UPDATE! Caris Roane's GUARDIANS OF ASCENSION

UPDATE!

I have just updated a previous post for Caris Roane with a review of the fifth book in her GUARDIANS OF ASCENSION SERIES:  Obsidian Flame.

Click on the author's name or the book title above to go directly to the updated review.

UPDATE! Kerrelyn Sparks: LOVE AT STAKE SERIES

UPDATE!

I have just updated a previous post for Kerrelyn Sparks with a review of the twelfth book in her LOVE AT STAKE SERIES: Wanted: Dead or Alive. 

Click on the author's name or the book title above to go directly to the updated review.

UPDATE! Ann Aguirre's CORINE SOLOMON SERIES

UPDATE!

I have just updated a previous post for Ann Aguirre with a review of the fourth book in her CORINE SOLOMON SERIES:   Devil's Punch.

Click on the author's name or the book title above to go directly to the updated review.

Kate Cross: CLOCKWORK AGENTS SERIES

Author:  Kate Cross (aka Kathryn Smith, Kate Locke)
Series:  CLOCKWORK AGENTS
Plot Type:  SMR, HIS, Steampunk
Ratings:  V4; S4; H2-3
Publisher and Titles:  Signet Eclipse
       Heart of Brass (5/2012)
       Touch of Steel (12/2012)
       Breath of Iron (8/2013)

     This post was revised and updated on 1/30/13 to include a review of the second book in the series, Touch of Steel. That review appears first, followed by an overview of the world-building and a review of book 1:

            BOOK 2:  Touch of Steel            

     This book tells the love story of Company spy Claire Brooks and Wardens of the Realm spy Alastair Payne, the Earl of Wolfred. We met Alastair in book 1 in his role as the best friend of the hero and wannabe lover of the heroine. In book 1, Alastair not only had to give up on his love for Arden, but he also fell for a Company sympathizer who set him up and left him for dead, crushed under a carriage. At this point, Alastair is in the final stages of recovering from his injuries, and he is wary of female relationships. That attitude doesn't last long though, because at the beginning of this book, Alastair is called upon by the Wardens to go undercover with Claire in pursuit of a deadly, double-dealing spy named Stanton Howard.

     Claire has been on the trail of Howard, a Company traitor who killed her brother, Robert. She wants to know why Robert was murdered, and she is desperate to avenge his death. In the opening scene, Howard shoots Claire and pushes her off the roof of a building. The Wardens rescue her and make a deal that they won't kill her if she helps them capture Howard. Claire agrees even though she has secret plans to kill Howard herself, as slowly and painfully as possible. 

     The plot follows Claire and Alastair as they make a quick train trip to Scotland and then board a ship that is crossing the Atlantic. All the while, the two are falling for each other. They go through the usual paranormal romance procedure: first comes the sarcastic, teasing dialogue; then the "accidental" touches and soulful gazes; next, the first big kiss; and finally some steamy bedroom scenes. Even though they are extremely attracted to one another, they know that their romantic relationship is doomed. Alistair believes that Claire faces long-term imprisonment; Claire believes that when she kills Howard, the Wardens will immediately kill her. Of course, we (the readers) know that the couple is slated for their HEA, so we're not too worried.

     This book isn't as strong as book 1. I had no trouble at all figuring out the plot twist regarding Stanton Howard, and you won't either because the author telegraphs it all the way through. This isn't an awful book; it's just not as good as the first one—which was terrific—so it would have had to meet a very high standard, one that second books frequently miss. One weakness in the steampunk aspect of the story is that most of the gimmicks and gadgets that the characters use are carbon copies of modern-day inventions (e.g., cell phones, tasers, laptops). Steampunk is more fun when the gadgets are a bit more exotic.

     The third book will tell the romantic story of Warden surgeon Dr. Evelyn Stone and her ex-lover, ship captain Gavin MacRae. Book 2 has several scenes involving the two of them (separately) so we can ascertain that they are both good people and that they share a troubled past.  

            WORLD-BUILDING            

     Set in an alternate Victorian London (1898) during the Steam Age, the series follows the adventures and misadventures of members of a spy organization called the Wardens of the Realm (W.O.R.). The Wardens' bitter enemy is the Company, an equally skilled spy group. Here is one character's description of the two groups: "In the business of spying, the rivalry between the Wardens and the Company was the longest and the most volatile. To say that the two were on opposite sides would be an oversimplification. Sometimes they were on the same side, and even then they fought one another. No, it went beyond right and wrong. Their dissension was based on something more complex than morality. They were enemies hell-bent on destroying each other, but wouldn't know what to do without the other there to fight against. The only relationship he could compare it to would be a marriage between two people who despised each other but refused to separate." (p. 39)

     Since this is the Steam Age, both the Wardens and the Company use lots of steam-powered and spring-driven devices in their secretive operations. In addition, they are physically altering a growing number of their agents with metal bones and internal shields for their most essential organs. The metal they use is gregorite, the original name for titanium. If a person is badly injured—for example, gets his hand crushed in a riding accident—a doctor can replace his bones with gregorite and he's as good as new—actually, even stronger. In this world, the upper classes depend on all types of machines to make life easier. For example, automatons scrub the floors of their mansions, mechanical horses pull their carriages, mechanical androids handle security, and mechanical orchestras perform at their parties.

     Despite the futuristic steampunk machinery, this is still a Victorian society with its strict social mores and its patriarchal traditions. Although the English prime minister is a woman, the men still run things, believing that a woman's place is at home, not out in the world. In each book of this series, an independent young women and a sexy alpha male meet, fall in love, and get their HEA.

