I ate this book up in a few days! Which was surprising because I’d been wondering why my reading pace had slowed down somewhat with my last few books. It’s become obvious to me that I chew through the ones I really enjoy while the other stuff that’s just okay kind of drags at a steadier pace. Hmmm….

Grave Surprise continues the story of Harper and Tolliver started in Grave Sight. Harper has an unusual talent for being able to find the dead, and discover their last living moments including how they died. She’s often called upon by distressed parents or various law enforcement officials to help in missing persons cases, to see if a body can be located… for Harper can only find the dead, not the living.

Harper and Tolliver are called to Memphis by anthropology professor Dr. Clyde Nunley to “read” a graveyard, the records for which were only recently discovered. Little do they realize that Dr. Nunley is hoping to expose Harper as a fraud since no one else has had access to these records besides himself. But the entire class gets more than they bargained for when, besides being spot on for each person buried in the centuries-old cemetery, Harper discovers the body of 11-year-old Tabitha Morganstern, abducted from Nashville 2 years prior, in one of the existing grave sites. Harper had been called in on Tabitha’s case back then but had failed to produce results when she couldn’t locate the body. So her and Tolliver begin to wonder if this is too much of a coincidence and that perhaps they were set up to find this body. Unfortunately, the police and FBI aren’t too pleased with the coincidences either…

The action keeps going nonstop right up until the very end. I anxiously await the next book in the wonderful new Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris.

The Countess’s Pleasure by Emma Holly
Not quite as erotic as some of Emma Holly’s other works that I’ve read, though still definitely hotter than your standard paranormal/fantasy romance as well.

Georgiana, a widowed countess from Britain, travels to Bhamjran, a British Victorian India, and unknowingly meets up with the man of her dreams, or at least, a dreamy man… well, then again, he’s not really a man but a demon. Iyan is part of a separate paranormal race known as the Yama; they aren’t actually demons as you might think of them in terms of evil spirits or minions from the various levels of Hell. But besides their sculpted bodies, perfect features, and unwillingness to succumb to emotion, they are also able to draw energy from humans in a most unusual way.

Mixing between the races is generally frowned upon. But then again, “What happens in Bhamjran, stays in Bhamjran.” And Georgiana is committed to living for herself now, even if that means taking pleasure where she can find it… in the arms of a demon!
My Rating: 5 stars

The Breed Next Door by Lora Leigh
I plan to read some of Lora Leigh’s other Breed books so this novella was a good introduction to the race, and the writing style of the author. I liked it a bit more than the previous story because there was some additional elements of danger that weren’t present in the previous story.

Lyra is a human, and unknowingly living next door to a “Breed”, a genetically engineered human clone species bred to serve, usually in a warlike capacity. The Breed species were very ill-treated by their masters, until the revolution that is, fought side-by-side with humans who also thought their treatment too cruel. Many escaped to live in the real world among humans, trying to hide their true identity. Tarek was such a creature… and sexy as hell to boot! And the two of them are forced into close quarters after the people hunting Tarek decide to go after Lyra instead…
My Rating: 6 stars

Falling for Anthony by Meljean Brook
Anthony is a Guardian, a special type of angel created to protect the human race from evil. After being killed by a Nosferatu while serving as a medic during the Napoleonic Wars, Anthony is made into a Guardian, a special type of angel created to protect the human race from evil. Though most Guardians must wait 100 years first if they choose to fall, Michael the archangel has decided to send Anthony back after only a few short weeks, to protect the very family he unknowingly helped to betray to the Nosferatu who attacked him.

There’s a whole back story, which is pretty intense, but when I tried to get into it, the summary got super long, so suffice to say, I really enjoyed this story the most of all of them so far. Though the sex scenes could’ve been a wee bit longer >:-> the story was definitely well fleshed-out.
My Rating: 7 stars

The Blood Kiss by Shiloh Walker
Roman Montgomery, the Wolf King of Wolfclan Montgomery, believes he has found his true mate. Unfortunately, she’s the daughter of his sworn enemy, Lord Eduard Capiet, head of The House of Capiet. While on a mission to free his younger brother from the hands of Eduard, he abducts Eduard’s daughter Julianna, not wanting to leave her in the hands of such a monster as Eduard, who’s archaic old ways have drawn the eye of the Ancients.

