All the Colors of Night by Jayne Ann Krentz

All the Colors of Night by Jayne Ann Krentz - 324 pages
Fogg Lake Trilogy #2

Sierra Raines is hired by North Chastain to track down the psychic artifact that he suspects put his father in a coma.  This investigation leads to someone with a vendetta against North's family.  Meanwhile, in the background is the shadowy Vortex organization trying to find a cache of psychic weapons.

This is a typical Jayne Ann Krentz paranormal romance.  It does tie together several of her series -- Fogg Lake and Arcane Society.  It will be interesting to see if the ties become closer throughout future books.  I will say that the romance was very quick -- taking place over only three days.  That seems a little quick even for romance novels for true love to occur.
 

Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews

Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews - 391 pages

Hidden Legacy #5

As Prime magic users, Catalina Baylor and her sisters have extraordinary powers—powers their ruthless grandmother would love to control. Catalina can earn her family some protection working as deputy to the Warden of Texas, overseeing breaches of magic law in the state, but that has risks as well. When House Baylor is under attack and monsters haunt her every step, Catalina is forced to rely on handsome, dangerous Alessandro Sagredo, the Prime who crushed her heart. 

The nightmare that Alessandro has fought since childhood has come roaring back to life, but now Catalina is under threat. Not even his lifelong quest for revenge will stop him from keeping her safe, even if every battle could be his last. Because Catalina won't rest until she stops the use of the illicit, power-granting serum that's tearing their world apart.  

I like everything I read by this husband and wife writing team. I will be continuing the series.

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh
Psy-changelings #1
334 pages

In a world that denies emotions, where the ruling Psy punish any sign of desire, Sascha Duncan must conceal the feelings that brand her as flawed. To reveal them would be to sentence herself to the horror of “rehabilitation”— the complete psychic erasure of everything she ever was….

Both human and animal, Lucas Hunter is a Changeling hungry for the very sensations the Psy disdain. After centuries of uneasy co-existence, these two races are now on the verge of war over the brutal murders of several Changeling women. Lucas is determined to find the Psy killer who butchered his packmate, and Sascha is his ticket into their closely guarded society. But he soon discovers that this ice-cold Psy is very capable of passion—and that the animal in him is fascinated by her. Caught between their conflicting worlds, Lucas and Sascha must remain bound to their identities—or sacrifice everything for a taste of darkest temptation.

This has very good world building.  It is definitely a new kind of character for a paranormal book.  I have not read anything like the Phy characters before.

Canyons of Night by Jayne Castle

Canyons of Night by Jayne Castle - 355 pages
Looking Glass Trilogy #3

Charlotte and Slade must work together to solve the mystery of a paranormal weapon made of glass.

This is  a paranormal romance by Jayne Ann Krentz written under one of her pen names.  It concludes the Looking Glass Trilogy while also setting up the Rainshadow series.  The book story was good with interesting characters.  I listened to the audio and the narrator did a good job distinguishing between the characters.

White Lies by Jayne Ann Krentz

White Lies by Jayne Ann Krentz - 371 pages

Clare Lancaster is summoned to Arizona by her father.  Unfortunately, this visit goes no better than the last time.  Once again someone is murdered and the killer is trying to frame Clare for it.  Luckily, she has Jake Salter on her side to help her investigate and determine what is going on.

This is the first novel in the Arcane Society series.  While I guessed the killer fairly quickly in the story, I still enjoyed the book.

Dark Light by Jayne Castle

Dark Light by Jayne Castle - 387 pages

Reporter Sierra McIntyre is shocked when guild boss John Fontana suggests they get married.  It's all a ploy to figure out what is happening to retired hunters who are disappearing.  Does it have something to do with the motorcycle gang selling drugs on the street?  Or is the aliens returned?

This is one of Jayne Ann Krentz's futuristic romances set on Harmony.  It includes paranormal aspects with the various characters have psychic powers.  It was an interesting romance and a fairly decent mystery.

High Voltage by Karen Marie Moning

High Voltage by Karen Marie Moning - 496 pages
Fever Series Book 10

Dani O'Malley has been a side character for most of the Fever series but she is emerging to be the star of her own story.  As a survivor of a horrific childhood trapped in a cage and given over to a sadistic torturer she carries a lot of emotional scars along with the fabled Sword of Light which is one of only two sacred objects that can kill a Fae. 

