Siren by Tricia Rayburn - Starts with a cliff dive and ends with a cliff hanger of a question!

Title: Siren
Author: Tricia Rayburn
Pages: 352 pages, hardcover
Genre: paranormal, YA
Standalone/Series: Series (Book 1)
Release: July 13th, 2010
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Received ARC at BEA (Signed by author)
Author info: author website
Spoiler Alert: In the clear.
GoodReads Blurb: Seventeen-year-old Vanessa Sands is afraid of everything—the dark, heights, the ocean—but her fearless older sister, Justine, has always been there to coach her through every challenge. That is, until Justine goes cliff-diving one night near the family’s vacation house in Maine, and her lifeless body washes up on shore the next day. Though her parents hope that they’ll be able to find closure back in Boston, Vanessa can’t help feeling that her sister’s death wasn’t an accident. After discovering that Justine was keeping a lot of secrets, Vanessa returns to Winter Harbor, hoping that Justine’s boyfriend might know more. But Caleb has been missing since Justine’s death. Soon, it’s not just Vanessa who’s afraid. All of Winter Harbor is abuzz with anxiety when another body washes ashore, and panic sets in when the small town becomes host to a string of fatal, water-related accidents in which all the victims are found, horrifically, grinning from ear to ear. Vanessa turns to Caleb’s brother, Simon, for help, and begins to find herself drawn to him. As the pair try to understand the sudden rash of creepy drownings, Vanessa uncovers a secret that threatens her new romance—and will change her life forever. A seductive paranormal romance full of unexpected twists, Siren is certain to make a big summer splash.

Summer vacations as a teenager are all about milestones, first kiss, first job, first time sneaking out of the house but in Siren Vanessa goes through a lot more milestones than anyone would want – exposing her family’s secrets, taking on a family of deadly women, and of course some kissing of boys.  Vanessa starts out this book at quite the crossroads – to let go of her fears and jump off the top of a cliff to kick-off her summer vacation with her sister, Justine, in Maine or to continue to let her fears hold her back. Of course Vanessa takes the path any sensible person would and does not jump off the cliff while the bold and fearless Justine jumps off in the middle of a freak thunderstorm. Unfortunately things continue to go downhill for Vanessa and after a big fight with her sister in which Justine walks off into the night to waking up to the news that her sister is dead. Vanessa is devastated, and returns with her family from the coast of Maine back to Boston for the funeral. Justine was always Vanessa’s best friend and Vanessa assumed she new everything about her older sister but as she begins to do a little unintentional snooping in her sister’s room she learns that maybe she didn’t know her sister that well at all. Vanessa’s investigations into her sister's secret life lead her back to Winter Harbor, Maine and her childhood friends the Carmichael boys who are also trying to deal with Justine’s death. Vanessa’s mission to learn more about her sister leads her to make some interesting discoveries about one of the families in Winter Harbor and about herself.

This book was a perfect summer read for me – I love the location of Winter Harbor and the tensions between the town and the vacationers as well as the eerie feeling the book gives you that all is not right in Winter Harbor. There are so many subtle clues about what is going on from the ghostly visits of Justine, to the freaky weather patterns that just hang over Winter Harbor, to the bodies that start washing up on the town’s shore with smiles on their faces (ok maybe that one is not so subtle). Ms. Rayburn crafts an excellent suspense filled mystery that honestly I think might be too scary for me to watch in movie format (I am a huge scary TV wimp) but is built expertly between the pages. Although I had my suspicions on who was the bad guy early on I was never sure what exactly was going to happen or how the story would end (and let me tell you the ending was perfect for me).

I loved the main character Vanessa, I connected with her from the beginning of the book and felt for her as she had to go through her sister’s death and deal with the fact that she didn’t know her sister as well as she thought. Her interactions with her remaining family definitely evolved throughout the book and Vanessa makes some startling discoveries about her origins and what her parents have been hiding from her.

Since I mentioned this was a beach read I would be remiss if I didn’t touch upon the romance in this book. The romance definitely takes a back seat to the mystery and suspense in this book but there are some cute and tender moments that any teenage girl would be happy to experience on their summer vacation.

4.5 out of 5 stars for me, Starting with a cliff-dive and ending with a cliff-hanger of a question – Ms. Rayburn crafts an excellent book.

