Author Archive

 
City of Ghosts
Dear Maryse,
 
I am writing this letter from somewhere near Downside, dig? I am hunting a black 69 Chevelle, cause I know that only Terrible is driving that car in these parts. I just got done with Stacia Kane’s 3rd book in the Downside Ghosts series and I am convinced she wrote it just for me. This book brings us into an intense case with the Black Squad – one they put a binding spell on her over. Chess can not mention the case to anyone, or the ghosts of the original elders will literally come back to get her. This is a VERY highly paid job, but Chess is an odd girl. She is a witch with the church, her official title being a debunk-er – her job is to seek out people looking to defraud the church by making false ghost claims, but she also has a big nasty secret from them.

“Most Debunkers spent their money on actual things, rather than just buying anything they could swallow, smoke or snort. Unlike Chess.”

She ends up paired up with Lauren, a Black Squad member and the Grand Elder’s daughter to boot. Instant dislike on both sides is rampant and as they begin to investigate the dangerous rebel group who is showing signs of trying to overthrow the church. Fighting with psychopomps, dark dangerous magic, Lauren who she’s not sure she can trust and then we can never forget the fresh problems with Terrible. Betrayal is nothing that is easy to forgive, and to say Terrible is not the forgiving sort is an understatement. Unfortunately for both her and Terrible (as he is doing his best to avoid her all together) fate jumps in with both feet.

“Her sigh felt dragged from the depths of her soul. Great. Working for Bump again.” and of course that means lots of forced interaction with Terrible.

At one point in the investigation she is plunged into a nice neighborhood and has this astounding thought

“Suburban generic, right down to the coffee shop sharing the parking lot, so the yuppies could have their frothy caffeine fixes before they even left the property. Funny how addiction was socially acceptable-even a status symbol-when it made people extroverts rather than introverts.”

I love this book because Chess’s drug problem is there, but not as heavy as in the other two books – this one focused more on her relationships with others. She is very profound at times and at one point thinks

“How the hell did people do this, this emotion-and-forgiveness thing? How did they stand these feelings? She could barely handle it and she had lovely, necessary, reason-for-living drugs to smooth over the rough spots. How did people do this shit sober?”

Speaking of relationships, her one with Terrible is rocky and rough, rough, rough.

“But she never thought about the way Terrible looked, at least not that way. He hadn’t been ugly to her for months; he’d gone from just being a face she was familiar with to being a face she loved to look at, a face that made her….happy. Who gave a shit what anyone else saw when they looked at him, when they saw the crooked, many times broken nose, or the scars, or the jutting brow or thick jaw and heavy muttonchops? She knew what she saw, and that was all that mattered. Knew what was behind those hard dark eyes, and wanted it more than anything.”

As in the past where there is interaction with Terrible there is interaction with Lex to follow – even after they “breakup”. Poor Chess continues to have trouble with being connecting to people and is dismayed to discover she is finding comfort with other people instead of just her drugs.

“People, she was discovering, were like cockroaches: If you allowed one in, more were sure to follow.”

She has amazing revelations in this book, and although I will tell you this one detailed more of the fighting and some gore, it was mostly centered around the relationships. Chapter 31 – cheese and crackers! And let me tell you Chapter 32 found me smiling. This book ended well but makes me wait for 2011. It is official – I am in love with the Stacia Kane Downside Series, and more than just a little with a drug dealers enforcer….it’s just Terrible, I tell you. Terrible.
 
Your Progeny,
Lily

———————–

Make sure to check out Lily’s own awesome blog – “Lilium’s Realm“ - she’s hilarious and my mom (Lily’s “Grandmaker”) is addicted to Lily’s darkly humorous side, as am I!

Unholy Magic 

left on Maryse’s voicemail:
12:36am: Maryse! Oh my goodness I am so in love! I told you I was reading that new Downside series by Stacia Kane, right? It’s that new urban fantasy series based around the idea that in 1997 “Truth” was revealed and ghosts took over and killed tons of people. The only ones able to help was a small church that believed in magic, and once they restrained the ghosts and put them back in the ground (called The City) they took over the government and religion, because there was now proof there are no gods. The main character is Chess, a witch who works for the church but is heavily addicted to pills. This is an awesome series, that reads easily (except for Downside speak which is easy enough to pick up).
 