There’s a bit of similarity to Romeo and Juliet. Not just in the names, but also in the fact that the 2 Houses are sworn enemies. And Roman and Julianna fall in love. Fortunately, the story doesn’t end in tragedy as Romeo and Juliet does. And there was enough action and danger going on, since the erotica wasn’t as sizzling as some of the other stuff I’ve read, to keep the story interesting for me.
My Rating: 7 stars

Bronwyn is a high Witch, working as a kind of one-witch secret service to the British Prime Minister. Her arsenal includes a combination of potions, spells, explosions, mind-reading tricks, and general butt-kicking skills. While she’s traveling the globe to protect the PM and a middle eastern sheik (I’m not sure that she actually ever specifies what country he’s from), she’s pining for her warlock back home, Dr. Sam… despite the fact that she’s promised herself not to fall for any man—especially a warlock.

This book is written in a diary/journal format, which in this case was actually a drawback as I don’t think that format worked all that well with this story, and didn’t add much to it at all. The storyline itself was interesting though, and I was kept in the dark about who the culprit behind all the assassination attempts was all the way to the end. I have the next book in this series, Charmed and Ready, waiting on Mt. TBR and hope to get to it shortly.

Mia Snow is an agent for A.I.R. (Alien Investigation and Removal). She’s been hunting aliens her entire life, and hated them ever since she was a little girl and they had killed at least one of her brothers, the other gone missing and never found.

Now she’s on the hunt for an Arcadian that’s killing human men and leaving them to be found in compromising positions. But if she’s to find who’s behind these murders, and save her partner in the process, she must accept help from the most unlikely of sources: a tall, exotic Arcadian by the name of Kyrin en Arr. And as she gets closer to the truth, and closer to Kyrin, she discovers some shocking secrets about herself in the process.

I went into this book not sure what to expect. I was thinking I might just be getting another romance in a paranormal wrapper, but I couldn’t be further from the truth. :-) I totally enjoyed Gena’s writing style, and Mia’s kick ass character reminded me of the Anita Blake of old. This book would probably be considered more Paranormal Fantasy, or even Sci Fi because of the Aliens, though some of the powers they exhibit are very similar to what we see in Vampires in other stories: strength, quick moving, mind control, enhanced life, etc.

After finishing this story, I immediately added the rest of the series to my wishlist. There’s currently one other published, Enslave Me Sweetly, with the next two coming in June and July 2007 actually being YA, and a return the non-teen version in January 2008. I believe the YA books, going by the series title “Teen Alien Huntress”, will take place in the same world but with different characters. (I added the forthcoming titles and release dates to the Ongoing Releases Dates thread at BookObsessed if you want all the details.)

Abby Barlow has unknowingly become The Chalice, a host body for The Phoenix, the Goddess designed to keep the Prince of Darkness and his minions at bay. Dante is a 341 year old vampire who’s been bound by ritual to protect The Chalice from all the demons and minions now hunting her. With the death of the current Chalice, and it’s transference into Abby, they’re now running for their lives from the demons that hunt the Chalice, in the hopes of bringing the Prince of Darkness back into our realm.

This book struck me from the beginning because the main character’s last name is very similar to mine, and then on the very first page of the Prologue, the Duke of Granville is mentioned, and Granville is my Dad’s middle name, taken from what was once part of his last name before he moved to America from England as a teen. In any case, it just struck me as quite coincidental. :-)

This is Alexandra Ivy’s first novel and though the story itself was fairly decent, it did have a bit too much romance for my liking. Also, I thought her style left something to be desired. She was constantly using incomplete sentences as entire paragraphs! I know authors often do this for emphasis sometimes, but I thought it was very much overused, such that as a reader, you couldn’t stop mid-way through a chapter because you might stop at a paragraph that makes no sense standing alone. I didn’t like that… but I often see a lot of quirky things I don’t like in an author’s first novel anyway.

