Caris RoaneReseñas

NOVELLA REVIEW

Well I had a fun time with this one. It was definitely fun revisiting this series and when I had realized that I hadn't read the novella, I decided that I needed to get on that. I am glad that I did, just to get more background on this pair that we have seen throughout the series. I definitely got plenty of laughs with some of the banter between the different warriors and the leader lady ....she is so badass. I always forget her name, I think its Endelle but every book I always get a kick out of her character. The second chance set up was very interesting, since that tends to be more rare in the PNR genre but definitely found it very interesting to see here. I also really enjoyed the aspects of the war between the rebels and the good warriors and the trust they our pair have with each other especially when things get dangerous and bad for them. They come out in the green and love seeing their relationship becoming so iron clad in the end. Definitely had a fun time and eager to get to more of this series.

Unfortunately this book wasn't interesting enough to sustain my attention for very long. I finished about 1/3.

Hoping I'll pick it up again after I can finish the first book in the series.

Sex is hawt-ish.

kinda dull.

totally hooked into the mythos of this world.

Born of Ashes is the 4th installment in the "Guardians of Ascension" series. I had this as one of my Romanceopoly Picks for "Spring". I honestly really enjoyed this one quite a bit, but fair warning the Ebook is expensive, like double the price of the mass market. I almost wanted to go with a different book but no one else carries this and as I don't really read physical books, I doubted the price would go down since its an older book. I am glad at least that it was a enjoyable solid read though to enjoy.

This is a story where I do think you need to read the series in order in order to understand what is happening with the couple. Its a fated mate set up but also the heroine was used as a blood slave for many years and was recently rescued and learning to heal and find herself again. So the hero, Jean-Pierre is taking it really slow with her, gradually taking her on dates and being her protector as they work together to bring down the man responsible for doing this to her and many other innocent women. We see how the heroine Fiona, is coming into her abilities and learing to mount her wings and opening herself up to the connection between herself and Jean Pierre.

This was such a endearing romance, its a bit of a slow burn due to the circumstances surrounding their relationship. But you see how they are so in for each other in making it work between them. Jean Pierre is French and man he is one sexy hero. I really adored him and how he is with Fiona. It was so sweet in so many ways. But he is also an alpha male, so his masculine tendancies sometimes gets in the way at times, but Fiona is really kind and patient and while she does stand up to him, she is also compassionate and understanding for the most part. I just loved how "together" this couple is and how they face the conflict head on.

Overall I found Born of Ashes to be an endearing read! It was packed with high energy, kick ass scenes, spicy sensuality and a warm heart filled romance to curl your toes!

I was given this book to read through the Making Connections ARR group, thank you.

This is a Hearts of Fire Review.




Summary:

Alison Wells’ supernatural powers have grown stronger over her lifetime. She is also discovering new ones. Cutting herself off from relationships with men and society because of the danger she poses, Alison isolates herself more and more. Not knowing where to turn, she closes up her psychiatric practice. Little does she know that as soon as she leaves her office building, everything she has ever known will change. Her last client of the day is Darian, and there is something very odd about him. Leaving her office with Darian by her side, Alison is confronted by a bizarre sight, a floating, winged vampire, a death vamp that wants her blood. A Warrior vamp named Kerrick shows up to kill the death vamp, and in the end is assigned to protect Allison during her ascension. Inexplicably drawn to Kerrick, Alison knows that he is a kindred spirit and can answer her questions. But will he? And what is this ‘ascension’ that he mentioned? Alison finds out that her life is in extreme danger for the next three days. If she survives, Alison will join a world she never knew existed, and be transformed beyond her wildest imaginings.


Review:

The story of Ascension takes place over approximately three days. Told in third person, we see through the eyes of numerous characters throughout the book. The author did a good job of delineating who was speaking either by chapter or paragraph separators.

When I started to read the story, I was as surprised as Alison seeing her first winged vampire. Vampires don’t have wings, let alone fight Warrior vampires that also have wings. I don’t normally read books on Vampires, but the idea of winged vampires from opposing factions caught my attention.

From the very beginning the author created a unique world, a Second Earth, which existed right alongside our own. I liked the mix of Mortal Earth elements, such as technology and food within Second Earth. Second Earth was a world where Warrior vampires fought death vampires, and where vampires not only drank blood, but Gatorade, Maker’s Mark, and ate energy bars.