1:15am: Hey, my Maker! So dig this, after being poisoned while busting an illegal witch Chess heads to a local club to hang with Terrible, her drug dealers muscle when they get the call to come inspect the body of a murdered prostitute. This isn’t all that uncommon, but her eyes are missing, and that is the third body in Downside that has turned up like that. Locals are claiming it must be “The Cryin Man” but Chess doesn’t think it’s a ghost.
 
1:36am: Awesome scene while at another prostitutes murder site, Chess has just declared that it is not the Cryin Man killing these whores.

“You ain’t know nothing,” a man scoffed. “How I’m supposed to trust some junkie Churchwitch-”

The words sliced through her like razor-sharp fangs. Her face flooded with shame, so hot she imagined it steamed in the icy air. At least it wasn’t difficult to identify the speaker. All she had to do was look for the man with Terrible’s fist locked around his neck.

“Ain’t think I hear you right,” Terrible said in a calm, quiet voice. “Wanna louden up?” The man shook his head His eyes bulged. He looked like a bug, with his hands clenching into tiny useless fists. “You sure? You got else to say, you best say it now, instead of later. Now we got us watchers. Later might not be true, dig?” The man dug.

1:55am: You know I really get a serious kick out of the way her drug dealing pimp Bump is described. He is vulgar and wears fur pajamas. He wants her to her to pretend to be a hooker to catch this hooker killing ghost-catching ghosts is her job after all, and mentions she might even want to turn a few tricks and “could help herself.” You got to love Terrible’s reaction to this…

“She ain’t do it, Bump.”

So as she is sitting there-stoned out of her freaking mind- she has this thought “She wasn’t considering it, not really….but he did have a point. It was her job. Save the cold, and the disgusting suggestion that she might actually turn a trick or two wasn’t a half bad idea. That was the problem with Bump. Despite the fact that he was practically a textbook villain – she expected him to grow a mustache to twirl any day- his ideas made sense.”

I guess if you’re stoned, but really this does not sound like the Chess we know.
 
2:28am: I know you LOVE triangles so you are going LOVE this book. The tension between her and Terrible are off the charts, but there is still one small problem of Lex, the rival drug dealers main man, that she has been sleeping with for months. After an extremely personal moment with Terrible and a step back for both of them Chess has a very sorrowful thought

“Why was she do determined always to do the exact wrong thing?”

3:05am: I can’t wait to see how this book ends! Turns out Slobag (the rival Lex is with) is having the same problem in his territory, and wants to meet with Bump. That means Bump wants her at that meeting with him and Terrible, and Lex is going to be there. Slobag knows Chess is sleeping with Lex, and if Bump suspects she is with the enemy he will have Terrible kill her, without a doubt. So how does one act when faced with being stuck between two rival drug dealers she has obligations to and the man she is sleeping with and the one she calls her best friend?

“When had being an addict gotten so f-ing hard? So exhausting? It had been so easy for so long; she had a steady supply, she kept to herself, nobody bothered her. Now she was constantly up to her ears in intrigue and complications, being torn in every direction but her own, all thanks to her need for those pills.” 

But don’t be fooled, just because she can admit she has a problem doesn’t mean she’s ready to do anything about it.
 
4:24am: Maryse, I am heartbroken, torn and ripped up. The ending of this book is so harsh. I am really glad City of Ghosts is already out, my goodness the withdrawal would have been brutal. For some reason I keep finding myself cheering for the pillhead witch and the drug dealers muscle as they face danger and horror that even they didn’t see coming, sometimes ghosts aren’t the only big bad out there. A wonderful read that deserves all the praise it has been getting. As you know I have gotten quite picky over the last few months and this is by far and away the best new series of the year for me. I need you to come feel my forehead…..I think I’ve come down with a case of Terrible fever.

Make sure to check out Lily’s own awesome blog – “Lilium’s Realm“ - she’s hilarious and my mom (Lily’s “Grandmaker”) is addicted to Lily’s darkly humorous side, as am I!

Unholy Ghosts
Hey guys. I am over here today to make a long distance call to my Grandmaker. You would be shocked to your toes to find out how much it costs me on my cell to call her.

