Nalini Singh - Angel's Blood

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux is hired by the dangerously beautiful Archangel Raphael. But this time, it's not a wayward vamp she has to track. It's an archangel gone bad.

The job will put Elena in the midst of a killing spree like no other--and pull her to the razor's edge of passion. Even if the hunt doesn't destroy her, succumbing to Raphael's seductive touch just may. For when archangels play, mortals break.

(Mini) Comment: I wasn't execting to be marveled while reading this book but part of me wanted to, because it's feom one of my favourite authors and many people had liked it. But my expectations were met and I wasn't overly dazzled by the book, or the characters. We can't enjoy everything. I was constantly comparing my feelings to those of when I was reading the other series the author has and I couldn't help it to feel a bit bored witht this story. I am aware the book has received prizes and it well loved by readers, but to me..it wasn't that special.

I don't even know how to explain why I didn't like it that much, perhaps it has to do with the way the angels think, it seems they're too indiferent, I wasn't really convinced about their emotional status...or lack of it, to be more exact.
I'll keepr eading, who knows if the next one isn't a pearl? But this one lacked things.
Nothing like her other series, which dazzles, ensnares and conquers me with every single book.

An e-reader for me!

Yesterday, this baby arrived!

I'm going to test it right away. I'm so happy I could finally buy one, it took me two months of work to do so, but well, we only live once!

I hope he likes me as much as I like him, lol

I can't wait to read some of the ebooks I've been buying and I didn't read because it gets unconfortable on the PC. It's a rainy day here today but to me it's like a bright sunshine :)

Deborah Cooke - Darkfire Kiss

Rafferty Powell has resolved to destroy his hated arch-nemesis, Magnus Montmorency. The pair have exchanged challenge coins, and their next battle will be their last. But Rafferty never expected to meet a woman whose desire for Magnus's end matches his own-and whose soul sparks the firestorm within him...

Comment: The sixth installment of the Pyr's adventures was a bit weaker than the others, to me. Rafferty was the one who always wanted his firestorm. All the others were too surprised to have theirs and some even fought it because they didn't want the responsability and the weight of knowing they would be parents. Not Rafferty. He always wanted it and even appreciating his friends's oportunity, he was wondered when would be his turn. Well, in all the books there was poor Rafferty saddened once again because it still wasn't him. So, now his book came and I thought yep, here it is, I was ready for more than firestorm, I wanted fireworks, sexual tension, true passion!! I was disappointed, the romance lacked chemestry in a way I didn't expect.
Then - and this is spoiler zone - the fact he couldn't have biological children because his mate couldn't conceive. I was sorry for Melissa's fate, for the fact she couldn't, and she was a brave mate, yes, but...this is Rafferty, the guy who despaired for a firestorm, who wanted it more than anything! How bad karma to see him denied that part of the experience...I was really sad.
This issue ruined the book a bit for me...not totally, but a prt of it.

Positive things....yes, some:
Magnus is dead, always a good thing. Although there's still Jorge, trapped but surely will be released someday, and two enemies joining forces to destroy the Pyr...let's see what happens.
We saw two more dragons come along and I must confess I am curious to see them fall in love, and as we don't know if Sloane is next...I mean he is the last one that we know since the start that hasn't a mate yet, but the new ones give me hope too!
Sophie makes an appearance, we understand some new myths about our dragons...all in all, good things.
The book itself wasn't that bad, it just...it's disappointing to see Rafferty with such a weak romance, in my opinion.

Chris Quinton - Dark Waters

Flein is a wanderer by instinct and need, roaming the known world as the fancy takes him.In the Highland village of Glenfinnan, women have been raped and brutally murdered. The killer is a waterhorse, a monstrous shapeshifter by all accounts. But when Flein meets Donnchadh, first in its equine form, then its man-shape, he knows the waterhorse is innocent. As they hunt for the real murderer, Flein reluctantly becomes more and more drawn to the handsome shapeshifter. Donnchadh, though wary, shares the same attraction.
But time is against them. They must find the killer before more women die. Then suspicion is turned on them and the hunters become the hunted.