            BOOK 1: Heart of Brass            

     As the story begins, Arden Grey (Lady Huntley) is assisting Scotland Yard on a murder case in which a young, aristocratic woman has been eviscerated. Inspector Grant calls on Arden because she has invented the Aetheric Remnant Oscillatory Transmutative Spectacles (AROTS), which allow her to visualize exactly what the murder victim saw in her last moments of life. Using the AROTS, Arden visualizes a male aristocrat with a horseshoe-shaped cravat pin, but she can't see his face. One of the on-going jokes in the series is that the Arden is a mechanical genius who has invented a hand-held mechanical device called a Personal Hysteria Dissolution Mechanism that assists women with hysterics. If you can't figure out just what this handy little invention does, click HERE to read a plot summary of the movie, Hysteria. Click HERE to read a Wikipedia article on "Female Hysteria."

     As Arden is leaving the crime scene, she catches a glimpse of a man watching her from a warehouse rooftop. She is stunned when she recognizes him as her husband, Luke (Lucas Harris Stratford Grey, the Earl of  Huntley), who has been missing for seven years and presumed dead by everyone but Arden. When Luke steals into her bedroom that night, she awakens and calls him by name, but he seems not to recognize her and runs away. We soon learn that Luke disappeared because he was captured by the Company while he was searching for a traitor within the W.O.T.R. ranks. The Company performed surgery on his brain, causing him to lose all memory of his previous life. They renamed him Number Five and sent him out as an assassin. His current assignment is to kill Arden.

     The plot follows Arden as she tries to figure out what's going on with Luke and Luke as he begins to have flashes in which he remembers scenes from his previous life. Eventually, with the help of her friend Alastair, Arden captures Luke and a W.O.T.R. doctor performs surgery to remove the memory-draining device that the Company inserted in his brain. The remainder of the story focuses on the couple as they realize that each is a very different person now and that after seven long years of separation they must rebuild their lives from scratch. Their relationship is complicated by the fact that Alastair has fallen in love with Arden while Luke was gone, and he's not exactly thrilled to have Luke back. Seven years ago, Arden was a submissive young woman who did whatever her husband commanded her to do. Now, she is an independent woman—a W.O.T.R. agent, a consultant for Scotland Yard, and a well-known inventor. Back then, Luke was a workaholic who left Arden alone much of the time, never discussing any of his W.O.T.R. assignments with her. On some of his assignments, he traveled with his former mistress. Arden learned about the mistress from a friend because Luke never admitted the relationship to her. So...you can see that they have a lot of emotional history to work through if they are to have an HEA.

     As the two work on their new relationship, two more story lines intertwine with the romance. First, Arden and Inspector Grant still must track down the murderer, who has struck again. Second, the Company sends its best agent to kill both Aden and Luke, so they have to figure out a way to trap him. 

     This is a solid series with well-developed characters and lots of action. The author does a great job of blending the steampunk aspects into the story line. Instead of overwhelming the plot (which is sometimes the case in other steampunk series) they support various aspects of the investigation and add interest to our view of the everyday lives of the characters. Arden and Luke are complex characters, flawed but essentially on the side of the greater good. Arden has buried herself in her work and has learned to depend on alcohol to get her through her lonely days and nights. Luke realizes that in his former life, he was kind of a jerk, paying little attention to Arden's love of invention and leaving her alone while he went off on his spying adventures. Their journey back to true love is compelling, as they both make mistakes, jump to erroneous conclusions, begin to work as a team, and finally learn to trust and love one another. 

UPDATE! Gena Showalter's LORDS OF THE UNDERWORLD

UPDATE!

I have just updated a previous post for Gena Showalter with a review of the ninth book in her LORDS OF THE UNDERWORLD SERIES: The Darkest Seduction.

Click on the author's name or the book title above to go directly to the updated review.

UPDATE! Lara Adrian's MIDNIGHT BREED SERIES

UPDATE!

I have just updated a previous post for Lara Adrian with a review of the climactic tenth book (Chance's story) in her MIDNIGHT BREED SERIES: Darker Than Midnight.

Click on the author's name or the book title above to go directly to the updated review.

Shawntelle Madison: COVETED SERIES

Author:  Shawntelle Madison
Series:  COVETED
Plot Type:  Light UF
Ratings:  V4; S3; H2
Publisher and Titles:  Ballantine
       "Collected" (e-novella prequel, 9/2012) 
       Coveted (5/2012)
       Kept (11/2012)
       "Bitter Disenchantment" (e-novella, 5/2013)

     This post was revised and updated on 1/18/13 to include a review of the second book in the series, Kept. That review appears first, followed by an overview of the world-building and reviews of the prequel e-novella and book 1:

            BOOK 2:  Kept             

     In this book, the heroine's various neuroses are just as bad and just as annoying as they were in book 1. She is still collecting and hoarding Christmas ornaments (a symptom of her OCD) and she still carries multiple packs of sanitizing wipes with her at all times (a symptom of her germophobia). She also continues in her estrangement from her lost love, Thorn Grantham, son and heir of the local pack leader. Nat is still attending her therapy group, where she continues her friendship with Nick, a white wizard who would like to be more than a friend.