Hey Grandmaker, how are you? Oh, yes ma’am me and mine are good. I called today to tell you something HUGE. I am in love. Swoon over the Moon LOVE! Le Sigh. His name is Terrible and he is beyond wonderful! He’s also a drug dealer, but I get ahead of myself. Let me tell you how we met.

On Twitter everyone was all a-tweeting about Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane. I read blog after blog talking about how great this series was. I was a little wary. I have to admit I have not be in love with any of the new series new releases. I know this was published in 2009, but I was still a little “meh” about trying it. So Maryse and me got together and said “Why not? We will read it together?” So we shook on it and off we went. Well you know me, I can’t ever wait for nothing. So this weekend I dove in, and ooo la la I am in LOVE. I heart this book.

As this is Urban Fantasy it is sort of a new reality. In 1997 The Truth was revealed. There is no God, hungry savage murderous ghosts exist and the only way to stay safe from them to align with The Church. The Church uses magic to keep them contained and banish when needed. It also pays well those who report authentic haunting but beware if you’re lying, because those sent to investigate also help to punish those who try to steal from the Church. The Church of Truth employs Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch, as a Debunker, and ghost hunter. Life is not easy for her, she is a rebel by refusing to live on church grounds choosing to live in Downside and is a drug addict, this is something the Church must not find out about.
 
So what happens when her drug dealer Bump decides she is going to pay him 400% interest on top of what she owes him or she can choose to do him a favor and get rid of a few ghosts for him? What do think? She agrees, but finds herself escorted and aided by Bump’s thug henchmen Terrible. Terrible’s name says it all, but his look just underlines the fact, and his antisocial manner just adds the exclamation point:

“Are you really driving a hundred and twenty?”
Terrible shrugged again.
“Not real verbal, are you Terrible?”
“This time he glared at her, the greenish lights from the dash highlighting the astonishing ugliness of his profile. His crooked nose–it must have been broken several times–the way his brows jutted out like a cliff over the ocean, the set of his jaw. She held her hands up, palms out. “Okay. Just making conversation.”
“Dames always wanna talk.”
“Not like there’s anything else they’d want to do with you.”
Terrible reached forward and turned up the radio.

I thought – man that is harsh Chess. She gets so nasty to him sometimes. Anyways she is plagued trying to find out what is going with some ghost airplanes when something really bad happens. She discovers someone has called forth a strong evil ghost and it is gaining power. She has some profound moments of thought that often times caught me unaware:

“With magic almost anything was possible; all objects had energy, and energy could be manipulated.”

And just because things in her life were not stirred up enough she gets kidnapped by a rival gang. She is told she must do something unthinkable to remain in their good graces, and being in their good graces including being alive. So what do say to a handsome, sexy and mysterious kidnapper with ultimatums?

“I’ll think about it,” she said.
“Aye, you do that, tulip. You think hard. And when you decide, you let me know.” he dug a scrap of paper from his back pocket and produced a pen from his boot. “This is my number, dig? Call me when you know what you wanna do. Or if you decide you wanna let me see that ink, aye?”
“That’s not going to happen.” She took the number, tucked it in her pocket.
“You’d be surprised, tulip, what happens when you not expecting it. Surprised, indeed.”

She also finds amazing strength inside herself, in times when there just might be little to no hope.

“Terrible thought she was brave. She remembered it now, heard his voice in her head as if he stood next to her. “They scared. Not you, though.” Terrible thought she was brave, and if he – a man whose name was Terrible, a man whose path people scrambled to get out of – thought so, it must be true. She could do this, she would do this.”

I really loved Chess, maybe because of the drug addiction. It was nice to see a heroine that was not perfect and maybe because she was tough but knew her weaknesses, like when she was terrified and doing her best anyways. Terrible caught my heart by not being perfect as well, he isn’t pretty, but it was time for some flawed, dark, and underbellyish heroes to rise up. I was rolled up in the suspense and danger and rooting for drug dealers, witches with pill problems and magic to save the day. 
 
One side note is about Downside Speak. It is like English only a little different, dig? If you read historicals and did fine with those, and read the Black Dagger Brotherhood and picked up on the lingo you’ll be fine, true?
 
Grandmaker, I tell you go out and get this like yesterday. For the first time in a long time I bought the second book the second I turned the last page on this one. I think I hear Maryse and you know she is going to want to talk to you. Hey Sweetpea! Grandmaker is on the phone! By Grandmaker, I know with your love for Rehv you will welcome Terrible with open arms!

