Black Dagger Brotherhood #15: 'The Chosen' by J.R. Ward

The Chosen by J.R. Ward

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Have I read anything else from this author? Yes, I've read the other 14 books in this series, The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide, the first three Novels of the Fallen Angels, and Blood Kiss.

Was this book better than this author's other book(s)? It wasn't as good as my favorite one, Lover Mine, and it also wasn't my least favorite one either.

Was this book enjoyable? As with all the books this far into the series, there are parts that I pay close attention to and parts that I skim over. I care a lot about the relationship between Layla and Xcor and the brand-new relationship between Trez and Theresa.

Did I learn anything new from this book? It seems like Ward is setting Vishous and Doc Jane up to have problems in their marriage, and I'm not very happy about that development. Get your sh*t together, V.

Where did I get this book? It's my mom's.

Do I recommend this book to other readers? Yes, if you like the BDB series. I'd definitely say keep going with it. This series is still fairly addictive, even though I'm not caught up to the very latest book yet.

So, what books are you finishing while we're in COVID-19 quarantine?

'Blood Kiss' by J.R. Ward #paranormalromance #vampires

Wow. Wow. Wow.

This is a return to the good old days. It's everything you want in a Black Dagger Brotherhood novel, even though technically it goes under the Black Dagger Legacy label:

1. More Butch and Marissa is always a good thing. They're probably my third favorite pairing, after Zsadist/Bella and Qhuinn/Blaylock.

2. Paradise, a kickass new(ish) heroine! We did meet her in The Shadows, and her father Abalone has been around for several books now. But here, she is absolutely the central protagonist. She does kick ass, and the heart-warming twist at the end is that her father supports her fully, even in her choice of (non-aristocratic) mate.

3. Craeg, the non-aristocratic mate, is a hot, hot hottie. I love it when J.R. Ward includes a character who's a person of color. Well, unless she's going to be mean to them, like she did to Trez. **takes Trez away from J.R. Ward and hides him so she can't hurt him anymore**

4.  Novo is not only a woman of color, but also canon!pansexual. J.R. Ward, I think I'm in love. I really hope Novo is the protagonist of the next BD Legacy novel.

5. Peyton and Novo - I ship it. Two warriors, one a brown-skinned woman, one a suit-wearing white man, in love? Sounds like my ultimate OTP of OTPs, Careese. Fingers crossed for a happier ending, though. (The Scribe Virgin knows we can no longer count on Ward to deliver us the happier-ever-after, true?)

Short-But-Sweet Review of 'Crave' (Fallen Angels #2) by J.R. Ward

Crave by J.R. Ward

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I read the first book in this series, I wasn't nearly as impressed with J.R. Ward's Fallen Angel novels than I am with her Black Dagger Brotherhood series. The second book affected me much more than the first.

I cared much more about the characters this time around. I felt like the "J.R. Ward magic" that makes me love the BDBs so much was a part of this one. I loved the ending, so much that I went ahead and gave the whole thing five stars. I won't say I'm on the edge of my seat to get to the next book in the series, but I will probably enjoy Envy when I finally do read it.

My copy of this book is a loaner from my mom, who is just as big a BDB fan as I am, if not bigger. I was not obligated to review this book in any way. I read it simply for my love of paranormal romances.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

J.R. Ward's 'The King' - Review with Spoilers

Happy birthday to my love, the wonderful Tit Elingtin!

One year ago, I read J.R. Ward's then-latest in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Lover at Last. I'd been anticipating the main pairing in that one - literally for years. I read the love story of Qhuinn and Blaylock with great relish, all the way up to their happily-ever-after.

I should have been just as excited for this year's installation, The King. I just wasn't that into it. I read it more because of tradition than anything else.

This novel focuses on the original pairing from the first BDB novel, Dark Lover: vampire king Wrath and Beth, the illegitimate offspring of Wrath's fallen comrade Darius and a human woman. When I read Dark Lover, I loved Wrath and Beth's story.  But since they were already the stars of their very own book, it seems a little redundant to have them be the main focus of this one. Their happily-ever-after is already a done deal.

The central drama in this one is whether Wrath will retain his throne as the king of vampire-kind.  He's under attack from the vampire aristocracy, the Glymera. They're being influenced by the Band of Bastards, outlaws from the Old Country whose leader, Xcor, covets the throne. The Glymera conspire to strip Wrath of any real power he has because he's mated to a half-human. They use the excuse of any potential offspring they might have being one-fourth human to mean Beth's bloodline would be ineligible for the vampire throne.

Wrath has no intention of having any offspring, but having a baby is all Beth can think about. They clash over that. Then she goes into her needing period. (Because the hubby's been watching a lot of Star Trek: Enterprise lately, I've recently noticed how the vampire mating cycle in Ward's universe is like the Vulcan one in Gene Roddenberry's brainchild.)

Plot twist! Since Beth is half human, her needing turns out to be superfluous. She's already pregnant when Wrath decides to throw caution to the wind and "service" his beloved. They find out afterwards, when she can't keep anything on her stomach. By then, she's already four months pregnant, human-style.

These always end happily, so no one will be too surprised when Beth gives birth to a healthy, if slightly premature, baby boy who is also named Wrath. Unlike his blind father, Little Wrath has healthy eyes. The kingship situation is also resolved, using diplomacy. Wrath allows his people to vote for any leader they wish to, and they unanimously elect him king for life.  He also regains his passion for the work.

At the end of Lover at Last, we had some loose ends to tie up: would Trez and the Chosen Selena become a couple? Would Assail save the assassin Sola from her kidnappers? Would Qhuinn and Layla's baby be born safely? Would Layla and Xcor get together?

