Set in a lush, fully realized fantasy world, Kismet’s Kiss is the story of a humble healer summoned to a rival realm in a desperate bid to foil a deadly curse. Despite her hesitation about traveling to enemy lands, her dedication to healing overcomes her misgivings and Varene steps through the magical portal into a foreign land filled with suspicion, plots and handsome, brooding sultans.

Incorporating magic, espionage, betrayal, love and family, Kismet’s Kiss is a keeper. I found the heroine likable and believable, the hero deliciously tall, dark and sensual and the whole world well thought out. I will definitely look forward to more titles from this author, and hopefully in this series. I’d love to see more in this setting.

Get yourself a copy of Kismet’s Kiss by Cate Rowantoday, and settle in for a delicious romantic fantasy!

When prosecutor Sara Constantine gets promoted into an elite new position, she discovers an entire, full-blown supernatural society existing right underneath her nose – complete with its own legal system to manage the vampires, werewolves, and assorted other paranormal critters she now has to prosecute.

Bad news for her, though, when she discovers that her super-hot new beau is actually a vampire – AND the defendant in her new case! Sara has to balance her feelings for this man against the fact that he may be a blood-thirsty killer. While learning the ropes of this scary new world, Sara also struggles to come to terms with her relationship with Lucius.

This book was a great read and once I got started, I didn’t want to put it down. I love the matter-of-fact feeling of this paranormal underground that feels as if it really has been there all along, and the rest of us just don’t know it. I am greatly looking forward to getting my hands on the next book in this series – When Pleasure Rules.

Go now and get yourself a copy of When Blood Calls. You’ll be happy you did!

I wasn’t sure about this book after reading the synopsis, but I always try to give a book a chapter or two to hook me before I give up on them. This one definitely took the opportunity to pull me into the story. About a chapter into the book, I was looking for time to sit down and get some serious reading done.

Set in the not too distant future (2032), it is essentially a contemporary city setting – but with a twist. Unbeknownst to most of the population, ages ago, human evolution actually split into a variety of paths. In addition to the usual, run-of-the-mill humans we all know and love, other variants also evolved. Little do the humans know that there are Stone Riders, Tueri and Lunates working right beside them in the hospitals, police stations and other supposedly human occupations.

The heroine is just such a person, working quietly behind the scenes at the hospital to help people heal just a little better. Little does she know just how varied these secret other races are, and how complicated her simple life will shortly become.

Moonlight Bleu is really more of an Urban Fantasy novel than it is a Paranormal Romance. Although there is a touch of romance in the instant attraction between the main characters, it is not the main focus of the story. Rather, the mystery of the Full Moon serial killer takes precedence.

The concepts in this novel are fresh and creative, and I will look forward to seeing future developments. I would like to see a bit more relationship development between characters in subsequent stories – this one relied a bit too heavily on good old “Love / lust at first sight.” Overall, though, it was a surprisingly enjoyable read from an exciting new author to watch!

Pick up Moonlight Bleu today!

This title is the first in a new series called Her Angel, by Felicity Heaton, which is a new author for me. I’m always happy to discover new paranormal authors, so I was pleased to receive this review request.

Her Dark Angel is a quick and enjoyable romance featuring a satisfyingly hunky dark hero. Well, dark in style perhaps, but really a major softy, despite being an Angel of Destruction.

Apollyon has been waiting for a new mission for literally centuries. Apparently, in this universe, angels are kind of like demons or spirits, in that they are bound to obey a magical summons. Apollyon hasn’t received a summons in a really long time, but he is determined to remain vigilant, unlike some of the other angels who have become derelict in their duty – doing dastardly things like falling in love with humans (gasp!). Shameful, really.

Then, at last, Apollyon receives the long-awaited summons and joyfully travels to the earthly plane. Although greatly enjoying the wind beneath his wings, he is confused by who has summoned him. His “Master” is nowhere to be found – has a new Master summoned him?

Turns out, the wrath of a woman scorned really IS a big deal, as the heroine Serenity proves when she unwittingly summons an angel of destruction to help her wreak revenge upon her cheating ex-boyfriend. However, she quickly realizes that the angel she has summoned is way hotter than the jerk she wanted to punish, and her plans accordingly change focus.

After a superficial play at making the ex jealous by parading around with her studly new man, the heroine gets smart and gets busy with the hunk-o-destruction her vengeful wishes have brought her. Only problem is – now that the contract has been completed (remember the pesky revenge thing?), Apollyon is supposed to head off back to the pits of hell!