Note from Maryse: Thank you Lily for hanging out with my crew! This series sounds awesome and “Terrible” intrigues me terribly ….not terribly goodlooking, but unbelievably crushworthy huh? You’ve mentionned him all week, so I’m anxious to read this!

Make sure to check out Lily’s own awesome blog – “Lilium’s Realm“ - she’s hilarious and my mom (Lily’s “Grandmaker”) is addicted to Lily’s darkly humorous side, as am I  

Burnt Offerings
Hey there again. Just kick stuff out of the way to get in here. Ignore the giant 4 toed foot in the Kitchen. Someone has a crappy sense of humor and an obsession with LOST. Don’t look in the backyard either, Stonehenge is back there. I have no idea what I am going to tell the neighbors. Even better freaking Wrath refused to send me clean up help, I guess “That’s what happens when young vampires drink.” *using mocking tone* I guess my nasty hangover put me in a nasty mood and I didn’t use enough “verily’s” to get my way. Also Acheron and his Dark Hunters are on my “kill them and riverdance on their entrails” list. “Just because I can help you clean, doesn’t mean I should.” *used mocking voice again* Shutup! I could SO do without the god act right now. I would pout about it but since you’re here and everything we can talk about my last read. It was “Burnt Offerings” by Laurell K. Hamilton. Don’t judge me. Just cause I’m a vampire doesn’t mean I don’t like Anita. I finished “Burnt Offerings” which is actually book 7 in the series. I know things are going to go downhill from here, I have heard what a big ho bag Anita turns into later but in the meantime I am enjoying the ride.

The book kicks off with a bang, radical groups are getting stronger and hitting the vampires and were’s harder than ever. Anita and Jean Claude’s relationship is growing deeper and we get to see an intimate scene of them at dinner, because Jean Claude can not eat food, he gets to taste it through the marks:

“So just tell me what you like on the menu, and we’ll negotiate.”
“All that is required is that you taste what is ordered. You do not have to eat it.”
“No, no more of this tasting shit. I’ve gained weight. I never gain weight.”
“You have gained four pounds, so I am told. Though I have searched diligently for this phantom four pounds and cannot find them. It brings your weight up to a grand total of one hundred and ten pounds, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“Oh, ma petite, you are growing gargantuan.” I looked at him, and it was not a friendly look.

I laughed at that. How could you not love him when he says cute stuff like that? BTW I hated Anita in that moment – complaining about 4 lbs that bring her up to 110? Bite me. No seriously, break up with the cross toting heifer and join up with me.

Trouble follows Anita like a nasty cloud and more than ever is stirred up. Anita killed Gabriel – a were leopard who was the Alpha of his pack, leaving them without an Alpha, and making them more dangerous than ever. There is still the NASTY tension with Richard and to top of the crap cake there is the Council, the leaders of the Vampires and a really ugly and monstrous lot of evil. They are stirring up more trouble than anyone would have thought and Anita is just the one to remind them how bad they are. I love her special in this book because she is dropping some of those reservations she used to have about shooting the dangerous things. She is also getting more than enough of a good look at how inhumane humanity is. We also meet Asher, the one time vampire companion of Jean Claude and he is there to cause trouble as well. Will the danger around Anita ever end? I think not.

I loved so many parts of this book, and I think I want to actually call it my fave in the series. Anita has such witty dialogue not only with herself, but with others as well and I am compelled into loving her. She is tough. I do love this one part:

Asher was a vampire. How much more dangerous could he be with a gun? But I couldn’t do it. “Let me test my understanding. Is Asher going to ride in the car with us to the meeting?”
“I must to give you directions,” Asher said.
“Then lean against the Jeep.” He frowned at me in an amused, condescending sort of way.
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t care if you’re the second coming of the Antichrist, you can’t sit behind me in my own car until I know you’re not carrying a weapon.” Asher smiled brilliantly at both of us, flashing fang.
“I could rip you into pieces with my bare hands, and you’re worried I have a gun?” He chuckled, a low, skin-prickling sound. “That is so very cute.”