     As the story opens, Nat's father disappears, and she learns that he has gone off to Atlantic City to pay a life-or-death moon debt to Roscoe, a former werewolf associate who is a criminal mob boss. Nat goes off on her own to find and rescue her father, but is immediately joined by her brother, Alex, and Thorn. Alex is soon called home when his wife gives birth to their first child, leaving Nat and Thorn on their own. After meeting with Roscoe, the couple fulfills the first task that Dad was supposed to do, but when they return to Roscoe, he insists that Nat must complete the rest of the assignment with no werewolf assistance—which means that Thorn has to walk away. The rest of the story follows Nat as she makes a traumatic road trip to Maine accompanied by Nick and two other members of her therapy group. By the end of the book, Dad's moon debt situation is taken care of and Nat's pack status is resolved, but her romantic future is filled with uncertainty.

     In a secondary story line, Nat is just weeks away from the trials—a set of three tests of physical endurance that will determine whether she can rejoin the pack. She constantly professes that becoming a pack member is her major goal in life, but as the book begins, she hasn't done any physical training at all to get in shape. After she spends a single early-morning session attempting to run ten miles (and collapsing after jogging/walking/dragging only about half that many), we never see her train again. So when she performs quite well in the actual 10-mile run during the trials, we (the readers) are quite stunned.

     The author has the germ of a good story, but her writing skills aren't up to the task of constructing either sympathetic, realistic characters or a cohesive, believable plot. There was a point late in the book that I became engaged in the action, but it was a long time coming and it didn't last very long. Unfortunately, this plot has many more weaknesses than strengths. For example, the scene with Roscoe, Nat, and her father doesn't make much sense. Why would Roscoe allow Nat to pay off just one part of the moon debt—and the lesser part at that? Why would her big, strong, honorable father let his emotionally damaged, physically weak daughter go off her own to pay off his debt? Once Thorn and Alex leave Nat alone, they don't seem to worry much about her—another unbelievable turn of events. Nat's history is filled with failure at almost everything she attempts, so why would they think she can do this alone? (As it turns out, she can't; once again, her friends bail her out.)  

     Characterization is also a problem. Nat is an extremely unlikeable heroine—always a whiny, fearful, shrinking violet who freezes up during almost every crisis and lets others fight her battles. When she does dredge up enough gumption to fight back, it's so rare and shocking as to be unbelievable. Thorn is also unlikable. He's a big, strong, thoughtless alpha who appears to have no idea how much he hurts Nat as he follows a pattern of coming on to Nat in one scene and then showing up with his fiancee in the next. He is furious that Nat is seeing Nick the wizard, but can't understand why Nat is bothered by the fact that he himself is engaged to be married. It's really impossible for me to understand what each one sees in the other.

     There are continuity problems throughout the book. For example, in one scene (on p. 29), Nat's mother explains everything she knows about Dad going off to pay his moon debt. Then (on page 30), we have this statement: "An hour later, Alex and Aunt Vera managed to convince Mom to talk." But Mpm already did all her talking on the previous page, and she doesn't provide  any more after that point. There are also a few dialogues in which questions and answers are not synchronized—a question is asked by one character, and another character appears to answer a different question.

     And don't get me started on the road-trip scene in which Nat and her friends riff on the euphemisms used by romance novelists for female and male private parts. That scene is obviously just thrown in for its general silliness, and it totally breaks the suspense build-up.

     I'm going to bring this review to a close by saying that I will not be reviewing any more books or novellas in this series. I will list the titles when they are published, but without any comments. Click HERE to read an excerpt from Kept. 

 

            WORLD-BUILDING            

     In this world, the supernatural community includes werewolves, witches, warlocks, wizards, and all kinds of fae, from mermaids to goblins to dwarfs. The lead characters are members of the Toms River, New Jersey werewolf pack. Although humans don't seem to know that the supernatural world exists, I'm not sure that they could miss seeing such things as a zombie waiter in an upscale restaurant or a major werewolf war, both of which are a part of book 1.  

     The series heroine is Natalya Stravinsky, a twenty-something werewolf who was kicked out of her pack because she suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and mysophobia (aka germophobia) and because she rejected an arranged marriage with a top-level pack family. Five years ago, Nat had her OCD pretty much under control, but then her boyfriend, Thorn Grantham, deserted her and she fell prey to her weakness—buying Christmas ornaments, scrupulously cleaning them up, and storing them in pristine white boxes that are neatly stacked everywhere in her antiseptically clean house. Nat's OCD is a huge part of the plot, to the point that you just want to tell her to get a better therapist and work a lot harder at getting over it.

     One of the cover blurbs compares Nat to Carolyn Crane's hypochondriacal heroine, Justine Jones, but really, there is no comparison—not between the heroines and definitely not between the two series. Crane's series has a beautifully crafted mythology and a smart and sympathetic heroine, two things that this series lacks. Click HERE to read my review of Carolyn Crane's excellent DISILLUSIONISTS TRILOGY.

            E-Novella Prequel:  "Collected"            

     This novella introduces us to Natalya and her obsessive-compulsive behavior. As the story begins, Nat has purchased a Victorian figurine in an on-line auction, but someone steals the package as it is being delivered to her house. She follows the scent of the perpetrator and discovers that a zmee—a three-headed dragon—hired a wood nymph to do the job. The zmee talks Natalya into a bargain. He will keep the figurine and give her two other collectibles if she will photograph an antique compass that is displayed in a display case in a factory run by leprechauns. Then, a villainous vodyanoy enters the picture and blackmails Nat into giving him the photographs. In the meantime, Nat has dragged her brother, Alex, and his best friend, Miles, into her dangerous adventure. The rest of the story follows them through their trip to the leprechauns' factory.