This book answers these questions partially. Trez and Selena get to have sex, but not a relationship…yet. Assail does save Sola - and get revenge on her kidnappers - but they don't end up together either. Their scenes end with her calling out his name into the darkness, and while he hears her, he doesn't answer. Layla and Xcor get together, in theory, but don't have any scenes of physical contact - and her pregnancy is still ongoing.

I didn't find this installation nearly as suspenseful or enthralling as the last one, but I have hope for the next one. If it's mostly about Trez and Selena, that'd be great. I wouldn't mind a Layla/Xcor installation. I'll be pretty bored and disappointed if Assail and Sola are the main characters, because my interest in them is minimal. 

We got a little glimpse into the home lives of my very favorite couple, Zsadist and Bella. In the next book, I'd love to see a little of the wedded bliss between Qhuinn and Blaylock. 

I got this book from my local public library. I was under no obligation to write this review and was not compensated for it in any way. 

This is an affiliate link:

'Finding Esta,' An Urban Fantasy Mystery by Shah Wharton @shahw1

Finding Esta by Shah Wharton



My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Before I read Shah Wharton's debut novel, I'd read a few of her short stories, so I knew she was a talented storyteller. From the beginning of 'Finding Esta,' I sympathized with Luna, the heroine. Luna's a sickly early-20-something with numerous allergies, including allergies to the sun. She can't touch anything without gloves because it's so painful. Her mother and stepfather treat her awfully, not understanding her special gifts.

Luna hears the spirits of the dead in her head, sees ghosts and auras, and knows the history of every object she touches. Nicknamed "Rat," Luna has one bright spot in her life, her job as a journalist in the little village of Snape. Her job causes her to go off in search of a mystery: the disappearance of baby Esta from a burned-out house in Cornwall.

What Esta discovers in that house in Cornwall turns her world upside-down.

One of the possibly covers Shah considered before choosing the final one

Wharton weaves a compelling story that hovers between reality and unreality, repeatedly lulling the reader with a set of assumptions that turn out to be completely false. Parts of Luna's journey reminded me of Dark Lover, the first book in J.R. Ward's shockingly addictive Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Other parts are vaguely reminiscent of other urban fantasy narratives, yet the whole is refreshingly original. It reads like a really good mystery; we find out what becomes of Esta, but only after an extended and fascinating red herring. Luna Dukes isn't like any other paranormal heroine I've ever read, and there are some really fun tweaks to the usual paranormal mythology.

Although two candidates for Luna's love interest appear in this novel, they never compete against one another, and Luna keeps a level head when it comes to her budding passions, even when surrounded by chaos. She's so sensible when it comes to attraction to the opposite sex - it's a refreshing change. Paranormal romance is my favorite genre, but I'll have to wait till at least the second book to see if Luna finds a partner who accepts her on her own terms. If you're not into romances, don't worry - it isn't the main focus of the novel.

Read Shah Wharton's short story "The Journal of Rosa and Bella" here

View all my reviews on Goodreads



I "purchased" this book from Smashwords on a day when the book was offered at no cost. This review was not solicited by the author or her representatives in any way, and I received no compensation for it.

Verily, I Am Dhead: Review of 'Lover At Last' by J.R.Ward (Spoilers)

I have gone unto the Fade. Verily, I am dhead from feels after finishing Lover At Last by J.R. Ward, the 11th volume in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, last night.

This book promised to finally bring together Qhuay, which is to say the mighty warrior Qhuinn (with the piercings, spiky black hair and mismatched eyes) and the friend who's in love with him, Blaylock (a blue-eyed redhead). To say their relationship is complicated would be a gross understatement. In the past:

-Blay came out as gay to Qhuinn and their best friend John Matthew. Blay made it clear he had feelings for Qhuinn, and Qhuinn made it equally clear he only wanted to be friends.

-Qhuinn had a lot of anonymous sex with a lot of women and men - everyone except Blay, basically. Blay was deeply offended that Qhuinn would partner with pretty much anyone who wasn't Blay. It was generally assumed Qhuinn was a promiscuous bisexual.

-Blay started a serious relationship with Qhuinn's lawyer cousin, Saxton. Qhuinn resented Saxton and, ironically enough, tried to slut-shame him.

-The unmated Chosen vampire Layla went into her fertile period, and she and Qhuinn decided to use this opportunity to have the child they both desired, even though they are not in a relationship. Layla became pregnant.

In Lover At Last, there are many angsty moments in which Layla fears she's miscarrying her baby. Thankfully, this tragedy seems to have been prevented by the warrior female Payne - who is, after all, the birth daughter of the Scribe Virgin herself. In future books, for my own mental health, I'm going to need Layla and Qhuinn's daughter to be born perfectly safe and healthy - with her dad's mismatched eyes, of course - and for Layla to live happily ever after with Xcor. I know that seems impossible - he's trying to take over the throne from Wrath. She'd have to betray the Black Dagger Brotherhood to join the Band of Bastards. But J.R. Ward will make it work somehow. She's good like that.

It was Blay who encouraged Payne to try to help Layla, and in a moment of gratitude, Layla spills the beans, telling Blay, "I can see why he's in love with you." Blay actually had no idea that Qhuinn felt about him the way Blay used to feel about Qhuinn, before the Saxton complication.

Saxton, in the meantime, has broken up with Blay, although they remain friends. Yet for some reason, for most of the book, Blaylock allows Qhuinn to believe he's still together with Saxton. When Qhuinn smells another guy on Saxton, he thinks Sax is cheating on Blay, and he literally tries to strangle his cousin to death in a moment of sheer protective outrage. Blay does not take this as a romantic gesture; he's extremely angry with Qhuinn. This only pushes them further apart.




