[Archive] LITERAL ADDICTION's Review of Covet

 

Felicity Heaton has been a reader of fantasy, horror and classic novels since she was a child, and began her first story, a gothic horror, at age fourteen. She had to hiatus from writing to actually finish school, but she started again in 2003 and hasn’t looked back since.
A writer of emotion and life, she always strives to touch a chord of familiarity in her readers and give them characters they will love and a read they will remember. The passionate tales of romance that she’s penned have captured readers hearts and imaginations, earning her a dedicated following.
When she’s not writing, Felicity is a full-time web developer, and when not filling her non-work time with writing or writing related work, she loves nothing more than reading, playing RPG on her PlayStation, watching anime or reading manga, and spending time drawing manga characters (sometimes of my romance heroes and heroines), oh, and improving her archery skills. She also loves to travel and is studying Japanese.

Covet, Book #1 of the VAMPIRE EROTIC THEATRE ROMANCE series

Author:  Felicity Heaton

 

Synopsis:   They’ve burned for each other for two years, the forbidden attraction between them growing each night. Now resisting the sinful desires of their hearts is becoming impossible.

Javier knows better than to succumb to his hunger for Lilah. The mortal female belongs to a powerful aristocrat patron of Vampirerotique, the theatre he runs with three other vampires. A single touch is all it would take to break the sacred law of his kind, sentencing himself to death, but his passion for her has become too fierce to ignore and he will risk everything to make Lilah his.

Lilah has fought her desire for Javier since arriving at his theatre as a servant but each glance he has stolen, his eyes promising pleasure that will satisfy her longing for him, has chipped away at her defences and she can no longer deny her need and her forbidden feelings for the powerful vampire male.

When they find themselves alone in a private box during one of the erotic performances, will they surrender to their passion and live out their wildest fantasies in a night of wicked pleasure or will the threat of Lilah’s master keep them apart forever?

 

Our Review [by Debbie, a LITERAL ADDICTION Associate Guest Reviewer]:

So when I asked for a recommendation for a very steamy book with a good plot Michelle Our Pack Alpha told me about Felicity Heaton’s new Vampire Erotic Theatre series. After finding out that she needed a review for these 1^st 2 books I agreed knowing that Michelle has some strange Alpha Power that allows her to ALWAYS know exactly what we all want to read at the time, even if we don’t. She was right, as always! I loved them. I couldn’t believe how enthralled I was while reading Covet. My heart was racing and I was probably panting along with the characters and I couldn’t do anything about it but read!

Covet is novella about Javier and Lilah and their forbidden but undeniable attraction to each other. Javier has dreamed and fantasized about her for 2 years but being that she is owned by a very powerful vampire of his club he has kept his feeling to himself. He thinks his attraction is totally one sided and really beats himself up for feeling the way he does.

 There was one rule his kind honored above all others: an owned human must never be touched by a vampire other than their master

Lilah has desired Javier since she was sent to Vampirerotique by her Master, Lord Ashville. To say that she is confused by how she feels and her life is an understatement. She isn’t like the other owned humans and she hates her Master. She has tried to run many times before he finally sent her to the theater.  She is tough and a survivor but doesn’t think Javier sees her as anything special.

Once they come together it is explosive. They both have such amazing feelings for one another that the emotion bleeds from the page. Both of them are willing to give anything for the other even their lives. The erotic scenes’ both on the stage and between Javier and Lilah left me feeling like I should be laying in bed with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other and tears in my eyes.

The action in this book is intense. It is 100% VAMPIRE. There is blood, blood and more blood. Sometimes when I am reading a novella I notice that the author has toned down the sex and violence. That is not the case in this book. After reading Crave, the next book in the series I can say that this book is a great opener and shows you what to expect in the rest of the series.

Felicity Heaton grabbed my attention with this book and I was excited that I had the next book, Crave already and able to read now.  I am not sure whose book I am looking forward to more Snow or Antoine. Snow I want him to get his own HEA so bad and Antoine… well, I just can’t wait to see him fall after all the attitude.

If you are looking for a quick erotic paranormal with enough heat to keep you warm in a blizzard then check this one out.

LITERAL ADDICTION'S Associate Reviewer gives Covet 4 Skulls and would recommend it to erotic and paranormal romance fans far and wide.

COVET

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rachel Caine is the New York Times, USA Today and internationally bestselling author of more than 30 novels, including the immensely popular Morganville Vampires series, the Weather Warden series, and the Outcast Season series.

She was born at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, attended Socorro High School in El Paso, Texas, and earned a bachelors degree in business administration from Texas Tech University. She’s worked in many jobs, including accounting, graphic designer, insurance investigation, corporate communications, and web design, to name just a few. She became a full time writer in 2010.

Rachel is married to award-winning fantasy artist R. Cat Conrad.

