Dark Lover by J.R, Ward ****

Dark Lover by J.R. Ward

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had already read this in print, and then got it for cheap at an audible.com sale on audio. I liked it okay (4 stars) in print, and I know a lot of people love the whole Black Dagger Brotherhood series, so I figured if the audio caught my interest, maybe I'd search out the rest in audio.

About an hour in, I started to wonder if this narrator, Jim Frangione, was going to grow on me or drive me crazy. In the end, it wasn't actually either. He had a gruff sort of narration voice, like a Sam Spade mystery, and didn't do much to differentiate between characters. In fact, it was more like he was just reading it aloud and not really "voice acting". But that almost worked for me by the end (not that I'd classify him as a great narrator, but not as bad as I feared.)

I'm still not particularly drawn in by vampire stories, and after determining the rest are not available at the library, I'm not going to pursue the series. I do have at least #2 in print, so if I am searching for a book to read, it might get read...

Here is my original review of the print version from April, 2009:

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I read this for the AAR Top 100 of 2007 challenge I'm participating in - even though I'm not exactly into vampire romance (after a disastrous encounter with some Feehan audio books). It's hard to follow the world-building of paranormals sometimes, and when there's entire species to deal with - with rules and lingo and even whole languages to understand and follow. This one even had a glossary in the front, which I consulted several times.

Plus, even though there are only 6 members (well, 7 if you count Darius) of the Brotherhood, they had nicknames and such, and even by the end I wasn't 100% clear who was who. Which one was Hollywood, anyway?? Wrath. Wrage. Phury. Zsadist. Tohrment. And one more. Oh yeah, Vishous. (and Butch, human cop, who gets sorta sucked into their lives - pun intended, they didn't actually suck human blood, heh heh.)

Even so, I can see the allure - the guys are all super-tough, beyond alpha, leather clad bad boys. Bigger than life. Vampires and ass-kickers too. Humans play a very small part in this story - the really bad guys (because, face it, the vampires aren't exactly Superman, touting truth, justice and the American way...) are the "lessers" italicized because it's a Vampire word, not the word lesser as in "less than". They are also undead, and are sworn to kill the Vampires. I sorta get the idea they aren't doing it to be evil but because they are mortal enemies. Maybe I'm wrong about that.

Wrath is the king of the vampires, and he's given the charge of helping a half-human, half-vampire woman, Darius's daughter Beth, go through the "transition" from human to vampire. I guess when they're half-breeds, it's not clear until Vampire Adolescence whether they'll transition or not. But Wrath, like all vampires, has keen senses and can smell Beth, her emotions, even that she is going to transition.

Of course, there's that soulmate thing with vampires too - there's the One "shellan" which is sorta like wife/soulmate. And hey, vampire males can have more than one, but they're territorial so shellans only have one "hellbren" which is the male version. Sorta like polygamists - sux, huh??

So while we learn the story of Wrath and Beth, we also meet all the Brothers and learn about them (as I said, I was pretty much confused about who was who) so we are prepared for the followup stories, of which the next 3 are also Top 100s at AAR in 2007.

I liked her writing - she makes the vampires out to be headbangers with tattoos, and it works. While they all have slight accents, they still speak American slang, carry a lot of weapons and are mostly looking to kickass all the time. Beth is pretty normal - she was raised in the foster system, didn't know she was half-vampire, but has her own apartment, a cat, a job at a newspaper. She's completely unaware of even the existence of vampires and lessers.

Well, I'm not sure I made any sense on this - the story was suspenseful, confusing, hot - Wrath had a serious jones for Beth, making him a fairly besotted hero by the end (but not all the way through so I'm not tagging it). The heroes were bad and the bad guys badder. And some loose ends to get you to read the next books. 4 stars. Serial Challenge, Spring 2009 Challenge and AAR Top 100 Quest.

