Caris Roane / Jessica Andersen

Alison Wells is no ordinary woman. Born with supernatural powers, she can never make love to a man without putting him in grave danger. But when her special vision reveals a glorious muscled man soaring overhead on mighty wings, she feels an overwhelming attraction she cannot resist -- even as he tells her: "I have come for you. Your blood belongs to me."
Kerrick is a vampire and a warrior who has fought his hunger for a woman's love for the past two hundred years. As a Guardian of Ascension, he is sworn to protect Alison from the death vamp armies who crave her blood and her power. But Kerrick has cravings of his own -- a forbidden longing to open his heart and veins to Alison. To share his blood... satisfy his thirst and seal their fates forever.

* * * 

Imprisoned and tortured by the demoness who tricked him into betraying the Nightkeepers and the woman he loves, Rabbit must endure excruciating pain to protect the diminished Skywatch army as the end-time approaches. Although an ancient prophecy says his unique powers are key to winning the final battle in the doomsday war, he hasn’t just lost his credibility -- he’s lost his magic.
Myrinne is far from the woman Rabbit once knew -- she’s got magic now, and despite emotional scars, she’s strong enough to help the Nightkeepers. And yet she’s not prepared to handle the fiercely driven man he’s become or the new, dangerous feelings that spark between them.
With the barrier ready to fall and a xombi outbreak in the human world, Rabbit and Myrinne must forge a new partnership amid dangerous instability and the threat of an undead army. In the end, it will be up to Rabbit to master his ferocious magic -- or all will be lost. For him, for the woman he doesn’t have the right to love anymore, and for the fate of the world…

Comment: The last two books from December. Once again, I'd have liked to write a bigger post about them but I just can't seem to find the time to write...today the plumber was here, tomorrow I have to take my kitten to the vet, and so on...I'll stick to shorter notes, at least I won't let too many books pile up.

Ascension is the first in a series about vampires with wings. I thought it wouldn't be very interesting although I knew some friends enjoy the books a lot. I tried this one because of their opinion and I ended up enjoying the book too. It was easy to read, with an interesting story about a girl who'll become a winged vampire too and all the other character's around her. I liked the writing style and despite the fact this is a first book full of new information and details, I thought it was engrossing and not boring at all. I'm quite interested in reading more and already purchased the next one.

Spellfire is the last in a series. It's the conclusion of ms Andersen 's tale on the Mayan prophecy and how the group of nightkeepers and their friends/help achieve saving the world. This last book focuses on Rabbit and Myrinne, two characters we've known since book #1. I liked the fact this series had a beginning, a middle and now an end. It's final and I'm sorry but rather prefer to see it end than to shrivel. I just thought there's a book missing before the previous one and this one. It was supposed to exist but the author couldn't manage to write it on time, but in a way it shows she had planned to, because several things feel rushed and a book of transition is missing, in my opinion. Still, I believe it was a win series, well written and now it has a happy ending all the characters deserved.

I'm also curious about the author's new contemporary series, this time about cowboys.Can't wait to try it.

Jessica Andersen - Magic Unchained

Cara Liu is determined to unite the forces under her leadership but when Nightkeeper Sven enters the scene, Cara has trouble separating her duty to her people from her desire for her ex-lover. Their secret affair will not only jeopardize a tenuous alliance among the Nightkeepers, but it also distracts them from a danger within their own ranks planning a vicious betrayal...

