"Kiss Across Time" by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Kiss Across Time by Tracy Cooper-Posey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I originally downloaded this book because it was an erotic romance with vampires and time travel in it, and it was free at the time. I’m always looking for new books to read with new ideas.

"KISS ACROSS TIME," by Tracy Cooper-Posey was refreshing and original with regard to bringing different nuances to a story. Most vampire books do not have ménage a trois in them. If they do, usually there is a build up to the threesome. However, with this book, the ménage a trois romance IS the story. This romance is a M/F/M romance with a quick glimpse at F/M/M. It’s interesting that in this story, the two male vampires are lovers before the female steps into the story, so one would figure there would be more focus on their relationship first. However, it is not. It is all about the woman and the connection the two men have with her.

As I began reading this story, I thought I had made a mistake. The story read well. The author has talent in writing. However, I couldn’t grasp how this woman, who had just lost her job because she could not nail down her thesis to facts, falls into this ménage a trois. She’s lured into her neighbor’s apartment with the sound of death metal music, using a poem from an ancient poet’s book that she had been researching but could never find any existence of. Yet here it was hidden in a death metal song.

When she’s introduced to the metal band that produced the song, sucked into a time travel memory through the kiss of the group leader/singer. She comes back to the present time, in the middle of the concert, wishing she could explore more. But she’s swept away by security to go backstage to meet the band. This I found interesting. But when the group leader introduces her to another man, his lover, to see what would happen if he were to kiss her, the two fall into a time travel memory as well. Instead of them coming back as the kiss ended, they break out into a rip-your-clothes-off erotic scene during the memory. When they arrive back to present time, they’re found in the throes of passion there too.

Here’s where I became confused. Although Taylor seemed to want to find out more about the time traveling, which I understand, all three of them find themselves trying to travel together by having a threesome together. We get our first glimpse of anal sex, which seemed over simplified. Both men, the woman finds out during sex, are vampires. They’ve tasted her sexually and tasted her blood, which “marks” her as theirs. She is now what we know as a "human servant."

This all happens in one night.

In order to time travel, they must have sex together. It doesn’t happen unless there is sex. There seems to be no real plot to this story, or at the very least, a weak plot. We just see that Taylor is obsessed with a poet from King Arthur’s time. These two vampires, Brody and Veris, can lead her to learning more. But the story had a lot of gaps for me. I found myself scratching my head, wondering how something like that could happen.

I suppose the best way to sum this book up is, good story, great potential, no substance. I wish the author would have spent more time beefing up the story. I may have to read this one again, just to be sure I didn't miss anything.


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"Divergent" by Veronica Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I don’t normally read dystopian novels. Some can be rather depressing and usually by the third book, I’m disappointed. I hope that this is not the case with this series. Time will tell… However, in this series, the first book, Divergent (Divergent Series) was riveting! I could NOT put the book down! In the final chapters, I found myself waking at 3 am only to finish the book! I had to know more! It is a fast paced story with a strong female character, very similar to Hunger Games. The story sucked me in and I found it difficult to pull myself out. The storyline stuck with me every time I had to put the book down to do my daily routine! I found myself inspired by Tris who was raised in Abnegation, a selfless society, but could never fit into that faction…not entirely. She has more to her nature than being selfless.

In this story, there are five factions, the Abnegation who put others before their own needs, the Dauntless who are brave and fearless, the Erudite who are scholarly, Amity who are peaceful and live in harmony, and the Candor who are honest. Each 16 year old must choose a faction they will devote their life to and to help them accomplish this, they are put through a simulation aptitude test. Where most possess the aptitude traits of one faction, Beatrice (Tris) possesses the aptitude for at least 3 factions. They call this inconclusive result, “Divergent.” This makes her a dangerous person for which she doesn’t understand and is unable to get answers to shed light on what it all means. But keeping this information to herself means keeping herself from getting killed.

I found the writing style different but refreshing. It is written in first person, narrated by Tris in present time. She’s not telling the story in past tense, as if it happened and now I’m telling about it… but in present tense, as if I’m telling it as I’m doing it. The author, Veronica Roth, develops the characters & world are very well. Watching Tris work through all her fears and life decisions was fascinating and inspiring. I can't wait to dive into the next book in this series! Get your copy of Divergent (Divergent Series) NOW!

