Showing posts with label Paranormal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paranormal. Show all posts
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~*~Savory Selections
via Kids Menu~*~
A Young Adult Novel worth sinking your teeth into
Genre:  Paranormal
Heat Level:  A dash of spice.

So the other night I rented the movie Vampire Academy. I'll admit, I never picked up the book because, let's face it, there are a ton of vampire teen books out there and I sort of just got burnt out. Sad, but true. I'm one of those people who think, "Oh, God, not another Vampire YA..."

However, the trailer for the movie looked interested so I'm like, "I can spend a $1.25 at Redbox and give two hours of my life to it. Check it out."

Now the movie was good but not great. Having not read the book, I found a lot of things very confusing. Like who the hell that third girl who suddenly showed up was. It wasn't until the freaking end I figured out she was the old guy's daughter when she gives Rose a necklace.

But I liked it enough that I decided to pick up the book... which ended up being really good.

Yes, there are lots of books out there with teen girls in a magical school of some sort, a ton of books about vampires, and even quite a few books about teen vampires attending a magical school. What Richelle Mead does here is different.

She sets up the species, sets up her own mythology behind them - using a lot of ancient legends others don't touch, even sets up her own religion. 

The story was solid, a great introduction to her world. But I think what I like best is what she does with her characters.

In many YA's you have the girls who don't have sex, never use drugs, never drink, think everyone who does it is stupid, etc. We have that because, as a society, that's what we want our youth to be like. We want them to be perfect.

In this book we follow Rose Hathaway, a seventeen year old Dhampir, who is in training to be a bodyguard to her best friend, Lissa Dragomir, a Moroi princess. Most Dhampirs - half-humans, half Moroi hybrids - dedicate their lives to protecting the Moroi - vampire-like beings who are not immortal. This is because Moroi are the only beings Dhampirs can mate with. You also have the Strigoi, who are the evil undead immortal vampires that we are more familiar with.

What I love about this is Rose, before she ran away from the Acadmey, use to be a real party girl. She use to drink, smoke weed, etc. But she stopped, she came back from that. For me, that's a great role model. Showing that just because you use to do bad things, doesn't make you a bad person.

Now during the book she threatens to revert back after she's brought back to the academy but that's normal too.

Lissa has her own mental issues that have to do with her strange abilities to heal.

I like this because these are flawed girls that people can understand. They have issues they're trying to overcome and it really did remind me of high school in that trying to find your own path sort of way.

Rose even starts to fall for her hot instructor who is seven years older than she is. Instead of just trying to seduce him, she fights it, not liking their age difference. So does he.

I mean, the book just had a lot of elements I loved and I'm looking forward to starting the first one.

Because of some of the mature content of it, while its technically YA and thus goes on the Kids Menu, it has some adult themes and I just feel it really belongs on the Savory Selection.

Either way, give the book a try. Let me know what you think!
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Every year, FF&P - Fantasy, Futuristic, & Paranormal chapter of Romance Writers of America - has a writers conference just for books within their genre. The Prism Awards. Below are the 2014 finalists for this fabulous award.

What does this mean for you? A chef special menu of fabulous reads in the theme of Fantasy and Paranormal Romance! Enjoy.

The Prism Awards - 2014 Finalists

Dark Paranormal (includes Urban Fantasy)

For the Love of a Goblin Warrior by Shona Husk

South of Surrender by Laura Kaye

Storm Force by Susannah Sandlin

Tangled Souls by Jana Oliver

Erotic Romance

Edge of Night by Crystal Jordan

Lust Eternal by Sabrina York

Masque by Lexi Post

Fantasy

A Soul for Vengeance by Crista McHugh

Rogue's Possession by Jeffe Kennedy

Spy's Honor by Amy Raby

Futuristic

Caught in Amber by Cathy Pegau

Deep Deception by Cathy Pegau

Something New Under the Sun by L.A. Witt

The Cat Star Chronicles: Wildcat by Cheryl Brooks

Light Paranormal (including Urban Fantasy)

Fire of the Dragon by Lori Dillon


Immortal Ever After by Angie Fox

Sunroper by Natalie J. Damschroder

Wildfire: A Paranormal Mystery with Cowboys and Dragons by Mina Khan

Novella

Sing for the Dead by P.J. Schnyder

Taken by the Vampire King by Laura Kaye

Tame the Storm by Ella Drake

Young Adult

Briar Rose by Jana Oliver

Hero by Alethea Kontis

Spark:  Feyguard Book 1 by Anthea Sharp
Unknown
~*~Kids Menu~*~
Genre: Paranormal Young Adult. Paranormal Romance.
Heat Level: Mild - though sex is mentioned.