The story itself was supposed to contain an element of danger, and it tried to, but for some reason, it just didn’t come across that way, probably because Abby and Dante were stopping to have sex every 1/2 hour. We hear at least once per chapter about his silver eyes, and long dark hair, and gorgeous body, etc. It’s this kind of thing that made it too romance-y for me, and caused my attention to wander. Once I got beyond all these things though, I did enjoy the underlying story. If I hadn’t, I would’ve given up without finishing. So I’m guessing romance readers might appreciate some of it more than I did.

Sixteen-year-old Kaye is a modern nomad. Fierce and independent, she travels from city to city with her mother’s rock band until an ominous attack forces Kaye back to her childhood home. There, amid the industrial, blue-collar New Jersey backdrop, Kaye soon finds herself an unwilling pawn in an ancient power struggle between two rival faerie kingdoms—a struggle that could very well mean her death.

When Kaye discovers she’s actually a Changeling (changed at birth), her whole world starts to get really confusing, and some of the new friends she’s met could possibly be her worst enemies.

I really enjoyed this book, which portrays the struggle between the Seelie and the Unseelie Court of Faerie. It is dark and suspenseful, and definitely doesn’t refer to the light fairy which perches on flowers and flutters about. I’m anxiously looking forward to book 2, Valiant, which is also waiting here on Mt. TBR.

Darcy Newhart has only been a vamp for 4 years now, but every day she longs for her previous life: the sun, the beach, and the man of her dreams, an Apollo-like Sun God! Little did she expect to meet him on the set of her new reality TV show, The Sexiest Man on Earth. Now Adam, an Undercover agent for the Vampire Stake-Out team, has been accepted to participate in the competition, undercover of course. He falls hard for Darcy, not realizing at first that she’s a vampire, and she’s totally smitten with him as well. But can things work out between them when they’re both from two separate worlds… and when one of them is actually a vampire slayer.

I’m not sure I enjoyed this second book in the Love at Stake series as much as the first, How to Marry a Millionaire Vampire. Some of the events were a bit too far-fetched to be believable, even in a novel based on fantasy such as this is. A few times I found myself thinking, “yeah right, as if that would happen”. Beyond that however, there was some good action, the romance scenes weren’t too sappy, and it was a pretty enjoyable read. :-)

Too romance-y for me. :( I read the first three chapters and like Ann, I didn’t develop much of an empathy for the characters either. Perhaps if I had more time on my hands, I might’ve tried to plow through it, but since it’s on EllyMae’s wishlist, I plan to hand it off to her at the BC 2007 Convention in Charleston… which is only a few days away… w00t w00t!!

The bad luck begins for Emerald O’Brien after a client leaves a statue of a jade dragon at her shop, and is then struck by a hit-and-run driver right outside her store. To thwart the statue’s curse, Em and her friends will have to follow a trail of heartache which leads all the way back to China’s Ming Dynasty.

I enjoyed this second story in the Chintz ‘n China Mysteries as much as the first. The author herself is a Witch and Wiccan High Priestess, and uses her knowledge of Wicca and Paganism well in these stories, portraying Em’s character realistically in integrating her magickal practices with her everyday life. And with just the right amount of the fantastical added in. :)

Marcus Cage is on the run from some shady characters conducting experiments on him to discover the secret of immortality. The poor vampire has been driven mad and his heightened senses upon his escape lead him right to Josephine Elliot. Her empathic qualities, though psychically wounded, call to him in the night, and he goes to her craving what he needs to bring back his strength and sanity.

This is a story of love on the run, between an immortal “Prime” and his bondmate. For those who enjoy romances, this is a book worth reading. The writing was good, and there was a modicum of suspense added to the story line which made it more interesting for me. However, since the main premise pretty much revolves around the romantic relationship between Cage and Jo, it wasn’t one of my favorites. But at least the sex scenes were a bit above the tame or lame-o-meater! (pun intended) LOL

I think Ms. Sizemore holds a lot of promise as a writer, so though I don’t particularly care for this genre (the romance part, not the paranormal), I’m happy that I’ve got her Laws of the Blood urban fantasy series (also vamp) waiting here on Mt. TBR.