Romance
Lyra Black is determined to defeat all the other werewolves at the next Proving, becoming the Second to her father’s Alpha. Midnight Reckoning by Kendra Leigh Castle, Lyra has spent her entire life being told what to do and being forced to abide by the werewolf law. Leaving the town she grew up in she is determined to learn from the new vampires about changing tradition but her past catches up with her in a deadly way. When she is saved by Jaden she decides to return home to confront her problems head-on.
Jaden Harrison is a Cait Sith, a vampire cat0shifters, who saves Lyra and then can’t get her out of his mind. When Jaden finds a necklace belonging to Lyra he has the perfect excuse to follow her to her town but when her father requests Jaden help Lyra, Jaden ends up dealing with more than he bargained for when old enemies show up in Lyra’s town. As that wasn’t enough, Jaden and Lyra must fight their attraction together because history has decried that cats and dogs don’t belong together.
I struggled to get into Midnight Reckoning mostly because the beginning of the novel covers so much of the different tribes and I had a hard time keeping them straight. I also struggled to keep the different tribes’ special characteristics straight, especially where the different paranormal characters mixed together. However, once I got into the novel it all started to make sense and the story pulled me in. Lyra is a women struggling to get her pack to change with the times, allowing women to have more of a say in the running of the pack. Jaden is a vampire cat who has lived for two hundred years and just years for a normal life. Castle’s world is a bit on the dark, complex side with intense characters with a lot of emotional baggage they had to work out. I enjoyed Midnight Reckoning once I got into the story, if you are a fan of the darker side of paranormal you will like it also.
Dark Dynasties Reading Order
Shadow Rising (release July 2012)
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Title: Midnight Reckoning
Author: Kendra Leigh Castle
Format: Paperback, eBook
Page Nos.: 384
ISBN: 978-1609418380
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: January 2012
Available for purchase: Amazon
Reviewer: Jessica
**I received a copy of this book from the publisher but was not required to provide a review and it did not impact my review in any way.
Miranda Ellis has spent her entire life trying to suppress her exceptional abilities after her loss of control cost her family their business. In Firelight by Kristen Callihan, Miranda’s family’s downturn in fortune has caused her to accept the marriage proposal of London’s most infamous nobleman.
Lord Benjamin Archer has never forgotten his first meeting with Miranda and has arranged it so she becomes his wife. But Archer is forced to live his life behind a mask, both literally and figuratively, which doesn’t allow him to get close to his fiery new bride. When he finds himself drawing closer to Miranda he wonders if he can share his true self with her or if she will leave him forever…
Firelight was a fabulous debut novel! Set in Victorian England it is the combination of two of my favorite genres, paranormal and historical. The characters are complex and the world Callihan has created is intriguing. The blending of the historical time period with paranormal characters was seamless and entertaining. I read Firelight in one sitting and eagerly look forward to Moonglow. The only concerns I had with the novel were the level of sexuality and the end scene is a little violent (think in terms of Indian Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark).
You can read an excerpt here.
Darkest London Reading Order:
Moonglow (release August 2012)
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Title: Firelight
Author: Kristen Callihan
Format: Paperback, eBook
Page Nos.: 400
ISBN: 978-1455508594
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: February 2012
Available for purchase: Amazon
Reviewer: Jessica
**I received a copy of this book from the publisher but was not required to provide a review and it did not impact my review in any way.
Novel Reaction is excited to be part of the blog tour for two new novels. Firelight is the debut novel by Kristen Callihan and Midnight Reckoning by Kendra Leigh Castle is the second book in the Dark Dynasties series.
Firelight
London, 1881
Once the flames are ignited . . .
Miranda Ellis is a woman tormented. Plagued since birth by a strange and powerful gift, she has spent her entire life struggling to control her exceptional abilities. Yet one innocent but irreversible mistake has left her family’s fortune decimated and forced her to wed London’s most nefarious nobleman.They will burn for eternity . . .
Lord Benjamin Archer is no ordinary man. Doomed to hide his disfigured face behind masks, Archer knows it’s selfish to take Miranda as his bride. Yet he can’t help being drawn to the flame-haired beauty whose touch sparks a passion he hasn’t felt in a lifetime. When Archer is accused of a series of gruesome murders, he gives in to the beastly nature he has fought so hard to hide from the world. But the curse that haunts him cannot be denied. Now, to save his soul, Miranda will enter a world of dark magic and darker intrigue. For only she can see the man hiding behind the mask.
Midnight Reckoning
Two separate worlds . . .
One passion that binds themWild and passionate by nature, Lyra Black is not just any werewolf. She’s the future leader of the powerful pack of the Thorn-if she can stay alive long enough to inherit the title.
One of the Cait Sith bloodline of vampire cat-shifters, Jaden Harrison has no interest in the wars plaguing the world of night. But when he rescues Lyra from a violent attack, they’re both captured by an insatiable desire that threatens to overwhelm them and bind them together for eternity . . . just as ancient enemies prepare to strike. And when they do, the Thorn and the Cait Sith-and Lyra and Jaden’s love-may never recover from the deadly blow . . . (2011)
Celene Jur wants to catch the man who disabled her space ship and led to her being put on the auction block as a slave before she was rescued. Chain Reaction by Zoe Archer begins with the intel coming through that a machine exists that can take out the controls of the fighter ships, Celene is determined to be the person who brings that machine in. Celene’s commanding officer is willing to let her go after the machine but only if she agrees to take a person from Nerdworks, the tech support side of the group. Celene doesn’t want to let an untrained non-warrior watch her back as they go after the machine.
Nils Calder realizes that the warriors view the techie works like himself as a fairly useless but Nils is determined to bring down the inventor of the machine and he realizes his special skills are needed to bring them down. In addition, Nils has found himself attracted to Celene in the past but warriors don’t mingle with Nerdworks.
I enjoyed Chain Reaction so much I immediately went out and bought Collision Course so I could get more details about Celene’s capture and rescue. The emotional complexity of the characters was well done and I loved how both main characters were strong individuals but how achieving your goals can also bring about problems. I have been on a space opera kick lately and Zoe Archer’s 8th Wing series is a great world. If you are a fan of either Star Wars or Farscape then you would enjoy Chain Reaction.
You can read an excerpt here.
8th Wing Reading Order:
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Title: Chain Reaction
Author: Zoe Archer
Format: eBook
AISN: B006BVTC5G
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: January 9, 2011
Available for purchase: Amazon, eHarlequin
Reviewer: Jessica
**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley but was not required to provide a review and it did not impact my review in any way.