     This little novella illustrates all that is wrong with this series. First, the plot is nonsensical—all this drama so that Nat can possess a papier mache figure and a nutcracker. Even Nat herself muses, "Had I fallen so far that I needed these things, these trinkets? That I was willing to risk myself and my friends to add to my collection?" Yes indeed, she has, and not for the first—or last—time. Then, there's the "romance." In a come-from-nowhere scene near the end, Miles, who has known Nat and Alex since childhood, confesses his long-term attraction to her on the eve his leaving town forever. That scene doesn't even come close to ringing true. And don't forget the awkward interior monologues in which Nat constantly belittles herself for being germophobic and obsessive-compulsive but just keeps right on with it, to the detriment of her life and the lives of her friends. 

     Long story short, you don't need to read this novella to understand book 1 because Nat's various mental ailments are described in that book in great detail. The only saving grace is that at the moment, this novella is a free download.

            BOOK 1:  Coveted            

      The story opens with a mild bedroom scene—a flashback that involves clean sheets, chocolate syrup, and empty promises. And that's about the end of the sex for our heroine in this book. After having been gone for five years, Thorn, the pack leader's son, has finally returned home, and he's slated to marry the daughter of one of the pack's top families. Thorn comes back only because his father has been injured, and wants Thorn to take on some of his responsibilities. Even though Thorn rescues Nat occasionally from threatening situations, he doesn't come across as much of a hero. He has agreed to the arranged marriage, but he keeps hanging around Nat—showing up in her bedroom, breathing heavily in her ear, and telling her how much he wants her...if only things were different. They never have a real conversation, so it's hard to tell what the attraction is between them.

     Nat's life as a rogue werewolf means that she has no werewolf friends. Even her family is mostly estranged from her, except for her grandmother.  Family members and pack members are disturbingly rude and cold to Nat much of the time. When Nat's college friend, Aggie (also a werewolf), turns up at her door, Nat is thrilled for the companionship, even though she's nervous about having someone live in her ultra-clean house among all her treasures—or as she calls them, "my children."

     Meanwhile, the Long Island werewolf pack is trying to take over the Toms River pack's territory, and their pack leader (Luther) wants to kill Nat. During most of the book, no one seems to have a clue as to why the Long Island pack is so focused on Nat. When we finally get the answer, it is a total rip-off. Obviously Nat has to have known all along why the pack leader wants to kill her. Why didn't she speak up? Why didn't she include it in one of her interminable interior monologues? Who knows?

     Part-way into the story, Nat rejoins a therapy group, hoping to get her OCD under control. There, she is partnered with Nick, a sexy wizard who also has an OCD problem. Obviously, Nick is going to be the third point in Nat's love triangle along with Thorn. He's a much more likable and interesting guy, so that probably means she won't choose him.

     This book has so many problems, it's hard to know where to begin. First, there's the author's lack of skill in writing from the first-person point of view. Then there are the grammatical errors and the awkward use of language. Counting up the cliches would be "like plucking fruit off a tree." (p. 278) And don't forget the numerous holes in the plot. At one point, Nat's home is flooded by a creek next to her home that we have never heard about before this point. The flood is included in the story solely because the author needs Nat's treasures to be damaged so that her relatives can finally show some sympathy as they help her clean up after the flood waters recede. The story abounds with loose ends, like the eccentric therapy group member who merits several pages of description and is never heard from again. And then there's another unnecessary scene in which some tree nymphs plan (but never come close to carrying out) a kidnapping and humiliation of Nat's brother. It's a silly scene in which they fill their car with pink duct tape and shaving cream—and it adds absolutely nothing to the plot. Perhaps the author intended these scenes to add humor to the story. If so, it didn't work for me. The way to add humor is to integrate it with the plot, not to manufacture "humorous" situations and drop them in every once in awhile before getting back to the story.

     In the most illogical and manipulative scene in the book, after Nat's brother is rescued from the Long Island werewolves, he is taken to his aunt's home to recover. Now, the aunt lives within walking distance of his parents' house, so why is he recovering at his aunt's house and not his parents' house. And why aren't the parents there with him. His mother has been worried sick about him, so why would she turn her back on him now? The answer to this is that the author needs him to be in a certain place with a certain few people so that he can once again be attacked. If the author followed the logical flow of things and put him with his parents, there would have been too many people around for the second attack to take place. This is the kind of plot manipulation that makes for a below average book with an above average level of annoyance for the reader. The attack scene that follows is staged so awkwardly and illogically that it is head-shakingly dreadful. A band of enemy werewolves sneaks up on the house, creeping in to grab a shotgun off a table and a cellphone from a purse. You'd think that if they could get inside and grab the gun and the phone they would then attack the only two people in the house who are conscious, but no...once again logic definitely does NOT prevail. What happens instead is that the enemy werewolves all go down into the basement to hide, and then come back up again and attack through the cellar door. They have sent poisoned food into the house, and they have been inside to check things out, so they are sure that the inhabitants are mostly sick or unconscious, so why in the world don't they attack while they are in the house grabbing the shotgun? And why don't they split up and attack from multiple angles? And why would they all go into the basement and then come right back up again? This whole section of the book quickly went from unconvincingly improbable to unbelievably awful. Click HERE to read an excerpt from Coveted.

     I'm afraid that I can't recommend this series based on book 1. I'm willing to take a look at book 2 in the hope that the writing improves, but I'm not optimistic.

UPDATE! Hanna Jayne's UNDERWORLD DETECTION AGENCY CHRONICLES

UPDATE!

I have just updated a previous post for Hannah Jayne  with a review of the third book in her UNDERWORLD DETECTION AGENCY CHRONICLES:  Under Suspicion.