Though I'd bought Jana Oliver's Forgiven - the Third book in the Demon Trappers series - when it first came out, I didn't start reading it until months later. Why? Because I was mad at Beck! Riley screwed up, yes, but I was mad at Beck!

When I first started the book, I was mad at him again! Now, this is NOT to reflect on the story on a whole. The story is great and the fact that I was mad at Beck was great because it shows how well Jana weaves this story, drawing you in and really becoming emotionally invested in these characters.

With each book in this series, the steaks are set higher and higher. I think this is probably the most intense of the books yet. I was on the edge of my seat, holding my breath. I swear with the turn of every page you're like "How is she getting out of this one?" Even in the downtime with her friends, you're still wondering what's going to come next.

We start the story back up with Paul Blackthorne - now a reanimated body - back with his daughter. Beck is not really speaking to Riley right now. Even if he wanted to, he's face down in the dirt in front of his house while the Hunters' ransack his home.

As I said, things just keep piling on as the Vatican's demon hunters believe Riley is in league with Hell - an offense punishable by death. Don't forget, we still have those fake bottles of Holy Water out there and demons chanting Riley's name!

I love how Jana truly weaves this story together where you can't really separate them by books. While each does have its own story arch, they are still a continuing story arch, each one leading into the next. Some things answered, more questions come up.

Definitely happy with this latest edition.


I will say that her publishers finally heard us on the covers. Not that the past U.S. covers haven't been good, the U.K. covers were just better. As you can see, our cover (at the top of the post) and the U.K. cover (just above) are very similar. They also let both countries have the same title! Less confusion, yay!

Either way, a great series and I highly recommend you read it.
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If you enjoyed The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver, you're going to love the second installment, Soul Thief.


~*~Kids Menu~*~
Genre:  Paranormal/Supernatural Romance
Heat Level: Mild - It's YA!

The book opens with Riley Blackthorne, our 17 year old heroine, walking into a cafe for hot chocolate - her drink of choice - when a religious nutter stops her, informing her that the end of the world is near - a fact she's already been informed of by an actual Angel. Riley's reply, "Do I still have time to get hot chocolate?"

How can you not continue reading after that? It's definitely one of the best opens I've read yet.

The story just becomes more and more bizarre as Riley tries to hunt down her father's reanimated corpse that's been kidnapped while at the same time trying to figure out whose tampering with the Holy Water - something trappers need to survive - and making vain attempts to keep her life - including her love life - from falling apart around her. Oh, and let's not forget she's in the middle of a battle between Heaven and Hell!

It's a twisted ending that I didn't see coming. In the end, you might want to slap some sense in some of the characters but its definitely an adventure you'll enjoy

As always, strong hot chocolate cravings will be involved. You have been warned. 

I do have to say I am so jealous of the book cover the UK got. Across the pond, the book is called Forbidden and just check out the cover:


No matter the cover or the title, this is a great book. I especially recommend it to those of the late teen set but I, in my late twenties, really loved it too. 
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Book two of the Magical Bakery series, I have to say that I enjoyed Bewitched, Bothered and Biscotti by Bailey Cates even more than Brownies and Broomsticks, the first book of the series.


~*~Savory Selections~*~
With a dash of magic and a heaping helping of foodie goodness.
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Heat Level: Mild - No sex so far

Yet again, Bailey Cates catches my attention with her adorable book covers. Honestly, I love what the cover artist did here. I only wish that instead of showing Honeybee, her aunt's cat who never comes to the bakery, they would have used Mungo, our heroine, Katie Lightfoot's trusty Cairn terrier familiar who plays a much bigger role in the books. Other than that, great job as always on the cover.

What's inside, is even better!

The pacing of Bewitched, Bothered and Biscotti is definitely faster but I think that's always the case with the second book in a series.

We open up in beautiful Wright Square in Savannah, GA as Katie and one of her two love interest, Declan the Firefighter, are on a romantic picnic which is interrupted by the discovery of a dead body. Don't you just hate when that happens?

Katie is a training hereditary Hedge Witch - meaning she does a lot of herbs and gardening to produce magic - and owns a local bakery with her witchy Aunt Lucy and Retired Firefighter Uncle.