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"Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz

Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"Odd Thomas: An Odd Thomas Novel," by Dean Koontz is about a young 20 year old fry cook in a fictional California town. The story is narrated by Odd himself and you can see that he is… well, odd. In this story, Odd really has no ambition to do anything but be a fry cook. That’s because, Odd has the ability to see and talk with ghosts… those who have not yet passed on to the other side. His girlfriend and the local police chief, whom he, on occasion, helps to solve terrible crimes, only know this secret of his. You see, Odd doesn’t only see ghosts. He sees malevolent spirits too. These spirits feast on pain and usually mean that something bad is about to happen. Odd ends up following the bodachs (malevolent spirits) and finds them always near one particular man, which Odd names, "Fungus Man."

The story is an awesome race against time to save people from something catastrophic. It’s an edge-of-your-seat, tense suspense. It has a very rapid pace with bizarre characters and some grizzly and supernatural circumstances. I really enjoyed reading this book and found I couldn’t put the book down!

I definitely recommend this book!

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"Bound by Night" (The MoonBound Clan Vampires) by Larissa Ione

Bound by Night by Larissa Ione

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Larissa Ione, author of "Bound by Night (The Moonbound Clan Vampires)" (The MoonBound Clan Vampires) has a different idea of vampires, which I found to be refreshing. The story begins with an 8 year old girl, Nicole Martin, whose family's business is to capture & sell vampires as slaves to humans. The family company does research on vampires as if they were animals or aliens. But, the vampires rebel against the family; leaving 8 year old Nicole Martin barely alive and most of her family dead. Jump ahead twenty years and we see Nicole all grown up and she has her head full of ideas of what vampires are, and generally, vampires frighten her.

Riker, a member of the MoonBound Clan, a bunch of renegade and free vampires, kidnaps Nichole in hopes of using her as a ransom trade for a gifted female vampire recently captured by the humans. Riker must rescue the female vampire and return her to her clan before war breaks out amongst the clans. Throughout the story, Nicole comes to some realizations about her family’s company and the creatures she's been studying. During her time amongst the vampire clan, she and Riker find themselves drawn to each other.

As relationships developed between Riker and Nichole, and Nichole and the rest of the clan, I found myself hoping that Nicole would be turned into vampire. Eventually she was, but not when I thought she should be or even how I thought she would.

Ms. Ione built a great foundation for her characters and the world they lived in. It was an odd sort of believable to me. Even though she describes everything so well, I still don’t understand how vampires who are physically more imposing; stronger, faster, and formidable predators, become slaves to humans so easily. How can humans capture vampires? At this point, we are left to our own imaginations. Perhaps, this will come out better in the next books in this series!

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"City of Fallen Angels" by Cassandra Clare

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I was clearly disappointed in this book. Yes, it was written well enough... but was it truly a necessary addition to the last three books? I don't think so. I really felt this book should have been the start of a new series that branched from this one.

I did really enjoy reading more about Simon. I felt that this book had more focus on him throughout it's pages. However, because of the other characters, Jace & Clary especially, and the importance they held in the other 3 books, this book couldn't just be about Simon, or Downworlders. It had to end with Jace & Clary.

I did not like how this book turned out! I half expected Jace to either kill Sebastian or himself to end this nightmare.

As I said, this book should have been a book 1 for a new series. It read like a first book in a series. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it didn't feel like the author was trying to resurrect an already well ended trilogy.

To be honest, I'm not sure I want to go to the next book, "City of Lost Souls." I didn't like Sebastian the first time. I don't want to read about him again! He's dead... keep him dead! He's not a Zombie. He's half demon... therefore he should have died as both demons and humans die.



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"City of Bones" (The Mortal Insturments) by Cassadra Clare

I had heard that there was a movie coming out on The Mortal Instruments series. I do love movies, but I really enjoy reading the book(s) before I go to see the movie.

Honestly, I thought I would get bored reading these books because they are young adult/teen books. However, I was greatly surprised! The storyline was excellent & the characters well described. I found myself routing for the heroes, feeling sad for the victims, and hoping they capture or kill the villain. The love interest in the series has its share of angst. There is always one or both who are in love, who fumble over themselves, can't decide what to do with their feelings, are scared, but then take the leap of faith, hoping that the other feels the same.

The main characters are Nephilim. Not the Nephilim you're used to hearing about. Nephilim are humans chosen by an Angel to become warriors, protecting this world from demons and downworlders. (Downworlders are creatures like vampires, werewolves, or fae.) However, downworlders don't seem to be an enemy any longer. The focus now, more than anything, is on killing demons and hunting down the Nephilim who has released them. Now the Nephilim & downworlders have a common interest & join forces to battle their mutual enemy.

