What to read, what to read!!!

The weather here is beautiful at the moment and perfect for sitting on the deck and reading.  I have a little table next to a very comfy chair that I take over in summer and put the books I am reading on the table so that I can sit out, take in the fresh air and get some reading done.  Over Christmas my family and I take our caravan down to our local beach and spend 5 weeks there, sitting on the beach or back at the campsite catching up with all my reading.  I work in a library and people say that it must be because I like to read.  They have this image of all library personnel sitting around reading books all day.   I WISH.  I work in a an academic library, and I have to be honest there is not much here that I WANT to read, which in a way is great, because I can actually get some work done.  I am starting 'Angel of Mercy' by Toni Andrews.  It is 2nd in the series, I haven't read the 1st one but the 2nd one is pretty good.

Cape Storm by Rachel Caine

I do love the Weather Warden Series.  Cape Storm is no. 8 in the series.  David (The Djinn) and Joanne are on a very big ship with Lewis and Cherise and other wardens travelling out to fight a storm that has been sent after them by Bad Bill.  Jo still has the demon mark on her back, courtesy of Bad Bill, and has become somewhat of a risk to the Weather Wardens that she works for.  David has put containments in place but Bad Bill still seems to be able to get to her.  After a lot of secrets and double play, obviously the heroine comes through.  But not in the way that you think.  You need to read the book.

This book showed Jo in a whole different light and towards the end I really feared for her sanity and for whose side she would end up on.  It is a tale of love above all else, which is sometimes hard to portray in an action novel.  There is a surprise ending and I look forward to Rachel Caine's next book 'Total Eclipse' to see what becomes of David, Jo, Lewis and the rest of the characters that makes this series a favourite.

Cape Storm by Rachel Caine

This is the book that I am reading at the moment.  I have loved this series from start ot beginning, but I am a little disappointed to find Jo giving into the demon mark on her back and to Bad Bob.  I haven't finished it yet, almost there, but I am sure that David and Lewis and all her friends can see her through to the end.

Kiss of Fury by Deborah Cooke

Right, I have just finished Kiss of Fury.  It is the 2nd in the Dragonfire series.  This story follows the path of Alex Madison and Donovan Shea.  Alex is a scientist who has been instrumental in designing a vehicle that runs on salt water.  The Slayers found out where she and her partner Mark where designing their car and sought to destroy their creation.  Donovan Shea is a dragon shape shifter who is a warrior for the Pyr which look to protect humans and aid the humans in repairing the earth that they have damaged.  The Pyr have been told that three of them will experience 'firestorm' which is their chance to find a specifc mate and come together to create a baby that will follow in his father's footsteps.

Obviously Donovan experiences a firestorm with Alex.  They both have trust issues that they need to deal with.  Donovan's issues go back to his first love Olivia who manipulated him into taking a 'Dragon's Teeth' from a dragon's hoard and giving it to her.  Donovan found out about her deception and confronted her where he turned into a dragon in front of her and sent her raving mad.  He believes that he is a loner and does not want to accept a long term relationship with Alex, except as a procreation result. 

The Slayers are still after Alex because they know that she has a back up model of the "Green Machine" and they want to make sure that she has the chance to gather all her backups so they can destroy everything.  Donovan steps in to protect her and their attraction for each other grows.  There is a lot of denial until Alex decides to accept her 'good dragon'.  Donovan stills fights his feelings for Alex and it isn't until he loses another scale that he realises the extent of his feelings for Alex.

Without wanting to give out too much of the story line, there are lots of battles between good and bad dragons, lots of different characters, a speaking house, a beautiful female dragon who is the prophetress of all Pyr, the awakening of a old dragon, the saving of a brother and the joining of a couple who are destined to be together.

Did I like this book?  Very much so.  I like Deborah Cooke's books.  She does a great job of intermingling different story lines and even though it is hard to imagine a world with shape shifting dragons and vehicles that run on salt water, she makes everything plausible and believable.  Her characters have much depth and separate identities and when she adds a new character she crafts them so that you are able to remember their personality and it makes you want to follow their story.  I look forward to reading the next in the series "Kiss of Fate".    

Reviewing a book

After reading some of the other blogs that I follow, I now realise that I need to perfect the art of review.  I will admit that I am not very good at reviewing books.  Once the book is read, I am straight on to the next one and that book is forgotten.  It is not that it wasn't a good book, it's just that I move straight onto the next one, and if it is not part of a series than it's a whole different storyline and so forth.  Many people would suggest that I stop and smell the roses and enjoy each book for what it is but I have so many books that I need to get through and I borrow from the library (thank god) so I have a time limit to how long I can have that book.  And I spend so much time between Shelfari (which is a marvelous source of reading material), http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ and my local library and I find all these books and place holds on them willy nilly because I am scared I will forget the title or something.  I think that it must be an absolute mess inside my head sometimes. 

Anyway, I am yet to discover a way to refine my reviews.  I am going to attempt to not start another book until I have reviewed the previous.  I have read all about reviewing by using your own personality and I certainly do not want to copy and paste reviews from other sites.  I do think that my reviewing style will be different.  I don't want to give away too much of the story but enough that if anyone reads the review (heaven forbid) that they will want to look a little further and give the book a chance.  So wish me luck fellow bloggers (that would be you ms koa) and I hope that over the time I will be able to produce a review that is worth reading.

Kiss of Fury by Deborah Cooke

This is what I am reading at the moment, just started it in fact.  This is a series called Dragonfire.  This is Donovan and Alexandra.  Donovan is one of the Pyr Dragon warriors and Alexandra is his 'mate'.  I have only just started reading so I will let you know how I go.  I am a fan of Dragons though especially Anne Mccaffrey's Pern Series and this little White Dragon

Embrace the Darkness by Alexandra Ivy

This is what I am reading at the moment.  I am really enjoying the relationship between Viper and Shay.  Shay is a Shalott demon and Viper is a Vampire and Shay was bought at a auction by Viper.  The story continues with Viper doing all he can to protect Shay from other demons that want her as well as treating her as something precious.  Shay is not used to people taking care of her or caring for her and is finding herself drawn to Viper but understandably wary of him.  Haven't finished yet but I am a fan of Alexandra Ivy.