The author did a good job of making Alison come across as sad and lonely because she needed to hide her powers in order not to harm others or have people fear her. Alison lives in a state of confusion as she learns about Second Earth, her developing powers, and what it means to ascend. The state of Alison’s fears, confusion and desire seemed appropriate for the situations that occurred most of the time. However, there was an excessive amount of crying on Alison’s part throughout the book.

Alison’s love interest is Kerrick, a stunning piece of male physique, as are all the Warriors. Kerrick is the fastest of the Warriors of the Blood and has taken a vow not to remarry. He carries tremendous guilt over the deaths of his family he wasn’t able to save. Alison’s fears of harming Kerrick with her powers and Kerrick’s guilt over the past deaths are the stumbling blocks each must overcome in order to find happiness with the other. In their favor is ‘breh-hedden,’ a mate-bonding ritual that calls for completion when a Warrior finds his mate. Usually I don’t like ‘instant love’ in a story, but because this is a paranormal book and the author uses the ‘breh-hedden’ as a way of explaining the attraction between Alison and Kerrick, it works. I especially found the sense of smell in recognizing the one who is meant for you, interesting. I do think however, that the resistance the two shared over completing the breh-hedden went on for too long in the story. The tension was no longer as exciting and resulted in a wish to get it over with, rather than anticipation. Also Kerrick’s speech patterns and word usage sometimes sounded like he was a teenager or a woman trying to sound like a man. I would automatically stop to think, “Was the author a teenager?”

The author has good ideas for the sex scenes, but they are rather stiff. Too much detail slows down the flow of the scenes. There’s potential in the sexy encounters if the descriptions weren’t so long and more sexy terminology was used. For instance, the author overused the words ‘internal muscles’ to excess during the sex scenes. Those words do not conjure up physical sexiness or passion, but are rather clinical sounding. It actually made the encounters sound unpleasant. Also Alison had so many multiple orgasms that it bordered on the supernatural. The multiple orgasms made the sex less realistic and turned the scenes into ‘eye-rolls’ at the quantity of orgasms.

We don’t get a good look at the personalities of the other Warriors in Ascension, possibly because the author intends to elaborate more in the following books to the series. The leader of the Warriors is Supreme High Administrator Endelle, and she is the most detailed of the characters besides Alison and Kerrick. As is mentioned by the Warriors, Endelle gives ‘bitch’ a bad name, and that pretty much sums up her character, besides being more powerful than any of the Warriors. Alison may possibly turn out to be more powerful than Endelle, but we don’t know that yet in this book.

An undercurrent of humor ran through Ascension. It wasn’t overwhelming, but added a nice counterpoint to the stressful situations the characters often found themselves in. As an example, various characters would ruminate on what kind of animal outfit Endelle was wearing that day. The characters always seemed amused or perplexed and I thought it was a fun touch to the story.

Another aspect of the book that I liked was the use of Dreams as a form of prophecy. Dreams were highly valued on Second Earth. Prophetic dreams usually started at the beginning of a 'call to ascension.' In Alison’s case, the Dreams also told her what role she was to play on Second Earth.

The pacing of the story was good during the action and dialogue scenes, but as soon as the action switched to descriptions of clothing, environment or internal thoughts, the pace slowed down tremendously. There was too much description and I had a hard time keeping my attention on what was happening when there wasn’t action or dialogue. I think an easy fifty to seventy-five pages could have been cut from this book by eliminating the excessive description and making the pace more consistent rather than the start and stop effect that occurred much too often. Another issue was the verbose narration during situations the characters found themselves in. Thoughts and ideas were repeated, but rephrased in different paragraphs with different words. The paragraphs should have been combined, eliminating duplicate or similar sentences. This would have kept the story from dragging.

A few words are much overused like: ‘preternatural,’ ‘whatever,’ and the previously mentioned ‘internal muscles.’ The overuse of ‘preternatural’ is most evident because the word itself is not prevalently used in speaking, so it becomes glaring when reading it time and again. The use of the word “whatever,” is frequently used during the character’s thoughts about others, and feels like it was just thrown in to register an “I don’t care attitude.” Instead, it comes across as teenage slang and becomes quite annoying by its appearance, and especially feels out of place when the Warriors use it.