Yet Qhuinn and Blay still manage to come together physically. Their complicated emotions boil over and they finally have sex (right around page 200). It happens a second time when Qhuinn is really, really worried about Layla losing the baby. The third time, Qhuinn gets very insistent that he's not gay. But maybe he is? Ward leaves it unclear whether Qhuinn has genuine attraction to males and females, or whether his pursuit of various women was overcompensation for his attraction to men. It's a moot point, really: by the end of the book, he and Blay are completely committed. Bonded.

The epilogue of the book is Qhuinn's mating proposal to Blay (with the full blessing of Blay's aristocratic, but very cool, parents). This means they'll be mated - the vampire equivalent of married - just like the other couples in the series. The book literally ends with, "...and lived happily ever after."

Yes.

And, about fucking time.

They'll still have to get each other's names tattooed in the Old Language on their backs. A hellren (husband) always has his mate's name on his back.

Yet there are many loose ends to be addressed in the next book, including:

-Will hanging around with pregnant Layla cause Queen Beth to go into her fertility period? If Beth and King Wrath have offspring, will their 1/4 human young be eligible for the throne some day?

-Will a relationship develop between Trez and the Chosen female Selena? (I'm hoping so.)

There's also a subplot involving Assail, the Old World vampire drug dealer who took over the Caldwell drug trade from Rehvenge when Rev ran off with Ehlena for their happily-ever-after. I can't say I have any emotional investment in the story of Assail and his human would-be killer, Sola. Sola is in great danger, however, and what becomes of her is a loose end.

Now we impatiently await the next book, which Ward has said will be titled The King.

I got Lover at Last from the library. When I take it back, I'll be picking up Dead Ever After. I read the spoiler for the ending (not sorry), and unlike J.R. Ward, Charlaine Harris is going to rip out my heart and shred it in millions of tiny pieces. Can't wait.

This is an affiliate link:

Fantasy Casting: Person of Interest characters in The Black Dagger Brotherhood

This is my 600th post, by the way. Yay! If you're curious about how The Sultan of Monte Cristo turns out, you can read my review at Goodreads.

What happens when I have to wait until January 31st for a new episode of Person of Interest and until March for the next Black Dagger Brotherhood novel? Why, I start mentally casting the BDB universe with POI characters, of course. Why not? It's simply a matter of replacing one set of badasses with another. Just go with me on this; it's just for fun.

Can we start with the most obvious one? Lionel Fusco and Karolina Kurkova are SO the Butch and Marissa.



Finch is Wrath, the Blind King. Like Wrath, Finch works mostly behind the scenes, held back from taking direct part in battles because of his physical limitations.



Bear is George. (A Belgian Malinois is not a golden retriever, but it's a dog, okay?)



Reese as Zsadist. (This pic is from the February 2013 Men's Fitness magazine, which I have shamelessly asked my parents if they'd buy for me next time they go to a bookstore. They go to the bookstore more often than I do.)



Joss Carter as Bella.



Can you tell that Z and Bella are my favorite BDB couple?



Leila as Nalla (because there hasn't been a biracial African American/Caucasian baby on the series - or any other babies besides Leila, who has a Latina mom and a Caucasian dad. I know, I know - some of my biracial cousins are blond and blue-eyed, but none of them are this light-skinned.)



Reese for Phury too, because, as you know, Zsadist and Phury are identical twins.



Will Ingram as John Matthew.



Kara Stanton as Xhex.



Root is the Scribe Virgin.



Carl Elias as the Omega; Anthony "Scarface" Marconi as Mr. O.

https://twitter.com/filthymcnasty/status/187560878055505920

#WaitingOnWednesday / #OhHowPinteresting - Must-Have New Books of 2013

I'm not a usual Waiting on Wednesday blogger, but since it's still early in 2013, I wanted to get down a list of books I'm looking forward to this year. Just yesterday I found out that Dan Brown is releasing a new novel in the Robert Langdon series, to be titled Inferno, on May 14. Yay!



My mom told me if I started The Da Vinci Code I wouldn't be able to put it down, and she was right. I still love that book, Angels and Demons, and (to some extent) The Lost Symbol, and I don't care if you like them or not.

I'm also utterly addicted to J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series - that's my mom's fault, too. I eagerly await Lover at Last, set to come out on March 27. 



It will be bittersweet when this series ends, but I've got to read Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris. Amazon says the release date will be May 7th. I wonder if it's too early to put my name on the library waiting list? I never buy the hardcovers in this series - the first ones went straight to the genre paperbacks shelf, and I still contend it was kind of rude (and money-grubbing) of Harris' publisher to start putting them out in the much-more-expensive hardcover first.



...and my mom also got me hooked on Sookie Stackhouse. It was my introduction to paranormal romance, actually.

P.S. How fantastic are the Japanese covers for the Sookie Stackhouse series?!



P.P.S. Doesn't this one look like it might be about Bella Swan and Rosalie Hale?



I love vintage book covers. Now, some pins that are just cool. This is Jack Kerouac in 1944. Kinda sexy (even though he appears to be in some kind of trouble). Is anybody else looking forward to the On the Road movie with Kristen Stewart?



Anybody looking forward to Catching Fire?



This, I feel, is pretty cute. Lewis Carroll's birthday is coming up (January 27th), so I think a full Alice's Adventures in Wonderland post will be called for soon.



What are you looking forward to in 2013?

Fifty Shades of Grey: My Informed Opinion

I liked Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. I liked it a lot. I was a bit scared at first by Anastasia Steele’s frequent use of the word “crap,” a singularly unappealing word. However, I soon found Ana to be a relatable young woman. Who hasn’t felt overcome in the sight of a human being so attractive it should virtually be a crime? I don’t wonder why she fell so hard for Christian Grey. He’s a very attractive character.

http://fakerain.blogspot.com/2012/05/50-shades-of-pinning.html

I wanted to withhold some of my comments about this novel until I’d read into Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan of the website SmartBitchesTrashyBooks.com.  (I’m about halfway through it.) I wanted to compare Fifty Shades to the romance/erotica genre as a whole – not to use genre conventions as a positive or a negative, but merely to show ways in which Fifty Shades falls inside a specific literary tradition.