 

Black Dawn, Book #12 of the Morganville Vampire series

Author: Rachel Caine

 

Synopsis:
 The hotly-anticipated twelfth instalment in the Morganville Vampires series

In Last Breath, the rain brought a new and dire threat to Morganville and its vampires... their ancient enemies, the draug. Now, the vampires are fighting a losing war, and it will fall to the residents of the Glass House: Michael, Eve, Shane and Claire, to take the fight to an enemy who threatens to destroy the town, forever.

Lovers of Morganville, rejoice: Black Dawn takes the intrigue, romance and nail-biting suspense of the series to its highest level yet!

Our Review [by Michelle L. Olson – LITERAL ADDICTION’s Pack Alpha]:

I love the Morganville Vampires series and have been an avid follower since book #1.  While I didn’t think that anything could surpass the incredibleness that was Book #11, Last Breath, I stand corrected after the completion of Black Dawn. 

If I said that Last Breath was a home run, then Black Dawn was a grand slam! 

Like all Morganville books, there was tons of action, danger lurking around every corner, sweet romance, problems to be solved, friendships solidified, alliances forged, enemies made and mysteries galore, all packed into a fabulously eerie and quirky package. 

Like Last Breath, Black Dawn gives us insight into other characters by switching between points of view.  It was seamlessly written and a wonderful gift for the reader to get inside these other characters’ heads. 

Last Breath was definitely darker than the other Morganville books.  They’ve been getting increasingly darker installment after installment (to my utter delight), but there were times during Black Dawn that you could actually feel the hopelessness, and those times just lent more credibility to the glimpses of hope that were uncovered like rays of sunshine.

While Morganville is known for its danger, and we fans have come to expect and love the town and its residents for it, the Morganville in Black Dawn is literally flooded with death, destruction and despair.  All that deranged action is thrown at you in a non-stop thrill ride that grabs you from the very beginning and doesn’t’ really ever let go, because even after completion of the last page, you want to scream, “Well, what now??”. 

The character development in Black Dawn was intense, the storyline intriguing and demanding nothing short of utter investment, and the world, in true Rachel Caine fashion, beautifully fashioned. 

LITERAL ADDICTION gives Black Dawn a thoroughly deserved 5 Skulls, and would recommend it to EVERYONE!  Morganville may be classified as YA, but we like to call it YA for the not-so-young-adult, and this installment proved that Rachel can capture both sides of the audience with ease. 

I am so happy that there will be more Morganville to come.  I absolutely adore this series. 

Black Dawn:

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[Archive] LITERAL ADDICTION's Review of Darkness Devours

 

Keri Arthur author of the New York Times bestselling Riley Jenson, Guardian series, has now written more than 25 books. She's received several nominations in the Best Contemporary Paranormal category of the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Awards, and recently won RT's Career Achievement Award for urban fantasy. She lives in Melbourne with her daughter and two crazy dogs.

Darkness Devours, Book #3 of the Dark Angels series

Author: Keri Arthur

Synopsis: Half-werewolf, half-Aedh Risa Jones can enter the realm between life and death, and she can see the Reapers who collect the souls of the dead. Now, she is using her gifts—and the investigative know-how of a man who broke her heart—to find a cabal searching for the power to control time, reality, and fate. And this is besides her work for the Vampire Council, half of whom want her dead.

But for now the Council needs her alive. Someone is killing blood-whore addicted vampires, and Risa must find the guilty party. If she succeeds, she may finally convince the council to lift the execution order on her life. But before she succeeds, she must first survive…

Our Review [by LITERAL ADDICTION’s Pack Alpha - Michelle L. Olson]:

I have said before, and I will say again, that the Dark Angels series zoomed to the very top of my 'favorite Urban Fantasy series ever' list immediately upon completion of the first book, and each new book that comes along afterward solidifies its position at that precipice.  

This installment was absolutely no exception to the rule.  In fact, if it's possible, this is the best book yet - though the last 2 have been so incredible it seems ridiculous to even say that.   

Darkness Devours picks up where Darkness Rising left off, with Risa still attempting to see her quest to fruition while working with some unsavory allies and dealing with the fallout of her last mission.  The complexity of her situation and the dangers continue to pile up, and she is dealing as best she can.  

Yet again, the relationship between Azriel and Risa builds and provides the reader with an incredible amount of delicious tension.  The relationship arc between these 2 has been building wonderfully over the last 2 books and there is a point in Darkness Devours where you finally feel like there will be relief, only to be left wondering once more - just as Risa and Azriel themselves are left wondering.  

Paranormal Romance readers may not love what Keri's been doing with these two.  It's definitely not your get-together quick and end up with a Happily Ever After at the end of a book scenario, but if you're a true Urban Fantasy lover, you have to both respect and crave what she has done and continues to do in this series, and even though it's not PNR friendly with regards to the quick HEA, PNR readers won't be able to deny the magnetism or the unbelievably hot romance evident throughout these books. 

