Consumed by Rebecca Zanetti

Book 4 of the “Dark Protectors” Series
Kensington
259 pages; 661KB
ISBN: 9781601830135
Published: July 05, 2012
Rating: 4 ½ stars

The prologue starts thirty years ago:

Kathryn Johnson is four years old and she’s with her foster parents, Wanda and Jim Bob. She doesn’t quite understand what’s happening to her. Then Jordan Pride comes to her aid.

Then we jump ahead to the present:

There are Kurjans after Jordan. Jordan is in charge of his pride. Jordan has a beast in him that needs to be tamed. Conlan Kayrs is a vampire that he trusts. They must protect their mates at any cost.

Katie’s job is as a hunter of werewolves. Her partner is Baye. He’s also there to protect her from the werewolves. Rebecca does a great job of creating her shapeshifter world and still stay true to actual surroundings. I love her descriptions of the flora at their location.

Kalin is in charge of the Kurjans. He rules them with food and pain. In order to lead all Kurjans, he must kill a man that lives and rules in Nova Scotia. He is one sick bastard. There are also lots of other characters in this book that have been in previous books. If this is the first book you’re reading in this series, it will help you if you go back and read the previous three books.

One thing I notice is that there is a lot of testosterone and alpha males running around and some of them all want Katie. This book reminds me of a paranormal soap opera – sans “Dark Shadows”. And that’s a good thing. Soap operas hook you in and you have to keep watching. I cut my paranormal teeth on “Dark Shadows”. Every day, after school, I had to sit down and watch my vampires.

I would love to see a paranormal soap opera come back to TV. I can picture Rebecca’s characters in that show. She has me hooked and now I can’t wait for the next book to come out. I need to know what happens to Maggie and Janie. Book 5 is coming out in November of this year so that gives me, and you, plenty of time to catch up on any books that we have not read yet.

Tidal Whispers by Jocelyn Adams, Claire Gillian, Julie Reece, and Kelly Said

J. Taylor Publishing
Published: June 04, 2012 (e-Pub)/May 29, 2012 (Kindle)
ISBN: 978193774404
113 pages (e-Pub); 368KB (e-book)
Rating: 4 ½ stars

Hearts Desire by Julie Reece

Tessa Morgan is under the water swimming. Is it a dream or is it real? She seems to be swimming toward an underwater city. It was interesting to see this underwater world through Tessa’s eyes. Almost made you wish that it actually existed. Then the phone rings.

That phone call gives her quite a shock. When Tessa was fourteen she was at her family’s vacation retreat. She met a young man named Cameron. When she last saw him he gave her a beautiful ring. Now she’s all grown up and back at the vacation retreat. She’s starting to have dreams and He is coming for her.

Julie could have put a lot of sex in her short story but she didn’t. I was glad that she didn’t because I think it would have ruined the lovely story. Innuendo works – it gets our imaginations going. She shows us what someone will do for the one they love. What would you do? This was over way too quickly – I wanted to read more.

The Sweetest Song by Claire Gillian

Poseidon is very disappointed with Circe. She’s one of his sirens that lure ships to their doom. She has until the next new moon to get her job done.

Otis has a one bedroom apartment in Homer, Alaska. He thinks of himself as being defective. And, he’s also the captain of the Calypso – Circe’s current job. Circe has come to spy on him. Then she finds out why she has never succeeded with Otis.

Claire is just like the siren in her story. She pulls us into the story just like Circe pulls people in with her songs. I found that I loved this story but just like Julie’s it was over too quickly. I wanted to see what happens next for Circe and Otis.

Pearl of Pau’maa by Kelly Said

Harmon is seen going after his mother’s heirloom pearl. To do that he must pay his brother Creeb’s debt. Miki is a pearl diver and trap setter for her village. Kelly’s story is a little different because she uses actual sea creatures in her story. They’re just a little different.

The pearl has traveled close to where Miki is and that is when Harmon sees her. Harmon is not quite human so Miki doesn’t believe what she’s seeing. Harmon has helped her and now she’s starting to change.

Kelly’s story has greedy humans and even greedy sea creatures. It also shows that true love does exist even for two people that are total opposites. I would love to see what Kelly has in store for Creeb – he needs someone to bring him to task.

The Undergarden by Jocelyn Adams

Nixie is swimming toward a secluded bay – her favorite spot. She thinks of us as pink creatures. She mentally tries to connect with Wyatt to find out why he’s so sad. They meet when he was only nine years old. They quickly become friends. But then something happens and Wyatt can’t come to the bay anymore.

But life goes on and people change and grow. Wyatt then returns as a young man. We see how feelings can change from a child to a young person. Nixie is very innocent of our human world and that innocence can make things hurt when a misunderstanding happens.

Jocelyn’s tale was very sweet but actually brought tears to my eyes. It shows us just how short life is and that we can’t waste time thinking we are doing the right thing. If there is a misunderstanding between two people, you need to work it out and not wait until it may be too late.

This anthology was great. There is nothing bad that I can say about any of the stories other than that they were over too quickly. I was just getting to know the characters in each of the stories and then it was over. I can always hope that the authors will either carry the story over into a full length book or bring in a new character to carry on their story.

If you are looking for a sweet fantasy, a paranormal romance, and no explicit sex this is for you. If you only like a book for the sex, I’m hoping you will change your mind with this anthology. If you want to fill in the blanks for yourself, that is what we have an imagination for. These four ladies will not disappoint. You will not be disappointed if you add this anthology to your collection. You may even want to try something else that they have written.

A Blood Seduction by Pamela Palmer

Book 1 in the “Vamp City” series
Avon/Harper Collins Publishers
ISBN: 9780062107497 (paperback)
876KB; 384 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Quinn Lennox is seen working at the lab in the National Institutes of Health located in Bethesda, Maryland. She’s got some strange things happening to her but she wants to keep it quiet. She has her younger brother, Zach, living with her. Something happens and they seem to find themselves in a parallel universe. Zack is a total geek. Instead of wondering about the situation, he wants to make a computer game.

Pamela always surprises me by what she comes up with and “A Blood Seduction” is no exception. At the beginning I couldn’t wait to turn the page. Pamela has made her vampires slightly different from others and that’s what makes them interesting. Then brother and sister get separated.

The Master, Arturo Mazza, desires Quinn but something just doesn’t seem right. It will be interesting to see as I read what that is. Pamela does a great job of making us think we are watching a Sci-Fi Channel movie. She also makes her heroine as tough as they come. I would want her around if I ever got into trouble.

There were times when I found that the story was a little slow. It may be because that we are given so many plot twists. Pamela also gives the reader a lot of information about the alternate vampire world. This could be because this is the first book in the series. I’m hoping that the second book will not seem as slow.

This alternate world is both dark and violent. Not a world you would want to visit. Usually vampires are romanticized in romance novels but this is more of a paranormal story and less on the romantic side. You will have to decide if Arturo is the romantic hero or not. I had 50 pages to go and I still hadn’t figured it out for myself.

I’m down to the last 30 pages and I finally see Arturo do something nice with Quinn’s feelings in mind. But I found it to be a case of “a little too late”. In a way you will be surprised by the ending but in other ways you shouldn’t be. I have attached the book trailer so you can get a little hint about the book.

If you like your stories dark, you will probably love this book. If you love alternate universes, you will probably love this book. If you love Pamela’s Feral Warriors series, you will find this new series to be totally different. I found that I liked the book and am not giving up on the series. I will add the next book to my TBR list. It is expected to hit the shelves on June 25, 2013.

INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY: KERI LAKE!

INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY: KERI LAKE!.