Whether or not you like Fifty Shades will basically come down to whether or not you like the protagonists. Let's look into some of the reasons why Ana and Christian might, or might not be, likable characters. 

The Innocent Heroine: When the novel commences, Ana is a 21-year-old virgin. This is to be expected, because romance/erotica heroines are, by genre convention, virginal, either literally or figuratively. “One of the more peculiar constants of most romance novels,” Wendell and Tan write, “from historicals to contemporaries to paranormals and even erotica, is the sexually unawakened state of the heroine. She’s relatively innocent, as proven by her inexperience or her outright virginity. No matter what type she is, she’s definitely not the ho-type.” The Unawakened Woman is also unaware of her own beauty, a convention Ana readily embodies.

Tan and Wendell describe ten types of heroines. I feel Ana Steele falls into the category of ingénue. Her characteristics include being “young, innocent, and a tender flower, but what she lacks in experience, she more than makes up for in good humor and a surprising resiliency. She can be clueless at times, but she differentiates herself from the Too Stupid to Live heroine by displaying flashes of good sense.”

Because James wrote Fifty Shades, originally, as Twilight fan fiction, the comparison to Bella Swan from the Twilight series is a useful one. One might assume that Bella is an example of Too Stupid to Live, but Wendell and Tan specifically name Bella as an example of Doormat. Another example of Doormat is Marissa from J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series. (The examples of Ingénue are not ones I recognize.)

The Irresistible Heroine: No matter what her type, though, the heroine has what Wendell and Tan refer to (somewhat obnoxiously, in my opinion) as The Magic Hoo Hoo. “One taste of the Magic Hoo Hoo is all it takes; the hero won’t be satisfied with anything else, physically or emotionally.” Stephenie Meyer would say she becomes his own personal brand of heroin(e). Christian Grey would say, “You’ve bewitched me:” another genre convention followed.

Identifying with Ana: Is a romance/erotica novel heroine meant to be a placeholder for the reader? This is a matter of some debate, and depends somewhat on the reader and the writer. It’s not necessary for the reader to put herself in the heroine’s shoes, as long as the reader has empathy for the heroine. I found myself easily able to empathize with Ana.

Identifying with Christian: Wendell and Tan suggest that readers are sometimes harsher critics of the heroine of the romance novel than of the hero. “Why is it that romance readers can tolerate any number of crazed behaviors from a romance hero, whereas if a real-life dude did one-tenth of a hero’s dastardly deeds…she’d be calling 911 faster than you can say ‘restraining order?’” The male protagonist gets more of pass, suggests Laura Kinsale in one quote, because “often that’s the way it is in real life – we see what we want to see regarding the opposite sex when we’re in love.” Still, Wendell and Tan add, “Women are not dumb. We know when we’re reading fiction.”

Christian Grey likes to be in control. He can be overbearing and stalkerish – characteristics he still shares with Edward Cullen. It’s okay to like that in a fictional character. “…The fantasy of an overbearing hero can represent for some women devotion, attraction, and protection instead of bullying.” Key word: fantasy. This does not mean we want our significant others to act like control freaks in real life.

The male protagonist also inspires a kind of literary penis envy: readers like strong heroes because we identify with their strength. A more Jungian interpretation of this theory is that “If the hero is the shadow self of the heroine, and the reader, then her conquest represents the same integration of selves, and that integration is what makes the hero so crucially important, and also what makes the happy ending so satisfying.”

Fifty Shades of Grey does not come with happy ending. Perhaps the trilogy does – I don’t know (and no spoilers, please!), but the first book ends at an impasse. Well played, E.L. James. You knew I would have to know how the impasse was resolved, and thus I’d need to buy the next book(s). Either way, it’s a well-worn trope in popular fiction and, especially, Hollywood films that the hero is entitled to the “girl.” See: http://www.cracked.com/article_19785_5-ways-modern-men-are-trained-to-hate-women.html 

The Alpha Hero: BUT when I say that I approve of Christian Grey as a hero, you might take that to mean there are aspects of Christian Grey I want to come to terms with. He also has other qualities that generally make fictional heroes attractive, including the stormy gray eyes. “What, twelve shades of gray doesn’t do it for you? While your heroine may have jewel-tone eyes of the most priceless variety, heroes, they are usually described in metallic terms, ranging from the ever-popular gunmetal gray to steel blue, cold green, or, in a rare and paranormal exception, amber. Never, however, are the hero’s eyes purple. That’s indubitably too gay.”

Note: Wendell and Tan do not say that they personally have a problem with gay, in life or in fiction. They only say that in the conventional heterosexual romance novel trope, “gay” and “bisexual” were usually shorthand for “up to no good.” They recognize that this is slowly changing as m/m/f becomes an increasingly popular subgenre. (Yay!) Note, too, that although Ana embarrasses Christian and herself by asking him if he’s gay early in the novel (and then later asks him if any of his Dom/sub partners have been men), Christian Grey is unrelentingly heterosexual.

He’s alpha without being what Wendell and Tan term an “alphole” (the amalgamation of alpha and asshole). Alphas are strong and confident; alpholes are cruel. Christian Grey is never cruel. He may have issues the size of Washington State, but he never does anything with Ana unless he has her consent.

He also holds at least two of the Romance Cliché Job Options: billionaire and CEO of an unspecified industry. What does he do? Something with food distribution?

