Finished Playing Easy to Get, an anthology featuring novellas by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jaid Black, and Kresley Cole. I won this one a few weeks ago during a contest over at The Good, the Bad, and the Unread.

Kenyon’s story is about Allison, who wins a book contest and gets whisked away to an island where she gets to pretend to be her favorite romance heroine for a week. Also on the island is Vince, an ex-Mob hitman. But when Vince’s employers track him down, Allison finds herself on the run with the sexy Vince.

Black’s story features Sofia, who travels to Alaska to bury her brother. Sofia gets kidnapped and taken to a lost Viking world underground, where she’s sold as a bride to a warrior named Johen. Cole’s tale is the first in her Immortals After Dark series. This one features the Valkyrie Myst and the vampire Wroth who fight, feud, and eventually fall in love.

I entered the contest because I wanted to try Cole’s Immortals series. I’ve heard lots of folks in blogland raving about her books and wanted to see what the fuss was about. I found her mix of Valkyries, vampires, fey, and more really interesting. Myst was a strong character, along with her sisters, which I appreciated. I also liked the fact they could be transfixed by shiny objects. Something I can relate to. 😎

I liked Wroth okay, until he used a magical chain to control Myst. “Taming someone” is not my favorite story device, especially when Wroth thought about commanding Myst to never go into battle again and forget all about her sisters. Not cool. But he had his reasons, and he eventually came around and redeemed himself. And Cole hooked me with her world, so I’ll be reading the next book in the series.

You can always count on Kenyon for a fun, action-packed read, and she delivers another one in this anthology. I liked the fact Allison kept her head and was really cool when facing down the Mob guys at the end of the story.

Then, there’s Black’s story. Oh my. I did not like this one at all. The writing was fine, but I could not get past the plot. Maybe it’s me. I don’t like stories where women are completely, utterly powerless, and Sofia was exactly that in this story.

Basically, because of their gods’ decree, the Vikings believe women aboveground will eventually die out one day, so they kidnap them, take them underground, and sell them off naked to the highest bidder to strengthen their race against the coming blight. The women are flatly told they can never home and that there’s no chance of escape. That’s bad enough.

But the Vikings claim to love women, to prize and cherish them above everything else. If they respected/loved women so much, why would they kidnap them in the first place and take them away from everything and everyone they love? That didn’t make sense to me. Also, another woman slips Sofia an aphrodisiac before she goes on the auction block to make her more receptive to Johen’s, ahem, advances. To break Sofia into her new life, as it were. Ugh. Other folks out there might like this novella, but it was not a good story for me. I think I was just the wrong reader for it because of the powerless angle. That’s something that really bugs me as a reader.

But then again, I’m sure there are plenty of folks out there who are bugged by superheroes and the campy books I write. So live and let live.

I’m splitting my decision for this book. Thumbs up to Kenyon and Cole; thumbs down to Black.

Up next: Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas.

Books in my TBR pile: 17.

Finished Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost. Someone (I believe Chasity) recommended this book in another post. So I snatched it up when I saw it at RT in the goodie room. Warning: there be spoilers ahead.

This is the first book in Frost’s Night Huntress series, which stars Catherine Crawfield. Cat’s mom was date-raped by a vampire, which means Cat herself is half-human, half-vampire — and on a mission to kill every vamp she can. Cat goes out to local nightclubs in her Ohio neighborhood, waits for a vamp to pick her up, and stakes them when they go for her neck. Until she meets Bones, a master vamp who offers Cat a deal — die or work with him to hunt down a particularly nasty vamp who’s abducting girls for a slave/blood ring. Cat chooses to work with Bones, who begins training her and teaching her that not all vamps are evil.

I liked a lot of things about this book. Frost has a great voice and a very easy-to-read style. Cat is a likable character, who’s only trying to get her mother to love and accept her by killing vamps (which her mom hates more than anything else).

Then, there’s Bones. Ah, Bones. He totally made the book for me. Loved everything about his character. Someone (again, I think it was Chasity) commented that he’s a lot like Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yeah, I can see that. Bones is British, has blond/white hair, and is just super-cool, just like Spike (who was always my favorite character on Buffy). But I think Frost made Bones her own character. He was definitely the highlight for me. 

I also really liked the way the romantic relationship developed between Bones and Cat. The progression felt natural, and by the end, you felt like these two would do anything for each other.

I felt like the end spiraled out of control just a bit. Surely, there would be more consequences for killing the governor of your state, which Cat does. I would think it would be hard to remain incognito after that, even if you were recruited for a secret government task force. But it did set up the storyline for the next book and made me want to see more of Cat in action — and how she reconnects with Bones.

The only thing I didn’t like was Cat’s mother (but I imagine Frost intended it to be this way). What a harpy. She wasn’t a good mom, and I didn’t feel that she really loved Cat. I know the mom was severly traumatized by the rape, but what kind of mom would let her teenage daughter go out, kill vamps, and risk her dying? If the mom was going out with Cat, I might have understood it. But it felt like she was punishing Cat and withholding her love for something that wasn’t Cat’s fault and something she can never change. Gotta say, I was rooting for the mom to get it in the end.

I also wanted Cat to stand up to her mom. It didn’t happen to the degree I’d hoped (because she chose her mom over Bones), but perhaps in the next book.

Overall, a solid urban fantasy read. Looking forward to getting the next book. Thumbs up.

Up next: The anthology Playing Easy to Get.