Comment: The last book in the challenge for this month, I'll post which authors I'll read the next one later on.

This story follows the search for a killer by two mystical beings that unite forces to clean one of their names and character. They don't seem to come to terms at first, because they see things differently but slowly we get to see there's something developping between them, I especially liked the romance part wasn't rushed and that makes things look more promising and believable.
Flein is the son of a god and meets a fae being that rules a loch and eats even people if he's hungry. They clash on the way they see things and on how to act but from the moment they join forces to stop the killer and rapist, feelings blossom.
I was quite happy to read the story, there's enough details that enrich the story, it isn't boring and the pace suits it. The end was good, enchanting and hopeful. Still I finished the book with the feeling something could not work so well in real life if those characters were humans and real people, but well, this is waht dreams are made of.
I also liked the scotish setting and to see some mythology, I've gathered the author is interested in these kind of subjects and it shows.

S.A. Payne - Snowflakes and Embers

Deseem was to be a gift to God, trained from birth to be a priest but when his father, the king, is short on allies and heirs he's ordered to become a Bentan Bride. Left with no choices and options he braces himself for the worst.
Liam is used to how his magic frightens people and he's learned to like his isolation. He's content being a Watcher and finds real joy in his work. The last thing he wants is a Bentan Bride.
When destiny and chance bring them together they both have to struggle to build a new life.

Comment: I loved reading this story. It was the first thing by this author that I've tried but I'm in love with the two main characters, for real!
The story follows the lives of Deseem and Liam, two different young men, from two places that couldn't be more different. Deseem is "sold" as a bentam bride to another man, because it suits his family's treaties. He is very shy and fears disaproval and beatings. Liam, on the other hand, comes from a more loving family even though he too has some issues to solve with them.
Together these two must live together and face the feelings that start to emerge between them

The writing is uncredible beautiful, and the imagination to creat such a story...I loed the detailed bits of everyone's beliefs and living styles, I loved spending my time reading this. All the situations make sense within the story and the characters acted accordingly to the way they were educated.
I felt sorry for Deseem when things weren't going well for him and I celabrated when he decided to take a stand.
Liam is a very cute character, one the reader feels is ginving everything he can to be fair. It was very good to see the development of their relationship and the way the both reacted to what was happening.
The secondary characters had some deep, they weren't there just to fill some space, and I was glad to see them play their part in uniting Deseem and Liam.

The author has a very vivid imagination and made a world very unique and with flaws, sure, but nothing is perfect except the way the story flows, it's amazing.
I'll certainly read more by her.
I'm really in love, the characters don't leave my head and when I've finished the last page I felt sorry because there wasn't more.
One of the best gay stories I've read.

*Story available to subscribe in the author's site.

Roberto Bolaño - The Savage Detectives

New Year's Eve, 1975: Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima, poets and leaders of a movement they call visceral realism, leave Mexico City in a borrowed white Impala. Their mission: to track down the poet Cesárea Tinajero, who disappeared into the Sonora desert - and obscurity - decades before. But the detectives are themselves hunted men, and their search for the past will end in violence, flight, and permanent exile. In this dazzling novel, Roberto Bolaño tells the story of two modern-day Quixotes on a twenty-year, multi-continent, tragicomic quest through a darkening universe.

Comment: This book was recommended to me, it wasn't a conscious choice.
I was led to believe something about it, and then...
But first things first.
The book is divided in three parts, and parts 1 and 3 are continuous, chronologically speaking. The bigger part is the second one, but, to my POV isn't the most important one.
Let's say things that matter happen in parts 1 - where we meet the top main characters - and part 3 - where the mystery is solved. But the reader only reads the mystery solving after all that happened after that, not while it occurs.
To symplify: we get to see the character's lives before we know why they started living like that.
Complicated? I thought so too.

The whole book is about the searching for one latin-american poet, a woman no one knows where she went, and we only see it in the third part. I thought it was a bit anti-climatic considering all the fuss about it.

The book has lots of characters and almost all of them have a POV, which made things even more confusing. I confess I ended up only paying real attention to one or two of them. Their lives are full of poetry, cultural decisions and...sex. Yep, lots of sex with lots of people.