Dublin is still reeling from the events in the last book where the Song of the Making was used to save the world from being destroyed by rips in the fabric of reality.  A side effect of the the song is reawakening long dormant magic in many which amps up the level of conflict happening throughout the city. 

Dani has had a long time love / hate and love some more relationship with the immortal Ryodan and this book explores that relationship in depth and finally gives it true meaning as they fight to save their friends and the city they love from the reemergence of ancient gods and even more powerful Fae enemies. 

This is another solid entry in an entertaining urban fantasy series with interesting characters and good world building. 

The Hot Zone by Jayne Castle

The Hot Zone by Jayne Castle - 338 pages
A Rainshadow Novel

Sedona Snow has just started feeling safe on Rainshadow Island when the new Guild boss Cyrus Jones shows up.  Sedona has been leery of the Guild ever since she was kidnapped on his last Guild job and subjected to experimental drugs.  It turns out that Cyrus is interested in Sedona, however, he wants to protect her from the men who originally kidnapped and experimented on her.

This is one of the futuristic paranormal romances written by Jayne Ann Krentz under her pen name Jayne Castle.  I listened to this book on audio and did enjoy the story.  However, the audio production values were poor.  There were weird pauses during the narration.  This was in addition to the fact that the narrator had a cadence like William Shatner.  It was very distracting from the story itself.

Crystal Cove by Lisa Kleypas

Crystal Cove by Lisa Kleypas - 320 pages
A Friday Harbor novel

Justine has never felt the stirrings of love.  She's dreamed of it her whole life and wishes for it daily.  So she finally turns to her pagan background to cast a spell to find love and discovers that she has been cursed to never fall in love.  Justine is determined to break the curse and it turns out her true love might already be on the island . . . mysterious, game designer Jason Black.

This is the final of the Friday Harbor books.  I did not care for it as much as the others.  The characters were interesting, but the timeline seemed very forced.  It also seemed quite a departure from the other books in that it unexpectedly went into bondage without any warning.  I did like that it included book club questions in the back of the book again.

Dream Lake by Lisa Kleypas

Dream Lake by Lisa Kleypas - 375 pages
A Friday Harbor Novel

Zoe's life is about change as her grandmother has just been diagnosed with having had several mini-strokes and alzheimers.  She's determined to bring her grandmother to Friday Harbor to live with her.  This means having Alex remodel her family cottage.
Alex is going through a particularily rough patch right now.  He's in the middle of a nasty divorce.  His business went belly up when the economy tanked.  And worst of all -- he's acquired a ghost that won't leave him alone.  Now the ghost is pushing him to admit his feelings for Zoe as well as the ghost's relationship to Zoe's grandmother.

This was the best of the Friday Harbor novels so far.  It seemed to have much more depth than the previous two books.  It also lived up to it's paranormal romance description more than the others as the ghost was a main character in the story.

Swoon by Nina Malkin

Swoon by Nina Malkin 421 pages

Torn from her native New York City and dumped in the land of cookie-cutter preps, Candice is resigned to accept her posh, dull fate. Nothing ever happens in Swoon, Connecticut...until Dice's perfect, privileged cousin Penelope nearly dies in a fall from an old tree, and her spirit intertwines with that of a ghost. His name? Sinclair Youngblood Powers. His mission? Revenge. And while Pen is oblivious to the possession, Dice is all too aware of Sin. She's intensely drawn to him - but not at all crazy about the havoc he's wreaking. Determined to exorcise the demon, Dice accidentally sets Sin loose, gives him flesh, makes him formidable. Now she must destroy an even more potent - and irresistible - adversary, before the whole town succumbs to Sin's will. Only trouble is, she's in love with him.

Feversong by Karen Marie Moning

Feversong by Karen Marie Moning
Fever Series #9

This is the conclusion for this urban fantasy / paranormal romance series set in Dublin, Ireland.  Dublin and many other major cities throughout the world are beset by giant black holes created during a major battle with the dark faery powers when the walls fell between worlds.

Mac and her intrepid crew must destroy the evil book created by the dark faery king and recover the Song of Making in order to try and save the Earth.  There is much love and much loss along the way for all the main characters but there is resolution for most.  It is best to read from the beginning since each book throws you right into the middle of the action.

This is a fun dark fantasy series that would appeal to fans of Sherrilyn Kenyon and J. R. Ward. 

