Finished Reading March 26, 2016

I liked the theme of the story. I did not like the pace. It would start picking up, then slow down again. There is intrigue, action and mystery infused throughout. Also the Adult romance scenes where really HOT. All must haves for a good read.

My main problem was with the main female character, Ariana. She was way to slow to understand the danger she was in and that Braedon wasn't her enemy. To much of the story was taken up with her internal thoughts, which were repetitive and inane. Braedon also had repetitive thoughts that took up too much space without adding to the story-line.

Will I read Book#2 in this series? Yes.
Why? This is a Lara Adrian book done under her other pen name. She is the author of The Midnight Breed. They are OUTSTANDING and each book is better than the one before it. So even though this book drove me crazy with its pace, I continued to struggle through it.

Do I recommend this book? Yes. I think most readers will truly enjoy it.

Prch Amz March 2, 2016 ( )

Heart of the Hunter Lara Adrian
Writing as Tina St. John
Dragon Chalice Series

I got this book free from Lara Adrian’s Facebook page. I am looking for a new series since I have finished all the books in all the series that I follow and no books are due to come out for a while so I decided to read it. Why not, it was free? And I like Lara Adrian’s Midnight Breed Series.
I noticed that she was writing under the pseudonym Tina St. John so I assumed she wrote this series before she started writing as Lara Adrian so I wasn’t expecting something as stellar as her Midnight Breed series and I was right. It wasn’t bad but it isn’t my usual cup of tea. Yes, I know that I used past tense and present tense in one sentence. I like paranormal romances and urban fantasies with hard core bad boys and sexy feisty women. I guess this could be a paranormal book but it is more of a historical romance or rather medieval romance with a touch of paranormal which I also enjoy. Once in a while, I like reading historical books even if they aren’t romance. Within the last year, I read The White Queen and The Red Queen.
This was an excellent read! It is set in the early thirteenth century. Ariana of Clairmont sets off to save her brother from his kidnappers who want a satchel containing his research from when he was a Knight Templar. She is naïve and has no idea she is walking into a setup that could end in her death. In the dead of winter when no one else will cross the sea from England to France, she purchases passage with a man who turns out to be a vicious criminal who takes her money, kills her guard and tries to kidnap Ariana until a reluctant hero rescues her.
For the past year and a half, Braedon…once known as Le Chasseur or the Hunter, has tried to keep his life on the down-low and stay away from anything that has to do with the Dragon Chalice, an ancient relic made up of four cups hidden around the world and said to give the finder unlimited power and immortality, which got his men killed and almost got him killed when he was hired by a man, Silas de Mortaine, to find a thief whole stole one of the cups from him. He is now haunted by what he saw that fateful day he received the scar on his face and lost his friends. Now, he is thrown together with a woman who he needs to protect while they embark on a journey to save her brother.
It’s fun to read about people who lived in medieval times. It makes me so glad that I live in modern times. Dressing up and going to renaissance fairs is fun but that is as far as it goes for me. Through the whole book which was probably about two weeks or more, Ariana wore one dress. She bathed a few times but put on the same dress each time. I’m not sure if Braedon fully bathed at all until the end so I was pretty grossed out by the love scenes especially when there was anything that involved oral sex. Nothing says “stinky cheese” like a night of sex then a day of travel on horseback and then some oral sex the next night…Yum! Now, that I think of it, kissing might have been a little disgusting too with not brushing their teeth. Ugh…I need to stop thinking about it.
The storyline was compelling and the historical setting and events seemed credible. I’m hooked. I’m off to read the second book of the series. Hopefully, there is more paranormal activity in this next book.
www.paranormalromanceslut.com



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This book, Book 1 of the Dragon Chalice series, was written earlier in the career of Ms Adrian (Midnight Breed Series) when she was writing as Tina St Johns and it shows it as while it is good, it doesn't quite match her later series.

When Ariana of Clairmont went to the docks with her guard/escort James she had no idea what she was getting into, all she knew was that she had to get to France and deliver, as ransom, some papers her brother Kenrick had been working on before he was captured. When she goes to meet Ferrand, the ships master he was arguing with a man with a long knife scar on his face. When Ferrand takes her money and tries to kidnap her she is saved by the man, Braedon LeChasseur (The Hunter) and together they go to France to try and save her brother from Silas De Montaine. The man who has hired Braedon to recover a cup, on of the four parts of the Dragon Chalice, and the thief who took it and when it is recovered, along with Draec Le Nantres, who had been one of Breadons men, killed all but Braedon and one other.

Will Ariana learn to trust and even love Braedon? If she does will he be able to open his heart and let her in? Will they be able to save Kenrick and keep De Montaine from getting another part of the Dragon Chalice?

Find out as you read this very good (but not Great) sword and sorcery book. ( )