Tori's Review: Playing with Fire by Tamara Morgan

Released: August 7, 2012
E-book: 81 pages
Price: $2.99
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Source: Publisher
Genre: Paranormal Romance 
Series: N/A 
Buy: Amazon


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Fiona Nelson has always been one hot ticket—even before she took the conversion serum that gave her superhuman abilities. Fiona's powers come at a price: lack of human contact, or she won't be the only thing burning. When she loses control of her emotions, her fire powers run rampant...and she's hurt enough people already.

Including herself.

But when the man behind her conversion returns to blackmail her into helping him gain power, the only person she can turn to is Ian Jones, the man who broke her teenage heart. The man determined to expose the criminal known as Fireball, whose explosive escapades are just a little too close to Fiona's M.O.

Ian is convinced Fiona's dangerous, convinced she's Fireball, and convinced he'll damn himself if he doesn't resist a heat that's always drawn him to Fiona like a moth to a flame—but Ian has his own secrets.

And he'll learn far too soon what happens when you play with fire.

My Rating:

My Opinion:
I like novellas, I really do. What I don't always like about them is the fact that the romance sometimes does not work very well. For me, such was the case in PLAYING WITH FIRE.

I did not understand the attraction between Fiona and Ian. They supposedly have a rough high school past, but Fiona just finds him so delicious that, despite those harsh memories, she practically turns into a puddle of goo internally when they run into each other at the start of the story. "Okay," I thought to myself, "It can't be so bad, right? She just re-met some hottie with a body in the park!" My problem was that her memories of Ian turned me off from him almost instantaneously. If she felt she was so mistreated back then, why would she even give him a second thought so many years later? Is her self confidence that shoddy that she would settle for a jerk? Right from the start I was against this pairing, which did not bode well for the rest of the story.

Ian's character (and this is going from memory because it's been about a month since reading) was really not all that memorable, aside from the fact that he was like a stick in the mud and very broody. Fiona was a bit more likeable, but overall, these characters did not really stick with me.

What initially drew me in was the superpower approach the author took. I suppose I'm a sucker for humans with abilities such as controlling fire and the like. It was interesting, and I enjoyed the method of administering such abilities to the humans in this world. I think PLAYING WITH FIRE would have been more successful as an urban fantasy with a side of romance, as opposed to primarily being a romance. I felt like the interesting aspects of the novella were overwhelmed by lackluster characters. Too bad, too.


Series Order:
1. Playing With Fire

Tori's Review: Shadow's Claim by Kresley Cole

Released: November 27, 2012
Paperback: 496 pages
Price: $7.99
Publisher: Simon & Schuster 
Source: Bought 
Genre: Paranormal Romance 
Series: The Dacians 
Buy: Amazon


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Shadow's Claim features Prince Trehan, a ruthless master assassin who will do anything to possess Bettina, his beautiful sorceress mate, even compete for her hand in a blood-sport tournament—to the death.

He won't be denied...

Trehan Daciano, known as the Prince of Shadows, has spent his life serving his people, striking in the night, quietly executing any threat to their realm. The coldly disciplined swordsman has never desired anything for himself—until he beholds Bettina, the sheltered ward of two of the Lore's most fearsome villains.

She's bound to another...

Desperate to earn her guardians' approval after a life-shattering mistake, young Bettina has no choice but to marry whichever suitor prevails—even though she's lost her heart to another. Yet one lethal competitor, a mysterious cloaked swordsman, invades her dreams, tempting her with forbidden pleasure.

A battle for her body and soul...

Even if Trehan can survive the punishing contests to claim her as his wife, the true battle for Bettina's heart is yet to come. And unleashing a millennium's worth of savage need will either frighten his Bride away—or stoke Bettina's own desires to a fever-pitch...

My Rating:

My Opinion:
Bzzt, bzzt. Brain has short-circuited from the awesomeness of this book.