Despite a hefty portion of juicy sex scenes, I wouldn’t really classify this title as “erotica.” It just didn’t seem quite that explicit or edgy to me. The point of view in this book is almost entirely from within the character’s heads – lots of exposition about what they are feeling, their fears and hesitations, hopes and wishes – punctuated by well described sex scenes. Not a lot of dialog or even action – just a lot of the characters kinda hanging out with each other and thinking about how they feel, how they should feel and how the other person feels. It’s a somewhat unusual tack to take, especially considering the current trend for paranormals, which usually includes much more action, and is heavy with witty repartee. The danger in this style is that it can quickly get boring. Ms. Heaton manages to mostly keep that from happening, as it is a pretty quick read, and the characters move quickly through their issues so they can get together.

As the first in a series, it’s a little weak at world-building, but there’s potential for improvement. The concept of angels is unique, and offers plenty of possibilities for a deeper exploration of how and why it all works the way it does. I’d love to see the author explain some of the things that are mentioned in this book, but never addressed. For instance – why do angels live in Hell? Do they all live there, or just some? That’s a departure from the norm, yet there’s no explanation. How does the whole Master / Contract thing work? How many different kinds of angels are there?

Despite minimal action (and not a single demonstration of Apollyon’s supposed powers of major destruction, darn it!), Her Dark Angel is a relaxing and enjoyable read with a hint of paranormal flavor, a hunky hero, a pleasant heroine and a good amount of sensuality. So if you’re looking for a light romance without any of the heavy conflicts and issues many paranormals include, give Her Dark Angel a try. It’s just a quick download away. And watch for more titles in this series, coming soon.

The Witching Sea is a spooky story, feeling somewhat reminiscent of serious gothic style books, with an unrelentingly dark, gloomy and creepy atmosphere. The heroine travels to Wales with her slightly larcenous boss to help him with a business transaction, since she learned a little bit of Welsh from her grandfather when she was a child. Upon arriving in Wales, the two immediately stumble right into the middle of a struggle between good and evil entities from the sea that they never even knew existed.

Things rapidly go downhill, with the boss getting kidnapped by evil cultists for nefarious sacrificial purposes, and the heroine narrowly escaping with the help of a strange yet compelling local man. The plot is quite straightforward, really, relying upon the tried and true “the world as we know it will end if we don’t defeat this bad guy” device. But the author does a pretty good job of making this fairly typical approach feel different with her unique twist on shapeshifting sea creatures and frightening cultists bent upon unleashing the dark evils of the ocean on the world.

For this first attempt at paranormals, Ms. Keach definitely created an unusual and creative setting. The mood is heavy and confusing, and the reader feels the heroine’s struggle to make sense of it all in a way that will allow her to soldier on, right along with her. Shapeshifters are certainly nothing new to the paranormal genre, but I believe this is the first time I’ve ever seen a were-shark, so this author is definitely thinking outside the box. Combined with the hints of a larger culture among these creatures, including witchy spectral guides, the author has fleshed this environment out just enough to make it feel complete.

In the middle of all this chaos, our heroine makes a connection with the local man who has saved her, feeling herself both attracted to him and a little bit afraid of him (can’t say as I blame her, frankly). The romance part of the book is a little light – it really concentrates more on that struggle between good and evil I mentioned – but it was enough to keep the romantic in me just satisfied. I’d like to see her do more relationship building in her next title, with a little more meat on the skeleton of why the main characters connect, but I didn’t come away from this one completely unsatisfied.

My biggest nitpick for this title is the author’s method of illustrating the hero’s heavy Welsh accent. Every single word he speaks in the book is spelled phonetically, which makes it exceptionally difficult to read. I know why she did it – she wanted to sharply define the alien surroundings our heroine finds herself in, even to the point of barely understanding the one man she has found to help her. But the chosen style is very awkward. A better choice would have been to have some strategic phonetic spellings, with the rest of the speech normally spelled, perhaps punctuated with some Welsh words for emphasis. Or even to start out with the all-phonetic spelling, slowly smoothing out into normal spelling as the heroine gets used to the hero’s accent. Whatever she does, I hope she finds another way to deal with this issue in future books, because it’s pretty annoying.

Overall, this is a good debut entry to the paranormal market for Ms. Keach, and I will be interested to see what she does next. Many thanks to Black Lyon Publishing for allowing Digigil’s Library this review opportunity. Watch for The Witching Sea, available October 1, 2010.