Tipper's father, Verrin Schope, has been missing for a long time. When he returns in a most unexpected manner, followed by a magician and his librarian, things start to get a little strange. Verrin Schope is an artist, and three of his sculptures are much more important than anyone could ever guess. In order to save the world (and himself) the statues must be reunited once again. Tracking down the three statues, which have been sold over the years Verrin was missing, proves to be harder than it was originally thought. The journey to recover the statues is what drives the story forward through a very interesting series of events.

I enjoyed reading Dragons of the Valley, and while this book preceeds the story, knowing part of the outcome did not detract from the story at all. Seeing where my favorite characters came from and how they met was great. I did not enjoy the characters quite as much as I did in Dragons of the Valley. They did not develop and grow in a way that I found satisfying, but this being the first book in the series it may have just been setting them up to do so.

A very typical good vs bad storyline, with a few twists to make it interesting. The bad guys were a little too obviously bad. A few more in depth surprises would have helped the story a bit.

3.5/5

Tobias Vandeveld is in a bit of a bind. He's woken up in the hospital with no idea how he got there or what happened the night before. His mother is furious, the doctors are confused, and the police are involved. Apparently he spent the night in a dingo pen.....naked. Now his friends find this to be the best story of the year (they don't know about the naked part), but Toby and his family are getting concerned. They have been visited by a priest and a rather surly looking man, who claim that the reason for Toby's strange night is because he's a werewolf. Toby's mother flips out, what good mother wouldn't, and tells them both to leave before she calls the police. Of course no one really believes that Toby is a werewolf. But then the story continues and for once, Toby's mother is proven wrong.

Toby is your typical almost delinquent young teenager. He hangs out with the local boys and occasionally gets into trouble, but for the most part he's not too bad. But this whole werewolf thing really throws him for a loop. As much as he doesn't want to believe it, it all starts to make sense. His life takes a turn for the worse, when Toby is abducted by werewolf hunters and held in a secure underground cell. His friendships are tested and his mother is highly upset when it all comes out in the end.

The story was a great read with a "realistic" twist. If you were a werewolf in real life, there's a good chance this is how you would have to life. I enjoyed that part very much, it wasn't too fantastical. The story is told from Toby's point of view which has its pros and cons. It's great getting inside his had and watching the pieces fall into place, but at the same time I felt like I was missing out on a lot of the other characters. They just seemed a little flat to me.

3/5

Cam Monroe is a stablehand, Angela Stanhope is nobility. Their love is forbidden and when Angela's father finds out about he threatens to ruin Cam and find a way to send him to jail for the rest of his life. Cam leaves the family's estate and vows to have Angela and his revenge. Meanwhile, Angela marries Lord Dunstan to try and save Cam from her father. Dunstan does not turn out to be the good man everyone thought he was, and several years later they end up divorced after a scandal that rocked the town.

When Cam hears of Angela's divorce he finds a way to return and try to marry her, but Angela sees herself as damaged good after her divorce and is terrified of being under the control of any man. On top of everything, Cam has been the victim of several "accidents." Accidents that seem to be happening all to frequently to be real. Will Angela and Cam learn to trust each other again, or will they forever live with their past doubts.

While this was more of what I consider a "traditional" romance, mistreated woman falls for gentle man but have too many issues to deal with to see that they love each other. However, the little bit of mystery behind Cam's accidents adds just enough to keep the story interesting, although an astute reader will figure it out early in the game.

3/5

This book was a great quick read. Ice has been doing penance for Osiris for two millennia for a crime that she doesn't understand, and she's getting really sick and tired of it. Her last trip ended in a fiery plane crash after saving a man named Turner, and to her amazement her next assignment puts her right back into Turner's life. Ice is determined not to let Turner into her heart, but finds it becomes harder and harder to deny their attraction is just physical. Turner is determined to prove to Ice that he is the right guy for her.

The characters had a surprising amount of growth and development for such a short book, and it was great to watch has Ice and Turner each taught the other important lessons on life and love. The book ends with quite a twist that I had no idea was coming and set me up to read the next book, The Last Awakening.

Brooke Keller isn't your typical high school student. After a lifetime of moving from place to place, she has finally found a spot where she feels at home and belongs. But when strange things start happening, she's afraid to tell her mother and find out they have to move again. Now by strange things, I mean really strange. She "talks" to a mountain lion that attacks her on a hike and realizes that a man is stalking her - trying to kill her. After the attempt at her life, her mother finds out of course, and then a whole new set of strange things begin. She finds out that she is a vampire, and it turns out that she is a very special one. She teams up with a group that is determined to keep her alive and help her adjust to her new life.

Brooke was a good character. She was sufficiently "freaked out" by the strange turn of events her life had taken. She is at once disgusted at her new way of life, and wanting to embrace her new powerful self. She adjusts quickly, but in a way that makes the story real and involving. She finds herself torn between her old life and her new one - torn between her high school love and the vampire hunk that is trying to help her. The attempts on her life continue and she has the choice to embrace her new life and powers or be killed. A wonderful, quick read that I recommend to fans of urban fantasy.