[A topic for another day will be how assassin/sniper/CIA agent/former military operative is also a Romance Cliché Job Option. A topic for still another day will be how Josselyn Carter fits the mold of Alpha Heroine.]

Sooo…impossibly beautiful, brilliant, rich, kinky and utterly captivated by Ana? Hell yeah Christian Grey.

In Conclusion: If you’re one of the readers embarrassed to be seen with a copy of Fifty Shades, or any romance novel (as are the women described here), don’t be. “Romance novels do not make you stupid, we promise,” Wendell and Tan write in a section titled, “So, Why is Romance So Often and So Frequently Denigrated?” They answer their own question thus: “Are you a woman? Look in your pants. That could be why.” In short, plain ol’ sexism makes a genre dominated by female writers and readers (and really, all genres are dominated by female readers!) less acceptable to society at large. Fuck society – read proudly. 

Links For Further Reading:
Natalie at Fake Rain's Fifty Shades Pinterest post http://fakerain.blogspot.com/2012/05/50-shades-of-pinning.html

Natalie nominates Ian Somerhalder to play Christian Grey on film http://fakerain.blogspot.com/2012/05/pinning-weekly-link-up.html

Tranae at Becoming Fab nominates Alexander Skarsgard http://www.becomingfab.com/2012/05/50-shades-of-grey.html

What to Read After Fifty Shades http://blogcritics.org/books/article/fed-up-of-fifty-shades-six/

The infamous 50 Shades of Suck Tumblr http://50shadesofsuck.tumblr.com/

Intimate Strangers + New Cover Art for 'Ravaged'

This is the cover art for Ravaged, the anthology that will contain my short story "Sheep Shifter." I'm on round 2 of edits right now.

When I wasn't editing yesterday...or drinking beer and eating veggie pizza...or watching the Vampire Diaries next-to-season-finale, followed by a particularly poignant Person of Interest (dead ex-girlfriends and all that), I was reading Intimate Strangers by Laura Taylor.

Intimate Strangers by Laura Taylor
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The cover blurb says "Ms. Taylor writes with the power and sensuality of the best authors in romance." This may be the case, but if so, this book must represent one of her earlier efforts, before she attained that status. This erotic romance automatically lost one star for use of the phrase "throbbing loins." Twice.

There are two extremes the erotic romance writer can fall to that make the book less than pleasurable for the reader: so much clinical detail that it reads like a gynecologist's report, and not enough sensual detail. In Taylor's case, the actions of unlikely lovers Nicholas Benteen and Hannah Cassidy are buried in so much purple prose, this reader could hardly keep track of what was actually happening - a case of the latter extreme.

Some lines made me laugh, such as, "Her breasts plumped against her chest, her nipples stabbing like delicate daggers through the barrier of their clothing." I'm sorry, but when you start telling me about dagger nipples, you make me think of the Austin Powers fembots.



I really wanted to like this book, too. Since my current pop cultural obsession is Person of Interest, I found the premise of Nicholas - a lonely, isolated former CIA operative, similar to the TV character John Reese - intriguing. In actual practice, this novel is full of not-quite-believable/unnatural dialogue and telling where it should be showing, which was disappointing. Intriguing set-up, but less than ideal execution.

It should be noted, however, that instead of a Unabomber shack, Nicholas has a gorgeous multi-level home in the Nevada wilderness, complete with a roaring fireplace and a personal library. He's not only a survivalist, but also - secretly - a bestseller author of thrillers. Hannah doesn't figure this out until the very end of the novel - right before Nicholas' marriage proposal - but it's through Nicholas' printed words that she knows, deep down, he's a good-hearted person.

'Cause, you know, he did kill a bunch of people, so the goodness is somewhat buried under layers of growly alpha-male aggression. Like Bella Swan, Hannah Cassidy is quite readily willing to forgive the taking of human lives - and the overt threat to her own life, since at the moment they met, Nicholas was holding a knife to her throat. I really didn't mind his aggression, though. The reader knows he never intended to hurt her; his intent is to scare her out of his territory. I respond well to the emotionally damaged, outwardly mega-aggressive but inwardly sensitive type, which is why Zsadist is my favorite Black Dagger Brotherhood character and Lover Awakened is my favorite J.R. Ward book.

View all my reviews on Goodreads

Vampires For Valentines Giveaway Post - Remix These Famous Fanged Couples

Stopping by from Reading-Romances.com's Romancing the Valentine Giveaway Hop? Please find the giveaway post HERE.

February is the month of love and what do we love more than hot, sexy, dangerous and seductive vampires? Vampires For Valentines Giveaway Hop is all about spreading our love for these supernatural creatures.

Vampires For Valentines Giveaway Hop runs from 12:01am February 10th through to 11:59pm February 16th 2012, and is hosted by Felicity Heaton (Paranormal Romance Author) and Bitten by Paranormal Romance.


We all have our favorite vampire couples. For Twilighters, it might be Edward/Bella, Alice/Jasper or Emmett/Rosalie. Fans of Sookie Stackhouse might root for America's favorite part-fairy psychic waitress to end up with Viking vampire Eric Northman or Civil War vampire Bill Compton. Fans of the Black Dagger Brotherhood have their favorite couples; mine happens to be Zsadist and the OTHER Bella, though I'm not opposed to "Qhuay," and I rather like Butch-Marissa as well.

Now let's play what-if. What if Edward and Rosalie were a couple, and Bella Swan fell hopelessly in love with Emmett? What if Edward visited Bon Temps and found himself magnetically attracted to Pam? If Twilight's Victoria hooked up with Eric Northman, would she find him a suitable replacement for James? Or would Victoria make a better match for the leather-and-knives, demon-slaying bros of the BDB - and who would be her ideal mate? What would Damon Salvatore make of True Blood newbie vamp Jessica?