Yes, it really is. I’m sorry if you got anything on your clothes while here today, I have just given up trying to get this place clean. I tried to get everything to fit under the beds and behind the drapes, but with big claw marks down them from the freaking were’s there’s no chance of that. The pool is still purple, and so is my hair. I tried to bleach it out, and all my conditioner is missing, so I look like a fuchsia poodle is nesting on my head. My clothes are all stained from blood and other things I don’t even want to know about. I think it’s chocolate on my leg, but I am not brave enough to sniff it. I can’t find my shoes either and all my other clothes are missing. I look like an out of work MegaCon character. Maybe I can just throw myself on Maryse’s mercy when she gets back. Who am I kidding? The Devil lacks mercy. *sigh* See ya next time. If there is a next time.

Undead and Unemployed
Ugh. I’m awake! QUIT POKING ME! Geez, I’m up, I’m up. What happened? Why is the house more of mess than it was when you left last time?! Oh, never mind. I remember now. The BDB came over and we may have played some drinking games. Ugh, my head is killing me. No one told me being undead means that I still get drunk. I swear. A little information sharing is what needs to happen. You know like guide book. “Welcome to death. This is how it works.” Or something like that. Man, can you pass me the Tylenol? Sorry, I am out of blood, I guess people don’t take byob to heart anymore.

Anyways let’s just talk about books so I can forget why I have a lampshade on my head and there are chicken feathers all over the place.

We were talking about Mary Janice Davidson’s Undead series and are going to continue with the misadventures of Queen Betsy in book two “Undead and Unemployed”.

A few months have passed since Betsy took the throne and she is still struggling with the idea of it all. To make things worse her home has termites, and she has no job. In an effort to make herself feel better she goes to the Alter of Goodness aka the Shoe Department in the Macy’s at the Mall of America. She outwits the shoe clerk with her knowledge of designer shoes and the manager offers her job, so of course she takes it – can you say employee discount?

Betsy gets the problem of a job solved only to learn there is someone out there killing the vampires. As she is the queen she has to come up with a plan to stop this. Using the best plan she can think of (which constantly makes me wonder if she is too stupid to live) she offers herself up as bait. Well guess what? A big blond vampire with her not so well hidden friends is not enough to entice the killer to jump out of a dumpster. But a big dumb blond that sends her friends away while she goes to get in her car is. She meets the “Blade Warriors” and promptly makes fun of their name. You know you would too.

Now she has a pack of rabid teenagers with a goofy name and crossbows hunting her vampires, and a boss that insists she has to sell the shoes to people even if she doesn’t think they deserve them. I love the internal dialogue that Besty has, she makes me laugh so hard. Like this when she walks up to a customer in the store and scares the foxtrot out of her:

“Nice work Betsy, you retard. You’ve gone from refusing to sell to your customers to scaring the sh*t out of them. Stupid undead quiet feet.”

Oh how I laughed, mostly because I would have this same conversation myself. There are also her reactions to Sinclair:

“Not to mention the devil’s mouth. The man could kiss, and that was a fact. It was one of the more infuriating things about him. He’d never asked to kiss me. Not once. Just took what he liked. I hated him, and I hated myself for wanting him.”

Alpha vampire’s are so hot. Specially Sinclair. *sigh* I do love me some Alpha Vamps. Speaking of Alpha vamps I am going to give Wrath a call and see if they could send some doggen over here to help me with this mess! Maryse will be back soon……I can feel it, and I really don’t want to get steaked over this crap. Ugh, my hangover is still kicking my head in and now I have a mountain of stuff to clean. I have no idea why the pool is purple or what happened to the hedges. My grandmaker almost caught me last time I think. For real this time I am going to clean up. Till next time ya’ll!

Undead and Unwed
Hey, everyone! Welcome back. I see some of us brought shifters again. If they are not housebroken they have to stay outside, seriously. One of them peed on the rug, and another attempted to eat something from the trash and got sick in the tub. Come on guys, I already had to glue her fave lamp back together with Gorilla Glue, then get Oops to clean up all the glue that dripped off, and now I’m looking for dye for the carpet, because, did you know Oops takes the color out of fabric? I didn’t know this. Plus MadHatter put SOMETHING in the toilet. I have no idea what and I am scared to ask what it was, but I tell you finding the blankets in the closet to absorb up the mess was nightmare. They were in plastic bags and everything. I still haven’t found the missing chewing gum yet.