In the end I didn't really enjoyed it that much. Sure, the cultural refelxion one can extract from the novel is interesting, but it's so populated with so many characters and POV's, that it gets distracting. To bad, because it started really interesting. I was just disaponted about the whole mess of things, too many things I think are unecessary...but the writing is fluid and the author had a talent to write things in a beautiful way, which is no surprise as he was a poet himself too.

Stephani Hecht - Offside pass

At one time Devon Canton and his two brothers were the talk of the NHL. Set to become the next superstars of the sport, they had lucrative contracts and numerous endorsements within their reach. Then the bottom fell out of their world and everything changed. Now struggling to make ends meet, they have been reduced to playing in the minor leagues. To make matters worse, they all end up playing for the same dead-end team, the Battle Creek Hawks. Not only hasn’t that team won a game in three years, but their arena is falling down around them and is in danger of being condemned. Then Devon and his brothers hit a new low when they get thrown out of their first game for getting into a brawl…with each other.

Battle Creek Times sports reporter Saul Davis knows the instant he see the three brothers beating the snot out of each other that he has a story. It only takes a little digging to find out how far the once promising hockey players have fallen. Intrigued, Saul tries to pin down Devon for an interview, only to be rudely rebuked. Unfortunately for Devon, that only makes Saul more determined to get to the bottom of the story.

Then Saul uncovers something about the brooding hockey player that could not only destroy the man’s reputation, but also ruin any chance of him every playing on the professional level again. Saul knows he should go ahead and run the story, but as he finds himself growing closer to Devon, he realizes that his feelings for the other man are too strong to ignore. When a rival reporter also discovers Devon’s secret, Saul recognizes that he may have to make the most painful decision of all – his own journalism career or Devon.

Comment: This isn't the first book I read by this author. I'm a fan of her Lost Shifters series.
This new series about hockey players isn't as good, I think. the mystical side of the other series is very good and always engrossing. This new one isn't as compelling and I felt it lacked a bit of chemstry, I mean the details on how they were falli g in love were there but I didn't feel convinced. The main idea is very interesting and unusual, for none of the main characters is filthy rich and knows no bounds. But the relationship itself...I didn't feel the sizzle there.
I know the author can do so much better, so I'll keep reading her books, I just hope they will be better than this one.

Devon and Saul are a cute, relatively balanced couple. I mean, none of them is way weaker than the other and the issues they both face because they get together don't offer much conflict, unless to themselves, so through that POV, there isn't much more to say. The way they shouldn't be together is the srrongest point here and I liked seeing, especially in Devon's case, the inner thoughts on why they shouldn't but in the end we have the expected HEA.

The secondary characters are very interesting and they do offer some curiosity, so I'll wait to see what happens next.

Deborah Smith - The Crossroads Cafe

A beautiful woman, scarred for life.
A tortured man, seeking redemption.
Brought together by fate in a small town high in the majestic Appalachian mountains.
Live. Love. Believe.
Beauty is in the lie of the beholder.

Heartbroken and cynical, famed actress Cathryn Deen hides from the world after a horrific accident scars her for life.

Secluded in her grandmother's North Carolina mountain home, Cathryn at first resists the friendship of the local community and the famous biscuits served up by her loyal cousin, Delta, at The Crossroads Cafe, until a neighbor, former New York architect Thomas Mitternich, reaches out to her.

Thomas lost his wife and son in the World Trade Center. In the years since he's struggled with alcohol and despair. He thinks nothing and no one can make his life worth living again.

Until he meets Cathryn.

Comment: This book was great. The more stories by this author I read, the more I like her, because all her books have a deep characterization, strong characters, even when they're weak, and they end happily. I believe the author creates the perfect balance her books, the hard growing up the characters have to go through and the HEA that makes the reader hopeful.

Cathryn gets her face burned because of an accident, and before she was an acclaimed beautiful person, with an empire of beauty before her.
Thomas lost his family on the 9-11 and still suffers and mourns them, living with guilt everyday.
Stangely these two connect because of Crossroads cafe, owned by someone that links them and then..then it's a gorgeous voyage and very emotional.
The author talks about the price of fame, the paparazzi, the fact we can still mourn people but nevertheless there's a need to move on anyway. I think this books was very well written and it was well worthy of the price I've paid for it.