Review of The Mage in Black by Jaye Wells

Title: Mage in Black (Sabina Kane, #2)
Authors: Jaye Wells
Pages: 326 Pages, Paperback
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Standalone/Series: Series
Release:  Already Out
Publisher: Orbit
Received from publisher
Author info: Jaye Wells website
Spoiler Alert: Spoilers for book 1 - Red Headed Step Child (see review here)
Goodreads Blurb: Sabina Kane doesn't have the best track record when it comes to family. After all, her own grandmother, leader of the vampire race, wants her dead. So when she arrives in New York to meet her mage relatives, the reunion puts the fun in dysfunctional. Not only is mage culture completely bizarre, but everyone seems to think she's some kind of 'Chosen' who'll unite the dark races. Sabina doesn't care who chose her, she's not into destiny. But the mages aren't Sabina's only problem. In New York's Black Light District, she has run-ins with fighting demons, hostile werewolves and an opportunistic old flame. Sabina thought she'd take a bite out of the Big Apple - but it looks like it wants to bite back.

How can you go wrong with a book that has a Demon Fight Club in it – I mean really? This second entry into the Sabina Kane series is, dare I say it, even better than the first – Red-Headed Step Child. In Mage in Black, Sabina is recovering from the betrayal of her grandmother, the head of the vampire race, and is going to New York City to meet the twin sister that she just learned she had who is also the leader of the mages. Sabina’s life has been thrown into real upheaval and she faces all these problems with her same type of sarcastic and stubborn demeanor that has earned her so many friends in the past (not really). Soon upon her arrival to the city, Sabina faces new attempts on her life though the person behind these attempts still remains a mystery. Sabina also has to learn how to deal with family, her twin sister Maise, who is genuinely happy to meet her – which is not something Sabina is used to dealing with.

Sabina doesn’t just have family to deal with but also a potential heating up of her relationship with the sexy mancy Adam. Sabina is still struggling with her prejudices against mages and having any type of romantic relationship with a mage, even one as sexy as Adam, makes the situation pretty complicated. Especially considering the ill-fated love affair her mother (a vampire) and father (a mage) had. Add in her reconnection with an old “friend” and she has a lot to contemplate. Thank goodness Sabina faces all these crazy upheavals in her life with her trusty demon minion Gighul. I love Gighul! He is such an awesome demon minion/ comedic sidekick and always says the most inappropriate comments at the perfect moment. And leave it to Gighul to get tied up with a Demon Fight Club ring (guess what the first rule is..hehe..) and spend all his earnings with some sexy nymph playmates.

There are many plot developments in this story and you start to see some developments in Sabina beyond the constant tough girl attitude. Although there is less mythology in this book about the development of the Dark Races we do learn a little more about the Caste of Nod and about Sabina’s destiny. Though as you can guess with Sabina she is not a fan of following her destiny.

This book was a 4.5 out of 5 stars for me, Sabina Kane and her demon minion Gighul make an awesome comedic and ass-kicking team.

Review of Mind Games by Carolyn Crane

Title: Mind Games (The Disillusionists Trilogy, #1)
Authors: Carolyn Crane
Pages: 371 Pages, Paperback
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Standalone/Series: Series
Release:  Already Out
Publisher: Spectra
Received from an author for winning a contest
Author info: Carolyn Crane's website and blog
Spoiler Alert: Small plot spoilers
Goodreads Blurb: Mind Games follows the adventures of Justine Jones, a hopeless hypochondriac who longs to be normal. Instead, she is recruited to join a psychological hit squad in a city terrorized by criminals with strange powers…only to fall for her most dangerous target! 

 This book is an absolutely unique entry into the urban fantasy genre and I loved every word of it! The heroine of this story, Justine Jones, suffers from an affliction that I'm passingly familiar with, hypochondria. She is convinced she has vein-star syndrome, and this fear leads her to late night trips to the ER, scans, and disbelief when the doctors tell her she's okay. She has a life changing event when she stalks a childhood enemy with her boyfriend Cubby into a Mediterranean restaurant and meets the enigmatic Packard. Packard offers Justine something she cannot refuse, a chance at a normal life without fear. When Justine gets one hit of what Packard has to offer she eventually comes back for more and agrees to join Packard's team of disillusionists - people with heightened phobias, anxieties, and vices that have learned to channel their fears into others as a way to break down criminal's illusions so that they reform. And Packard is no normal vigilante group mastermind - he is also a highcap that due to genetic changes has extra-human powers. And we quickly learn that Packard isn't the only highcap out there and that there are others with supernatural powers, criminals and otherwise.

