Obsession by Jennifer L. Armentrout

 

He’s arrogant, domineering, and... To. Die. For.

Hunter is a ruthless killer. And the Department of Defense has him firmly in their grasp, which usually doesn’t chafe too badly because he gets to kill bad guys. Most of the time he enjoys his job. That is, until he’s saddled with something he’s never had to do before: protect a human from his mortal enemy.

Serena Cross didn’t believe her best friend when she claimed to have seen the son of a powerful senator turn into something... unnatural. Who would? But then she witnesses her friend’s murder at the hands of what can only be an alien, thrusting her into a world that will kill to protect their secret.

Hunter stirs Serena’s temper and her lust despite their differences. Soon he’s doing the unthinkable—breaking the rules he’s lived by, going against the government to keep Serena safe. But are the aliens and the government the biggest threats to Serena’s life… or is it Hunter?

• Genre:Paranormal, Science fiction, Romance, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy
• Creatures: Aliens
• Age: adult
• Source: owned ebook
• Read from June 01 to 04, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★/★★★★★

Tangled (Tangled #1) by Emma Chase

Drew Evans is a winner. Handsome and arrogant, he makes multimillion dollar business deals and seduces New York’s most beautiful women with just a smile. He has loyal friends and an indulgent family. So why has he been shuttered in his apartment for seven days, miserable and depressed?
He’ll tell you he has the flu.
But we all know that’s not really true.
Katherine Brooks is brilliant, beautiful and ambitious. She refuses to let anything - or anyone - derail her path to success. When Kate is hired as the new associate at Drew’s father’s investment banking firm, every aspect of the dashing playboy’s life is thrown into a tailspin. The professional competition she brings is unnerving, his attraction to her is distracting, his failure to entice her into his bed is exasperating.
Then, just when Drew is on the cusp of having everything he wants, his overblown confidence threatens to ruin it all. Will he be able untangle his feelings of lust and tenderness, frustration and fulfillment? Will he rise to the most important challenge of his life?
Can Drew Evans win at love?
Tangled is not your mother’s romance novel. It is an outrageous, passionate, witty narrative about a man who knows a lot about women…just not as much as he thinks he knows. As he tells his story, Drew learns the one thing he never wanted in life, is the only thing he can’t live without.

• Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Humor, Chick Lit
• Age: adult
• Source: owned ebook
• Read from May 29 to 31, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★☆/★★★★★

And With Madness Comes the Light (Experiment in Terror #6.5) by Karina Halle

The Man. The Mystery. The Madness.

Dex Foray has never been anyone’s fool – until he missed his chance for happiness with Perry Palomino. Broken and alone, Dex has no choice but to rise from the ashes Perry left behind and find his own path to redemption. But nothing in Dex’s life has ever come easily, especially when there’s a dark madness waiting in the wings.

Told from Dex’s POV, And With Madness Comes the Light is short story/novella that spans the time period from the end of Lying Season (Book #4) until the end of On Demon Wings (Book #5). If you were ever wondering what really happened to Dex while Perry was gone - his journey to Dex 2.0 - now is your chance.

• Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Mystery, Paranormal Romance
• Age:  adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read in February 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★★/★★★★★

Into the Hollow (Experiment in Terror #6) by Karina Halle

Perry Palomino has fought her demons – and won – but the battle is far from over. She’s now left broken and on her own, leaving behind her life and family in Portland to focus on giving Dex Foray – and the Experiment in Terror show – a second chance. 

But their past mistakes continue to tease and test their relationship, as does the wild and desolate terrain of the Canadian Rockies.

The snow-covered peaks and ravenous forests hide an urban legend too unbelievably frightening to be true and the only way the duo has a chance of surviving is if Perry can let in the very man who sent her to hell and back.

• Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Mystery, Paranormal Romance
• Age:  adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from February 20 to 21, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★★/★★★★★

The Dex-Files (Experiment in Terror, #5.7) by Karina Halle

The truth is out there...