Kiss of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning ****

Kiss of the Highlander by Karen Marie Moning

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had read book one in this series by audio back in March of this year, and decided it was ok, but not worth pursuing. I have read many reviews praising Phil Gigante as narrator, especially on this book, so I indulged when it came up for sale at Audible.com.

I like Gigante's voice well enough, although I agree with those who wish he would stop using his odd falsetto for women's voices. His Scots accent for the hero is good, his voice basso and yummy, but why did it sound as if some of the characters were Irish? And why did Gwen sometimes have almost a Scots accent? I think he's a little bit inconsistent with his voices. I think if I was enjoying the story more I wouldn't have nitpicked.

Moning's style of writing this series is somewhat reminiscent of Sandra Hill's humor - sort of over-the-top, almost a parody of romance that I think takes a certain mood to appreciate. Sometimes I do, sometimes I think "enough already". I made it to the end, I had a laugh or two, and I think I'm done with Moning's Highlanders now.



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Maybe This Time by Jennifer Crusie *****

What a fun story this was! It's a Romantic Comedy Ghost Story With Kids, as Crusie herself describes it in a very funny interview with Susan Elizabeth Phillips. And I listened to it and the narrator, Angela Dawe, was wonderful! She has a youthful narrator voice - not child-like, but not too mature, which is nice; however, she did all voices, all ages, wonderfully, consistently, so that you were never unsure who was talking.

There is one thing about Crusie's writing - she does write "he said" and "she said" a lot which doesn't bother me when reading, but when hearing it, it gets redundant. Ok that's my only criticism. I guess other authors leave out the "he said" "she said" when there's a long dialogue, or maybe they use different verbs, like "she sighed" or "he intoned". I like "he murmured" - that's my favorite. Hey, at least this narrator didn't "heh heh" every time that one annoying character did it - the narrator just read what Crusie wrote and didn't try to add sound effects!!

The heroine is Andie - she left her ex-husband North 10 years ago, after a passionate courtship, whirlwind wedding and 1 year of wedded... boredom. He got so involved in the family business he all but forgot about her. They divorced, and she spent the next 10 years wandering - looking for a place to light. She finally meets the man who adores her, and although she hasn't said YES to his question, figures it is time to flush North from her mind so she can wed this new guy in peace.

North has a couple of problems, and when Andie shows up to give back all the uncashed alimony checks he sent her, he decides to ask her help. She agrees to spend 1 month with his new wards, 8 and 12 years old, for $10,000 - all she has to do is get them ready to move from their ancient, moat-surrounded and haunted house, something 3 previous nannies have not been able to do. Oh, yeah, one of his problems IS Andie - he's never really gotten over her.

Crusie writes great characters - Andie's mother is a tarot-reading hippie, North's mother is a ball-busting-bitch, North's younger brother is a ne'er-do-well womanizing rogue who manages to involve a career-climbing tv journalist, a parapsychologist and a whole bunch of other characters in the shenanigans which involve ghosts, death, and moving on. Of course, there are also the children - they're both a little odd, having to deal with ghosts in their everyday lives, but normal otherwise, once Andie reaches out to them.

And in addition to a Happily Ever After for Andie and North, there's a sort of trailer at the end - another HEA? Or a cliff-hanger? It was so much fun, and I ended up sitting up half the night, playing Sudoku (or is it Soduko?) and listening because I couldn't put it down. (should have been knitting - xmas is coming!!)

It seems I've heard Angela Dawe before - she narrated the 2nd in Nora Robert's Bride Quartet, which I've read, and the 3rd, which is in my TBR list. I give her a 4.9-star because, frankly, she's got to stand in line behind my absolute favorites: Anna Fields/Kate Fleming, Davina Porter, Barbara Rosenblat - and it may be a few years of experience for her to reach their 5 star status! The book is 5 stars - I loved it!

Beastly by Alex Flinn ****

This is a paranormal YA book with A Message, but it's done in an entertaining way that keeps it from being too preachy. I read it (audio) for 2 reasons - 1, I've known the narrator since he was a child, and 2, the movie is coming in a few months and I like to read the book before I see the movie.