Justine is the epitome of the reluctant heroine, she is constantly questioning her involvement with the dissillusionists and the motivations of Packard. Which is good because the more we learn about Packard, the more murky his intentions and dealings with Justine seem. Though that doesn't stop him from being mysterious and sexy even while he is sneaky. While Justine struggles to maintain her normal and stable relationship with Cubby she is constantly tempted by Packard who thinks she needs something more, and those two aren't the only potential love interests for Justine. I think Justine is the first urban fantasy heroine that I've read who is part of a love square perhaps or rectangle...maybe a love parallelogram. Such tough decisions! Justine also has a huge crush on Midcity police chief, Otto Sanchez, who is trying to save the city from an evil serial killer.

Although the beginning of the book was a little slow for me, the ending more than made up for it. I was never quite sure what was going to happen and there were so many interesting twists and turns, both in the plot and in Justine's love life that I raced through the last pages hungry to see what happens with Justine. I loved the side stories of vein star syndrome and the Osiris virus as the diseases that Justine disillusions others with - they definitely kept me a little twitchy while reading them. And with the ending of the book I can wait to read what happens next in Double Cross which comes out in September.

4.5 out of 5 stars for me, Love a hypochondriac set-up as the heroine in a world with a Gotham city vibe - and a love square!

Don't miss Double Cross when it comes out September 28th!

Review of Bad to the Bone by Jeri Smith-Ready - Vampire Dogs and an Authographed Book Giveaway

Title: Bad to the Bone (WVMP Radio, #2)
Author: Jeri Smith-Ready
Pages: 384 Pages, Paperback
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Standalone/Series: Series
Release:  Already Out
Publisher: Pocket
Purchased by me
Author info: http://www.jerismithready.com/
Spoiler Alert: some if you haven't read first book Wicked Game
GoodReads Blurb: Turn On. Tune In. Drop Dead.

If you’re just joining us, welcome to radio station WVMP, “The Lifeblood of Rock ’n’ Roll.” Con-artist-turned-station-owner Ciara Griffin manages an on-air staff of off-the-wall DJs—including her new boyfriend Shane McAllister—who really sink their teeth into the music of their ‘Life Time” (the era in which they became vampires). It’s Ciara’s job to keep the undead rocking, the ratings rolling, and the fan base alive—without missing a beat.

For Halloween, WVMP is throwing a bash sure to raise the dead. They’ve got cool tunes, hot costumes, killer cocktails—what could go wrong? Well, for starters, a religious firebrand ranting against the evils of the occult preempts the station’s midnight broadcast. Then, when Ciara tracks down the illegal transmission, the broadcast tower is guarded by what appears to be…a canine vampire? And behind it all is a group of self-righteous radicals who think vampires suck (and are willing to stake their lives on it).

Now Ciara must protect the station while struggling with her own murky relationship issues, her best friend’s unlikely romance with a fledgling vampire, and the nature of her mysterious anti-holy powers. To make it to New Year’s in one piece, she’ll need to learn a few new tricks.… 

I loved the first book in this series, Wicked Game, that introduced us to Ciara - the con-artist with a tarnished heart of gold. We also met the vampire DJs that have their own decade themed shows at WVMP and Shane - the smokin' hot grunge music god/ vampire that won his way into Ciara's heart. Now we fast forward a few months and Ciara is still hoping to keep the radio station profitable and free of takeover by a big radio conglomerate while posing as her now deceased boss. The big live Halloween eve show for the station at the Smoking Pig, the bar her best friend Lori works at, starts without a hitch but soon goes down hill when their live radio show is pirated by a belligerent anti-vampire religious group. Soon they find out that the group pirating the show might have some ties to "the Control" - the group that regulates the vampires in the U.S. Ciara ends up in some very dangerous situations as she tries to get to the bottom of who is pirating the station and she will have to put all her con skills to good use to try and stay alive.

While trying to figure out the shadowy group targeting the radio station Ciara still has to deal with the aftermath of her father's betrayal of her and the Control from the previous book. Her feelings about her father are all mixed up, the need to report on him to the Control conflicts with the need to keep her family safe. I have a feeling that her daddy issues will take several books to resolve if they can ever be resolved and further bombshells are dropped on her about her family as the book progresses. I'm curious to see how it plays out in the future books along with her anti-holy blood that can heal wounds inflicted by holy water. Is it based on how she was raised by her family who in the end made a mockery of Christian faith by fleecing believers of their money or is it genetic and all her family members have the same trait. It's an interesting twist that Ciara's blood does have those properties.