The Dex-Files is a compilation novel that accompanies the Experiment in Terror Series and is not to be-read as a stand-alone. In the Dex-Files we find a variety of scenes and chapters from the enigmatic Dex Foray's POV from books #1-6 in the series.

Some of these scenes have been previously published, albeit from Perry's POV, while other scenes are completely new.

In addition to it not being a stand-alone, the novel also contains some major spoilers and should be read only by those who have read all the published books in the series.

• Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Mystery, Paranormal Romance
• Age:  adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• note: short story 
• Read from February 19 to 21, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★★/★★★★★

Old Blood (Experiment in Terror, #5.5) by Karina Halle

 

 A haunting novella from the Experiment in Terror Series...

From her harrowing introduction in Darkhouse, the spectre known as “Creepy Clown Lady” has been a constant fixture in Perry Palomino’s life. But beyond the horrid makeup and piercing stare lies Pippa, a woman just like everyone else.

Well, not quite.

When Perry discovered Pippa’s message to her and Dex on the EVP recordings, she thought she heard the last of the old woman’s message. She was wrong. In the novella Old Blood, Pippa relays the tale of her troubled and tortured past, revealing how an aspiring actress and loving mother fell into madness and how an unfathomable betrayal led to her untimely death.

For Perry, the repercussions of her message are life-shattering.

Old Blood is #5.5 in the series and occurs between books #5 On Demon Wings and #6 Into the Hollow

• Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Mystery
• Age: mature young adult / adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read in February, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★/★★★★★

On Demon Wings (Experiment in Terror #5) by Karina Halle

When the life you wanted has crumbled beneath your fingers, there’s nothing left to do but pick up the pieces and soldier on. You’ve done this before.

But what happens when you no longer feel like yourself anymore? When fires spontaneously start-up around you, when you hear growling coming from underneath your bed, and you no longer recognize your face in the mirror. What happens then?

Ghost-hunter Perry Palomino doesn’t have much time to find out. Now, the evil she used to hunt is a lot closer to home. It’s inside of her, taking over her life bit-by-terrifying bit, and there’s only one person who can help her.

If part of her doesn’t kill him first.

• Genre: Paranormal Romance, Horror, Supernatural, Mystery
• Age: mature young adult / adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from February 17 to 18, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★/★★★★★

Shadowfever (Fever, #5) by Karen Marie Moning

In an epic battle between humans and Fae, the hunter becomes the hunted when the Sinsar Dubh turns on Mac and begins mowing a deadly path through those she loves.

Who can she turn to? Who can she trust? Who is the woman haunting her dreams?

More important, who is Mac herself and what is the destiny she glimpses in the black and crimson designs of an ancient tarot card?

From the luxury of the Lord Master's penthouse to the sordid depths of an Unseelie nightclub, from the erotic bed of her lover to the terrifying bed of the Unseelie King, Mac's journey will force her to face the truth of her exile, and to make a choice that will either save the world . . . or destroy it.

• Genre: Urban fantasy, Paranormal,  Supernatural, Dystopia, Romance, Magic, Dark
• Creatures: Fae
• Age: adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from October 10 to 11, 2012