Darkness Devours was another intriguing, action packed, sexy, witty, suspenseful, emotional thrill ride set in a dark, dangerous, sensual, thrilling world, and once more I didn’t want it to end!

Risa goes through so much in this series, but that just makes her more respectable as a strong female lead.   And as a wonderful book should, you are drawn so far into her story that you can actually feel yourself getting exhausted by all of her trials and tribulations.  Add this kick-butt leading heroine to the beautifully woven world of Dark Angels and a supporting cast who lend wonderfully to the story arc and you end up with an absolutely incredible fantasy read.

LITERAL ADDICTION Paranormal Book Club gives Darkness Devours 5 Skulls.

Like its predecessors, we HIGHLY recommend Darkness Devours for everyone! Keri Arthur fans will adore this series, but more than that, these books have EVERYTHING you want in a perfectly written Urban Fantasy. They are dark, dangerous, gritty, intriguing, and suspenseful, yet sensual, titillating and emotional.

I am so excited for the next installment of the Dark Angels series.  Keri continues to amaze.

Darkness Devours

 

 

[Archive] LITERAL ADDICTION's Review of Lover Reborn

 

J.R Ward is a New York Times and USA Today Best Selling author of erotic paranormal romance. She lives in the south with her incredibly supportive husband and her beloved golden retriever. After graduating from law school, she began working in healthcare in Boston and spent many years as Chief of Staff of one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation. Writing has always been her passion and her idea of heaven is a whole day of nothing but her computer, her dog and her coffee pot. 

Lover Reborn, Book #10 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series

Author: J.R Ward

Synopsis: Ever since the death of his shellan, Tohrment is a heartbroken shadow of the vampire leader he once was. Brought back to the Brotherhood by a self-serving fallen angel, he fights again with ruthless vengeance- and is unprepared for a new tragedy. Seeing his beloved in dreams—trapped in a cold, desolate netherworld—he turns to the angel to save his former mate, only to despair at the path he himself must take to set her free. As war with the lessers rages, and a new clan of vampires vies for the Blind King’s throne, Tohr struggles between an unforgettable past, and a future that he doesn’t know he can live with… but can’t seem to turn away from.

 

Our Review [by LITERAL ADDICTION’s Pack Alpha - Michelle L. Olson]:

Immediately upon completion of this book I had one word: "wow".   I laughed, I cried, I ranted, I raved, I gasped, I oohed & awwed... I was on a non-stop emotional roller coaster & I loved every second of it!

Like most Paranormal Romance readers I'm a huge fan of the Black Dagger Brotherhood.  I have had my favorite books and I've picked my favorite brothers.  I've wished for outcomes that didn't happen and have greedily devoured not only the highly anticipated new releases but those that I felt were necessary to the series but not 'foundation reads' in my opinion as well.  This book was hard to even compartmentalize like that because it was so robust.  

With an interestingly intersecting past and equally tragic histories, No'One and Tohr are an interesting couple.  There were times that I wanted to smack Tohr for being so hard on No'One, and there were times were I wanted to scream at No'One to buck up and fight for what she wanted.   In the end I couldn't have imagined a better couple, but it certainly wasn't a Happily Ever After that came easy.

As I said above, this was - in my honest opinion - the most robust book of the series thus far and the most emotionally captivating read yet.  It's very difficult to write a review for it though because while an incredible amount of things happened, I can't tell you about any of them without spoiling it for new readers.

Suffice it to say that this book will grab you from the 1st page and take you on a journey so incredible you'll feel completely wrung out by the end.  While one of the longest of the series thus far, it's worth every word and every page.  

The way the book ended makes me as a diehard BDB fan want the next book that much more, and JR made us all very happy by announcing that the next book will finally be Quinn and Blay's story.  

I easily give this book 4 1/2 skulls and would recommend it to everyone.  Though if you haven't read the rest of the Black Dagger Brotherhood yet, you'll want to start from book #1.

Lover Reborn

 

 

[Archive] LITERAL ADDICTION's Review of Something About Witches

 

Joey W. Hill writes contemporary and paranormal erotic romance. Her characters include everything from vampires, mermaids, witches and angels, to boardroom executives, cops and simple housemaids. With four series and almost thirty titles available, she has been nominated three consecutive years for a Career Achievement award in Erotica by Romantic Times.

Free excerpts from all her works are available at www.storywitch.com, and additional vignettes, character interviews and graphics inspired by the work are at the fan forum site, www.jwhconnection.com. Subscribe to her newsletter from her home page and receive the latest info about appearances and releases.