Okay, on a serious note, I don't want to write a fangirl review. BUT since I am a KC fangirl, I find it impossible to avoid. For that reason, I think it is safe to say that once again, Kresley Cole has written an amazing title that you would be silly not to read. These books just keep getting better, the characters are always unique, and there's always humor. Who doesn't enjoy a good old dollop of humor in their cup of romance?

I am intrigued to learn about the other Dacians now that we've gotten a taste of who each of these sexy vamps are through Trehan's story. I was particularly happy to see Lothaire make an appearance. I laughed my ass off in a lot of those scenes.

Another must read. I think you should read the IAD series first (just to attain a further understanding of this world), however, it is not entirely necessary to do so. You simply run the risk of not appreciating some of the characters as much as us IAD fans do.


Series Order:
1. Shadow's Claim

Alice's Review: Days of Blood & Starlight by Laini Taylor

Released: 8th November 2012
Paperback: 528 pages
Price: AU$19.99
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Source: Bought
Genre: YA, paranormal romance/urban fantasy
Series: Daughter of Smoke & Bone Trilogy
Series Order:
1. Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Tori's review; Amanda's review)
2. Days of Blood & Starlight
Summary

Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a new way of living – one without massacres and torn throats and bonfires of the fallen, without revenants or bastard armies or children ripped from their mothers’ arms to take their turn in the killing and dying.

Once, the lovers lay entwined in the moon’s secret temple and dreamed of a world that was a like a jewel-box without a jewel – a paradise waiting for them to find it and fill it with their happiness.

This was not that world.

My Rating:

My Opinion: I personally loved Daughter of Smoke & Bone so I was very eager to read the sequel, especially since the UK cover is so gorgeous! This novel starts off hilariously with Zuzanna asking her adorable boyfriend Mik to pee on Kaz, Karou's ex who is milking his new-found fame for all it's worth. Will Mik do it or not...? Read the book to find out! ;)

We find Karou in Morocco, having taken over Brimstone's job as the resurrectionist. The chimaera are rebuilding their army since the seraphim brutally attacked the caged city where the chimaera live and killed off a lot of them. The seraphim are now scouting the forests of Eretz, their home world, for any more chimaera that they can kill or enslave, with Akiva leading one of those parties. Flashing back to Karou, she is working to create new bodies for the chimaera army, who are being led by... Thiago. Oh yes, guys, the tension is high!

This book took me almost a week to finish, which says something because once I'm stuck in a book, I find it very hard to put down. I didn't feel that draw I felt when I read Daughter of Smoke & Bone, probably because I thought there needed to be more Akive & Karou moments! This book wasn't about them getting together - because Akiva was responsible for Karou's family's death - which made me both sad and happy, considering that I love that Karou had a backbone. But I still miss their cute romance from the first book. I also felt that this book dragged on a bit during the scenes in Eretz where Akiva & the angels are trying to flush out the chimaera. The best bits of the book come in the last third, I reckon, leaving off with quite a big cliffhanger at the end.

So, speaking more about my love of Karou: Karou is definitely one of those strong heroines who can kick butt and doesn't rely on anyone for protection. Karou finds solutions to her problems and carries on despite some pretty terrible losses and traumatic events that occur in the book. She's interesting in the way she handles things and I liked reading her inner monologue as she's funny and smart; a real pleasure to read, honestly.

Another dynamic that I loved was Zuze and Mik's adventures in Morocco. This couple definitely picked up the slack in the romance department and they make one cool team. These two are smart and resourceful and charmed the pants off every chimaera they met. Though maybe not Thiago...

I can't say much more about the plot without spoiling it all, but I'll say this: it's a great continuation of the first book and I loved the writing. There's something about it that made me love it, a kind of flow to it. Laini's writing is something that I don't come by often and I found it very refreshing because it was so... different and rich and good. Much better than some of the recent YA books that I've read.

My verdict: This book is a must-read due to several factors: the characters, the strong heroine, the plot and the writing that will sweep you off your feet. I loved it and hate that I have to wait so long for the final book in the trilogy!