Chris was great as narrator - as I knew he would be - giving different voices to each of the characters, and overcoming what I think would be a major challenge for narrators: several sections of internet chat room dialogue. He managed to make that part comprehensible, so kudos because having to read each character's name before each chat line while conveying that they are writing, not speaking, is surely a stumbling block. Chris does have a good, deep, fully adult voice in the book, even though I still see him as an adolescent so I found his adolescent voice believable if sometimes a little annoying (on purpose, I assume).

This is sort of a Beauty and the Beast story, but told from the Beast POV.

The "hero" of the book, written in first person POV (other than the chat room speak), is teenager Kyle Kingsbury. Kyle is a BMOC - he's going to be crowned Prince of the Prom or Homecoming or whatever, and he's good looking, rich, loved by all, and looks down on anyone who isn't good looking, rich and loved by all. He angers a new student at his private school - someone who doesn't fit into his crowd and who turns out to be a witch. (dang, I hate it when that happens) To bring Kyle down to size, she turns him into a beast - an awful, scary, ugly, hairy creature who must earn the luv of a good woman (rather, girl - he's a teenager after all) within 2 years or remain the beast forevah.

Kyle learned his obnoxious behavior from his father, a news anchor who stresses the importance of good looks over all other considerations and never really has time for his son. Or his ex-wife, who took off years ago (or maybe she died - but there's no mom in the picture now). Now Kyle has to learn to live on his wits - and in his Beast form, he learns that all his relationships (mostly at school) were as shallow as he was. He basically has to completely rebuild his life, even taking on a new name, to earn his way back to having his body back.

I can see from the movie trailer that the FX look good but hey, instead of hairy, he's bald, no hair, and has some growth on his face that is sort of tattoo-ish. Hmmm. Anyway, I must say, I was concerned Beastly was going to have the same kind/amount of teen angst that Twilight had, and so I prepped myself for it. Knowing there was going to be A Message, I think I set my expectations rather low, but it truly did rise above that. Beyond The Message content was some pretty fun world-building (in the chat rooms, with the mermaid, the frog and ... the others) and some real-world relationship building, and not just with the One Who Can Save Him. It wasn't just that he had to learn A Lesson By Himself, it was almost more a journey started by stripping him of everything he knew, and forcing him to rethink everything he had learned. Aw, maybe that doesn't make sense, but I was so glad that Twilight/teen angst thing was not emphasized that I enjoyed it more than I expected to.

So, 5 stars for Chris and 4 stars for Beastly.

Slave To Sensation by Nalini Singh ****

I had been putting off reading this book, even though it was on the AAR Top 100 of 2007, because of its genre: paranormal. So many people are really into her series about Psy and Changelings roaming the Earth 100 years from now, with humans.

Now that I've read it, I can say I enjoyed reading it but... do not feel compelled to keep reading the series. Hmmm, weird, I know.

The Psy are theoretically the most powerful - they run the government and such. They can communicate through the PsyNet, sorta like the Internet only with their minds. Changelings are part human/part animal - basically what other authors call shape-shifters. They exist in packs and fight amongst each other and against Psy. And humans are just, well, humans.

The Psy, starting 100 years earlier (ok, in the 1970s) decided to eliminate all emotions from their behavior with a program called Silence. Psy children are taught to tightly control all emotions, and are therefore cold and robotic. They also have other talents/skills/gifts like telekinesis and telepathy and such.

When Psy Sascha Duncan realizes her mind is going, she knows she will be destined to Rehabilitation, a fate worse than death. She struggles with her apparent lack of power- even though she is the daughter of one of the most powerful Psy - trying to maintain a hold. She meets Changeling/leopard Lucas Hunter in a business deal between the Psy and his pack, of which he is the alpha member.

