Blurb: Kara Gillian leads two lives, one as summoner and second as a BPD Detective. As a summoner she summons demons at night and as a cop she handles homicides and up till now she has been able to keep those two lives apart. Suddenly they collide when Symbol Man, a serial killer, starts killing again after a three year break and leaves traces of arcane behind. On top of that Kara accidentally summons a Demon lord, Rhyzkahl, who instead of killing her seduces her. Why?
Kara is determined to catch the the Symbol Man and she has the help the charming FBI Agent Ryan. As she gets closer to the killer she can't help but realize that its some one closer to her and as the number of killings increases so does her distrust of every one around her. Is every one trying to use her for their own means? Can she trust Ryan? Or should she trust Rhyzkahl?
Review: Mark of the Demon is the first book in Kara Gillian series by Dianna Rowland.
Dianna has created a world where there a some people with the gift of summoning. This gift is genetic in nature and can only be inherited.These people can summon demons in to this world and exchange favors. Demons in Kara's world are not of satanic origin instead they are a different specie from another planar. They are strong and divided into many levels according to their power and knowledge.
Kara: Kara is a strong character with a bad-ass attitude and some great summoning skills. She has finally graduated because she was able to summon a twelfth level demon. Though her character was strong and the author has done everything right Kara still left no impression on me. She was everything I expected and sometimes I wished she was not because it made her predictable.
As for her love interest both were almost unremarkable. Rhyzkahl was beautiful but a bit useless I think because he did not really help her out except when she was almost dying. Ryan was a bit better and liked him for most parts except for his weird mood swings that I did not get at all. May be the author was confused about what kind of personality she wanted him to have or may be its just me. I do not know.
The case of Symbol Man was very interesting and the suspense was awesome. I could not deduce who the Symbol Man was until just before he was revealed.
I think it has great potential and I want to check out the next book just to see where the author leads it.
Yours sincerely,
Ashi.
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Three seconds can change a man's life.
Blurb: Bittersweet rescue is the story of two people, Ellie and Drake. Ellie has been living in a state of limbo since her sisters death. She works for Drake as his PA. A horrific road accident snaps Ellie awake and she ends up saving Drakes life. Now that Ellie is awake she is more attuned to her surroundings especially to her boss. Reluctantly, they both acknowledge the attraction and Drake offers to ' scratch the itch' while they are on leave. Drake wants to keep things strictly physical. Though he can not help but be fascinated by his little secretary as she lets down her reservations little by little. As they spend more time together its not strictly physical anymore. But Ellie can not be with someone whose entire life has been spent seeking revenge... When the time comes will Drake acknowledge his feelings for her or will he let her go?
Review:
I got a free copy of Bittersweet rescue by Coleen Kwan for my honest review.
I really enjoyed reading about Drake and Ellie coming to terms with their past. The pace was just right and the story was beautifully written. The characters were strong and their chemistry was almost palpable. There were few times I laugh out loud at Ellie's horror when she would just blurt out whatever she was thinking.
The author has done a good job of letting her characters accept their emotions without too much of melodrama. I will be adding her books on my to-read list.
Recommended to those who need to read a sweet short love story with a happy ending.
Yours sincerely,
Ashi.
Blurb: Carlene has been through a tragic accident and she lost everything she held dear; her boyfriend, her career and her apartment....
She finally finds refuge in Oasis and has been hiding there since. But a brief meeting with a stranger, Nick, convinces her that its time to face the world. What she did not anticipate was how a single good deed was going to turn her life around. Suddenly she has a solid job and a nice apartment and shes the face of a new line, Diamond Dreams.
Carlene can not stop thinking about Nick even when she knows its never going to work out. Nick is not only a billionaire but he is also engaged. How will Carlene manage when the very person who inspired her to face the world again is completely out of her reach? What she does not realize is that their lives were intertw
ined even before they met! Will their feelings for each other be able to survive the storm that awaits them or will Carlene be shattered just like before?
Review: I received a copy entangled moments from author Dori Lavelle via goodreads for my review. Entangled moments is a short book hence the pace is fast and less detailed. I liked reading about Carlene facing the world and her optimism was refreshing. There were two things I felt were a bit weak:
1. development of Nick and Carlene's relation
2. Nicks character, I found him to be a bit selfish and dull. I mean he spent few years with a women and figured out she was after his money only after meeting Carlene? Even when his fiance did not even really try to hide it?
Dori leaves a lot of question unanswered. I realize that she needs to leave some content hidden for the second book but some details of the 'tragic accident' should have been told. Due to this the reader is left a bit lost and confused as to the point of the book. This book was more of introduction then a story, where the author set the ground for further books.
Entangled moments makes for an interesting read and has a lot of potential. Best of luck to Dori for her future endeavors.
Yours sincerely,
Ashi.
To say that I met Nicholas Brisbane over my husband’s dead
body is not entirely accurate. Edward, it should be noted, was still
twitching upon the floor.