Click on the author's name or the book title above to go directly to the updated review.

Suzanne Johnson: SENTINELS OF NEW ORLEANS SERIES

Author:  Suzanne Johnson

Series:  SENTINELS OF NEW ORLEANS
Plot Type:  UF
Ratings:  V4; S2; H2
Publisher and Titles:  Tor
       Royal Street (4/2012)      
       "Christmas in Dogtown" (e-novella, 10/2012)
       River Road (11/2012)
       "Christmas in Dogtown" (e-novella, 10/2012)
       Elysian Fields (8/2013)

     This post was revised and updated on 12/18/12 to include the e-novella  "Christmas in Dogtown", and the second novel, River Road. Those reviews appear first, followed by an overview of the series world-building and a review of book 1:

          BOOK 2:  River Road          

     It's now three years after Katrina's devastating rampage through New Orleans, and DJ has been working with Alex as her partner all that time—keeping their relationship strictly on a platonic level. She has stayed away from Alex's cousin, Jake, who had the misfortune of being turned into a loup-garou at the end of the first book. In this world, a loup-garou is a werewolf on steroids; most of them lack the control to live in the human world. Back then, Jake was furious with DJ, blaming her for the catastrophe, and she accepted that blame. Although they once had a romantic attraction, two have avoided each other ever since.

     Things recently changed in a big way for the supernatural world when the Congress of Elders reached an agreement with the major preternatural groups and have opened the borders between the mortal world and the Beyond, allowing unrestricted movement between two realms for the first time ever. Now there are many more pretes mingling with the humans, and their motives are not always honest or peaceful.

     The primary plot in this book focuses on a water pollution problem that was discovered by a merman colony in the bayous outside of New Orleans. Two merman clans accuse each other of the poisoning of the Mississippi that has brought illness to clan members. As part of their jobs as Sentinels of New Orleans, DJ and Alex meet with the clan leaders, who take them to the location of the bad water. Before they get there, however, they discover the badly mutilated body of a wizard on the bank of the Mississippi, and this becomes their priority case. The rest of the story follows DJ, Alex, and Jake (who has accepted a job as an Enforcer) as they follow the clues and solve both mysteries, with lots of physical and magical action and some incredible heartache along the way.

     DJ's romantic situation is even more complicated than it was in book 1. She is lustfully attracted to three men: Alex, her shape-shifting macho partner; Jake, the newbie loup-garou who is having control problems; and—believe it or not—Jean Lafitte, the long-dead, lecherous pirate who is now living in New Orleans and is determined to seduce DJ. As DJ sums it up: "Life had been much simpler when I had no social life, plus my dates weren't exactly dinner-and-a-movie guys. One had serious control issues, one seemed to be changing the rules of our relationship and was almost scaring the crap out of me more than her werewolf cousin, and the third wasn't even alive in any normal sense of the word." (p. 235)

    In book 1, DJ discovered that she has elven DNA in her family tree, and she found and began to use an elven staff that enhances her wizardly magic. In this book, she discovers that every time she uses the staff the Elven Synod (which is the elven equivalent of the Congress of Elders) is aware of it, and they are not happy that a wizard is using elven power. A mysterious new character (Quinn Randall) shows up in DJ's neighborhood about half-way through the book, and I'm betting that he has elven connections. We'll surely see this situation play out in the next book.

     This is a solid series with likable, quirky characters who exist in an inventive mythos. The plot of this book has a few bumps and some illogical moments, but it also has great suspense and well-developed characters—both primary and    secondary. Click HERE to read chapter 1.

          E-NOVELLA:  "Christmas in Dogtown"          

     My recommendation is to skip this little novella with its weak story line, shallow characters, and improbable events. In a nutshell: Resa Madere has lost her job, and she is broke. Resa's rich boyfriend "moved on when she lost her job"—the first illogical event. Why would a rich boyfriend dump his girlfriend because she loses her job due to hurricane-related cutbacks? Resa takes a temporary trip back home to Dogtown, her tiny backwoods hometown, to help her uncle run the family sausage business. Dogtown is a tiny little town—just a crossroad, really—populated by two extended families: the Madere family and the Caillou family.

     As soon as Resa arrives home, she learns that her childhood friend, Chandler (Chan) Caillou, is back in town. Their families have been trying to get them together for years, but the two have not seen each other since high school and have never been a couple. Resa's mother tells her that Chandler has come back to take over as the "gator man" for the parish after his Cousin Mike died. Resa asks how Mike died, and her mother says, "Think he drowned. Did Mike Caillou drown?" she asks the room full of relatives. As one of the few inhabitants of this tiny village, how in the world could Mrs. Madere not know the cause of Mike's death? Just one more improbability! Needless to say, romantic feelings flare up between Resa and Chan, with the romance moving from "Hello" to HEA in just a day or two.  

     I won't go into the supernatural aspect of the novella, except to say that the mythology is extremely murky and there seems to be absolutely no purpose for the existence of the supernatural creature in question—it's just there. When she learns about "it," Resa says that she's always known about "it" in her heart, BUT... the story is told from her point of view, and she has never indicated by any thought, word, or action that she believes that Dogtown's legends are true. Although the story is set in the same New Orleans world as SENTINELS OF NEW ORLEANS, no characters from the series appear. Perhaps the author plans to use the characters from this novella somewhere in future SENTINELS books, but at this point, you're safe in saving your money.

