself in with humor, and there’s plenty of trouble to contend with. In fact, some of that trouble comes from interesting quarters, namely Mychael Eilieson and Tamnais Nathrach. A Paladin of the governing body of magic users and a goblin formerly of the royal line turned club owner, respectively. Those two alone are enough to keep this character-girl’s heart happy. Fortunately, the great characters don’t stop there, and many of them carry over to the second book.

Armed & Magical keeps up the nice, forward-propelling pacing of the previous book in the series, and goes on to heighten the threat. The action in this series is a nice balance to the humor and hints of romance, making it a well rounded read for anyone. Plus, the developing relationships and growth in each character makes it entirely impossible to put down. And makes waiting for the third one tough.

The author, Lisa Shearin, has hinted here and there at some possible happenings in The Trouble with Demons, book three, and the chapters she has posted on her website only serve to whet the appetite even more. In my role as a librarian, I know I’ll be recommending these books to patrons, as I’ve already done with several friends who enjoy fantasy.

And, finally, I can’t close this post without a mention of the teams that have formed. Team Mychael and Team Tam. In a comment I left a few posts back, I mentioned that my decision hadn’t been made. Well, it has been, but I’m not declaring my allegiance. It seems as though whenever there’s a love triangle involved in a plot, and I solidly and enthusiastically back one camp over another, it dooms my poor character to end up alone. It’s sad, really, that I’m putting the onus for this on me, but I don’t want to be a jinx. So, I’ll go on rooting silently, and keep my fingers crossed. And that’s almost as much fun.

So, if you enjoy fantasy with a twist of humor, action, a hint of romantic spark, and engaging characters, give the Raine Benares series a try. If you’re like me, there’ll be no looking back.

Lady of Light and Shadow ~ C.L. Wilson

He had stepped from the sky to claim her like an enchanted prince from the pages of a fairy tale, but behind the mesmerizing beauty of his violet eyes she saw the driving hunger of the beast and an endless sorrow only she could heal.

Only for him would she embrace her frightening magic. Only for him would she find the courage to confront the shadows that haunted her soul. Only with him could she hope to defeat the terrifying evil that had pursued her all her life.

No barrier could stand between truemates, not of the body, mind or soul. For ahead an epic battle was fast approaching, and only united could they hope to turn back the armies of darkness.

After reading the first book in the Tairen Soul series, Lord of the Fading Lands, I immediately went and bought the second book, Lady of Light and Shadows. Typical of me, I put off reading it so that the discovery lay ahead of me instead of behind. As it happened, my husband was working really late last night, and this book had been in my head from nearly the start of work that morning. As soon as I started reading it I remembered why I had enjoyed the first book so much, and it was only a matter of time before I had finished it and began to wish for the next book, King of Sword and Sky (which comes out at the end of the month, thank goodness.)

I was hesitant to use the synopsis from the book to lead this post; it doesn’t lend the right atmosphere, or, to me, portray the story as it truly is. For all that it may sound like a romance novel, and it may even be shelved there, this series has some fine fantasy world building and plenty of action. I wonder if people are missing out based on the emphasis the publisher seems to place on the romance of the story. It would be a shame if it were true.

In this chapter, Ellysetta begins to realize the extent of her magical power, and because of a massive outpouring of that power a fascinating character edges forward. In a series already populated by fully formed, sympathetic characters that’s saying something. (My only quibble in this regard is that Belliard vel Jelani takes a small step back; he remains one of my favorite characters, and I would hate to see him overshadowed.) This added element pushes at the tension, increasing suspicion, and making the action that much more impactful. And the action in this one is wonderful fantasy at work. I won’t say much other than there is a scene towards the end that had me on the edge of my seat, wondering how it would play out, fully invested in the welfare of all the “good guys” involved.

C.L. Wilson has cemented her place on my auto-buy list with this one, and I’ll recommend it to fans of fantasy and romance alike.

Storm Born – Richelle Mead

This is a review I wrote for another blog:

Eugenie Markham is a shaman for hire in Tuscon, Arizona. She’s called upon to exorcise the occasional shoe or drain pipe. At least, that used to be the main tasks in her job description. When word of her true name gets leaked in Otherworld, however, Eugenie finds herself in the middle of something much bigger: a prophecy that says her firstborn son will destroy the human world. Suddenly every lord and underling in Otherworld is getting in line – or pushing to the front with brute force – and Eugenie finds herself wishing for the old days.

Love triangles. I’m sick of them. Especially since I usually end up rooting for the wrong gu– er, creature. Despite the love triangle in Storm Born, I have to admit that I enjoyed this first entry in the Dark Swan series by Richelle Mead.

Eugenie is smart and strong and maintains enough cynicism to be relateable without going too far over the just-plain-stubborn line. The love triangle forms between a shifter, Kiyo, and a fairy king, Dorian; and, just in case you were wondering, I’m rooting for Dorian but with my track record I’m not holding out any hope. Both “men” have plenty of secrets, but each offers Eugenie something she needs to ensure her survival, and, okay, the triangle is enough of a hook to make reading the next installment a necessity.

Otherworld is a fascinating landscape and it’s populated by equally intriguing characters. If anything, it’s Otherworld that sets this apart from comparable offerings in the urban fantasy genre, and I hope in the next book Mead explores it even more. So, to sum up: A very promising start.

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I’ve not read anything else by Mead, which, actually, isn’t entirely true now that I think about it; I began the first book in her YA series, but had to bring it back to the library before getting very far due to other holds on it. But I’ve definitely not read her Georgina Kincaid books and so I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Storm Born. As I mentioned above, my favorite thing about the book was probably the world building in Otherworld; it has so much potential. I could have done without the love triangle – it seems like everyone is plugging one in these days – but even so it hooked me. And if I’m being honest I don’t enjoy them just ’cause I always do manage to lock onto the one that gets pushed aside in the end; the happy ending isn’t so happy for me at that point. In any event, I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.