There's a handy terminology guide at the end of book for those people interested in a more thorough understanding of the terms used in the book.

The author created a unique world that I very much enjoyed, but needs to really cut back on the overuse of description, redundancy and the repetitive use of words that don’t convey imagery. Removing the verbosity, would have made this book a more exciting read instead of having it drag at too many points. Also the dialogue of the Warriors could stand to be more consistent so they don’t sound like macho men one moment, then teenagers or women the next. The world creation is what kept me reading this book and what would bring me back for the next stories. I only hope the author has improved her writing abilities so that the following books are not as wordy as this one was. In the end I give this book 3 stars.

gritty xx

This is a welcome return to Five Bridges, and I get the impression it relies less heavily on the previous parts than some of the others. It means you can get into the story easily without having to try to remember too many specifics of what has gone before.
Lots of action sequences and a healthy dose of sexiness that you associate with the other books in this series.

Abigail and Gerrod are from 2 different worlds, separate realms, but are instantly drawn to each other. Mastyr vampire Gerrod of the Merhaine Realm, takes the responsibility of the well being of his people very seriously and he will not allow anything to distract him from his duties especially not a human girl and more especially when they all are under the constant threat of an Invictus attack.

But when an innocent touch off-sets skills within Abigail that should be impossible for a human to access, questions arise. And some instinct within drives her to his side, begs him to feed from her and relive himself of the blood starvation common amongst mastyr vampires.

Soon they are faced with dangers that no one anticipated, but Abigale just might be the answer to all of Gerrod's problems.

This is a paranormal romance but with just a enough fiction to make it different from the rest.

eARC provided in exchange for an honest review

This book is even better than the las one. Mastyr Ethan’s world has been turned upside down, by the frequent murders of his guard and by the presence of Samantha, a half human half fae who just happens to be a blood rose. The attraction between them is instant but then her very existence is to serve a Mastyr though neither Ethan nor Samantha want to be bound by a partner.

But with other Mastyrs present with the same blood starvation, Samantha cannot control the urge to feed them even though she cannot accept that they are not Ethan. And Ethan finds that he is not happy to share her with anyone. As the danger to her and Ethan's realm increases, Samantha begins discovering her lost heritage and Ethan finds himself becoming more and more dependent on her.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review

Well this book turned out to be a nice surprise. A cool twist on how the paranormal world came into existence combined with territorial wars, drug mafia, corruption, prejudice and segregation.

We also have our awesome hunky vampire Connor, a Border Patrol cop and our lovely witch Iris, a Tribunal Public Safety officer. Both protect the laws of their sectors and are very similar in nature, isolated, loners who keep to themselves. Of course they have to be separated by a backward society with huge hang ups about the opposite species, but that's all about to change. Now I'm going to stop right here and tell you; Go buy the book! Because this series is about to get very interesting and I AM EXCITED!

ARC provided for an honest review.

Ethan and Gerrod's stories were exciting enough but Quinlan's story is taking it to whole other level. You can see a definite pattern emerging. The powers that be are actively changing the course of the lives of the people involved. With Gerrod and Abigail we have the discovery of the Blood Rose which is a definite improvement for the conditions of the Mastyr Vampires. With Ethan and Samantha, we discover that the purpose of these Blood Roses is more than just feeding their Mastyr Vampires. Quinlan and Batya's story further elaborates on how the combined talents of the Mastyr Vampires and the Blood Roses can help over come the Ancient Fae and the Great Mastyr.

Embrace the Mystery starts off with a bang and the pace is fast and furious through out the book. Along with the passion of the two main characters, the villains keep the flames of pursuit hot through out the book. Looking forward to the next book.

Free copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

This book runs along the same lines as Blood Flame. Vampire, witch, corrupt officials out to get them and the pair having to unite to overcome their enemies. This installment also includes werewolves so that is definitely a plus. But as I read this book I realized that something BIG is about to happen. why would districts otherwise segregated from each other sudden begin finding mates in the opposite species, gaining new skills and sharing strengths. And this something BIG is what I am really looking forward to. Wondering what will happen next

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

Once more we see the coming together of a couple from 2 different species. It is now becoming obvious to all involved that there is something at play in their Alter world. Making things much more complicated are the cartels, their variations of the flame drug and their sex slave trade. Juliet and Brannick play their role by trying to get as many of the human girls out of Five Bridges. Even though they have not spoken since their first meeting, Brannick feels as if he knows Juliet... intimately. His dreams are plagued with her but he can't explain the familiarity he feels.