If you're looking for a series that read fast, has great characters, and has a wonderful mixture of real world & a bit of fantasy, you'll really love this series!

Get a copy of Cassandra Clare's: The Mortal Instruments Series (5 books).

"Succubus Blues" (Georgina Kincaid Series), By Richelle Mead

The title of this book got the best of me with this book. I’ve seen TV shows of Succubi and I’ve read books about Incubi, but I never really knew what they were. I knew they lived off of the lifeforce of humans and that sex was described as being over the top with one. However, this book gave me a whole different perspective. I really thought this book would have had more erotic-ness to it, just by the nature of a succubus. However, it hardly touched on sex at all…It alluded to her needing sex, but there wasn’t any graphic sex in this book.

With that said, the book really was pretty good. Georgina Kincaid is a Succubus, but she doesn’t like living off of good wholesome people. So, instead she hunts low-lifes or those deserving of bad things. She really can’t complain too much though. There are worse jobs in hell and the perks of being a succubus are kind of cool. We are introduced to all different types of immortals in this story. We have vampires, demons, imps, a succubus, angels, and more. Many are Georgina’s close friends.

I love the fact that she can shape shift into anything or into anyone that she wants to and she can get men to do anything she wants. Although Georgina works for a demon, she’s really not evil. She is a caring person who sold her soul to the devil and was made a succubus. So she still has much of her humanity. She falls in love but can’t have the relationship she wants because she literally sucks the life out of the guys she’s dated.

Throughout the story, we begin to see immortals dying. Yep, some immortals can die. Actually, they are killed by a mysterious person. Georgina just can’t keep from digging in and looking for whomever or whatever it is that is killing these immortals. Of course, at a certain point the story becomes predictable and you can blatantly see who the killer is, but it was still worth the read. I give it 3.5 stars and hope the next book, “Succubus on Top” (“Succubus Nights” in UK). I did enjoy the plot enough to keep reading and by the end of the book, I wanted to see what the next book brought to the series.

“A Shade of Vampire” by Bella Forrest

A request came from this author to review her book, "A Shade of Vampire." Here is my take on this book.

"A Shade of Vampire" by Bella Forrest is about a 17-year old girl, Sofia Claremont, who is kidnapped and brought to an island where the sun is forbidden to shine, to serve as a slave to the prince of The Shade, the most powerful vampire coven in the world.

By reading the synopsis, this really has some great potential. However, there were many parts in this book that worked too fast and had now build-up to hook me into the story. I had trouble at the very beginning and had to restart the book twice because I became confused with what was happening. The chapters are very short. The whole book is in first person but each chapter is from another person’s point of view. Personally, I don’t care for this kind of writing. It’s tricky to write in this style and not lose your reader. As I became involved in one chapter, it would end and move on to the other person’s point of view and confuse the hell out of me.

The best way to describe my experience was that I was reading the high points of an outline. There was not enough material to it to fill in the gaps. With that being said, I do believe this could be a good story if you can handle the first person point of view from several characters. But it really didn’t do it for me. I couldn’t connect with any of the characters. I appreciated Ms. Forrest’s incredible imagination at creating the world that these vampires lived in, albeit very unrealistic and far-fetched.

I spoke with another reader who seems to like this story. She says the series gets better in book two. Sadly, I’m not captured enough in this story to want to read the next book in the series. Instead, I would like to see this book filled out a little more. As I said, I believe this could be a great story, but I think the author needs to really get into the head or heads of her characters. Fill it out and make it feel real. Make us fall in love or hate with her characters. Make us feel what they are feeling!

I've rated this 2 out of 5 stars. 

"Lover at Last," by J.R. Ward

Finally, J.R. Ward’s eleventh installment to the Black Dagger Brotherhood has arrived! “Lover at Last” was everything I had hoped for and more.

If you’ve read J.R. Ward’s previous books in this series, you will have seen the friendship, dedication, and love between Qhuinn and Blay develop. For me, the angst between the two was frustrating to watch. The on-again-off-again friendship made me want to slap either or both of these males. I really didn’t care which direction their relationship went, as long as both were happy. But to have Blay express is frustrated, matter-of-fact, straight talk to Qhuinn really gripped my heart. Then to watch Qhuinn wrap his head around what he truly and deeply wanted. To see him finally realize that he was living by someone else’s standard. Qhuinn brought me to tears. Being rejected by everybody in his family only to find himself accepted just as he is in a new family!