We all need to agree to be a little more careful while we are here. I’m sure she won’t mind ya’ll being here, but let’s try to keep it clean, please?

So as I told you last week we were going to talk about the Queen today. Mary Janice Davidson writes a hysterical series starting with Undead and Unwed.

“The day I died started out bad and got worse in a hurry.”

This is the first line of the book and I was hooked. Elizabeth “Betsy” Taylor is a young woman who tried to be a model but was bored with it, and then turned professional temp. She ended up being a secretary but got fired from that on the day she died. Thus begins the hilarity that is Betsy. How would you react if you woke up in a funeral home, in a casket wearing cheap shoes? Yep she freaked out. Then refused to admit she might be dead. Dead people don’t walk around and lisp. OK maybe they do. The most amazing part of this book for me was everyone’s acceptance of her being a vampire. Her mom just shrugs and makes her dinner, and her best friend helps her steal her shoes back from the evil step mother.

I have to say though when Betsy is being “Welcomed” into the local vampire scene her mouth was priceless. All of her snarky reactions were wonderful including when she met the most powerful vampire in the city. His name is Norstro and she calls him “Nostril” displaying no fear of the situation at hand as she strides into the cemetery and mocks Norstro and pretty much tells him he can keep his creepy loser club. Upon her exit from the weirdness of the Undead she runs into a wonderfully hot man-vamp. Sinclair (all who like hot men please *sigh* here) who gives her a panty melting kiss. She then throws him through a headstone and runs away.

Turns out Sinclair and his maker Tina are out to help her overthrow the tyrant Nostro and help her claim her rebirth right of Queen. Wait, Queen of the Vampires? No, thanks. Betsy wants no part of this but ends up roped into it, and you have to see what they bribe her with….LOL is all I can say.

*crosses legs and sits Indian style on the coffee table* Sinclair! Oh he is swoon worthy and Betsy’s new friend Marc (guy who she saved from jumping to his death and then made a small snack out of who then moved in with her) likes him too. Jess (Betsy’s BFF) loves him and even her Mother thinks he is off the chain. The only one who seems to dislike him is Betsy but even she can’t help but notice how wonderful he is. I have to say the part where he makes a deal with her that one day she will need his help and he will give it, provided she puts something of his in her mouth was totally hot even if it was blackmail. Wait till you see what she puts in her mouth! Oh Cheese and Crackers it was great. Let’s just say I had an over the top reaction to it! *wink, wink*

Wait, was that another crash? Please, please, please tell me the person with the monkey didn’t let him in the wine cellar! Oh I am so going to be dead again! Awww man, look at this place! I am going to have to hire professional cleaners for this mess! I already spent all my spending money on “Choco-Blood” a new mix of Chocolate and Blood (Genius right?!) how am I ever going to get this mess cleaned up? Aww man, I don’t know if Grand-maker is coming by today *looks nervous* but maybe I can keep her outside this time. Next time I will tell you more about our fair Queen Betsy in the next installment of the series called Undead and Unemployed. Bye guys, I need to clean up.

Bad Moon Rising: A Dark-Hunter Novel
Lily is dancing in her underwear and talking about Fang…

Oh hello, guys. I didn’t expect you back already. Ok. Let me turn off the music, put some pants on and put these jazz fingers away. Let’s try this again, and please don’t tell her about the stain on the center pillow on the sofa. I swear that bottle of blood was empty when I fell asleep.

So anyways, Hello Maryse’s followers. Since she’s out of the house, I am going to talk about books behind her back! Muhahaha . This is a warning of sorts; we don’t review books the same way. Her’s are always pretty and elegant and NEVER anything outrageous. Mine are more rambling and outlandish. You have been warned. Now *queue theatrical voice* PREPARE TO BE AMAZED!

If you have not read the Sherrilyn Kenyon Dark Hunter series you have been missing out. Bad Moon Rising is the 18th book in the long standing series and takes a spin on things. We were introduced to the Kattlatkis brothers back in Night Play, where we met Vane a wolf Were-Hunter that fell madly in love with a plus sized human named Bride. After a crushing betrayal that resulted in the death of their sister, Vane and his ever smart mouthed brother Fang are strung up and left for death. After an attack (which they barely survive) Fang falls into a coma and Vane is left with some serious problems to clean up. Including finding out Fury (a pack member that could not get along with Fang at all) is one of their brothers. In Night Play we get a glimpse of Fang in a coma and Vane’s attempts to bring him out of it. I thought Fang was being a ninny. Boy was I ever wrong.