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★★/★★★★★

Iced (Dani O'Malley #1) (Fever #6) by Karen Marie Moning

The year is 1 AWC—After the Wall Crash. The Fae are free and hunting us. It’s a war zone out there, and no two days are alike. I’m Dani O’Malley, the chaos-filled streets of Dublin are my home, and there’s no place I’d rather be.
Dani “Mega” O’Malley plays by her own set of rules—and in a world overrun by Dark Fae, her biggest rule is: Do what it takes to survive. Possessing rare talents and the all-powerful Sword of Light, Dani is more than equipped for the task. In fact, she’s one of the rare humans who can defend themselves against the Unseelie. But now, amid the pandemonium, her greatest gifts have turned into serious liabilities.
Dani’s ex–best friend, MacKayla Lane, wants her dead, the terrifying Unseelie princes have put a price on her head, and Inspector Jayne, the head of the police force, is after her sword and will stop at nothing to get it. What’s more, people are being mysteriously frozen to death all over the city, encased on the spot in sub-zero, icy tableaux.
When Dublin’s most seductive nightclub gets blanketed in hoarfrost, Dani finds herself at the mercy of Ryodan, the club’s ruthless, immortal owner. He needs her quick wit and exceptional skill to figure out what’s freezing Fae and humans dead in their tracks—and Ryodan will do anything to ensure her compliance.
Dodging bullets, fangs, and fists, Dani must strike treacherous bargains and make desperate alliances to save her beloved Dublin—before everything and everyone in it gets iced.

• Genre: Urban fantasy, Paranormal,  Supernatural, Dystopia, Romance, Magic, Dark
• Creatures: Fae
• Age: adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from November 01 to 07, 2012

FINAL RATING: ★★/★★★★★

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

 

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss.

The Light Between Oceans is exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel.

• Genre: Contemporary romance, Drama
• Age: Adult
• Source: owned paperback
• Read from May 05 to 08, 2013

 FINAL RATING: ★★★★★/★★★★★

The Child Thief by Brom

Peter is quick, daring, and full of mischief--and like all boys, he loves to play, though his games often end in blood. His eyes are sparkling gold, and when he graces you with his smile you are his friend for life, but his promised land is not Neverland.

Fourteen-year-old Nick would have been murdered by the drug dealers preying on his family had Peter not saved him. Now the irresistibly charismatic wild boy wants Nick to follow him to a secret place of great adventure, where magic is alive and you never grow old. Even though he is wary of Peter's crazy talk of faeries and monsters, Nick agrees. After all, New York City is no longer safe for him, and what more could he possibly lose?

There is always more to lose.

Accompanying Peter to a gray and ravished island that was once a lush, enchanted paradise, Nick finds himself unwittingly recruited for a war that has raged for centuries--one where he must learn to fight or die among the "Devils," Peter's savage tribe of lost and stolen children.

There, Peter's dark past is revealed: left to wolves as an infant, despised and hunted, Peter moves restlessly between the worlds of faerie and man. The Child Thief is a leader of bloodthirsty children, a brave friend, and a creature driven to do whatever he must to stop the "Flesh-eaters" and save the last, wild magic in this dying land.

• Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Dark Fantasy, Urban fantasy, Magic, Fairy Tales
• Creatures: faeries, Zombies (?)
• Age: mature young adult/adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from January 08 to 09, 2013

 FINAL RATING: ★★★★★★/★★★★★

Harbour Falls (A Harbour Falls Mystery #1) by S.R. Grey

Best-selling author Maddy Fitch, researching material for a new novel, returns to her hometown of Harbour Falls to investigate a disappearance that has haunted the tiny Maine coastal town for the past four years. 

Maddy soon discovers that the case has gone cold, but the prime suspect, Adam Ward, is hotter than ever. Now living on an isolated island, Maddy takes up residence near the sexy Mr. Ward's home. As she begins to seek out answers, the mystery deepens, putting Maddy in jeopardy. 

Lies, secrets, deceptions. Nothing is ever what it seems in Harbour Falls.

A steamy novel that immerses the reader in an intricate storyline that will keep them glued till the very last page.

• Genre: Contemporary romance, Suspense, Mystery
• Age: Adult
• Source: owned ebook
• Read from March 05 to 09, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Willow Point (A Harbour Falls Mystery #2) by S.R. Grey

 

With the Harbour Falls Mystery solved, author Maddy Fitch hopes secrets and lies are behind her. But a cryptic letter from her former best friend would seem to indicate otherwise. Is the man Maddy fell in love with while solving the Harbour Falls Mystery, the gorgeous and rich Adam Ward, keeping a damning and potentially dangerous secret from her? Only the writer of the letter, Ami Hensley, knows for sure. But Maddy is hesitant to confront her, since the last time they saw one another Ami tried to kill her.