Ciara is also still in a relationship with Shane - her vampire DJ with OCD, good taste in music, and is good in bed. For Ciara it's the longest relationship she's ever had with a man, four months, and she's terrified that she will screw it up like she seems to do everything in her life. Shane on the other hand wants to move their relationship to a new level and live with her. Though life with Shane isn't going to be easy - with his OCD it drives him to leave detailed multi-page notes about proper dishwashing etiquette even though he doesn't need to use dishes himself. Though in return she gets to live with her hot musician DJ vampire boyfriend who loves to ravish her body. Decisions, decisions....

I think one of my favorite "new characters" in this book  is the vampire dog that Ciara rescues from death by sunlight when someone from the group terrorizing her radio station leaves him changed up outside. The dog is fiercely loyal and protective of Ciara and thankfully can survive on blood donations from dogs so we never had to read about the vampire dog feeding from other dogs - thank goodness. His fierce loyalty and protectiveness also create some mayhem in Ciara's life as well.

This book is a 4.5 out of 5 for me - I love Ciara's dry and snarky humor as well as her smokin' hot vampire boyfriend. And yeah for vampire dogs!

 So I have a signed copy of Bad to the Bone to give to one of my readers (US/ Canada only giveaway). Since Jeri Smith-Ready is one of the authors I'm hoping to meet at BEA (she's doing a Shade signing/ YA panel/ and blogger reception -I swear I am not a stalker ;) I thought my giveaway question could be BEA/author oriented. If you're going to BEA who are some of the authors you're hoping to meet/ which signings are you going to? If you can't make it to BEA but have an author you would love to go to a signing of let me know?

To Enter:
-Answer a question from above

-To get extra entries: follow my blog/ follow me on twitter/ tweet about the contest - just let me know (and leave the name you use to follow me with) and leave a link if you tweet! (each counts as one extra entry)

The contest ends on June 2nd so make sure and enter!

Review of Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh - I want to earn me some wings!

Title: Archangel's Kiss (Guild Hunter #2)
Author: Nalini Singh
Pages: 323 Pages, Paperback
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Standalone/Series: Series
Release:  Already Out
Publisher: Berkeley
Purchased by me
Author info: http://www.nalinisingh.com
Spoiler Alert: Spoilers for book one if you haven't read it
GoodReads blurb: Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find herself changed—an angel with wings the colors of midnight and dawn—but her fragile body needs time to heal before she can take flight. Her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, is used to being in control—even when it comes to the woman he considers his own. But Elena has never done well with authority…

They’ve barely begun to understand each other when Raphael receives an invitation to a ball from the archangel Lijuan. To refuse would be a sign of fatal weakness, so Raphael must ready Elena for the flight to Beijing—and to the nightmare that awaits them there. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan holds a power that lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena… 

Elena wakes up after a year long coma to discover her life completely changed. She awakes laying on a pair of beautiful midnight and dawn colored wings which she "earned" through being loved by the sexy and dangerous archangel Raphael. Now the two of them cautiously get to know each other more, though both of them are still haunted by the terrible things that happened to them in their past. Elena is greatly weakened by her year long sleep and has alot to learn about her new life including how to use her new wings. Unfortunately she must learn fast since she is being pulled into the world of angel intrigue and will soon have to face one of the scariest archangels, Lijuan. As Elena starts to recuperate and work with her new wings, murders and grave attacks occur on vampires and angels in the Refuge where she is now living. Elena who despite the wings is still a guild hunter and still feels the need to hunt down murders and protect the innocent. As she begins to track down what is happening she also finds that she might be a target in someone's plot to grab more power.

Raphael finds himself battling between the need to protect and shelter Elena and the need to let her be his sexy warrior woman. One of the more heart-pounding parts of the book for me was when he holds off on taking pleasure from Elena for fear that his savage passion will break her since she is still so weak. Though that doesn't stop him from pleasuring Elena in other ways - the sexy lovin' in this book definitely gets the pulse pounding. This book is more paranormal romance than urban fantasy that was more prominent in the first book Angel's Blood as it  focuses on Elena's and Raphael's developing relationship. I thought the relationship was well developed, since these are two independent and powerful individuals they didn't instantly find their balance in the relationship but had to work at it. Elena is caught between her all too human heart and finding out how to find her balance with her archangel lover. And Raphael is sexy and sensual as well as hard and cruel in the same heartbeat.