Succubus Dreams by Richelle Mead

Succubus Dreams by Richelle Mead - 352 pages
Georgina Kincaid Book 3

Georgina's love life is super complicated since she can't actually physically interact with her mortal boyfriend because she might kill him inadvertently with her succubus powers.  Now she also is being tasked with mentoring a new succubus who is totally inept by her hated enemy in Hell's power structure.  A series of dreams begin draining Georgina of her powers and that leaves her not knowing which end is up. 

Plenty of snark abounds in this fun entry into this urban fantasy / paranormal romance series. 

Succubus on Top by Richelle Mead

Succubus on Top by Richelle Mead - 340 pages
Georgina Kincaid Book 2

Georgina has fallen hard for a mortal man but she puts his very soul in danger if she acts on those feelings because of her nature as a succubus.  As if that's not complicated enough she's also been tasked with helping to bring a conservative talk show host down and claim her soul for Hell.

This series is fun urban fantasy / paranormal romance with a good dose of snark.

Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead

Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead - 384 pages
Georgina Kincaid Book 1

Seattle based succubus Georgina Kincaid is hardly leading the glamorous life one would expect.  She spends her days working at a bookstore and her nights trying to fulfill Hell's quota of damned souls without totally compromising her sense of self.  Her obsession with a famous writer complicates things when he appears in real life at the bookstore.  She can't touch him without damning him so she has to keep her feelings in check. 

I've enjoyed this author's previous urban fantasy series so am looking forward to spending more time in this world. 

The Raven King-Book IV of the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven King
Book IV of the Raven Cycle
by Maggie Stiefvater
Read by Will Patton
439 pages

All her life, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love's death. She doesn't believe in true love and never thought this would be a problem, but as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

I really enjoyed listening to all the books in the Raven Cycle. Narrator Will Patton has a distinct voice for every character and is a joy to listen to. He made these stories come alive for me.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Book 3 of The Raven Cycle
by Maggie Stiefvater
Read by Will Patton
391 pages







The Raven Cycle
Book 1 - The Raven Boys
Book 2 - The Dream Thieves
Book 3 - Blue Lily, Lily Blue
Book 4 - The Raven King


This is the third book in the Raven Cycle. I enjoy listening to Will Patton read as he has a distinguished voice for every character.

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs. The trick with found things, though, is how easily they can be lost. Friends can betray. Mothers can disappear. Visions can mislead. Certainties can unravel.....

Feverborn by Karen Marie Moning

Feverborn by Karen Marie Moning - 496 pages
Fever Series Book Eight

The latest installment finds the gang in search of the Song of the Making to try and repair the fabric of the universe which was torn asunder when the walls dividing the realm of Man and the realm of Faery were destroyed.  Mac and her crew must fight dissension in their own ranks along with outside threats while on this quest.  Fever world is fully realized and I'm interested in what happens to the characters even when the plotting has a few issues.  I also think its interesting that the marketing changed drastically this far into the series with regards to cover imagery. 

Burned by Karen Marie Moning

Burned by Karen Marie Moning - 475 pages
Fever Series Book Seven

This series has started to founder a little bit and the last book had some icky elements due to the focus shifting to the fourteen year old character of Dani and her potential much older love interests.  I'm happy to say that this book puts the series back on track by having the story line switch between the main characters more and the potentially icky age issue gets addressed as well.  The author has started putting an appendix in the back of the book covering the main characters and their back stories but I still recommend not jumping in mid-stream.  It will be a much better read if you start at the beginning.  Fans of paranormal romance / urban fantasy will find much to like here.

A Mad Zombie Party by Gena Showalter

A Mad Zombie Party by Gena Showalter  440 pages

The battle rages on. Ali Bell and Cole Holland's crew of zombie slayers thought they'd won the war against Anima Industries, the evil company responsible for capturing and experimenting on zombies in an effort to discover the secret to immortality. In the last epic clash, the slayers lost many of their crew and closest friends. But Frosty, the ice man himself, has not recovered from one casualty in particular--the love of his life, Kat Parker. On the path to self-annihilation, Frosty receives a message from beyond--Kat's spirit returns, insisting he partner with rogue slayer Camilla Marks. Frosty will do anything for Kat. Except that. Camilla is the one who betrayed them all, leading to Kat's death. But when Anima rises from the grave to become a force the slayers may not have the strength to overcome, Frosty, Camilla and all the slayers will have to work together to survive. And one broken slayer will learn that sometimes, the line between hate and attraction is blurred...and the road to redemption isn't through revenge, but in letting go of the past and grabbing hold of the future.