Blurb: Lady Julia is the recently widowed daughter of Lord March. Late Lord Edward had a weak heart and his condition had been worsening when one evening he collapsed, his heart simply unable to handle the stress of living anymore. It was then Lady Julia met Nicholas Brisbane, a private detective of sorts. Nicholas was employed by Lord Edward when he got some threatening mail. Lady Julia refuses to accept the possibility that her husband might have been murdered. Why would someone try to kill an already dying man?It is almost after one year of mourning that she finds one of the threatening mail. She then quickly realizes her mistake and consults Nicholas, together they work to uncover the mystery that Lord Edward was. But is Lady Julia really ready to face the truth? When the time comes will she be able to face the murderer who could be someone she really holds dear?
Review: Silent in the grave is the first book in Lady Julia series by Deanna Raybourn. As it is the first book most of it was spent setting a background for upcoming series. There was little chemistry and mystery was only mildly arresting. I liked the character development more. Though little was revealed about Nicholas he might make an interesting character to read about later in series. The characters were too forward minded for that particular era I was willing to ignore that to find out how it all ended. I am curious to see how things work out between Julia and Nicholas. Though the characters seem a bit detached at times I can only hope the author works on the almost non-existent chemistry between them. I like books that have slight erratic family members associated with them perhaps because I have some of my own therefore I enjoyed reading about the Marches. If you are done with Julia Quinn, Julie Garwood and Jude Deveraux I suggest you start with Deanna Raybourn. But do not make the mistake of comparing Deanna with the above three you might feel slightly disappointed.
Yours sincerely,
Ashi
“Men are sheep. Where one goes, the rest will soon follow.
-Lady Whistledown”
Blurb:Daphne has been looking for the right man all her life but if shes not careful she will be left on-the-shelf permanently. Daphne almost gives up when Simon her brothers best friend proposes a deal to her. For Simon Daphne is the only way he can avoid the mad pursuits of women of the society. When Daphne agrees in hope that many will follow the path of the Duke she never thought she will end up falling for the Duke himself. The Duke never wanted to marry for love but will he be able to give up Daphne when its time to let her go?
Review:
This book is the first book from one of my favorite series of all time!! I love Julia's work and her characters are adorable especially the girls and the guys are just hot. I read it in 2008 and have been following her work since. The Bridgerton family is a chaos reigned family which will remind you of your own. I really like the way this series was based on siblings whose initials go according to the alphabet. Sadly Bridgertons only got as far as H before Lord Bridgerton died and left us longing for more amusing novels.
Daphne and Simon are my all time favorite characters.And the rest of the books in Bridgerton are just as good as Duke and I if not better.
One of the best works of Julia, the riveting plot will make you laugh and fall in love like never before. If you haven't tried her out let me tell you you are missing out on one of the best historical fiction.
Yours sincerely,
Ashi.
Blurb: Pixie and Levi used to be best of friends before a tragic accident. The accident left permanent scars and they have been avoiding each other since. Suddenly they find themselves living in an inn in the middle of nowhere. They try (unsuccessfully) to avoid each other but that does not work out well when Levi uses all the hot water and Pixie keeps blowing the fuse. How can they avoid each other when they can hardly keep their hands of each other?Will they both runaway from the past or will they face the demons together?
Review : Best kind of broken by Chelsea Fine is overall an okay book. The characters, Pixie and Levi, were strong and so was their chemistry. But scenes that should have made me cry left me unmoved. The author needs to slow down the pace a little during those scenes so that the reader can get a feel of the characters emotion. I liked that the book was written from POV of both Levi and Pixie.
Note: Read this book when you are busy or travelling so you will not feel bad or lost when you take a break.
Yours sincerely,
Ashi.
Blurb: Celaena is an eighteen year old assassin serving her time in Endoviers salt mines. But she is not just any assassin she is Adarlans best assassin. She is given a chance to be free again but she will have to enter and win the contest to become the King Champion. The same King who ruined her life and everything she holds dear. She decides to take the chance. Chaol, the Captain of the guard is not really happy with the situation and helping an assassin sharpen her skills does not make it better. He becomes concerned as her sponsor, the prince seems to falling hard for the tough as nails assassin.
When someone seems to be killing the competition, Celaena begins to wonder if the cost of freedom was too high.
I will not be afraid.
Chanting that had enabled her to survive the mines but will it be enough when she faces her opponents, some of the deadliest criminals in the land?
Review:
I think I just found my new favorite series. I absolutely love Celaena, she is now my favourite heroin after Dante (Dante Valentine series) and Kate (Kate Daniels series). She is tough and her wit is to die for. Though she is a bit more girly than Dante and Kate, she loves to dress up :) I really like her chemistry with Chaol as he seems to really see her and not just a soft version of her like Dorian, the prince. Though Dorian is pretty hot too but he needs to mature. I hope he decides to take a more firm stance against his father, the king, later in the series. Sarah J.Maas has done an awesome job at world building and I enjoyed her style. I liked the way she provided different POVS through the book though it was mostly from Celaena POV. I will be starting Crown of midnight soon. I hope its as awesome as Throne of glass.
Yours sincerely,
Ashi.
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