Atlantis Rising - Book Review

Today a review by Voodoo Bride

Atlantis Rising by Alyssa Day

What is it about:
Eleven thousand years ago, before the seas swallowed the Atlanteans, Poseidon assigned a few chosen warriors to act as sentinels for humans in the new world. There was only one rule-desiring them was forbidden. But rules were made to be broken...
When she calls... Riley Dawson is more than a dedicated Virginia Beach social worker. She's blessed with a mind link that only Atlanteans have been able to access for thousands of years. Being an "empath" may explain her wistful connection to the roiling waves of the ocean, the sanctuary it provides, and the sexual urges that seem to emanate from fathoms below...
He will come. Conlan, the High Prince of Atlantis, has surfaced on a mission to retrieve Poseidon's stolen trident. Yet something else has possessed Conlan: the intimate emotions-and desires-of a human. Irresistibly drawn to the uncanny beauty, Conlan soon shares more than his mind. But in the midst of a battle to reclaim Poseidon's power, how long can a forbidden love last between two different souls from two different worlds?

What did Voodoo Bride Think of it:
A very nice Paranormal Romance. Conlan and his warriors were hot and the romance between Conlan and Riley was with the right kind of tension and obstructions without getting frustrating. The story was as you could expect from a Paranormal Romance: focused on the romance with a subplot that provided some great action scenes and kept the story going. There were some scenes from the bad guys' point of view that I could have done without and made the story lag at times and there was a romance set up between two other characters that wasn't resolved in this book, but hopefully it will get it's own book.

Why should you read it:
It's a very nice read for anyone who likes Paranormal Romance

Teaser Tuesdays - Dark Time

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

She stripped, tossing her clothes into a laundry bag - it cost thousands of dollars more per year in "tips" for her laundry service to ignore the occasional bloodstains and to repair knife holes, supposedly obtained during martial-arts training - and stepped into the shower.
(page 65, Dark Time, Mortal Path (book one) by Dakota Banks)

Ivan and Marya - Book Review

*
Ivan and Marya by Anna Kashina (e-book)

What is it about:
Every Solstice, every year, a young girl dies to prolong the life of a madman.
While the girl's soul is fed to Kaschey the undead by his daughter, the gloriously beautiful Marya, the girl's body drowns in the clutches of Vodyanoy at the bottom of the Sacrifice Pool.

Every Solstice a hero tries to stop them...and dies.
But this is Ivan's year. Though his brothers plot his death, and the villagers whose daughters are dying warn him not to interfere, Ivan the Fool is determined to stop the sacrifice.

With the help of the immortals, gotten by sympathy, force, or guile, Ivan believes his love will save the beautiful Marya from herself.

What did I think of it:
This novel is a re-telling of an old Russian fairytale and as such a very enjoyable read. Kashina manages to capture all the elements that make fairytales such fun to read and adds a voice of her own to it as well. I loved how she wrote a large part of the story through the eyes of Marya, giving Marya a depth that wouldn't have been possible if Kashina had stuck too close to the original fairytale format. Having read tons of fairytales (Russian fairtales included) a lot of the story elements were no surprise to me, but as I said before using an age old idea isn't a bad thing when you succeed in giving it something new and fresh. My one point of critique is that I'd have loved to see more of Ivan and Marya together. The scenes with them together were just too short in my opinion, but all in all I think Kashina did a great job in reviving an old tale and turning it into something that modern readers can enjoy.

Why should you read it:
If you like fairytales you will love this story

* This e-book was send to me for review by the author

Locus Focus - Cherry Valley

Locus Focus is a meme hosted every Saturday by Enbrethiliel at Shredded Cheddar. "We all know of books that make their settings come alive, and this meme is a chance to write about them and share them with others." Visit her blog and link up!

My Locus focus today is Cherry Valley from the book 'The Brothers Lionheart' by Astrid Lindgren.

Cherry Valley is an almost fairytale like place in Nangijala, a land on the other side of the stars where people go after they die. A place were everyone lives in "the campfires and storytelling times". Cherry Valley is a valley full of cherry trees, little cottages and friendly people and there's a big river where you can go catch fish.

Here's a bit from the book about Cherry Valley. (I translated this myself from my Dutch version of the book, so sorry for any weird translation bits):

"First you wake up in the kitchen by the sun shining through the windows and the birds singing joyfully in the trees...

And then you go riding and the grass is covered in dew, it shines and sparkles everywhere, and bumblebees and bees buzz around the cherryblossom, and you bring your horse to a gallop, and you're almost not afraid anymore. You're not afraid it will suddenly end, like all good things do. But they don't in Nangijala. At least not in Cherry Valley."

Doesn't that sound like a wonderful place?
We all know what happens to lovely places like this in fantasy stories, so it's hardly a surprise that some evil overlord has decided he wants to conquer Cherry Valley and enslave the people living there. But because of how Lindgren describes Cherry Valley and because of the beautiful illustrations by Ilon Wikland you can really understand why people are willing to fight and even die to protect Cherry Valley.

Sins & Shadows - Book Review

Sins & Shadows (a Shadows Inquiries Novel) by Lyn Benedict

What is it about:
Sylvie Lightner is no ordinary P.I. She specializes in cases involving the unusual, in a world where magic is real-and where death isn't the worst thing that can happen to you.

But when an employee is murdered in front of her, Sylvie has had enough. After years of confounding the dark forces of the Magicus Mundi, she's closing up shop-until a man claiming to be the God of Justice wants Sylvie to find his lost lover.

And he won't take no for an answer.

What did I think of it:
A great, fast paced story, but with a heroine I couldn't feel for. I loved the writing, the setting, some of the side characters, the storyline, the action, but I actually came close to despising Sylvie. Sylvie is exactly the kind of heroine I'm talking about when I'm complaining about heroines often being too bitchy for my tastes. Of course I like it when the heroine of a story is a strong woman who knows how to take care of herself, but I want there to be something to like about the lead character too and barking and snapping at those who are supposed to be allies isn't something that makes me like a character. Still I might give the second book in this series a chance in hope the events in this book made Sylvie wiser and a bit nicer.

Why should you read it:
It's a great, fast paced UF story!

Character Connection - Tara

We all have characters we love. Let's spotlight these fantastic creations! Whether you want to be friends with them or you have a full-blown crush on them, you know you love them and want everyone else to love them too!

Character Connection host by
TheIntrovertedReader.blogspot.com

The character I connect with this week is Tara from Dark Oracle by Alayna Williams.

Tara is a great character in my opinion:
She's scarred, both mentally and physically, but even though she is afraid because of the things that happened in her past she doesn't let that stop her from doing what she knows needs to be done. A kind of courage that I can really admire.

Besides that she can use tarot cards to help her see things more clearly.
She's an ex-profiler and she used the cards to help her understand the criminals and killers she had to hunt and she uses them to advice her on other things as well. I think tarot cards and their symbolism are very interesting myself so I love how Tara lets them help her, but she never loses sight over the fact who is in control: Her and not the cards!

Throughout 'Dark Oracle' Tara goes through a process of (re)growth that is so good to see and at the end of the book I was both happy and sad. Happy to know how things turned out for Tara, but sad that there wasn't anymore to read about her. so I'm very glad there's going to be at least one more book about Tara: Rogue Oracle, which will be available in March 2011.

Teaser Tuesday on a Wednesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

- Grab your current read
- Open to a random page
- Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
- Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Val was obviously still pissy; usually her leave-me-alones were gentle things, tending to make people recall sudden chores that required them to be elsewhere. But this-
(page 75, Sins & Shadows by Lyn Benedict)