But if Maddy wants answers--ones that could potentially save Adam--then she must face her fears and visit her former friend. Unfortunately for Maddy, Ami is currently locked up in the creepiest place in Maine, an old gothic structure that houses the criminally insane, known simply as Willow Point.

Will this new mystery tear Maddy and Adam apart?
Who else is in on Adam's secret?

And will Maddy find the answers before it's too late?

Another heart-stopping page turner from the author of Harbour Falls. Willow Point promises to keep you on the edge of your seat.

• Genre: Contemporary romance, Suspense, Mystery
• Age: Adult
• Source: ARC, courtesy of the author S.R. Grey in exchange for an honest review 
• Read from April 20 to 21, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Raphael/Parish (Bayou Heat, #1-2) by Alexandra Ivy & Laura Wright

  

RAPHAEL

The brilliant and dangerous diplomat of the Pantera shapeshifters, Raphael has devoted his life to discovering the key to the infertility that is threatening the extinction of his puma race. Creating a vast network of spies worldwide, he never expected to discover that the answer might be beneath his very nose. But when Ashe, a beautiful human female, crosses his path, his most primitive instincts are stirred. Unable to resist, he takes her to his bed, and is shocked when she becomes pregnant with his child. It’s a miracle that might prove to be the salvation of his people, but only if he can keep her safe from the mercenaries determined to kill her.

PARISH 

Untamed and undeniably sexy, Parish, leader of the Pantera hunters, rarely leaves the magic of the Wildlands to deal with the humans he despises. But with the prized and risky Pantera birth on the way, puma shifter, Parish must travel to New Orleans to find and bring back a human doctor. The moment he sees the lovely, talented and all too human Dr. Julia Cabot he cannot resist the wild, potent drive to make her his. Betrayed and destroyed by love, Julia will not let her heart choose her path again. But as she and Parish fight to save the life of an unborn child, a fierce and overwhelming bond develops between them, threatening her frozen heart with the secret hope and ultimate temptation of love and family.

• Genre: Novella, Erotica, Paranormal Romance
• Age: Adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read in January 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Born of Night (The League, #1) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

In the Ichidian Universe, The League and their ruthless assassins rule all. Expertly trained and highly valued, the League Assassins are the backbone of the government. But not even the League is immune to corruption . . .

Command Assassin Nykyrian Quikiades once turned his back on the League—and has been hunted by them ever since. Though many have tried, none can kill him or stop him from completing his current mission: to protect Kiara Zamir, a woman whose father’s political alliance has made her a target.  

As her world becomes even deadlier, Kiara must entrust her life to the same kind of beast who once killed her mother and left her for dead. Old enemies and new threaten them both and the only way they can survive is to overcome their suspicions and learn to trust in the very ones who threaten them the most: each other.

• Genre: Paranormal Romance, Science Fiction romance, Aliens, Futuristic, Space
• Age: adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from May 07 to 09, 2012, reread on april 07th, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★/★★★★★

Evenfall (In the Company of Shadows #1) by Ais & Sonny Hassell

 Years after the bombs of WWIII have changed the physical and political landscape, the Agency ruthlessly works behind the scenes to take down rebel groups that threaten the current government. Their goals justify all means. Hsin Liu Vega (Sin) is their most efficient and deadly assassin ever. However, he tends to go off on unauthorized killing sprees and somehow his assigned partners all end up dead under suspicious circumstances. That is why the Agency has had him locked up in a box on the fourth floor for years. But now they think it is time to put the psychopath back in the field. With a new partner.

Boyd's mother, a high ranking Agency official, volunteers her teenage son for the position. Boyd is not afraid of death. In fact, his life has been such an endless cycle of apathy and despair for the last few years that he'd welcome it.