3.5/5

Samantha's character grabbed me from the beginning. Struggling with her psychic abilities, not just mentally, but physically as each victim's wounds manifest on her own body. She fears that the next attack will lead to her death as well. She would do anything to help, and when Detective Sutherland finds out about her abilities a deep secret from her past rears its ugly head.


Detective Sutherland finds Samantha's ability both a god-send and a problem. While he truly believes in psychic abilities, he knows how the public will react if they ever found out that she was helping to solve a serial murder. As the case escalates, and more deaths are uncovered, Sutherland finds himself drawn in an entirely new way to Samantha. He only hopes that he can help her gain some control over her ability before its too late.


The story unfolds quickly and I was caught up in wanting to find out what Samantha was going to do right away. I wasn't nearly as fond of Sutherland. he seemed to be a bit of a stereotype police officer, with the exception of believing in psychics. He was quite the "macho man" and it grated on me a bit at times.


As one of Dale Mayer's first forays into the genre, it was very good story. I have read a few of Mayer's other books (reviews coming shortly), and I see only good and better things to come.

While I very much enjoyed Anya's story, I had a hard time liking Anya herself. There was some personality difference between what I read and what I wanted that turned me off a little. As she walked the line between the adult world of organized crime and family responsibility, and the teenagers world of budding romance and high school drama, I expected to see a lot more overlap and natural conflict between the two. Now don't get me wrong, there was plenty of conflict - especially when she started dating the assistant district attorney's son - a man whose political career is based on bringing her family's business to the ground. I also did not like the turn the story took with her mentally handicapped brother but I won't go too far into that and risk giving out spoilers.

The world of the story itself was fascinating. I thought I would have a hard time imagining a world without chocolate and caffeine, but Zevin was able to make it seem quite a realistic possibility. It was reminiscent of prohibition and the mafia business of selling alcohol on the black market.

Overall a very worthwhile read, especially for dystopia fans.

Most people think of blue bloods as the old elite families...but they are more than that. They are an ancient race of vampires that have been living for generations peacefully among the Red Bloods, or humans. But recently something has begun to kill the young off before they come into their powers. They face the choice of ignoring this threat and hoping it will go away or confronting it once and for all.
Schuyler Van Allen is a vampire, a Blue Blood. These vampires are not your traditional vampires. They are nearly invincible...sunlight, stakes, silver...all seem to be myths. So when Schuyler and her friends find that something is able to kill them off, they set off on a hunt to find what it is. This hunt for answers leads to more questions than they started with.
The teenagers, Schuyler and her Blue Blood schoolmates are fascinating characters that cover the entire spectrum of personalities. There are some you love, some you hate, and some you won't be able to make your mind up about. They are dynamic and adjust their life perspectives as situations change. The story was portrayed wonderfully, revealing enough to keep you reading without giving away the critical information to figure out who the killer is. I'm starting book two later today.
There were some typos and a few times the story jumped in an awkward way as if the author wasn't sure how to segway into the next section. I'm hoping her skills become a bit more polished as she continues with the series.

The final volume in the Twilight Saga was a page turner. There were only a handful of things that I expected and even those happened with an odd little twist. Bella seems to get all she wished for, and then some. Edward and Bella become protectors of a strange little being that no one knew could even exist. The animosity and rivalry between Jake and Edward evaporates as he finds his place with the strange little creature. We see the return of the Volturi and through this situation learn the full extent of the types of devastating special abilities that tend to pop up among the vampires. And the biggest surprise of all is the Bella herself has.
This series just moved up a level because of this book. It went from mediocre, but entertaining, to suspenseful and so interesting that I read this 754 page book in one afternoon.

Once I started reading this, I thought for sure I wasn't going to like it. The overall story is about a group of super-men, called Masters, that are descendants of the old gods. Ok, so far not too bad, but there's a catch. One of their many powers is the power to mesmerize women and have their way with them (this is a romance), and if they lose control, or if they are just super evil bad guys, they can drain their sexual partner of life and use it to temporarily give them more power. This was the part that had me a little too wierded out...even for a paranormal story.

The saving grace....the characters and the story itself. Have you ever wondered what would happen if you dropped a modern day single and independant woman into the medieval ages? Well, I actually have, and this book dips right into all the what if's you could possibly ask for. As our leading lady Claire finds herself in the far far ago Highlands, she finds herself ordered around and considered as nothing more than eye candy and mother material. Claire, who is used to taking care of herself in the big city is constantly at odds with the super men Masters that are smothering her.

Our main man is also the primary smotherer (is that a word?). Malcolm is flabbergasted to find that Claire just won't meekly run off and do as he orders (yes orders) her to do. There are quite a few interesting arguments about time periods and what she should be allowed to do. Well, they were interesting at first and then they got a bit boring and repetitive.

So off our two mains go to hunt down the evil Master, that is actaully hunting them. There are a few twists and turns along the way, and we find more and more about the past of our two stars and how they are linked in so many more ways that you think at first. If you can get your mind over or around the 'I'm going to have sex with you, but I may steal your lifeforce' part of the book, you will find a great medieval romance along with a fascinating tale of fighting not only the evil around you, but the evil within you as well.

3.5/5 (I havent decided if I'm going to continue the series or not)