Though much of her work is BDSM, she has built her reputation on award-winning romances with absorbing characters who not only attract fans of the genre, but readers who would "never" read BDSM romance. "Whatever genre you're writing, if the characters are compelling and sympathetic, the readers are going to want to see what happens to them. It can be the coolest storyline ever, but if the reader could care less whether the hero or heroine survive (in fact, in some cases they may be rooting for their destruction just so they can be done with the darn thing), then it's not a story worth reading."

Something About Witches, Book #1 of the Arcane Shot series

Author: Joey W. Hill

Synopsis:  It's amazing what a little magic can do...

Ruby Night Divine is a gun shop owner. She's also a witch who knows magic can fail. She's experienced it first hand, with full-blown tragic consequences. Smith & Wesson is a whole hell of a lot more reliable, and nothing's as cathartic as the ability to put a few holes in the things that piss you off. Like Derek Stormwind.

A powerful sorcerer, Derek is determined to get to the bottom of why Ruby pushed him away and ran three years before. He also needs her help. A coven needs training to fight a demon and his minions. While Ruby is willing to do it, she's sure it's just a ruse to get back in her heart—and her bed. The thing is, that's where she wants him. Unfortunately, her bed's already made, she's this close to losing her soul, and she fears nothing can save her. Not Derek. Not even Smith & Wesson.

 

Our Review [by Debbie – LITERAL ADDICTION’s Associate Reviewer]:

I read this book the day it came out. I was excited but apprehensive because I LOVED Joey W. Hill’s Vampire Queen Series, and had wondered about Derek. The biggest worry I had was that by making this a mass market PNR, it wouldn’t have that perfect balance of heat and heart and pain and pleasure that I have found in her other books. I really shouldn’t have worried; she grabbed me with the very first line of the book and kept me there to the end.  So when I heard that Michelle still needed to read and review it for her upcoming event I told her that she HAD to get to it because I knew how much she would love it but, that I would  re-read it  and write one also. After setting aside my new releases, I started Something about Witches and was again struck by the magic that is Joey’s writing. I was swept away into the story and saw so much I missed that 1^st time reading it. I think I might have enjoyed it even more this 2^nd time...

If you've read Joey's Vampire Queen series, then you might remember the hero, Derek.  He is the sorcerer who helped Mason set up the tomb for his late wife and also helped Mal set up his island.  Derek is a Guardian of the Light and has been alive more years than some of the Seven Wonders of the World.  He is the Hero of Hero's, a Dominate Alpha man, a modern day knight, a cowboy - complete with jeans, boots, hat and a duster over his broad shoulders that seem to be able to hold the problems of the world.  

He had been a part of Ruby's life since she was a small child; always showing up when she needed him and always giving her that support by being exactly what she needed at the time.  Well almost always, except for the one time she really needed him and he was gone saving the world.  He's been trying to figure out what happened to cause her to use magic to send him away since that day, but with a coven in need of magical education to repair a fault line, he as the perfect reason to try to get back into Ruby's life.  

Ruby is a survivor.  She has been running her gun shop, Arcane Shot, for 3 years since breaking things off with Derek.  She cut herself off since that horrible day with Derek and hasn't allowed anybody to get into her heart.  Her best friends Raina and Ramona don't even know what really happened.  Her years of being in her mother's shadow and the neglect she experienced, have just added to the pain from that day and the loss of Derek.  She's dealt, by feeding that emotional pain with physical pain from a man she met at a gun show named Mikheal.  When Derek walks into her shop with a job for her she almost turns him down, but when she realizes that she might bet the chance to get vengeance for what happened 3 years ago, she agrees to help.

Derek and Ruby have a sexual chemistry that burns the page. I was so drawn into their relationship that even when the sexual experiences were tamer than other books I have read by Joey I still was extremely affected by them.

Throughout the book you get to see a lot of what a “modern day” coven might be like. The women in this story are amazing and you want them to be your friends too. I loved reading about the different parts of witchcraft that aren’t all sparkly and exciting and the history of women and magic. I was amazed though by how exciting Joey made the magical fights. I think it might have some of the most exciting magical fights that I have read, at least lately.

BDSM was a large part of the storyline of her Vampire Queen series. I wasn’t sure if it would have a part in this one but it was, just in a softer way. She showed the feeling and emotion that can come when it is a part of a relationship. Joey in my opinion showed that BDSM doesn't always have to be as extreme as it was in her Vampire Queen series. One quote from this book that really stood out showed this...  Ruby is thinking about Derek and his dominance, “every time he won her surrender, that boulder of responsibility, guilt and insecurity was removed, letting her breathe”  

I tried not to give too many spoilers out in this review, but I had to give a bit to give a good overview. I have to say that this book was a surprising fave of mine this year. I am looking forward to May 1^st when In the Company of Witches comes out.  I'm excited about Raina's story and look forward to how Joey will have Mikheal redeem himself.  I gave this book 5 skulls and would recommend this to any Paranormal Romance or Erotic reader.

Something About Witches