Juliet on the other hand knows the reason why. She's been dreamgliding with him... illegally. Brannick has sworn off intimate relationships because his past is proof that his work endangers the people he loves. Unfortunately his unconscious self is in a hot and heavy relationship with Juliet. But then Roche kidnaps Mary, a close friend of theirs and Juliet is his next target because of her fae abilities. Brannick and Juliet are forced together in real time and very soon his conscious and unconscious selves begin to merge. What he discovers sends him flying away from Juliet. But he soon discovers that Juliet is a lot more important to him than any vow he has ever made.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

An intense and thrilling story. Fergus and Mary whom we first met in Dark Flame are exceptional together. I love their chemistry. It is quite interesting to see how each uses the powers they've gained from the other to the best interest of the pack. And especially how in tune Mary is to Fergus' needs. This is probably my favorite story of all the books in the Flame series so far.
I hope the next book is about Warren, though. And I hope he pairs up with a witch who can help fix him up :-D Oh well, at least, I can wish.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

A lovely Christmas short and exciting book about a shy wolf shifter, Verena and vampire Officer Kyle Drake. Both have suffered loss to the alter serum and though Kyle has learned to push through his pain Verena prefers to isolate herself. Kyle has finally convinced Verena to go on a date but from the get go his plans begin to fall apart. When a call about a kidnapped teenager comes through, both decide that takes precedence over their date. But as fate would have it, as their feelings for each other get stronger and deeper, they begin to acquire the other's skills and together they become an unstoppable team.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

This is a paranormal romance series with just a enough fiction to make it different from the rest in this genre. A must-read for all paranormal romance lovers

EMBRACE THE DARK

Abigail and Gerrod are from 2 different worlds, separate realms, but are instantly drawn to each other. Mastyr vampire Gerrod of the Merhaine Realm, takes the responsibility of the well being of his people very seriously and he will not allow anything to distract him from his duties especially not a human girl and more especially when they all are under the constant threat of an Invictus attack.

But when an innocent touch sets off skills within Abigail that should be impossible for a human to access, questions arise. And some instinct within drives her to his side, begs him to feed from her and relive himself of the blood starvation common amongst Mastyr Vampires.

Soon they are faced with dangers that no one anticipated, but Abigail just might be the answer to all of Gerrod's problems.

EMBRACE THE MAGIC

Book 2 is even better than the first one. Mastyr Ethan’s world has been turned upside down, by the frequent murders of his guard and by the presence of Samantha, a half human half fae who just happens to be a Blood Rose. The attraction between them is instant but then her very existence is to serve a Mastyr though neither Ethan nor Samantha want to be bound by a partner.

But with other Mastyrs present with the same blood starvation, Samantha cannot control the urge to feed them even though she cannot accept that they are not Ethan. And Ethan finds that he is not happy to share her with anyone. As the danger to her and Ethan's realm increases, Samantha begins discovering her lost heritage and Ethan finds himself becoming more and more dependent on her

EMBRACE THE MYSTERY

Ethan and Gerrod's stories were exciting enough but Quinlan's story is taking it to whole other level. You can see a definite pattern emerging. The powers that be are actively changing the course of the lives of the people involved. With Gerrod and Abigail we have the discovery of the Blood Rose which is a definite improvement for the conditions of the Mastyr Vampires. With Ethan and Samantha, we discover that the purpose of these Blood Roses is more than just feeding their Mastyr Vampires. Quinlan and Batya's story further elaborates on how the combined talents of the Mastyr Vampires and the Blood Roses can help overcome the Ancient Fae and the Great Mastyr.

Embrace the Mystery starts off with a bang and the pace is fast and furious through out the book. Along with the passion of the two main characters, the villains keep the flames of pursuit hot through out the book.