       WORLD-BUILDING       

     The Sentinels are wizards who maintain order among the preternaturals (aka pretes) of the world. They are divided into four groups called Congresses, based on their powers. Red Congress wizards use physical magic; Green Congress wizards are more witchlike, using spells and potions; Yellow Congress wizards are telepaths; Green and Blue Congress wizards use creative and intellectual powers. Each wizard is mainstreamed into the human community as a means of keeping his or her magical identity hidden.

     In this world, most pretes live in the Beyond, a realm separate from mortal earth, where each group lives together in its own area—kind of like little supernatural villages. In New Orleans, some of the pretes live in Old Orleans, a realm between the mortal world and the Beyond. In order for a preternatural from the Beyond to enter the mortal world, he or she must be summoned by a wizard or cross through a transport (i.e., a portal). Some pretes are allowed to live in the mortal world, mostly werewolves and shape shifters (which are two very different creatures in this series). The series has one group of undead that is new and inventive—the historical dead. These are famous people who, although dead, are still hanging around hoping to get back to earth for one reason or another—people like Jean Lafitte and Marie Laveau, who want money and power, and Louis Armstrong, who just wants to keep making music in his favorite city. Also living in the Beyond are the gods of various cultures. The strength of their undead existence depends on how many people still remember and believe in them.

     The Sentinels are ruled by the Congress of Elders, a stereotypically crotchety and über-traditional group of men who are headquartered in Edinburgh. They want to maintain the status quo and keep as many pretes as possible away from mortal earth. Here, DJ, the series heroine, explains the organizational structure: "Willem Zrakovi was the head wizard for North America—each continent had one grand poobah that served on the Council of Elders and above them all was a single First Elder. Below them were the heads of the four congresses, then the sentinels, then the licensed wizards. The enforcers were a group unto themselves, part FBI prete team and part assassins." (River Road, p. 134)

     The heroine of the series is Drusilla Jaco (aka "DJ), a Green Congress wizard who is forced to become the Sentinel of New Orleans when her mentor, Gerald "Gerry" St. Simon (Red Congress), disappears during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Her love interest (one of them, anyway) is Alexander (Alex) Warin, a shape-shifting Enforcer (a chow-pony mix) who works for the Elders, mostly as a terminator of out-of-control pretes. As is almost always the case in paranormal fiction, DJ has a second possible love interest—Alex's non-magical cousin, Jacob (Jake), who owns a nightclub in the French Quarter.

          BOOK 1: Royal Street          

     The titular location—Royal Street—is in the heart of New Orleans' French Quarter, where many of the events in the story take place. As the action begins, DJ is meeting with Jean Lafitte in an attempt to trick him into going back to the Beyond. (Lafitte can't be killed by any ordinary means; the only way to get rid of him permanently would be for everyone to forget him, and since he is such an unforgettable man, that will never happen.) When she is successful, he gives her one of those "I'll be baacck!" shout-outs as he fades away. You can be sure that he makes good on that threat. Soon thereafter, the Elders order DJ to evacuate because Katrina is bearing down on New Orleans. Leaving Gerry behind to protect the city, DJ heads to her grandmother's home in Alabama where she waits out the hurricane and worries about Gerry, who disappears about a week after the storm. The elders order DJ back to New Orleans when they discover that Gerry has gone missing and that Katrina has damaged the boundaries between the mortal world and the Beyond, allowing marauding pretes to stream into New Orleans. When DJ reaches her house (luckily in an unflooded neighborhood), Lafitte is waiting in ambush. Just in the nick of time (but much to DJ's annoyance), a tall, sexy, well-armed man bursts in and shoots Lafitte, forcing him back to the Beyond. The rescuer introduces himself as Alex, her new partner, and informs DJ that together they will be co-Sentinels of the city. The Elders (and Alex) suspect that Gerry has gone rogue, while DJ is sure that he has fallen victim either to the storm or to a villainous prete.

     The plot follows DJ and Alex as they search for Gerry and investigate a series of voodoo-related murders of National Guardsmen. At each murder scene, the perpetrator has drawn a voodoo véve, and soon those drawings show up on the doorsteps of all of the wizards in New Orleans, including DJ's. As DJ reads through Gerry's journals, she begins to realize that Alex and the Elders might be right—that Gerry may have gotten himself involved in a dangerous bargain with Baron Samedi, a voodoo god who is trying to build up enough power to take down the Elders. She also makes a stunning discovery about her own genetic heritage. As the conflict is resolved, both DJ and Alex are put into situations where they must choose between the safety of family and the greater good of the Elders' laws.

     The love triangle develops as the story moves along, with a love-hate relationship growing between DJ and Alex, a flirtation developing between DJ and Jake, and ripples of jealousy pulsating between the two men. During the climactic resolution, Jake has a life-changing experience, so we'll have to see how that affects his love life.

     This is an inventive new series with a fresh take on the supernatural mythos. The idea that the preternaturals are mostly confined to the Beyond is interesting, although the details of the world-building are not completely spelled out in book 1. For example, why do the Elders allow some pretes to live in the mortal world, but not others? The concept of the historical undead is fascinating, and it opens up lots of possibilities for future story lines. Maybe Elvis can stop in for a visit (kind of like Bubba in the SOOKIE STACKHOUSE series). Johnson certainly captures the look, feel, and even the smell of post-Katrina New Orleans. Her descriptions of the devastation in the flooded neighborhoods are horrifying in their detail. The three main characters are solid—if not as inventive as the mythology. Actually, the most fascinating character is Lafitte, and you can bet that he'll be turning up in future books. Click HERE to read chapters 1-3. 