Can these two broken men form an efficient partnership? Can they learn to trust anyone, let alone each other? Sin doesn't give a fuck about the Agency, or the androgynous boy who holds the remote to the shock collar that is supposed to control him.

On the other hand, Boyd is strangely unafraid of the man everyone calls 'monster' and Sin seems reluctant to let his keeper get himself killed on any missions. Yet.

Status: Complete (re-written/heavily edited as of 1/01/2011)
Word Count: 498,200

• Genre: Dystopia, Science Fiction, Sociology, Romance,  Crime
• Age: adult, Glbt
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from January 11 to February 06, 2013 

FINAL RATING: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Kiss a Falling Star by Barbara Elsborg

  

How far can you fall? Caspar had once shone brighter than any star in the sky. He led an exciting life, had a good job and the love of his family. Now he barely survives in a village where he's shunned by everyone, even his parents. Unemployed, unemployable, he consoles himself with stringless sex-lots of it.

How hard can you land? Ally escapes death by a whisker when she falls in front of a train. Not an accident, someone pushed her, and she doesn't hang around to give them another shot. But she finds herself falling in a different way when she meets Caspar, and she plummets hard and fast. He's dark, he's brooding, he's hotter than any man she's ever met, and she wants him-bad.

How high can they soar? With Ally's adversary closing in, plus Caspar's tendency to screw things up, if they don't open their arms and catch each other, they'll burn up in an atmosphere determined to keep them apart.

• Genre: Contemporary romance, Romantic Suspense
• Age: adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from March 31 to April 02, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★/★★★★★

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. 

The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. 

As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.

• Genre:Historical fiction, Magical realism, Fairy Tales, Mystery
• Age: adult
• Source: owned paperback and ebook
• Read from March 15 to 31, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★/★★★★★

Lover At Last (Black Dagger Brotherhood #11) by J.R. Ward

 Qhuinn, son of no one, is used to being on his own. Disavowed from his bloodline, shunned by the aristocracy, he has finally found an identity as one of the most brutal fighters in the war against the Lessening Society. But his life is not complete. Even as the prospect of having a family of his own seems to be within reach, he is empty on the inside, his heart given to another....

Blay, after years of unrequited love, has moved on from his feelings for Qhuinn. And it’s about time: The male has found his perfect match in a Chosen female, and they are going to have a young—just as Qhuinn has always wanted for himself. It’s hard to see the new couple together, but building your life around a pipe dream is just a heartbreak waiting to happen. As he’s learned firsthand.

Fate seems to have taken these vampire soldiers in different directions... but as the battle over the race’s throne intensifies, and new players on the scene in Caldwell create mortal danger for the Brotherhood, Qhuinn finally learns the true definition of courage, and two hearts who are meant to be together... finally become one.

• Genre: Paranormal romance, Urban Fantasy, Supernatural
• Creatures: vampires, angels 
• Age: adult, Glbt
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from March 26 to 30, 2013
   

Final rating: ★★★★☆/★★★★★

Warrior's Cross by Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban

Cameron Jacobs is an open book. He considers himself a common waiter with normal friends, boring hobbies, harmless dogs, and nothing even resembling a secret...

except a crush on a tall, dark, devastatingly handsome man who dines alone at his restaurant on Tuesday nights. All it takes is one passionate night with Julian Cross to turn Cameron’s world on its head.

Julian's love and devotion are all Cameron could have hoped for and more. But when his ordinary life meets and clashes with Julian's extraordinary lifestyle,

Cameron discovers that trust and fear can go hand in hand, and love is just a step away from danger.

• Note: it's stand alone novel, but can be read as "Cut & Run #4.5"
• Genre: Mystery, Romance, Suspense, Contemporary Romance
• Age: adult, Glbt
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from March 25 to 26, 2013
   

FINAL RATING: ★★★☆/★★★★★