To enter the giveaway, answer this question in a comment on this post: Which vampire couple would you like to see get together? Use your imagination - and any vampire combo from books, movies or whatever medium you like.

The Prize: On Feb. 17th, using Random.org, I will choose one winner to receive paperback copies of the following two books, some of my contributions to vampire literature.

Vamps: A Lesbian Anthology with Teeth, edited by Lorna Hinson. Seductive. Dangerous. Sexy. Girls with fangs, women who hunt vampires, lovers who only come in the dark of the night. Vamps are not just female vampires; they're femmes fatales. They're the women your mother warned you about, and the things that go bump in the night. They're beautiful and terrible, loving and disdainful. Nine stories that range from historical to modern and from hard-boiled mystery to fantasy explore the world of the female vampire. They're strippers and goddesses, bluestockings and hippies, but they all have one thing in common. Lust. Lust for blood, and lust for life, or maybe unlife. All of the night stalkers in Vamps are ready and willing to find a good time. Some of the best authors in lesbian erotica and romance are here, spinning tales about the dark world of creatures of the night, and about the women who love them, women who are drawn to the power and freedom that the vampire embodies. Vamps features stories from: Shanna Germain, Tracey Shellito, Teresa Noelle Roberts, Penelope Friday, JT Langdon, Erin O'Riordan, Mercy Loomis, Kate Cotoner, and Elizabeth Black. Vamp up your life a little today!



Love Bites, edited by S.A. Clements: One neck. Two sets of bites. Or bruises. Maybe hickeys. What more could a guy, or girl, ask for? Three lovers, three hot bodies; if you love ménage stories, then Love Bites has it all. From modern day working folks to werewolves and vampires to rock stars, the men and women of Love Bites generate enough heat to make us sweat, to keep us warm on even the coldest night. Soap stars get busy in Camren August's Plus One. Erin O'Riordan's Oliver's Famous Clam Chowder sends a pair of werewolves to a vampire for the ultimate eating experience. C.C. Bridge sends grad students clubbing with hot results in Catseye, and in Birds of a Feather, by Dianne Fox, more than one unusual shapeshifter finds out that love comes in all shapes and sizes. Tilt-A-Whirl Kisses, by Vic Winter proves that husbands and wives can have the same first love. Vampires play a hot game of one-upmanship in BA Tortuga's Marked. Quittin' Time, by BA Collins, has co-workers making nice in their time off, and Giselle Renard shows just how tempting it can be to find love in a coffee shop. Two hot guys and one smokin' girl will leave their mark on you! Read Love Bites today!



Please note: I have to have some way of getting in touch with you if you win. If I cannot easily find your e-mail address by clicking on your user name, please leave an e-mail address in your comment. I suggest using the "erinoriordan AT sbcglobal DOT net" format so that spambots won't come across your addy.

Now jump back into the blog hop!

Let Me Help You Celebrate National Man Watcher's Day!

What - you've never heard of National Man Watcher's Day?! Jace Shoemaker-Galloway gives a clear description of it in her January 8th Examiner.com article.

Please, allow me to assist you in the fine art of man-watching. Let me take you back to Halloween week, when Pagan Spirits celebrated Werewolf Wednesday:

Back in June, I created one of my all-time favorite posts...but you knew that from my New Year's round-up of my favorite posts from 2012. It was 5 Jewish Dudes I'd Most Like to See Lewd, inspired by Anthony Weiner. This gives us the infamous Adam Levine (one of my Hanukkah Hotties) nude shot.

In Romantic Heroes and the Hotties Who Inspired Them, you get to learn where some of the inspiration for my stories comes from. Some of it comes from Milo Ventimiglia.

Men are fun to watch by themselves, and great when they come in pairs. The fictional should-be couple I keep obsessing about is Qhuinn-Blaylock, J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Conveniently, "Qhuinn and Blaylock should totally get together!" has been shortened to "Team Qhuay." Hotness results.

You can't tell from the above fanfic graphic, but Qhuinn has two different-colored eyes. Just like David Bowie, who turns 65 on this National Man Watcher's Day 2011. He was in the The Prestige, along with the one man you just knew I couldn't go without mentioning, and watching.

J.R. Ward is a great, and disappointing, storyteller. What about Blay and Qhuinn?

I've been reading Lover Mine by J.R. Ward, the 8th book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I love this series. For those who don't know, the series is about a race of vampires who coexist with humans. Rather than feeding off humans, these vampires need to feed from the opposite sex of their own kind. The race was created by a goddess-figure known as the Scribe Virgin. Her nemesis, the vampire devil, is called The Omega. An elite clan of warriors, the Brotherhood, protects civilian vamps from The Omega's soulless army, the Lessening Society, or Lessers. The "Brothers" are not literally brothers (except Phury and Zsadist, who are twins).

Ward's writing style takes a little getting used to for those new to the series. She writes in a very noir-ish style. I believe she's heavily influenced by Robert B. Parker. She also invented a language the vampires use, which they call The Old Language. She peppers her novels with Old Language words like shellan and hellren ("wife" and "husband").

The thing about J.R. Ward's BDB novels that makes them so hard to put down is the way she keeps her pairs of lovers separated through so many hardships before she'll finally let them get together. That's the basic plot of every one of these novels, starting with the story of Wrath and Beth in the first book, Dark Lover. It makes for compelling reading, but can also be very frustrating.

At the end of the last book, Lover Avenged, Xhex had been kidnapped by the evil Lash, son of the Omega. John Matthew, the young warrior who can only speak in sign language, fell in love with her, but Xhex thought she had no room for love in her life. There's little doubt in this book that he will find her and that, when they get reunited, she'll accept his love. I've always liked John Matthew, so I was anxious for him and Xhex to make their relationship permanent. I love the twist, toward the end, of King Wrath accepting Xhex into the Brotherhood. Now they're going to have to call it the Siblinghood.