Filipe Faria - Vagas de Fogo

The armies of the Scourge have awakened at last, and now rage across the continent. The Citadel of the Blade has been leveled, Sirulia has been put to the sword, and birds of ill-omen now fly over Nolwyn, as Ul-Thoryn readies itself for war against Vaul-Syrith.

The companions are separated or lost, and largely bereft of hope. Unbeknownst to many, the sole hope resides within Aewyre Thoryn, but each and every one of the companions will have a role to play in the coming conflict, even if they can no longer count on the strength their unity provided them with. Chased by foes from their past, lost in unknown lands or surprised by enemies once thought of as allies, the group now faces the imminent immersion of Allaryia in the darkness that all had believed dispelled long ago. Seltor, its harbinger, has learned from his past mistakes, however, and his intentions no longer seem to be the same; or at least, appear not to be what Allaryia had learned to expect from him…

Comment: I've finished reading this portuguese book last night. It's the fifth installment in a fantasy series where the main characters - a group - travells in a mutual help and discovery trip but is faced with the fact the old enemy of the worls is returning from his deep sleep and now wants to get revenge on those who are against him. So far, the previous 4 books have shown us how the protagonists separated to pursue individual goals and how that shaped them into what their are now. In this 5th book, some of them are returning home to battle the enemy and others are still away but close to returning as well.

The author is young and has started a trend, the fantasy one, written in portuguese. I still think some things could be done differently but the reader thinks this about all books anyway.
The writting has certainly changed for better and the emotional side too. I was actually sad to read some things and I'm now curious to see some redemption, I mean, I hope I'll see it.
For more details, you can see the author's page on the side..he has the option to read in english.
In February the last book was published. I can't believe after so long...well, I hope it's the perfect conclusion though.

Jet Mykles - A Rose is a Rose

Carson’s quiet sobbing filled the early morning air. Heedless of the expensive red Chinese silk of his robe, he sat on the dusty floor of his balcony, back wedged against the stucco wall, shoulder against the sturdy wooden posts of the railing. Dawn had just broken over the roof of the apartments across the courtyard from his, washing his haven in weak golden light. Summer was on the wane, and fall had taken root, turning the leaves of some of the trees that shaded him from green to dusky brown. Hugging his folded legs, he rested his forehead on his knees and gave in to the misery that was his life.

“You better think hard, baby.” Anthony’s cruel tone echoed in his head. “You go on and see how far you get without me.”

Despite his anger, Carson knew the answer to that — he wouldn’t get very far without Anthony to support him. His job with the burlesque show would barely cover the rent on his apartment and utilities. He’d become far too accustomed to relying on Anthony for all the little extras like clothing, entertainment, and food. For a glorious six months, Anthony had taken care of him. He knew that. Silly him to think that since the man had done so thus far, he’d want to do so on a more permanent basis. He’d thought that moving in together and becoming a real couple was the next step.

Comment: I just finished reading this book. It's another good story by Jet Mykles, she never disappoints me, because she has rightfully won the title of good writer.
This story is set in the same liens of most of her books, one of the characters is more doubtful about his sexuality and the other one is fully confident on it. There's also the element of cross dressing and angst. I like how the author's character's go through an angsty stage and I like to see how they think about themselves while in that period. Nobody's perfect anywhere, so...
Carson is faced with troubles and also with an easy way to overcome them, but he chooses the harder path and it's both redeeming and romantic that he does so. Also, it feels so much better to earn one's things, isn't it?
I'm again pleased with a story by this author and can't wait to have more.

Plus, isn't the cover great..I have yet to see a cover by the duo Mykles/Nunn there isn't simply perfect.

Pamela Morsi - Courting Miss Hattie

The news spread like brush fire though the whole county when widower Ancil Drayton announced his intention to start courting Miss Hattie Colfax. She was certainly spirited and delightfully sweet natured, and she'd managed to run her family farm almost single-handedly. But wasn't a twenty-nine-year-old lady farmer too old to catch a husband?