The story revolves around a serial killer, presumed to be a Psy, who has now maimed, raped then killed 8 changeling women around the country. The changeling packs are getting together to find the killer and bring him to justice. Sasche finds out about the plan and basically determines to help them, as they have helped her come to terms with what ends up being her powerful gift - something the Psy have tried to eliminate.

And in the process, Lucas realizes she is his destined mate, against everything he's learned about the Psy.

It's an interesting read, and I liked the characters well enough. However, it didn't really change my mind that much about the paranormal romance genre - it still takes an effort to learn the world-building elements and remember who is whom and how they operate. An effort that doesn't engage me that much, as it turns out, at least not right now.

So I'm giving it 4 stars and posting it back on the WL at PBS.

Spring Rain by Susan Weldon *

OMG. This was so awful I just had to read it all to believe how awful it was. Purple Prose. Cliche after cliche. Bad plot. Worse characterizations. Ghosts. OMG.

This was a story that has been written sooooo much better by Elizabeth Lowell in Only His. It's a heroine and hero drawn so much better by LaVyrle Spencer in Hummingbird. I'm sure any number of better authors have done better jobs with this subject matter.

It's almost laughable how bad it is. As I got towards the end, fully haven given up on its ever redeeming itself, I admit to skimming just to get to the last page.

It's 1872 in America. A prim, proper, Eastern virgin spinster of the advanced and decrepit age of 25 (gasp!) - a piano teacher with limited means - goes west to Denver to find her lost fiance. Ok, it's her 2nd fiance - her first one died on their wedding day. The 2nd fellow, while ok, is just someone with whom to spend her life - she doesn't really love him as she did #1. He decided to try his hand at finding gold so he could support her in style, as his own general store is just middling successful. After 1 year gone, his letters stopped and she began having nightmares of his death. At first, she sent money to friends in Denver who hired a scout to find him, but with no luck.

Now she plans to accompany the newest scout on a search so she can locate Clarence's body and put him to his final rest.

Well, who is this scout? Well, little lady, he's the roughest, the toughest, the meanest badass hunk of gorgeous man around - Reno McCord!! He bursts out of a saloon and knocks her over, taunts her a little, then proceeds to brawl his way to jail, where she finds him the next day. She tells him she's wealthy so he'll do it (why that matters, as long as she can pay her fee, I dunno.)

Then she tricks him into taking her along, lying to him that she can ride a horse. He insists she wears men's clothing - so she buys some but wears a dress on top so that he can't see her legs and ass shamefully displayed in the tight pants.

Yeah, doesn't this all sound credible enough?

So they spend the next several days traveling together, each of them switching back and forth like quicksilver from hate to lust to teasing to haughtiness and round and round they go. My head was spinning. I'm thinking to myself, the woman has never been on a horse and she can even WALK the next day? Not. But, hey, yeah, she does.

It's so over-the-top purple prose that I found myself groaning inwardly AND outwardly over and over. It's another virgin who manages to have wild monkey sex several times in one night - the first night, the next night and several more nights, including in a freezing cold waterfall (what a real man he is, no?). It's got the "I'll never marry, I can't settle down" multi-experienced man. It's got the "I'm now desperately in love with you after 1 day" virgin spinster. And to top it all off, it's also got the Secret Baby and the sudden-change-of-mind man proud of how potent he is that she's pregnant (after a couple dozen tries, at least) too. I just finished it so I could put it in my Spring 2009 Challenge under the title that reminds you of Spring (not that the story has anything to do with Spring) - and as a bonus, in my New Authors 2009 and A To Z challenges too. But I don't plan to give Ms Weldon another chance because it wasn't just mediocre, it was plain awful.

Do not read this book if you are looking for a good read. That's my advice anyway. But LLB over at AAR says it's one of her favorite Westerns and gave it a fairly high rating. Just goes to show, it takes all kinds, no?

Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts ****

I listened to this as an audio download from audible.com - and stretched it out over several days. The story is a contemporary/paranormal - there's ghosts and reincarnation. The audio book is read by 2 narrators - a woman reads the story from the perspective of the couple in the 19th century, and a man reads the contemporary POV. Both were ok - although I felt the woman's "Cajun" or bayou accent was more Hispanic, and the man's Cajun/bayou accent was sorta Irish... I'm prejudiced, having lived in south Louisiana, I guess.

Declan Fitzgerald is a Boston lawyer who fell in love with an old mansion on either the river or the bayou near New Orleans, Manet Hall. (I was a little unclear on the location - not in New Orleans but apparently really close.) He jilts his Bostonian fiancee 3 weeks before their wedding, leaves his big wealthy Irish family and his law career behind and moves to New Orleans to restore the old beauty.

Right away, he discovers the house is haunted. His buddy Remy and Remy's fiancee Effie come to visit, and even a skeptical Effie sees things which convince her things are not right at Manet Hall.

In 1899 or so (can't reference the book for the dates...), the Manet family consists of Mama Manet and her twin sons Lucien and Julien. Julien is Mama's favorite - and he's the evil twin. Lucien, The Good Twin, falls in love with a servant, probably Cajun but I don't think they called it that back then so she is referred to as "from the bayou" - uhm, can't recall her name and since it's in audio, can't page back to find it.... Lucien and the Cajun girl marry, but she is never accepted by Mama Manet and she is coveted by the evil Julien. While Lucien is out of town on business, Julien rapes then murders the girl in an alcoholic fog. Mama walks in on them and decides to cover up the murder, tossing the girl in the bayou and making it look like she ran away, leaving their infant daughter behind. Lucien and Julien both die soon after (I'll let you read it to see how that happens) and the infant Marie Rose is given to the girl's family to raise.

In the present, Declan meets the granddaughter of his neighbor - Angelina Simone, who, not coincidentally, is the great granddaughter of Marie Rose. Angelina runs a bar in town, and Declan falls in love with her as he did with the house, right off the bat. That could be because the 2 of them are reincarnated or are channeling the spirits of the house - I'll let you decide.

Declan decides to get to the bottom of the ghost issue so that the spirits can be released and he can live there with no more spirit problems - and he decides that Angelina is his woman, meant to be the mistress of Manet Hall. She's not at all convinced, and needs a lot of TLC and such to win over.

I liked this story a lot, although the narration wasn't quite as good as I could have wished for. The ghost elements and the historical story were interspersed with some humorous moments and a lot of realistic house-renovation moments. I liked Declan's determination - to renovate the home his way, both following the style of the time and including some of his own tastes; as well as to make Angelina see the light about their relationship. The paranormal elements didn't overwhelm the overall story, which was good too.

So I gave it 4 stars - "really liked it".

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris *****

I listened to this on audio book because I've been hearing so much about it, now that an HBO series is being aired based on the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mysteries. The narrator Johanna Parker is really, really good - and I enjoyed the book, maybe even more because of her great narration!

Sookie Stackhouse is a cocktail waitress in a small town, Bon Temps, in northern Louisiana. She has what she refers to as a disability - she's telepathic - that is, she can read people's thoughts. She's had to create a way to keep those thoughts out of her mind and it rules her ability to socialize. Most people just think she's a little crazy.

When Bill the Vampire walks into the bar, she's pretty much blown away when she realizes she can't read his mind - which makes him the first person she can be relaxed around. Compound that with her natural curiosity - he's the first vampire she's met now that vampires are being accepted in society as just unfortunate souls who've caught a virus that turns them from human to the Undead - and she's completely taken with him. Also, apparently she's immune to vampires' powers as well.

The Rattrays, a local couple, lure Bill outside hinting that they will allow him to drink their blood, then try to drain him since vampire blood is now a drug of choice. Sookie manages to stop them, saving Bill - marking the beginning of their odd vampire/human relationship. Sookie learns a lot of things she's wondered about vampires (can they Do It?) but gets drawn into an underworld where Vampires, Fangbangers and other shady creatures lurk.