The storyline I'm really interested in, though, is the subplot involving John Matthew's best friends Blay and Qhuinn. Every single one of the Brothers is absolutely gorgeous, all six feet tall and pumped up like comic book superheroes. (My favorite is Zsadist--called Z--with his multicolored hair kept super-short, canary-yellow eyes that turn black when he's angry and terrifying exterior that belies how tenderly he loves his mate, Bella.) John Matthew, Blay and Qhuinn are the three youngest of the Brothers. Blay is a redhead with blue eyes. Qhuinn has one blue eye and one green eye, a trait considered a defect in vampire society that makes his aristocratic family look down on him.

Blay is in love with Qhuinn, but Qhuinn feels unworthy and doesn't want to be with Blay. (Blay feels especially rejected by this, since Qhuinn has shown again and again that he'll have sex with just about anyone.) In the last book, Blay seemed doomed to a life of unrequited love. This book introduced Qhuinn's beautiful, genteel cousin Saxton as a potential mate for Blay. There's a gorgeous scene of Blay and Saxton sharing a good night kiss. They'd possible make a great couple, but Blay's feelings for Qhuinn still aren't resolved, and Qhuinn gets jealous when he sees his friend with his cousin. I'd really like to see the Blay-Qhuinn storyline resolve, one way or the other, in the next book.

I'm really torn about which way I want it to resolve. I was deeply disappointed when Qhuinn rejected Blay, but now I'm kinda rooting for Saxton, a young lawyer who lacks his cousin's warrior physique but has lovely blond, curly hair. According to Qhuinn, Saxton is also a little slutty, but that may just be the jealousy talking. Then there's Layla, the female vampire who feeds Qhuinn and would like to be his lover. Maybe Layla and Qhuinn should get together in a future book. Blay, unfortunately, because he's gay, probably won't get to star in his own book, since every other book has centered around a male-female pair. I think I would be happy if Qhuinn paired off with Layla while Blay and Saxton stayed together.

Things don't always end happily, though--look what happened to Tohr and his pregnant mate, Wellsie.

The next book, Lover Unleashed, will center on Payne, the twin sister of the Brother known as Vishous. Payne has suffered a terrible injury and will fall in love with the human surgeon who tries to save her. I expect to read it soon.

The Best Books I Read in 2009

Happy New Year! My first post of 2010 is a look back at the books I really enjoyed reading for pleasure last year.

10. The Surrender of Persephone by Selena Kitt (2009; Phaze Books) retells the Classical Greek myth of the virgin goddess of spring, Persephone, and her abduction by the god of the Underworld, Hades. In myth, Persephone grows into her role as queen of the Underworld to become a powerful and mysterious goddess. In Kitt's uncensored version, Persephone chafes at her mother Demeter's restrictiveness and dim view of males, both human and divine.

Up from the depths of the earth comes Hades, also known as Aidon. He lifts Persephone into his chariot and takes her to the eerily lovely splendor of his Underworld kingdom, the land of the dead. In his mind, this is a perfectly acceptable arranged marriage, a deal between Aidon and Persephone's father Zeus. Persephone feels a mixture of fear and attraction to the handsome, amber-eyed god. A thoroughly modern spin on an ancient fable.

9. From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris. Many things happen in this book (including Alcide's ascension to leader of the Shreveport pack and the appearance of a new fairy), but the entire effort is rather disjointed. Sookie is at her most fickle (she's suddenly keen on Calvin Norris and Eric, not so much Alcide and Quinn), and there is a notable lack of romance. Interesting, but not the best of the Southern Vampire series. On the other hand, Bill seems to want Sookie back...could the long-awaited reconciliation be in the works?

8. Dead After Dark by Sherrilyn Kenyon, J. R. Ward, Susan Squires, and Dianne Love. The four stories in this collection are all highly entertaining. The best of the best is J.R. Ward's "The Story of Son." It's not part of her Black Dagger Brotherhood storyline, but it's excellent, with a truly engaging heroine and a darkly romantic, tragic hero, a bit like Z in the Brotherhood. (And he's my favorite.) This is the first I've read from the other authors, but I'll certainly be wanting more in the future thanks to this introduction. All of the stories could be themed "They came from different worlds." Very spicy, very diverse tales, all very good.

7. Dead is the New Black by Marlene Perez. Ever since the days of Scoobie Doo, teens have wondered whether adults were conspiring to get them. And you know what? Sometimes they're right. Daisy Giordano is not only a resident of the quirky town of Nightshade, but also the only "norm" in a family of psychics. When girls at her high school start turning up undead, she and her hunky best friend Ryan must get to the bottom of this mystery. Is a vampire on the loose? Could it be Nurse Phillips, or perhaps Miss Foster, the head cheerleading coach? Daisy may not be gifted with her mother's and sisters' special powers, but she is smart, curious, and above all determined. If anyone can get to the bottom of this, Daisy can.

6. Hell's Belles by Jackie Kessler. There are many reasons to love Hell's Belles by Jackie Kessler (Zebra Books, 2007). One is its heroine, Jezebel, who is literally a cloven-footed demon spawned in the depths of Hell. When Hell undergoes a change in management, succubus Jezebel is forced to give up her career of seducing the souls from mortal men and become a nightmare. Jezebel doesn't adapt well to the change, fleeing the Lake of Fire to become a mortal. And, since mortals have to pay the rent, she becomes a stripper.

Lacking a soul, Jezebel certainly isn't planning on falling in love. Still, when she meets Paul Hamilton, she's more fascinated by him than an ex-demon should be. Paul is beautiful, to be sure, but with his "poet's eyes" and boxer's broken nose, he's also a sweet and sensitive soul.

