Allegra is a detective. A detective of paranormal happenings. Her most recent case takes her to Scotland where a bleeding rose has been discovered. While this may sound odd enough, we get to throw in a banshee, two dead bodies, a ghost, a shapeshifter, and Allegra's own guardian angel.

At first I thought the author was going to have a hard time trying to tie all of these strange happenings up into one cohesive story, but she did an excellent job. I was surprised and excited at the events as Allegra hikes through the small village trying to do her job.

Although initially pegged as a romance, there was not much of it to be found. While it was there, was not the main drive of the story and more of a pleasant background threading its way through. Again the characters were a bit stagnant (my biggest complaint of "romances"), but the plot made up for it quite a bit.

4/5

Detective Pale Rysin is a werewolf, the leader of his pack. Jade-Scarlett is a member of the powerful order of the Sibile (women with strange magical powers), but she is also half-wolf. When she is sent to help Detective Rysin investigate the murders of several young women, sparks fly...in more than one way.

There is an instant attraction between the two, but their worlds have been taught to hate each other for years. Will they be able to overcome their prejudices and work together to solve the murders, or will their differences and desires to work alone hinder them leading to only more grisly deaths.

I loved this book. The characters were forced to evolve as they learned more about each other and the history that taught them to hate. The interactions between them a perfect and drive the story forward even as the events around them shape who they are becoming.

4/5

Chiril is in danger. An invading force is sneaking their way through the borders led by a terrible beast known only as The Grawl. A group of friends must fight once again to save their country, with the help of dragons.

I did not realize this was part of a series until after I started reading it. I really wish that authors would include that on the cover. Because of this, it took me quite awhile to get into the storyline and understand the relationships between the various characters. However, once I figured them out a bit, they were fantastic.

All the characters had just the right mix of seriousness, humor, doubt, and heroism. Lady Peg had me laughing every time she spoke. Paladin had me wanting to meet him so we could talk philosophy. Tipper reminded me of any love struck confused young woman that is trying everything she can to do the right thing.

The storyline is almost your typical good guys vs bad guys, but The Grawl puts an interesting twist on things. I found myself feeling sorry for him throughout many parts of the story. Overall a good read. I may try to find the previous books and see if they are just as good.

4/5

A favorite classic story of many I know, I finally found time to read it myself. The story was very interesting and I was surprised to see the character of Van Helsing appear (although I guess he had to enter the world of vampires and werewolves somewhere). The story moved fairly quickly. It was a very traditional vampire tale, but this is were so many came from I didn't really expect much more. I found myself disliking several of the characters that I was supposed to feel sympathy for. They were just too good. Overall a good book that I'm glad I found the time for.

4/5

Let's go back to the 1920's, to the days of flappers and prohibition, and young lady's trying to make their mark on the world. Gloria Carmody seems to have everything...the money, the boy, the lifestyle, and friends. But she's just not quite happy with any of it. One night she sneaks out with her best friends, Lorraine and Marcus, into the biggest speak easy in town. She falls in love with the music, the atmosphere, and the people.

Lorraine has always been jealous of Gloria. She had everything, the perfect life, but at least she could tag along and absorb part of the glory as her best friends. Then one day she finds out that Gloria is hiding a secret from her, a big secret. She holds Gloria's future in her hands - what will she do with it?

Gloria's cousin, Clara, has come to town to help Gloria plan for her upcoming wedding. She also comes to escape a wild lifestyle back home and get back on track the way a proper society girl should. Little does she know that all her secrets are at risk of spilling out and ruining her new life.

This book in one of the memorable reads for 2010. The characters were developed perfectly and the story was captivating. I don't think I've ever read a novel about the 20's and it was fascinating to read about the time period. Jillina Larken is going on my watch list for authors, I can't wait until she releases the next in the series.

5/5

This book has one of the most diverse cast of characters I've ever seen. We start out with the rebellious teenage girl (Tabitha) and her super religious mother (Leontina - a Pentacostal). The two brothers of the family - one an attention starved young man that would do anything to please and the other surprisingly like Tabitha. Next we meet the Catholics (they share a parking lot with the mother's chuch). The way we meet them is rather interesting. Leontina sneaks into the Catholic church one morning to "borrow" some cream and gets knocked out by a falling virgin Mary statue.

This is where things really get interesting as Leontina seems to have lost her mind and is left at home with her three children to care for her. But back to the Catholics. My favorite was Jeremy, the gay choir director, and his two friends are trying to find a place to practice for an AIDS benefit concert. Well, the only place they can find is a nunnery. A nunnery full of old retired nuns that ask only for some conversation in exchange for letting the boys used some space there.

Somehow Maguire manages to get all these people tied up into the same story line as Christmas is quickly approaching. I won't want to say too much more or a lot of the surprises would be spoiled. An amazing book, that actually has you looking at a few serious issues of the world in a new way without even realized it until you're finished.

5/5

Kristina is an unpopular grade school girl that can't seem to find anyone to like her, except for her pet rat. She is the recepient of a very special gift from her teacher, but it doesn't seem like much to begin with. A small ball that seems to make a funny little noise. But this is no oridinary trinket. Getting this to the right place could mean the life or death of all the magical creatures in the fairy tale world Kristina finds herself in.

The reader is introduced to gnomes, dwarves, fairies, and talking animals. There is betrayal, intrigue, sabatoge, and new friendship. This is an amazing book for young readers (my daughter is currently reading through it at 8 yrs old and loves it).

4/5

A religious, medieval mystery, I was excited to start reading it because I love the time period. I wasn't overly thrilled with much of this story. There were so many false clues and speculations dropped that it was hard to tell where the plot was actually going at times. The characters were hard to open to, with the exception of the hermit, which I loved.

2/5

The second book in the Atlantis series. Atlantis is a world hidden below the ocean by the gods to contain all of their creations before the humans. The only way in is to discover one of two secret portals...guarded by men that can change into dragons and are ordered to kill all who try to come in.

Grayson James has managed to sneak through these fearsome guardians (not sure how) in search of the mythical Jewel of Dunamis. A jewel that has the power to tell the future, read minds, and separate lies from truth. His company wants to get the jewel before some government can get ahold of it and use it to their advantage during a war. Now, this reason seemed a little far fetched, because if no one can get to Atlantis to retrieve the jewel, then how can they use it? But, OK, I went with it.

Grayson soon realizes that the Jewel of Dunamis is not a gem, but a beautiful woman that is being held against her will by the demoms (one of the many creatures living in Atlantis), to take advantage of her gifts. This being a romance, sparks fly when they meet and Grayson must find a way to rescue her and keep her with him always.

I really enjoyed a lot of the tensions between Atlantean races the author allowed to spring up throughout the story. From dragon men, mermaids, gorgons, minotaurs, demons and vampires, they all had reasons for wanting the jewel in their hand and their reactions to her were unique and real. I enjoyed her character very much, while I found Grayson a little dull. It was a great read to follow up the first book, Heart of the Dragon, and parts of the storyline stem directly from the events that ended the first in the series (which I have found is unusual in romance series).

3.5/5

The story of Mariam and Laila. Two Afghan women raised in vastly different ways that find themselves living in the same household with the same abusive (to western standards) husband. We see both their histories and understand their point of view and personalities as they meet and get to watch them grow from bitter rivals, to the closest of sisters. Covering a period of Aghan history about 50 or 60 years, we see the change of regimes over and over and how life was constantly changing for the people.

I'm not even sure where to start with this one. It was amazing on so many different levels. The characters were whispering in my ear their stories as I read . The country of Afghanistan came alive on the pages. I wanted to cry and celebrate and hope with the two women every step of the way.

5/5