By: Kerrelyn Sparks
Carlos, the were-panther, is looking for a mate who will care for the orphaned were-panther children that he has adopted. A mortal woman is out of the question, as Carlos takes it upon himself to repopulate the earth with his endangered species.
Enter Caitlyn.
Caitlyn and Carlos are immedately attracted to each other and the sparks fly. Carlos, however drawn to her he is, refuses (at first) to mate with her, as she cannot produce little were-panther babies for him. And to make maters worse, Caitlyn's father is the head of the government department in charge of hunting down and destroying paranormal creatures. Caitlyn's sister is married to a vampire and has two children who are half vampire, so this causes a rift in the family.
This is my first reading experience with Kerrelyn Sparks and I was not disappointed. This book was creative and well written and has given me cause to check out some of her other books. Carlos and Caitlyn embark on a journey to the jungles of Brazil in search of a mate for Carlos (yes, Caitlyn accompanies him on this quest!) and I found it fun to be there in the jungles with them. Caitlyn has a special talent (psychic linguist) which allows her to immediately understand any spoken language and, if given an hour or so, will almost immediately be able to learn it well enough to speak it back to the natives. This makes her invaluable on the trip, as she discovers an evil plot meant to harm Carlos that Carlos, unable to understand some of the indiginous village languages, is unaware of.
I always find it interesting to read various authors' ideas for how the different paranormal species function. Some authors write that werewolves are born into their species. Others write that werewolves cannot be born, but have to be bitten by an existing werewolf. Some say female werewolves cannot have children, as the change during the full moon is too hard on the fetus, and others claim that female werewolves have no problem giving birth to litters of babies. I love reading the different theories and this book was no different. Being part of the feline family, Kerrelyn Sparks' were-panters have nine lives, just like the kitty cat tales of old. Each time Carlos is killed, he comes back to life, stronger than he was before. He has nine lives, just like the old stories tell us he should have. I thought this was a neat concept.
Overall, this book was very good and I enjoyed it tremendously. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five, is I normally don't like my protagonist to be so desperate. I'm not a big fan of love at first sight...I like my characters to develop their feelings for each other over the course of the book. For me, there's a certain satisfaction in watching the characters fall in love. Love at first sight just takes all the fun out of it for me. Still, though, I did enjoy the book and wouldn't hesitate to pick up another one of the author's books.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Dracula in Love
By: Karen Essex
*********SPOLIER ALERT*************SPOILER ALERT****************
The main problem I have is this.....
If a writer is going to take on the task of rewriting a classic novel such as Dracula, and if said author is going to change our perception of who Dracula REALLY was, essentially turning the nefarious Count into a "lonely, misunderstood" guy whose major sin seems to be that of falling in love with a woman who technically isn't his, then why can't this same author alter the fate of one "misunderstood" Count? Why go through the trouble of rewriting Dracula's character to such a degree that he wins the affections of the reader, only to have the author kill him off anyway? If, as Mina Harker claims, Bram Stoker "got the story all wrong", couldn't he have gotten the ending wrong as well? I really hate books that kill off very likable characters and, as far as this story is concerned, Dracula was actually a very likable guy. I was actually rooting for him, thinking he stood a chance considering Bram Stoker "got it all wrong", but I was sorely disappointed.
Throughout the entire book, Mina's idiotic husband who, by the way, checks Mina into an insane asylum and allows her to be tortured at the hands of his "friend" and this same idiotic husband who commits egregious acts of adultry against his innocent and naive wife, maintains his title as hero while Count Dracula (who, by the way, rescues Mina from the insane asylum that her husband abandoned her in) keeps his place as local villain. What the.....?? The husband, with his arrogant and holier-than-thou attitude emerges as the champion and the Count, who has saved Mina's life several times and waited patiently with her while she tried tirelessly to remember her past relationship with the Count, remains villified. The author got the qualities of our characters mixed up and gave "the good guy" evil characteristics (with a still happy ending!) and "the bad guy" was rewritten as a good guy, but still given a villian's fate.
Overall, I hated this book for the reason mentioned above. However, there were some interesting details about how people were treated in insane asylums and some of the stories about how Mina and Dracula met (in a past life) were interesting. Still not worth reading, though, in my opinion.
*********SPOLIER ALERT*************SPOILER ALERT****************
The main problem I have is this.....