UPDATE! Alaya Johnson's ZEPHYR HOLLIS SERIES

UPDATE!

I have just updated a previous blog entry for Alaya Johnson with a review of the second book in her ZEPHYR HOLLIS SERIES: Wicked City.

Click on the author's name or the book title above to go directly to the updated review.

Juliana Stone: LEAGUE OF GUARDIANS SERIES

Author:  Juliana Stone
Series:  LEAGUE OF GUARDIANS
Plot Type:  SMR
Ratings:  V5; S4; H2
Publisher and Titles: 

       "Wrong Side of Hell" (Prequel e-novella, 3/2012)

       Wicked Road to Hell (4/2012)

       "To Hell and Back" (e-novella, 10/2012)

       King of the Damned (11/2012)

       Awaken the Damned (6/2013)      

     This post was revised and updated on 1/12/13 to include a review of the second e-novella ("To Hell and Back") and the second novel (King of the Damned). Those reviews appear first, followed by an overview of the world-building and reviews of the prequel novella and the first novel:

           E-Novella 2: "To Hell and Back"           

     This novella tells is the second part of the romance between Logan Winters, a hellhound, and Kira Dove, a human. In the first novella, Logan rescued Kira from District 3 (aka Hell), and now they are back in the mortal world and on the run. Logan is taking Kira to his mysterious mother so that they will be safe from the demons who are on their trail. Unfortunately, Kira talks Logan into stopping in a small town that is decorated for Halloween. She is enchanted with the decorations, and Logan can't resist her begging, so they make an extremely bad decision and check into a bed and breakfast for an overnight stay.

     Almost immediately, Logan is kidnapped by demons and dragged down to Hell where Lilith is determined to break him with some heavy torture. Meanwhile, two Guardians—Priest and Cale—rescue Kira and attempt to get her to a safe house. But Logan reaches out to Kira in a dream and tells her that there is a traitor within the Guardians and that he's not sure that Priest and Cale have her best interests at heart. He tells Kira to escape from them and go to his mother. We don't see any of Kira's travels as she makes her way to Logan's mother. In one scene, she's running away and then a few pages later, she's there. 

     Back in Hell, Lilith is about to continue torturing Logan when a new character enters the story. At this point we learn the identity of Logan's father and mother. The rest of the story line follows Logan as he figures out a way to get out of District 3 and back to Kira.

     Like the first novella, this one seems rushed and incomplete in its character development and story line. What the author has done is to write a sketchy Logan-Kira romance and then divide it into two novellas. The only thing that this particular novella adds to the series story arc is the confirmation that there is an unknown traitor in the Guardian ranks. Other than that, it's just a below average paranormal romance. The novella is available on the Kindle for $1.99 (which is how I purchased it) and in a mass market paperback for $3.99. It's such a short story that I would have been upset with myself if I had paid the paperback price. 

           BOOK 2:  King of the Damned           

     The hero of the second book is Azaiel, the Fallen, who caused all kinds of trouble in the JAGUAR WARRIORS series. Azaiel is a Seraphim who spent long torturous years in the underworld after he lusted after a demonic woman who betrayed him. Eventually, Bill, the mysterious leader of the League of Guardians, rescued Azaiel and bound him to serve the Guardians. As the story opens, Azaiel is in Salem, Massachusetts, investigating the death of Cara James, a powerful witch who assisted the Guardians in their endeavors. Azaiel must determine who killed Cara. Was it a demon, or was it the unknown traitor within the Guardians? 

     The heroine of the story is Rowan James, Cara's granddaughter, who arrives at Cara's home to find the bloody aftermath of her murder and a strange, but sexy, man lurking in the house. Rowan has been running away from her witchy heritage for six years. For many generations, certain James witches have been marked by the demon Mallick. The marked witches are eventually dragged to hell, where Mallick sucks out their magical energy until they suffer through a painful death. Rowan is next on Mallick's list. Years ago, Cara put a spell on Rowan's demon mark to keep her hidden from Mallick, but now Rowan has had enough. She vows that on Samheim she will gather all of the surviving James witches together and defeat Mallick once and for all.  

     The plot follows Rowan and Azaiel as they get to know and trust one another and fall in love. We also meet the rest of Rowan's eccentric family and get the set-up for a future romance between Rowan's cousin, Hannah, and the jaguar shifter, Nico, who is now a Guardian. 

     This is a typical paranormal romance, with most of the story centering on the romantic relationship, with all of its ups and downs, so you can be sure that the angst level is quite high. Although Rowan and Azaiel spend a lot of time battling various demons, we don't get much graphic detail on those fights. The final inevitable showdown between Rowan and Mallick happens relatively quickly right at the end, and the major roadblock to the couple's HEA is solved off-page, so there's no real drama there. This isn't the strongest SMR story I've read, but it isn't the weakest. I guess I'd have to rate it as middle of the road average. The ongoing suspicion that there is a traitor within the Guardians is mentioned in passing, but with no details and no suspects.

     Click HERE to read an excerpt from this novel. (Click on "Read an Excerpt" on the left side of the page.) 

           WORLD-BUILDING           

     This series begins about 2 years after the final book in Stone's JAGUAR WARRIORS series. At the end of that series, we met "Bill," the mysterious, otherworldly man who rescued Julian Castille and Declan O'Hara from Hell. In exchange for his help, Bill required them to serve him. Now, we learn that Bill is really Askelon, a Seraphim who leads the League of Guardians. The Seraphim are angelic creatures who rule the upper realm, but they sometimes go too far in their zeal to destroy everything and everyone they believe to be evil. Their army is called the Seraph. 