Comment: This is the 7th installment int he Nightkeepers series by the author. After this one, there's only the last book, so I had high hopes for this one.
Cara Liu was one of the characters we meet in the first book to be a winikin, a kind of servant of a nightkeeper, in this case, Sven. but their relationship hasn't been very good in the past years so he sends her home and she goes because she doesn't really want to be a winikin, she believed she would be a nightkeeper and to know she's only a servant is hard on her. Plus there's Sven, her feelings for him changed and she thinks he could break her heart again, so she leaves. Sven was raised by Cara's parents but has had a very living-on-limits life and now that he's being a responsible nightkeeper, with a familiar like his bloodline would mean him to, he's not prepared to see cara return as leader of the winikin. With her came many more winikin rebels - it's the possible end of the world, after all - and this means there's some tension everywhere: they're rebels because they also didn't want to be winikins. In the beginning of the book everyone is still adapting to all this and I thought this book would be huge in terms of happenings, is the book before the last, so...
I was wrong. They only battle and two novelties happen, ok three if we're to be that technical, but to me it wasn't enough. I feel there's too many things to solve in the last one and with so many pages to waste so many in things that could be dealt in just 20 or 30...ehhh..
Then there's the romance. After years of denying their feelings I expected things to happen a bit slow, yes. They had too much to work out between them. Well, they did talk..a lot. But did they convince me they meant it? No. I think after all the talking and dealing with the fact they knew each other and lived together and had a certain relationship before (did I mention I hate the lovers reunited theme even when they weren't lovers?), they talked about it, imagined things about it, we had to see that...ahh how boring. And still they were doubtful, which rationally I understand, but I didn't feel they were actually committed to change, or to try. Their feelings were always about indecision, about yes now and no right after. I just think there wasn't dedication enough on their part to make things definite, to settle their relationship once and for all. So, the romance....ehhh.
There's two ehhs, so I can't say i loved this book. It's readable. But considering what I, personally, didn't really like in the story, plus the fact it's almost the last one...well, I still have a certain high expectation for the final one, Rabbit's. I hope it's better.

Jessica Andersen - Storm Kissed

When sexy Nightkeeper Dez goes rogue, the bounty hunter enlisted to catch him is Reese, his former lover. The sexual energy between them is hotter than ever-but the life-and-death stakes attached to the chase may pull them apart for good.

Comment: I'm quite pleased with this new installment in the nightkeepers series. It is much better than the previous one. Actually as soon as I read a daring new things in the storyline I was shocked, there was no way the author would go on with this, but I guess it was just a reaction of the moment, because right now the idea doesn't seem that reckless. Something I wouldn't choose, definitely, but not so bad.

So, in this new book, the nightkeepers adventures are coming close to its end. Snake Mendez is finally working with the rest of the nightkeepers and his help is vital to the success of their mission. Reese Montana is there too, to joing forces with Mendez and help uniting the team even more.
At the same time we see some scenes from Sven's POV (he will be the next book's protagonist) and we find out thrilling news to the good one's team.
Of course, some bad things might also happen but the book is amazingly well balanced in this matter.

I won't post spoilers, but I must say I was quite shocked to see the path the author took to lead the story. I'm still thinking about it. I wouldn't do it this way, but I hope her talent makes this all right in the end.
We get to see new characters and tidbits for the two last books. It was supposed to be three of them, but apparently only two are going to be released because the schedule probably wouldn't allow more. Next will be Sven's and Rabbit's will close the deal. I can't wait for both of them.

In this Storm Kissed, the author has once again written a good story, strong and balanced and with many information, which shows her deep research. The romance isn't my favourite, as I'm not a fan of the reunited lovers theme, but she wrote it in a way that didn't bothered me much and I was able to overcome this little pet peeve of mine. Anyway, the writing keeps solid and serious and gives a tone of reality to the story.
In the end, I enjoyed it a lot.

Blood Spells - Jessica Andersen

Mayan lore and modern science warn that 12/21/2012 will bring a global cataclysm. Dark forces stand poised to crush mankind. The only hope rests with a secret group of modern magic-wielders called the Nightkeepers. But as Patience White-Eagle and her husband, Brandt, team up as a mated warrior pair, they will face a deadly threat that will test their powers-and their love...

Comment: Patience and Brandt were the only formed couple when the adventure of the Nightkeepers began.
But their relationship wasn't well, they didn't talk and things always looked with too much tension between them. In this book they had to learn to trust each other, to solve old curses and problems and defeat their worst enemy and sava their sons.
I preferred the last book to this one but overall I was happy how things are developping tin the world, especially considering Mendez is with them now and it seems Anna really has to come back, sooner or later. There's this sense of union that in the end that's how things must work out.
In this book hapened things that are marking the time until the last book - Rabbit's - and it seems the Nighkeepers have to realize together is the only option.
I think Patience and Brandt's issues were due to lack of conversation, lots of RL couples face the same thing, but this is fiction, I think they could've worked out those things before..but it had to suit the timeline, so...I'm not totally disappointed but was expecting more fierce passion and not so much the simple acceptation in the end, just to ease things.
Another thing I'd like to see is more scenes between all the characters! They live together, come on, they should interact more than we see...although truth be told, there's this scene between Rabbit and Strike that made "awwwww" lol
Let's see if Mendez' book next year tops this one.