Bad Moon Rising kicks off with the introduction of the pack to Sanctuary. Aimee Peltier (a bear Were-Hunter and the crown jewel of her family) gets attacked by some Jackal Were-Hunters. The wolf pack disregards the laws of Sanctuary (where everyone is welcome and safe, no fights ever – in front of the humans anyways. Come in Peace or leave in Pieces is the motto) and jumps to save her. Wolves are known for their protection of their females (and for having disgusting manners and being savages). To their surprise they are not thrown out but told they will always be welcome with the bears for their willingness to help save Amiee.

We also get to spend more time with Fang. He is a jerk. He is loud mouthed, quick to fight, impatient and rude. He is also tall, dark hair, beautiful eyes and a stomach you could do your wash on. The line I think of when I think of Fang is a line from Shrek 2. Donkey, Puss in Boots and Shrek have all been arrested. Donkey is screaming and carrying on and on and yelling no one told him he had the right to remain silent. Shrek replies “You have the right, what you lack is the capacity.” Fang just lacks the capacity to shut his mouth.

Aimee and Fang are finding themselves hopelessly attracted to one another and some really good scenes come of it. Tons of tension, and boy do I love tension. There are major problems with this match though. With the weres there is always a more dominant side – either human first animal second or vice versa. He is an animal first (Kattagari), which means he is more wild, more like a creature in the woods and is quick to act like an animal. She is a human first (Arcadian), which means she is more repulsed by the animal nature of him, and her human side is always running the show. Oh there is also the problem of them not even being the same species and her Kattagari family doesn’t know she’s now Arcadian.

Fangs mind:

Put her out of your thoughts. His father hated him enough. If he ever found out Fang was turned on by a bear… they’d call out a hunt and he’d be slaughtered.

Aimee’s thoughts:

Then what was Amiee? Katagari bear who became Arcadian at puberty. One with the tracking powers of a goddess who was currently attracted to only a wolf. You don’t get more unnatural than that.

We continue to travel with them on their journey to each other. Once Fang comes out of the coma (of which he only got out of by agreeing to a new job), him and Amiee are trying to ignore each other but still give us some panty melting moments with them (If this gets back to her – calm down Ma, just a hint).

Setting the beer aside, he pulled her to him until she was standing between his spread knees. Her scent wrapped around him like a warm cloak as he imagined her sliding her T-shirt over her head and freeing her breasts. “I’ve never wanted a woman as badly as I do you.”

Wow Fang, that’s hot. If the whole species thing wasn’t bad enough there is the small problem with his new boss:

I should probably warn you that I’m not real big on fairness and I have a below zero tolerance on most things. Do your job. Do it right and we won’t have any problems. F it up and I’ll most likely kill you. F up bad enough and I’ll torture you first.

Ok so I am going to take it this is not the kind of boss you can pour out your career plans too or offer a nice dental plan. This story progresses over 3 other plot lines from the series and maybe that’s what made it so special to me. We got to go back and see multiple plot lines evolving in time with each other, and some of the questions I had before suddenly were answered.

I loved Fang because of his never ending snark and mouth. He was a jerk that talked first and thought about his words second. I loved Amiee for trying to be the good daughter, without being a total martyr about it. Her choices in life were made for her at the end of the day. This book is pivotal to the plot line and if you liked the hints of Fang you got with Vane’s story please revisit him and get his side of the story with Bad Moon Rising.

Also you get a better look at the bears, with a shocker at the end that had me going “NO WAY”. This is going to change the course of the Were-Hunters in the next book, which will be the older brother and one of the quads Dev, in No Mercy.

Dev the bouncer brother is going to get a heroine, and I personally vote for myself. I mean a new vamp and a were, it’s not like it hasn’t been done people! 

That’s it get out, Maryse told me I wasn’t allowed to have guests. Best get on out of here. Maybe next time we can talk about the queen – you know Betsy!

My grand-maker is coming over soon, so I got to straighten up again. Whoever brought the shifter needs to make sure he is housebroken before he comes over again too! Bye!