Other characters in this book are also well-written and interesting. There's Daun, the incubus. He gets his own book, Hotter Than Hell, two more volumes into Kessler's Hell on Earth series. Then there's Lucifer himself, who's given perhaps the most sympathetic and romantic portrayal since Milton's Paradise Lost. I was delightfully surprised by Kessler's reinterpretation of Lucifer.

Another wonderful surprise awaiting readers of Hell's Belles is the music. Kessler animates Jezebel's strip club with with classic Melissa Etheridge, new INXS ("Pretty Vegas," with JD Fortune as lead singer), The Bloodhound Gang and, best of all, a U2 medley with "Desire" and "Mysterious Ways." I wanted to stick a five dollar bill into the paperback to tip the dj.

A fellow reviewer of Hell's Belles found the ending "a bit pat," but I disagree. The ending made me cry, with its poignant blend of sadness and hope. I highly recommend Hell's Belles to all lovers of paranormal and fantasy romance.

5. The Singular Exploits of Wonder Mom and Party Girl by Marc Schuster. First rule of parenting: you don't use drugs in front of your kids. Especially if you're the one member of the parent-teacher association charged with running the school's Just-Say-No program.

Audrey Corcoran is blindsided when her husband of ten years leaves her for a much-younger, thinner woman named Chloe. Desperate not to lose her young daughters the way she lost Roger, Audrey decides to get in touch with her fun side. Her adventures lead to her try cocaine, against her better judgement. In this tragicomic novel, Audrey copes with life on and off drugs.

I'm always a little amazed when a male author paints such a touching and realistic portrait of a woman's life. Scott Simon did it for 17-year-old Irena Zaric in Pretty Birds, and Marc Schuster does it for 30-something Audrey Corcoran. Thanks to Desperate Housewives, the suburban mom secretly on drugs may be something of a cliche, but Schuster never allows Audrey's life to become a caricature or a morality play. He simply gives her 292 pages to be her Super Mom + Party Girl self, and readers will be grateful for that.

4. Happy Hour at Casa Dracula by Marta Acosta. Thoroughly enjoyable. In this witty novel, Acosta creates a wonderful heroine in Milagro de los Santos. Mil, as she is known to friends, wants what every girl wants: to be taken seriously as a writer, live in rat-free apartment, and maybe find a fabulous guy she can get serious with. That guy is definitely not her ex, Sebastian, the hot writer du jour (del dia?) who is sitting on top of a pile of dark secrets. Along comes Oswald, who may be a vampire, and whose secrets may or may not be of the dark variety. Wonderfully written, funny and romantic, this one is a real winner.

3. CrowWoman and MudGirl by Victoria Selene Skye Deme. The author is, I believe, the illegitimate love child of Sylvia Plath, Barbara G. Walker (who wrote the wonderful Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets), and American Indian writer Louise Erdrich. CrowWoman and Mudgirl is an all-too-brief collection of poems steeped in myth and folklore. The theme, generally, is the reconciliation of the age-old dichotomy of feminine archetypes: is a woman a sweet-faced angel, or a raging bitch-goddess? In Skye Deme's poems, she is daughter, lover, monster, and more. These are big poems for such a tiny book, and deeply satisfying. My personal favorite is "Dreary Summer Day." What sounds like something perfectly mundane is actually a beautifully spun vampire tale.

2. The Prestige by Christopher Priest. First, you have to see the movie, which stars Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as a pair of warring stage magicians. It's sort of a steampunk-ish thing, where turn-of-the-nineteenth century technology meets the late Victorian/Edwardian era. AFTER you've seen the movie (and drooled over your choice of Jackman, Bale, Scarlett Johannson or David Bowie!), read Chris Priest's awesome book, which stunned me by being even weirder than the film.

1. GoneAway Into the Land by Jeffrey B. Allen. Remember, in the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, when Willy Wonka took the children and their guardians for a ride in a boat? Remember how the boat ride suddenly because dark and sinister, and you sensed there was something seriously evil afoot in the chocolate factory? Keep that boat ride in mind, and you'll have some idea of where GoneAway Into the Land (2008, Wandering Sage Publications) is going to take you.

"His name was Danny Greber, Daniel Johannes Greber, but I named him the beast." From its opening line, GoneAway crackles with danger. Author Jeffrey B. Allen creates a vivid, animated world in which trains breathe and an attic full of discarded housewares plots its revenge. Clearly, Allen has a poet's eye. His young hero, thirteen-year-old John, has a poet-warrior's heart. Imagine Harry Potter if, instead of the slightly unpleasant Dursleys, Harry had been raised by a full-grown mountain troll. John's beast of a father is unpredictable and dangerous. He takes the story book villain to a whole new level of greed and ignorance.

"The beast" finally goes too far when he disappears, taking John's little sister, Marny, with him. The search for Marny leads John and his mother, Ellie, in the Land, a place they couldn't have imagined in their wildest dreams. (Think of Candyland crossed with Gregory Maguire's vision of Oz and you'll have something of an idea.) Allen skillfully combines the everyday world with the fantastic, a seemingly seamless combination which reminds the reader of the very best of fantasy novels. Yet, GoneAway never imitates the style of other fantasies. It remains fresh and surprising, giving the reader little thrills of recognition but never descending into fairy tale cliches.

A note at the end of the book promises the GoneAway series will continue in a second book. The GoneAway series promises to be a fascinating one, as the first book ends on notes of hope, but also of missed opportunity. It will be rewarding to see how the series develops.

GoneAway Into the Land is a highly satisfying reading fix for older children. It will not disappoint adult fans of fantasy, either. Readers who enjoyed Keith Miller's The Book of Flying and other fairy tales for grown-ups will also appreciate GoneAway.