Finished Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur. This is the first book in her Guardian series. I’ve heard a lot of people buzzing about Arthur (and someone, I think Chasity, recommended her on the blog) so I decided to try her book.

Riley Jensen is a half-vampire, half-werewolf in Australia who works for the Directorate of Other Races as an assistant, instead of being a full-fledged guardian like her twin brother Rhoan. But when Rhoan goes missing, Riley sets out to find him. Coming to her aid is the sexy vampire Quinn. But there’s more to Rhoan’s disappearance than meets the eye, and soon Riley is trying to shut down an illegal cloning operation and deal with her squabbling werewolf lovers and her attraction to Quinn.

The world building is interesting and well-done in this book. You don’t see many books set in Australia, and I really liked the descriptions of the country (although I wish there had been more of them.) I also liked some of the secondary characters, particularly Riley’s vampire boss Jack, who sees her potential and wants her to become a guardian. (Riley protests through the whole book that she doesn’t want the job, but then proceeds to act exactly like a guardian. That got annoying after a while).

But I had some major problems with this book. Mainly, the whole werewolf culture. The wolves suffer from moon heat once a month, and their bodies compel them to mate. Most of the wolves have multiple lovers to help them deal with this, and Riley is no exception. She has two lovers at the beginning of the book, and she also sleeps with Quinn several times as well. Not my cup of tea, but I could accept that.

But what got me was the end of the book. At one point, Riley is basically being raped by one of her former lovers. Her mind knows this, but her body is still enjoying it because of the moon heat. She’s being raped, and she’s actually leaning into the guy’s touch, needing more. Ugh. Not for me.

Also, several times during the book, Riley mentions that she hopes she finds her soulmate soon. It made me wonder whether or not she would continue with the multiple lovers after she does find her soulmate. Does anyone know if that’s explained in later books? Just curious. Because it seems to me the purpose of a soulmate is to be exclusive. But maybe I’m wrong.

Overall, I thought Riley was a pretty cool character. She’s strong, confident, and not afraid to do what needs to be done. But I also thought she missed some obvious clues and made some dumb choices. For example, one of her lovers gives her some champagne, and then Riley promptly passes out. But later, it doesn’t seem to occur to her that she’s been drugged — and then she goes back to meet and have sex with the guy again.

Also, the reader never discovers who the big bad guy is who’s pulling the strings on the cloning operation. We’re just told it’s someone Riley knows. That also annoyed me a little bit. I would have liked more info on who it was.

One of the folks in my book group has read several of the Guardian books, and we talked about Full Moon Rising. While my friend enjoys the series, she summed it up by saying, “I like it, but it doesn’t seem like Riley gets a lot done because she always has to stop and have sex.” I think that’s a fair summary.

There are things I liked about this book. The Austrialian setting, the world building, Riley’s strength and confidence. But I have to give it a thumbs down because of the rape scene. I just don’t like books where women are victimized like that. 

Up next: Running Blind by Lee Child.

Books in to TBR pile: About 14.

What about you guys? Anyone read anything good over the holiday weekend?

Finished Dark Dreamers, which contains novellas by Christine Feehan and Marjorie M. Liu.

Feehan’s novella, Dark Dream, is one of her Carpathian (vampire) stories. I’d never read a Carpathian story before and was interested in trying one. Basically, Feehan’s vampires slowly go insane until their meet their lifemate, which is the only thing that can keep them from turning evil. In this one, warrior Falcon has to protect his lifemate Sara from a vampire who’s been stalking her for years.

Liu’s novella, A Dream of Stone and Shadow, is set in her Dirk & Steele world. In this one, Charlie, a gargoyle, has to convince D&S agent Aggie to rescue a girl who’s being abused. A bit of a problem, since Charlie is currently being held captive by an evil witch and can only appear as a shadowy form to Aggie.

Of the two stories, I liked Liu’s better. I actually think this shorter format worked better than some of her longer books that I’ve read. Liu got right down to the action, and Charlie was a great hero. Funny, warm, caring. He was just cool. I also liked Aggie, who kicked butt right alongside Liu’s other characters. The only quibble I had were the sex scenes. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around how Charlie and Aggie could have sex while he was in shadow form, but oh well. Didn’t throw me off that much.

Feehan’s story felt very Gothic to me, with an old-fashioned voice to match. Nothing wrong with that, but I’ve never been a huge fan of Gothic stories. I’m probably the only person alive who doesn’t like Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre, and that’s what Feehan’s story reminded me of. Also, I’m a little tired of the soulmate story line. It’s just not something that works for me. That being said, I did enjoy the last half of the story, as Sara and Falcon try to outwit the vampire stalking her.

If you’re a Feehan or Liu fan, you’ll want to pick up this book. Both stories are a nice, quick introduction to their larger worlds. Thumbs up.

Up next: Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur.

Books in my TBR pile: About 15.