     The League of Guardians was formed to maintain a balance between the forces of dark and light—i.e., the Seraphim and the Demons. Here, the situation is explained in the introduction to the prequel novella: "For millennia the struggle between light and dark, between the upper and lower realms, has been policed by a secret group of warriors culled from every fabric of existence. They are both otherworld and human, male and female. They are known to each other as the League of Guardians. Their pledge, to protect the line between dominions and make sure neither side grows too powerful. If they should fall, so shall the earth, the heavens, and hells. And there will be no more."  As Cale, a Seraphim and a member of the League, explains to Declan (now a Seraph soldier), "Our job is to make sure neither the underworld nor the upper realm become too powerful...yin-yang and all that. Without darkness there can be no light, the line between the two is delicate, like the thinnest weave of silk....We answer to one of the original seven Seraphim—a true warrior who speaks directly to the highest power. (That would be "Bill.") Bill generally takes on a human form in which he is a short, fat, bald man who constantly chews handfuls of gummy bear candy. Why does Bill constantly carry around a bag of gummy bears? Who knows. For me it's just one more of those "cutesy" details that writers throw in to add humor and "humanize" their characters. Unfortunately, it's just silly and annoying—and not funny at all.

     If you enjoyed the JAGUAR WARRIORS, series, you'll probably like this one. It has the same handsome alpha males and feisty, hardheaded females. The plot has a few loose ends (What happened to the Egyptian necklace?), but in general, the story line is compelling and action filled. The primary problem continues to be with the sketchy mythology, which still is missing some concrete details.

          Prequel Novella: Wrong Side of Hell          

     This introductory novella tells the beginning of the love story between Logan Winters, a hellhound, and Kira Dove, a human. Logan's job is to "retrieve souls that were beyond redemption and escort them to District Three—one of several levels in hell—for processing." Logan is also a League member after having been saved from the Pit of Hell by Bill. Fifteen years ago, Bill asked Logan to lead a young girl back to the human realm instead of escorting her to District Three, where Logan's demon overlord had ordered him to take her. Now, the girl has been murdered, and, once again, Bill wants Logan to bring her back. The plot follows Logan as he finds Kira in Purgatory and fights off swarms of demons to return her to Bill. The ending does not completely resolve their difficulties, so I can only assume that we'll see more of this couple in future books.

     The problem that I have with this story, and with the series mythology in general, is that too much is left unexplained. It's as if the author knows way more about the mythology than we do, and she has decided not to let us in on some key points. For example, just why is Kira so important? She appears to have some kind of otherworld connection, but mostly she comes across as a mentally damaged, bratty post adolescent, and no clues are given as to why she is so important to the League. Also, the mysterious identity of Logan's mother is referred to several times, but we never learn just who she is and why it is so important to Logan to protect her identity. But the biggest mystery for me concerns the League of Guardians itself. Other than the idea that they try to keep dark and light balanced, we don't really learn much concrete information about them—not in the introductory novella and not in book 1. All we are told is that sometimes they battle the Seraphim and sometimes they battle the demons. We do learn in the novella that there is apparently a traitorous Seraphim in the mix, but that bit of conflict doesn't show up in book 1. So...there is little continuity in the series—so far. In Stone's previous series—JAGUAR WARRIORS—the world-building was meticulously crafted, but in this series, it feels incomplete and thrown together. 

     Click HERE to read an excerpt from this novella. (Click on "Read an Excerpt" on the left side of the page.)

          BOOK 1: Wicked Road to Hell          

     This book tells the love story of Ana DeLacrux and Declan O'Hara, star-crossed lovers from the JAGUAR WARRIORS series. In the final book of that series (His Darkest Salvation), Ana was staked and seemingly killed by Cormac O'Hara (Declan's father, the series villain), leaving Declan in a state of devastation and grief. As Wicked Road to Hell begins, Declan is in New Orleans, where Bill has sent him to track down his latest target. When Declan locates the home in which the target—Kaden, a teen-age sorcerer—is hiding, he is stunned to find Ana—still alive, or actually still undead—guarding Kaden. As it turns out, Ana was also rescued by Bill, and now she, like Declan, is forced to do Bill's bidding. Kaden is valuable to both the underworld and the Seraphim because he has the fifth of seven magical marks. Declan, Ana, and their friends soon learn that there are seven children, each bearing a special mark. Brought together as a group, these marked children will be able to wield tremendous power. The question is, though, will they use their power for good or for evil? Each one has both light and dark in his or her soul, so it's a toss up as to which way they will go. The Seraphim don't want to take any chances, so they plan to collect the children and either imprison or kill them. The Demons, on the other hand, believe that they can fan the flames of darkness, so they want to capture the children and work on their dark natures. The League wants to rescue the children from both groups and give them a chance to make the right decisions.

     The plot follows the twists and turns of Declan and Ana's attempts to protect Kaden and rescue two other marked children who have been captured by Lilith and taken to her Hellish lair. Declan was at Lilith's mercy the entire time that he was in Hell, so he's not happy to learn that he must head back down there to rescue the children. Ana, being the stubborn vampire that she is, follows him. The story is filled with anguished interior monologues by both Ana and Declan as they bemoan their years of separation and worry that they can never overcome the odds and be together. Even when the couple seems to have successfully escaped from Hell, their troubles aren't over, but rest assured that they eventually find their HEA.

     Click HERE to read an excerpt from this novel. (Click on "Read an Excerpt" on the left side of the page.)