All his life handsome, black-haired Reed Tyler had worked Miss Hattie's farm - and dreamed of one day settling down on his own piece of land with the pretty young woman he'd sworn to marry. Hattie was someone he could tell his hopes and troubles to - someone he looked on as a sister. So he thought, until the idea of Ancil Drayton calling on her made him seethe. Until the night a brotherly peck became a scorching kiss...and Reed knew nothing would bank the blaze - and that his best friend was the only woman he would ever love...

Comment: This story has a premise I usually don't go for. An older woman and a younger man. Well, not that much older, but still. Interesting how our perceptions of things are so ironed by the way we live our real lives, the culture we're in, what society dictates at us...it's part of our growing up that allows us to change the way we think and make us accept things we wouldn't otherwise. I feel pretty happy with myself for having an open mind for many things society still condones, but I must admit older women with yonger man still makes me frown. In this book I did it when I realized it, but the author has managed to create such a web of whys and becauses that it seemed really atural for them to be together in the end. I'm not telling a secret, it's obvious this woukd happen.

Hattie has always been a not so pretty girl and while a child, other would make fun of her.
Reed was one of her friends, even if younger than her, but he is a working man, he knows what he is doing and together they have the dream to grow rice in her farm.
Others in the city don't think it would work and everything starts to go from the moment another man declares he wants to court Hattie. She's a 29 year old who never had a marriage offer and is now considering the marriage, a way for not to aelone. This makes Reed jealous in a way he didn't think possible and slowly we get to see both their feelings change.

It's a very emotional voyage and one where people's feelings are the most important thing. It's so good to see a couple to trust and allow a friendship t escalate further, in a positive way. The story is well written, I think it has the exat amount of chemestry and suggestion to make the reader happy with it. In the end I had a smile on my face.

Nora Roberts - Genuine Lies

EVE BENEDICT. The glamorous screen star is still beautiful, still tough--and still has a heart as big as the legend that surrounds her. But Eve is a woman of mystery, whose passionate affairs and tempestuous marriages have fueled gossip columns for decades. Now she is ready to reveal her secrets to one woman... but will opening herself to Julia Summers's scrutiny endanger the only person who will tell her truth ... her way?

JULIA SUMMERS. A renowned writer, as astonishingly lovely as she is private, Julia cares deeply for her young son--and not at all for a place in the spotlight. But no subject is as irresistible as the glorious Eve ... and no story more challenging to tell than the one nobody in Hollywood wants told. She cannot refuse the dream job Eve offers her... but can she be seduced into keeping the secrets she learns?

PAUL WINTHROP. Eve's stepson and the hottest novelist in a very hot town, Paul provokes a different kind of fantasy with his bronzed muscles and panther's grace. He has a stake in keeping Eve's image just as history has written it ... but will he sacrifice the woman he's always loved for a chance to write his own happy ending?

Comment: Nora Roberts is one of my favourite author like I said before. But my addiction to her work has gone and nowadays what's left is a curiosity and caring for what her books meant to me, so...
I was a bit worried about this book, the blurb wasn't that appealing to me, as I don't like the glamourous world of Hollywood that much in my books, but it was hers and I've talked to people who had read it and based on their opinions, I decided to try it.
I liked it a lot...it reminded me of my favourite fiction books by her, like Northern Lights and Carolina Moon, for instance.
With this one, we know it was written at the time, the signs are all there, but there's also NR's trademarks, the romance, the slowly revelead clues, the creation of every character's past...

The story was interesting, addicting and I would only change the fact we had some scenes from Eve's youth. I don't particular care when the book descibes several times in the character's lives like that. I don't like to jump from past to present and vice-versa. The mystery was well hidden and the truth surprised me at all levels.
I loved the relationship Paul was developping with Brandon, treating him like a son...the author is widely known for her tender descriptions between grown ups and children and she didn't disappoint in this one.

Reading this book made me eager to read more and I'm quite happy with Genuine Lies, so much, much better than Divine Evil, IMO.