The mystery in the book about who was destroying the peace and protection of Refuge and the need to get Elena in shape to meet Lijuan also gave an excellent backdrop to introduce us to the other members of the Seven. Illium is my favorite of the seven and he also seems like the one least likely to kill Elena to protect Raphael from having a weakness, unlike Galen and Dimitri. Though I worry over "Bluebell" as Elena calls him since I'm afraid that his feelings for Elena will put him at odds with Raphael in the near future. Though I do hope we get to read more about the sexy and lethal Seven in future books. Elena regains her strength in time to face the challenges surrounding her and Raphael and with Raphael's promise to soon teach Elena how angels dance I can't wait for the next book!

Overall this is a 4.5 out of 5 stars for me - the powerful and lethal archangel Raphael giving wings and his heart bit by bit to his warrior woman lover ... heartwarming and hot!

Book Review of Wicked Game by Jeri Smith-Ready - Rock 'n Roll and Vampires

Wicked Game (WVMP Radio #1) GoodReads blurb:
Late-night radio you can sink your teeth into....
Recovering con artist Ciara Griffin is trying to live the straight life, even if it means finding a (shudder!) real job. She takes an internship at a local radio station, whose late-night time-warp format features 1940s blues, 60s psychedelia, 80s Goth, and more, all with an uncannily authentic flair. Ciara soon discovers how the DJs maintain their cred: they're vampires, stuck forever in the eras in which they were turned.
Ciara's first instinct, as always, is to cut and run. But communications giant Skywave wants to buy WMMP and turn it into just another hit-playing clone. Without the station--and the link it provides to their original Life Times--the vampires would "fade," becoming little more than mindless ghosts of the past. Suddenly a routine corporate takeover becomes a matter of life and un-death.
To boost ratings and save the lives of her strange new friends, Ciara re-brands the station as "WVMP, the Lifeblood of Rock 'n' Roll." In the ultimate con, she hides the DJs' vampire nature in plain sight, disguising the bloody truth as a marketing gimmick. WVMP becomes the hottest thing around--next to Ciara's complicated affair with grunge vamp Shane McAllister. But the "gimmick" enrages a posse of ancient and powerful vampires who aren't so eager to be brought into the light. Soon the stakes are higher--and the perils graver--than any con game Ciara's ever played....

I love to learn new things from books...granted learning how to pull a con might not be the best thing to learn but who knows it might be a handy tool some day. The main character of this book, Ciara Griffin (perhaps a play on grifter)is not a saint and sometimes not even a good person. I think that's what I liked about her - she's not perfect, she keeps going back to her con-artist skills, sometimes for the good of her new friends and sometimes for her own good. I also liked the characterizatio...mI love to learn new things from books...granted learning how to pull a con might not be the best thing to learn but who knows- it might be a handy tool some day. The main character of this book, Ciara Griffin (perhaps a play on grifter) is not a saint and sometimes not even a good person. I think that's what I liked about her - she's not perfect, she keeps going back to her con-artist skills, sometimes for the good of her new friends and sometimes for her own good. It's interesting to have a main character that isn't necessarily a good person. As Ciara tries to go straight she finds that her grifter skills are only good for one thing "S&M" otherwise known as "sales and marketing" and she lands an internship at a local radio station.

The DJs at the radio station are uniquely suited to playing their decade-based radio shows, since that is the decade they "died" in and now their development is fully locked in that decade. This was probably one of my favorite concepts of the book, that the vampires are vulnerable to the changes in time just because they are unable to cope with them and it is rare that vampires survive for more than thirty years due to these difficulties. In the vampire genre, I always thought it was too easy for vampires to adapt with the times and use cell phones and drive cars even though they were born a millennium earlier. In Wicked Games, the vampires are almost crippled by the changing times and when faced with the changes they have developed some very OCD coping mechanisms like alphaphetizing CDs or counting dropped pencils or paper clips. The government is aware of vampires although the general public is not and I loved that there is a government issue pamphlet with information about vampires. 

Ciara develops tentative friendships with some of the DJs - including Shane who is the 90s decade DJ. Shane is attractive in that aloof grunge rocker kind of way though he does take an interest when it comes to Ciara. Shane and Ciara's first meet-up outside of work was hilarious when they were attacked by a crazy and drunk bridezilla who was also an arch-nemesis of Ciara's. There was drunken knife-wielding, spilled martini, shirt stealing, and an arrest to wrap up the evening. Ciara has a very sarcastic and dry humor which I love that she uses to cope with most situations though she is very vulnerable as well, especially when faced with her shortcomings. 

This was a 4.5 out of 5 for me, I loved the rock 'n roll, OCD vampires, and sarcasm. 

Book #2 is out now - Bad to the Bone and Book #3 in the WVMP series, Bring on the Night, comes out in August of this year.