Books in my TBR pile: 18.

BTW, this is 100th book I’ve reviewed on the blog. Quite a milestone, eh? :ww:

Finished Wild Thing, a paranormal anthology featuring four authors. I picked this one up at the Berkley author signing at RWA last year, and Marjorie M. Liu was gracious enough to autograph it for me before the signing started. If you’ve ever met Marjorie, you know she’s as nice as she is talenter. Here’s a brief recap of the stories:

Maggie Shayne pens a tale of a vet who can communicate with animals. Her gift makes her the target of a rapist, but luckily, there’s a sexy detective determined to keep her safe. Meljean Brook writes a story set in her Guardian universe, where a female Guardian (angel-like protector) teams up with a sexy vampire to stop a demon from opening a gate to hell.

Marjorie M. Liu introduces Maxine Kiss, the heroine of her new urban fantasy series (the first book comes out in June). Maxine is covered with living tattoos that transform into demons at night — but one man makes her long for a more normal life. Alyssa Day pens a tale in her Warriors of Poseidon universe, where one of the warriors cozies up to a female shape-shifter as he tries to make an alliance with her pack.

I’d never read Shayne or Day before, so this book was a good introduction to them. Overall, I liked Liu and Day’s stories the best. The world building and idea of living tattoos was really well done in Liu’s story, and her writing was as lush and descriptive as ever. Day’s story was a great mix of action-adventure and fun, and reminded me a lot of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter series. I’ll probably pick up the first book in the Poseidon series and see how I like it.

Overall, a good anthology with a variety of styles to choose from. Thumbs up.

Up next: Something from the TBR pile

Finished Night Life by Caitlin Kittredge. I heard Caitlin speak on an urban fantasy panel at RT this year and picked up her book from the freebie room.

This urban fantasy focuses on Luna Wilder, a detective in Nocturne City who’s on the trail of a vicious serial killer. Complicating matters is the fact Luna is a lone werewolf without a pack, which means she’s pretty far down on the magical totem pole. Also, her police captain is doing everything in his power to keep Luna from finding the truth. Then, Luna meets Dmitri Sandovsky, a pack leader who was close to one of the victims. Sparks fly, to say the least. Too bad the killer has Luna in his sights — and is willing to do anything to bring her down.

One of the things I liked most about this book was Luna and her job. The reader actually gets to see Luna doing police work, visiting a crime scene, following up at the morgue, tracking down a suspect, etc. You get a feel for the mechanics of the job, and it’s a real part of the story and not just a toss-in or wallpaper, like some of the professions are in other books I’ve read. Also, the scenes between Luna and her sexist pig of a co-worker were hilarious — especially when she roughs him up for being, well, an idiot. 😎

I also liked the descriptions, particularly the one where Kittredge describes Dmitri and his Fu Manchu mustache. When’s the last time you read about a hero with a Fu Manchu mustache? (Although he doesn’t have it when Luna meets him.) Her characters resembled real people and not the perfectly buff guys or busty gals you see in a lot of novels.

I also really liked the map in the front of the book, which laid out where everything was in Nocturne City. Maps and glossaries are always pluses in my book. Yes, I know, I’m a total geek. :rolleyes:

The only real quibble I had was the relationship between Luna and Dmitri. I thought it developed a little too quickly, since Dmitri was sleeping with one of the serial killer’s victims and was going to make her his mate. I would have liked to have seen more of Dmitri’s grief and the two of them taking things a little slower.

Still, if you want to go on an urban fantasy reading binge (like I’ve been doing lately) and are looking for titles to try, pick up Night Life and add it to your TBR. You’ll probably enjoy it. Thumbs up.

Up next: Wild Thing, an anthology featuring Marjorie M. Liu, among others

Finished The 47th Samurai by Stephen Hunter. This book is part of Hunter’s saga about the Swagger family from Arkansas, including Earl (the World War II hero dad) and Bob Lee (his son and a Vietnam-era sniper).

This book focuses on Bob Lee, who’s now in his sixties and has retired to Idaho where he’s building a house for his wife. One day, a Japanese man, Philip Yano, shows up on Bob Lee’s land asking about a sword that Bob’s father, Earl, might have brought back from from Iwo Jima. Bob Lee eventually tracks down the sword and returns it to Yano in Japan — but soon after, Yano and his family are brutually murdered. So Bob Lee goes all samurai and returns to Japan, determined to track down the sword and kill the men who murdered Yano and his family.

Samurai follows a predictable thriller formula, as Bob Lee bcomes a one-man killing machine roaming through Japan. Nothing wrong with that, but I expected a few more twists than I got (although there is one character whose motivations came as a complete surprise at the end).

Hunter gives the reader a lot of info about Japan, swords, and the samurai tradition. You can tell he did extensive research (and I also know because I work with his daugther, who mentioned it to me). If you like swords or want to learn more about the samurai tradition, this book contains a wealth of information about both. 

But one thing that drove me crazy was the dialogue. Hunter doesn’t put any tags in his dialogue (like “Bob said”), so it was hard to tell who was speaking. A couple of times, I had to go back up and count down the lines to see who was talking. Very annoying. Also, Bob Lee’s speech was a little more aw-shucks and country than I remember from previous books.

Samurai isn’t the best Bob Lee book. (That would be the first book, Point of Impact, a truly great thriller read.) But even a lesser Bob Lee book is better than most. So thumbs up.

Up next: Night Life by Caitlin Kittredge.