Free copy provided in exchange for an honest review.
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Embrace the Mystery (The Blood Rose Series Book 3)
Price: $2.99

It just gets better and better, September 5, 2015


This review is from: Embrace the Mystery (The Blood Rose Series Book 3) (Kindle Edition)
Ethan and Gerrod's stories were exciting enough but Quinlan's story is taking it to whole other level. You can see a definite pattern emerging. The powers that be are actively changing the course of the lives of the people involved. With Gerrod and Abigail we have the discovery of the Blood Rose which is a definite improvement for the conditions of the Mastyr Vampires. With Ethan and Samantha, we discover that the purpose of these Blood Roses is more than just feeding their Mastyr Vampires. Quinlan and Batya's story further elaborates on how the combined talents of the Mastyr Vampires and the Blood Roses can help over come the Ancient Fae and the Great Mastyr.

Embrace the Mystery starts off with a bang and the pace is fast and furious through out the book. Along with the passion of the two main characters, the villains keep the flames of pursuit hot through out the book. Looking forward to the next book.

Free copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

Ok, so some people feel it might be weird to be with both brothers. At the same time? YES! After one dies and she hooks up with the other? No issues. As for the story, it was a decent enough read though I'm not sure if the time traveling aspect needed a whole new series. I feel it could have just been incorporated into the original Blood Rose series.

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from the author for voluntary review consideration.

Rez's family met with a tragic end and the only thing keeping him going now is the hope that his daughter is still alive somewhere. Finding her is the only purpose of his life and he is willing to go to any lengths to do so. Holly may just be the witch that can help him achieve that but when she's around him he finds it very hard to resist her. In spite of his attraction to her, he is clear about not wanting to create any romantic ties.

As for Holly, she may be attracted to the Mastyr Rez but his leaving the Vampire Guard and not doing his part in keeping the Realm safe from the Invictus is enough to keep her feelings in check. But when she agrees to help him find his daughter another side to him is revealed and so she realizes that the warrior vampire is doing a lot more for the Realm than she realizes. Being a blood rose complicates their relationship even further.

As their alliance leads them closer to danger and achieving their goals both Holly and Rez begin to see that together they are better and stronger and that finding happiness once again is not something that Rez needs to sacrifice anymore.

I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from the author for voluntary review consideration.

Though I'm a fan of the Flame series this one was a tad disappointing. I don't mean to offend the author or her creative process and output but this is just how I felt while reading the book. The characters are great but frustratingly fickle. There's an obvious attraction, and the two work well together but they seem to get in their own way. Somehow I didn't enjoy the story too much because there was a lot of indecisive back and forth. And having their dead spouses convince them to be together felt a little corny.

Advanced Review Copy provided by the author for voluntary review consideration.

The connection between Cole and Lauren is undeniable. But He doesn't trust witches and especially after Lauren deliberately injured him, he will not allow himself to even give her the benefit of the doubt.

In spite of Lauren explaining that she injured him to save him from being killed but an evil witch, Cole will not budge an inch. Now she needs his help and she only trusts him to help her rescue a newly altered witch from the cartel brothels. Even though he doesn't trust Lauren Cole decides to help her and sees that she has more than enough good in her to make him reconsider his opinion of her. And Lauren may just be able to give her heart completely to the man she knows is her soulmate.

I received an Advanced Reviewers Copy from the author for voluntary review consideration.

What an excellent novel for Christmas! I just wish it had been LONGER! What did Drake and Verena do next? I hope Ms. Roane will continue the story.

Plenty of action (romantic and otherwise) in a unique world. A much longer and detailed book than the first in the series. Worth a look if you like paranormal romances with a variety of fantasy beings.

The start of what could be a very interesting series. The world created for it is original, and the characters are engaging.
More could have been done to explain the flame drugs and alter serums though. Hopefully there is more detail as to why the serums, in particular, are used in future books.
I also thought there was a little bit too much conversation during scenes full of action (good or bad). Sure, you might exchange some words, but having a conversation is stretching it.
Anyway, overall it is a good read if you enjoy paranormal romance, and I'm sure reading the next books in the series will help fill in any holes in the background information.

This is part two in the series, but could easily be read as a standalone. The second half is action packed and unpredictable, but I have to say I was a little disappointed in the first half. It's written well enough, but I felt the story of the couple was too similar to that of the couple in book one. I had a constant sense of deja vu, and it was off putting. Even some of the love scenes were too much alike. I stuck with it though, and it did eventually find it's own identity.
Some aspects of the 'world' the series is set in still doesn't make complete sense to me, but I'm sure things will tie together better with each future book. Hopefully there will be more details about the flame dugs and alter serums, where they come from, why they're used etc.