Women in Bon Temps are being killed, including a co-worker of Sookie's - and the small town sheriff decides it's either a vampire - possibly Bill - or Sookie's brother Jason. Sookie takes it upon herself to solve the crime so that the 2 most important men in her life will be left alone.

I'm not a big vampire-story fan, and to be honest I got a little confused in her world-building, about the "rules" (as it were) of the vampires, shape-shifters, etc. And Buddy ... uh ... well, either I missed where they specifically said who he was, or maybe they never say, letting you just imagine it. (yeah, I figured it out but it'd be a spoiler to say). That being said, I did enjoy it and may continue listening or reading the series. From early reviews, I may have to get the HBO series True Blood from Netflix when it's released (I just added it to the queue, but no release date has been given).

It's not really romance- I think the genre is Urban Fantasy, or paranormal mystery maybe? Anyway, it was really good, so 5 stars it is.

Remembrance by Jude Deveraux ****

Another day, another book. Actually, I'm feeling a little flustered - somehow, I'm a day behind!!

Ok - Remembrance - it's a paranormal, I think - not really time travel, but a past life regression, except...

Romance writer Hayden Lane is obsessed with a hero she's created. She loses a real-life fiancé, time, friends - all while holed up creating this fellow. She isn't even really writing the book - she just accumulates hundreds and hundreds of pages of descriptions of Jamie, her medieval Scottish hero, who then becomes English, and then changes times...

Hayden consults therapists, friends, others trying to get over her obsession. Finally she finds herself in the office of Nora - a woman passing as an astrologist who is really a psychic. Nora is the real deal - and she knows things, reads Hayden's thoughts. Hayden decides that she'll listen to Nora's ideas only for the research value, so she can maybe write a book using the information. Truth is - she's fascinated by Nora's assertion that Hayden has a soul-mate that she has kept through the ages, but that she is destined not to meet again for 3 more lifetimes.

Given some details and ideas, Hayden is off on another tangent - researching about the woman who might have been her in a past life. Next thing she knows, and against Nora's advice, she undergoes hypnosis with a past-life regressionist - and finds herself in her past life's body in 1901. Her persona, Catherine, lets her in - and Hayden overpowers her. Catherine's husband, Adam Tavistock, is getting ready to divorce her and marry Fiona - as it turns out, Catherine's and Adam's marriage was never consummated because he is suffering from ED, but only with her. With other women, he's as virile as any romance novel hero, but the only one he loves is Catherine. Why are Catherine and Adam doomed even though they are in love and are true soul-mates? Why can they not realize their love? Hayden is desperate to find out the truth.

Once again a hypnotist comes into play - and Hayden is suddenly inside an infant as she is being born - in the mid 16th century.

Here is where the story of the soul-mates begins. Callasandra and Talis are born on the same day, at almost the same time, to 2 women. Talis' mother dies in birth after issuing a proclamation about them that joins the babies' fates; Callasandra's mother gives birth to yet another girl, and claims the boy as hers instead. In a tragic turn of events, she decides to have both children die in a fire - but their wet nurse and her husband run away with the children, and raise them together for 16 years as their own. Everyone at the castle believe the children are dead, until one day...

Their story is the key to Hayden's search for her soul-mate. Hayden's 20th century self doesn't emerge in Callie's life, but when the story of Talis and Callie ends, Hayden was witness to the fate and the curse that led to her current situation. When she returns to consciousness, it's to Catherine's body, not her own, and she still needs to solve the problem between Adam and Catherine before she can wake up as Hayden in 1994.

Truthfully, it was a good story but oh sooo frustrating. The continuing miscommunication between Talis and Callie about drove me nutz, which after reading this book was a very, very short trip. If I had to read one more scene where Talis did something to make Callie jealous, or where Talis had to remain true to Alida because of honor - sheeeeesh!!! I wanted to scream!

But I was touched by the end of the stories - for Talis and Callie, for Catherine and Adam - and then for Hayden and her soul-mate. 4 stars.