This book takes place just a few months after Brownies and Broomsticks and Katie finds herself wrapped up in yet another murder investigation. But not all is as it seems. What might seem like a heart attack turns out to be murder by magic.

Someone's out to release an ancient evil and Katie and her Magical Book Club coven must band together and figure out what is going on before its too late.

I absolutely love how Cates captures the rich culture of Savannah. Its such a beautiful town. If you haven't been, GO. Don't think, just GO. Its wonderful. Take tons of ghost tours.

There is no doubt in every page you read that Savannah is the town Katie lives in and I love that. So many authors just sort of put up a generic backdrop and give it a name but not Cates.

On top of this, as a practicing witch myself, I have to say that Cates knows what she's talking about. She matches up herbs and how a hedge witch would think while cooking or really doing anything in her life.  There are so many aspects of magic and so many authors throw it to the wind to get done what they need done. That's perfectly fine because its their world but its always refreshing to see someone who seems to know what they're talking about.

This is also a great book and series for Foodies! Cates has a great way of capturing you with Katie's unique twists in her bakery. Many of these recipes I'd love to try for myself.

I would have to say if I have one complaint about the book on a whole its what Mungo, Katie's dog, eats. Once she mentions he loved raisins and another time she talked about eating onions. He also seems to eat a lot of sugar.

Every time that was mentioned, it really pulled me out of the story.  Raisins and onions are actually highly toxic to dogs and too much sugar, just like with humans, isn't good either.

That being said, I did notice that on her blog, The Lightfoot Chronicles, Cates does acknowledge this in the post Forbidden Fruit -- At least for Dogs. The blog is written from Katie's pov so be sure to check it out.

As I said, I really loved this book even more than the first. Can't wait to sink my teeth into Charms and Chocolate Chips, book three of the Magical Bakery Series already available.  Especially because of a couple of twists at the end!

This tasty tidbit was served up to you by Bryonna Nobles.
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There is a lot of Paranormal Young Adult series out there that really made me start shying away from the genre. You get the same old story lines again and again.

I am a member of Georgia Romance Writers and at one of our meetings, I found a postcard about a book about to come out. Reading the back of this book, I got really excited. Demons, trappers, mystery. It sounded so fun! Even better, it took place in Atlanta, Georgia! Well, being a proud Georgia Peach how could I not pick it up?


~*~Kids Menu~*~
Genre:  Paranormal/Supernatural
Heat Level:  Mild - It's Young Adult! lol

The Demon Trapper's Daughter as its known in the United States (or Forsaken in the United Kingdom) by Jana Oliver restored by faith in Paranormal Young Adult. Funny, well thought out, with characters that are far from cookie cutter, this book gives you a unique plot with an interesting twist on the world.

Here we follow 17 year old Riley Blackthrone, daughter of Paul Blackthorne - a renown demon trapper - as she tries to survive in 2018 Atlanta, Georgia. Here demons are real and the world knows about them. Have an infestation? You hire a member of the Demon Trappers Guild of which Riley is the only girl. The first girl, in fact, to become a Demon Trapper. A young woman in a good ole boy world, Riley has to work harder than anyone else to prove her worth.

When her father is killed by a powerful demon, Riley's world is turned upside down. Is this the end of her Demon Trapping career? How does she survive in a city riddled in poverty with no way to support herself? She has to fight to stay in the guild while battling necromancers who want to raise her father from the dead and make him an undead slave - a trophy for some rich family to be weighed upon by.

Unique and thrilling, this is a real page turner. I really enjoyed the ride Jana takes you on through Riley's life and a city that never came back from its economic slump.

Riley is an excellent role model for teenage girls. Independant, trying to make the right decisions to survive, and is very proactive on her problems.

I do need to give you just one warning about this book, however. It makes you crave hot chocolate. Riley's favorite drink, she's constantly ordering a nice tall cup of hot chocolate from her favorite barista, Simi, or else making it at home. I found myself drinking a lot of the delicious drink myself while curled up with this book.

I also think that the United Kingdom got a much better book cover than we did! I was so jealous of it!  You can see it above.

As I said, here in America, we have The Demon Trapper's Daughter and while that cover is pretty awesome, Forsaken, the cover released in the United Kingdom was just a little bit more awesome.

Oh well, still a fabulous series. I highly, highly recommend it. This is one of this server's favorite series!

This review was served up to you by Bryonna Nobles.