Although this book was expected to be all about Qhuinn and Blay, it was much more than that. There are so many different paths built into this book. If I didn’t already know what J.R.Ward’s next book is to be about, I would be hard pressed to know the next path we’re to travel next.

So many different facets open up in this book. There are exciting twists to Layla’s life. Remember, she is pregnant with Qhuinn’s baby. The Brotherhood make a decision that’ll blow you away and the Band of Bastards consider a new approach to winning the throne! We learn a little more of the shadow brothers, Trez and iAm. It looks like they will become more involved with the Brotherhood, but to what degree? Do you remember meeting Assail from “Lover Reborn”? He’s back and with more to his story as well! I think we will see more of Assail and maybe the new female that he meets in this book. I believe he may be an important factor with the battle between the Brotherhood and the Band of Bastards, even though he claims he wants nothing to do with any of it.

As you can see, there is a lot to this book. It will keep your head spinning and your heart pounding! This book has the makings of several stories to come. It gave me the feeling that it is has some kind of pivotal importance in the fight between the Brotherhood, Band of Bastards and the glymera. I have to give these book 5 stars. I was going to rate it with 4 stars just because there were SO MANY facets here to wrap my head around... There were some areas where it got a tiny bit confusing. However, by the time I reached the end, I realized that we're going to see much more to come.

I can’t wait for the next book, which J.R. Ward has announced will be, The King, and will come back to more of Wrath and Beth, who are trying to have a baby!

Awesome job, J.R. Ward!

"The Taken" by Vicki Pettersson

The other day, I came upon a book that was offered for free on Barnes & Noble’s, The NOOK Blog. I’ve never read this author before, in fact, I’d never heard of her. Now that I’ve done my research, I’m surprised that I’ve never heard of Vicki Pettersson. She has written fifteen distinct works and has written alongside a couple of my favorite authors. She writes urban fantasy, mystery-thriller, & supernatural stories. If you’re like me & you know nothing about this author, check her out. With all learned about this author, I do see some other books I may touch upon in the near future.

“The Taken” is Vicki Pettersson’s first book in her Celestial Blues series. She coins this series as a breakout new trilogy. In this book, she introduces us to an immortal realm called the Everlast where Centurions are given the job of guiding murdered souls into the afterlife. These Centurions are mortals turned angels.

In this story, Griffin Shaw, once a gumshoe, now Centurion is sent back to the city where he & his wife were mysteriously murdered back in the 50’s. He’s given the responsibility to take a murdered soul back to the Everlast, but screws up the take, which messes with the order of things on Earth. Wings plucked, he’s sent back to the mudflat (Earth) to make things right.

Katherine “Kit” Craig is a rockabilly die-hard and dedicated reporter, obsessed with unearthing the truth. She doesn’t realize it yet, but she needs protection. Shaw’s orders were to watch Kit’s death, but he isn’t having that! Together they work to solve the mysteries both old and new.

I don’t know if it is just me, or what… but this book was a slow read for me. I suppose, if I think back, there are many new series that I’ve started where the story just took forever to develop. If this were a book to stand on its own merit, I would say it was boring for the most part. It didn’t keep me on the edge of my seat, dying to get to the next chapter. It was more of a slow burn… barely keeping me there, half tempted to start another book.

This story has the flavor of a gumshoe noir mystery kind of book. However, it takes on a bit of the ethereal too. Griffin Shaw is stereotypical gumshoe, who was deeply in love with his wife back 50+ years ago and is consumed by solving their untimely murder. His path crosses Kit’s when he’s sent to “take” her best friend’s soul to the Everlast. Kit is consumed with finding her BFF’s murder and the story that she tried to unravel before her untimely death. So, through most of this book, I’m trying to figure out why I even started it. I thought it would be a romance with more of a kick of angels.

Well, Pettersson pulled it off! This turned out to be a really good series to start. By the time I got to the last couple of chapters, I was hooked for the ending. I give this story 3 ½ out of 5 stars. What this means to me? It was a good read, written well, a lot of time developing characters, but not quite in a rush to get the next book in the series, “The Lost” which was just released March 19, 2013, but you can bet I'll get it! You can get your copy of this whole series at Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com.