Shadowed Review

Shadowed by Rebecca Zanetti
Book 6 of the Dark Protectors Series
Published October 3, 2014 by eKensington
5 BLOODY FANGS!!!!!!!!


"The worst part of torture may not be the brutal pain one is forced to endure, but the memories, guilt and fear that are left behind."





Summary -

Jase Kayrs was the fun brother. The warm, charming, easy-going brother of the vampire leaders. Until he was taken and tortured by demons with their evil mind tricks for nearly five years. Upon his return, he’s dark, violent, and not the man they all thought they knew. Not the man he once was. He’s haunted that the only reason the demons would have let him live was to use him as a weapon against his family—but he can’t figure out when or how he’ll explode. Plus, once again the demons are after Jase with a vengeance…or rather, a female demon he rejected is out to destroy him.

Then the king asks Jase for a favor…a big one. To mate with one of their allies in order to save her. She’s everything that’s good and light in the world…while he’s at home with darkness. Yet he agrees…knowing mating may be the only chance to save them both.  (Goodreads)


Review - 

Jase Kayrs, the youngest of the infamous Karys' brothers, was always the fun brother with an undeniable sense of humor.  Able to find a joke within any given situation, to make even the King crack a smile.  Which is what made it so devastating when he was kidnapped by the demons and lost to his family for five years.  And when they finally did find him; buried in a shallow grave, left for dead and practically decapitated, his head hanging on by a mere tendon, it was his spirit that had been killed.  Gone was the fun-loving Jase, all that was left was a pure Vampire hell-bent on revenge.

Brenna Dunne, the eighth sister, youngest sister of Moira, the seventh sister of a seventh sister, her birth in itself was an anomaly.  An eighth sister was unheard of in a Witch family, yet there she was, different from everyone in her family.  Some saw her as a curse, others, her family mostly, as a blessing.  Seeing as how she never should have been, everything about her has been unpredictable.  And on her birthday on the Winter Solstice, when another comet veers toward the earth, as it did on the day of her birth, she will possess insurmountable power, and just blow a whole city up.  That is if she lives to see that day.

The most powerful Witch family and the most powerful Vampire family in the Realm decide to form an alliance.  What better way to do that than to arrange a mating between these two, hoping that in the process they can both save the others life.  What they hadn't planned on was the possibility that fate had already arranged their mating long ago.  The only question that truly remains is which emotion is stronger; love or vengeance?

Non-stop action from the beginning til the very end.  With a war going on between the Demons and the Vampires as well as with the Kurjans, how could it not?!  Readers will once again be sucked into Zanettis' Realm, feeling every emotion right along with the characters', and find their faces practically glued to each page.  There is just enough violence, passion, humor and bloodshed to make any vampire lover happy.  This entire series' still remains as a definite must read.  And keep on the lookout for Tamed, which is due out May 4th.     

Dark Wolf Review

Dark Wolf by Christine Feehan
Book 25 of the Dark Series
Published January 7, 2014 by Penguin Group
4.5 BLOODY FANGS!!

"Mage, Dragonseeker, Healer, a true Daughter of Mother Earth, embracing all of those aspects may be the only way to save her lifemate."




Summary -

#1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan now delivers her most eagerly awaited novel of all — ten years in the making. 

In Dark Lycan, Christine Feehan journeyed into the heart of the Carpathians, and into the souls of two lifemates stirred by the flush of passion and the threat of annihilation. In Dark Wolf, the breathtaking story continues as the bonds of family are imperiled, and the fate of two lovers lies hidden in the seductive shadows between life and death.

Skyler Daratrazanoff always recognized the miracle that was Dimitri Tirunul, a man beyond any dream that had ever engaged her nights. But she was human. Vulnerable. He was Carpathian. Nearly immortal. She was nineteen. He was an ancient. Yet she held half his soul, the light to his darkness. Without her, he would not survive. Caught between the two warring species, Dimitri has spent centuries hunting the undead to keep his people free, and humans safe. He had survived honorably when others had chosen to give up their souls. But now, marked for extermination by the Lycans, Dimitri found himself alone, and fearing for his life. But salvation was coming…

No Lycan would ever suspect someone like Skyler to dare mount a secret rescue operation. A teenage girl. A human of untested abilities. But she had something no one else had. She was predestined for Dimitri—as he was for her. And there was nothing stronger for Skyler than her desire to see her life-dream come true. Whatever the risk. (Goodreads)

Review - 

Ten years in the making Dark Wolf is the first installation since Dark Celebration to bring all of the Carpathians back to their native soil, and into the pages of the same book.  Though the furthest thing from anyone's mind will be celebrating.

What happens when you threaten the life of someone connected to three of the most dangerous, ruthless, Carpathian families?  Simple, war.  But that is the exact intentions of an unknown Lycan.  Dimitri is being held captive, chained and being injected with silver.  When it appears as though no-one is going to rescue him, his lifemate, Skylar, decides to take matters into her own hands, well hers' and her two best friends'.  Skylar, whose adoptive parents' are Francesca and Gabriel, uncles Lucian, Gregori and Darius Daratrazanoff, birth father Razvan Dragonseeker; Joseph from the Italian sect of Carpathians, adoptive father Vlad and uncle Byron; Paul from the South American set, nephew of the De La Cruz brothers', brother in-law to Raphael De La Cruz, make up the search party.  And though to their own people they are nothing more than children, they will prove just how fatal things can get when you underestimate someone, or when you try to keep lifemates apart.  

Feehan picks up on the aspect of genocide.  A certain faction of Lycans, members of the Sacred Circle, believe that all Sang Rue should be killed.  Not knowing, or caring, that there is as big a difference between San Rue and Guardians, than there is between Vampire and Carpathian.  A woman who is truly full grown at only nineteen because she was never allowed to have much of a childhood.  And touches onto the fact that when one has had such a traumatic childhood, a trigger can be he hit to bring back all  of that panic rushing back to the forefront, but with the right partner you can be eased through it.  The past does shape us, be we do not have to let it make us.  

Dark Wolf in a word would be intense.  Readers will be taken on an emotional rollercoaster; happy, proud devestated, enranged, vengeful, oh and definitely hot and bothered.  This is one of those books where you want to just lock yourself away, don't answer the phones and get a babysitter for the kids so that you sit back, relax and devour the entire thing without having to put it down.  What it was missing was more on Skylar's mother, I would have loved to read more about her, her magic, who Xavier was able to kidnap her and why was she not able to escape using her powers once he sold both her and Skylar.

And stay tuned at the end because the intensity doesn't stop there.  There is an excerpt of Dark Blood, due out September, 2014, in which a secret about Zev's true lineage is revealed.

The Dark Huntsman Review

The Dark Huntsman by Jessica Aspen
Book 1 of Tails of The Black Court
Published October, 2013 by Abracadabra Publishing
4 Mystical Stars


"I just love it when Fairy-tail's are brought to life and given a dark twist."

Books With Bite - January, 2014

Cursed by Destiny by Cecy Robson
Book 3 of the Weird Girls Series
January 7, 2014 by Signet

"Celia Wird and her three sisters are just like any other 20-something girl - with one tiny exception; they are the products of backfired curse that has given each of them unique powers that make the, well, weird..."

Dark Duets by Various Authors including Sherrilyn Kenyon and Rachel Caine
Edited by Christopher Golden
January 7, 2014 by Harper Voyage


"New Tales of Horror and Dark Fantasy...with the authors of each story collaborating for the very first time."