If a writer is going to take on the task of rewriting a classic novel such as Dracula, and if said author is going to change our perception of who Dracula REALLY was, essentially turning the nefarious Count into a "lonely, misunderstood" guy whose major sin seems to be that of falling in love with a woman who technically isn't his, then why can't this same author alter the fate of one "misunderstood" Count? Why go through the trouble of rewriting Dracula's character to such a degree that he wins the affections of the reader, only to have the author kill him off anyway? If, as Mina Harker claims, Bram Stoker "got the story all wrong", couldn't he have gotten the ending wrong as well? I really hate books that kill off very likable characters and, as far as this story is concerned, Dracula was actually a very likable guy. I was actually rooting for him, thinking he stood a chance considering Bram Stoker "got it all wrong", but I was sorely disappointed.
Throughout the entire book, Mina's idiotic husband who, by the way, checks Mina into an insane asylum and allows her to be tortured at the hands of his "friend" and this same idiotic husband who commits egregious acts of adultry against his innocent and naive wife, maintains his title as hero while Count Dracula (who, by the way, rescues Mina from the insane asylum that her husband abandoned her in) keeps his place as local villain. What the.....?? The husband, with his arrogant and holier-than-thou attitude emerges as the champion and the Count, who has saved Mina's life several times and waited patiently with her while she tried tirelessly to remember her past relationship with the Count, remains villified. The author got the qualities of our characters mixed up and gave "the good guy" evil characteristics (with a still happy ending!) and "the bad guy" was rewritten as a good guy, but still given a villian's fate.
Overall, I hated this book for the reason mentioned above. However, there were some interesting details about how people were treated in insane asylums and some of the stories about how Mina and Dracula met (in a past life) were interesting. Still not worth reading, though, in my opinion.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
When Blood Calls
By: J.K. Beck
This was an interesting book. This book has it all...vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, poltergeists, para-humans, a gryphon, and a multitude of blue and orange beings with copious supernatural abilities. The plot was creative and very well executed, with a twist at the end that I never saw coming. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and am eagerly looking forward to continuing the series. I also appreciated the author's interpretation of the paranormal world and how the law functions in such an environment.
That being said, there are a few (minor) issues I have with this book. First of all, I felt that the relationship between Sara and Lucius was purely physical, and not the deep lasting love that the author would have you believe. This didn't make me like the story any less, but I do wish their relationship would have had a little more substance...something worthy enough to last, even if the physical attraction between the two ever faded.
Second, I would have liked to have learned about the bad blood between Lucius Dragos and Ryan Doyle. While it is mentioned that the two have known each other for centuries and that they used to be friends, the author never tells us what transpired between them that caused them to hate each other all these years. I kept hoping I would learn their story, but alas, I never did.
Third, I would have liked to have known how some of these paranormal creatures (the half eagle/half lion gryphon comes to mind here) were able to successfully move about in the world without letting on to the ignorant humans that such creatures exist. Evidently these supernatural beings take great care to hide their existence from the humans, yet it is unclear how some of these beings are able to hide what they are. I would have liked to have read about how some of the more outrageous creatures remain undetected among the humans.
All in all, this was a very unique and refreshing approach to a topic that has often been overdone and overworked to the point of ennui. Two big thumbs up from me!
This was an interesting book. This book has it all...vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, poltergeists, para-humans, a gryphon, and a multitude of blue and orange beings with copious supernatural abilities. The plot was creative and very well executed, with a twist at the end that I never saw coming. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and am eagerly looking forward to continuing the series. I also appreciated the author's interpretation of the paranormal world and how the law functions in such an environment.
That being said, there are a few (minor) issues I have with this book. First of all, I felt that the relationship between Sara and Lucius was purely physical, and not the deep lasting love that the author would have you believe. This didn't make me like the story any less, but I do wish their relationship would have had a little more substance...something worthy enough to last, even if the physical attraction between the two ever faded.
Second, I would have liked to have learned about the bad blood between Lucius Dragos and Ryan Doyle. While it is mentioned that the two have known each other for centuries and that they used to be friends, the author never tells us what transpired between them that caused them to hate each other all these years. I kept hoping I would learn their story, but alas, I never did.
Third, I would have liked to have known how some of these paranormal creatures (the half eagle/half lion gryphon comes to mind here) were able to successfully move about in the world without letting on to the ignorant humans that such creatures exist. Evidently these supernatural beings take great care to hide their existence from the humans, yet it is unclear how some of these beings are able to hide what they are. I would have liked to have read about how some of the more outrageous creatures remain undetected among the humans.
All in all, this was a very unique and refreshing approach to a topic that has often been overdone and overworked to the point of ennui. Two big thumbs up from me!
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