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Book Review: Bloodlines by A.E. Lister
Vampires are still my first love in the urban fantasy and paranormal romance genres, but I’m to the point of being so picky about how they’re portrayed that I was originally hesitant to volunteer to read an advanced copy of this book. However, Lister does an excellent job leaning into the vampire tropes that are…
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Book Review: Sleepwalkers (Garden of Fiends #2) by Daniel May
Read my review of the first book in the Garden of Fiends series, Crimson Halo. Though the author has chosen to set this book in the same series and world as his previous vampire novel, it can be read as a true stand-alone, even with an excellent cameo appearance. In fact, one of the things…
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Book Review: Crimson Halo by Daniel May
It’s hard to do something “new” with vampire romance, but sometimes authors forget that they can lean into existing tropes and find ways to make them original. May does an amazing job with this book in portraying the inherent inhumanity of immortality while still making Seth a compelling and very human character. After all, a…
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Book Review: A Thousand Lifetimes by Kate Hawthorne
Vampires are my jam, and Hawthorne is one of my favorite authors. The only reason I hadn’t read this book before now is that I’m rationing her titles since I’m almost out of “new” things to read by her. Once I started this book, I couldn’t put it down. I didn’t get enough sleep last…
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Review: “Sanguine” by Sierra Simone
Simone packs a wallop into two short chapters in this excellent paranormal romance story. It appears pretty self-explanatory on the surface: vampire and priest meet, and sexy shenanigans ensue. However, Simone puts her own twist on how vampires work, the priest is not quite a priest, and the shenanigans are surprisingly humorous and sweet (along…
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Review: Blood Series by Brea Alepoú
More Than Blood (Book 1) This paranormal romance story includes a cast of intriguing characters and plenty of sexy bits. However, is it wrong to wish that the book had included more of the worldbuilding and plot than romance-related drama? As much as I enjoyed meeting Karter and the vampire den to whom he finds…
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Review: Pendulum (Kingdom of Night #1) by Joel Abernathy
I made it a goal to read more M/M books written by male-presenting authors, and this trilogy looked like a great choice that featured lots of my favorite things in the paranormal romance genre. On the plus side, this book was well-written, and it was easy enough to get swept along in the plot. However,…
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Review: Handsome Death by Sara Dobie Bauer
Disclaimer: I am friends with the author; however, I purchased this ebook for the full price. I am kicking myself for not reading this sooner. I have never failed to adore anything written by this author, and this might be my favorite book of hers so far. From the first page, Bauer subverts pretty much…
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Review: No Rest for the Wicked (Immortals After Dark #3) by Kresley Cole
I adored everything about this book — except for the two main characters, who fell short in contrast to the scope of this exciting tale. Sebastian’s character arc may have been typical of alpha romance heroes when this book was first published, but it doesn’t hold up as well in 2019. He starts the book…
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Review: The Warlord Wants Forever (Immortals After Dark #1) by Kresley Cole
I started this series on the recommendation of a friend who is a romance author, and I devoured this sexy novella in a single evening. I had certain preconceptions about the two main characters based on the back-cover text, which were smashed immediately. The heroine Myst, especially, was not what I expected at all. The…
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Review: Escaping Mortality (Escape #3) by Sara Dobie Bauer
Disclaimer: I received an ebook in exchange for an honest review. The cliffhanger at the end of book 2 in this trilogy, Escaping Solitude, left me frantic. Luckily, this installment picks up mere moments from where the previous left off and continues the story without missing a beat. This trilogy of novellas will make for a…
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Review: Escaping Solitude (Escape #2) by Sara Dobie Bauer
Disclaimer: I received an ebook in exchange for an honest review. The moment I finished part one of the Escape Trilogy, Escaping Exile, I was already clamoring to the author that I needed part two right away. Of course, having completed part two, I’m begging for the conclusion immediately. While some middles of stories or trilogies…
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Review: Escaping Exile (Escape #1) by Sara Dobie Bauer
Disclaimer: I consider the author a friend; I received an electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. The first thing you notice about this novella is the vibrant narrative voice. You learn everything you need to know about the main character and his circumstances within the first chapter, during the inciting incident,…
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Steel Blood Deleted Scene
Happy New Year to all of my awesome readers! In honor of 2017 finally being over, and to celebrate my birthday (yes, I’m a New Year’s Eve baby), I’d like to share a scene that was left on the cutting room floor after my beta readers read one of the earliest drafts of Steel Empires…
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October Wrap-Up & November Goals
Happy Halloween! I’m traveling tomorrow, so getting a jump on my monthly round-up post today. Please enjoy this picture of a vampire writer in her natural habitat from a Halloween party I attended this weekend. Apparently Waldo has gone to the dark side. Tonight I’ll be packing for my trip and giving out candy to…
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Review: Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas #1) by Charlaine Harris
Like The Magicians, I’m glad that I watched the television series version of this story before picking up the books. However, unlike The Magicians, it wasn’t because the screen version fixed things that I hated about the books. In this case, it was purely because writing for screen is different than writing for the page.
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Not your typical vampire: STEEL BLOOD Blog Tour Stop #13
Author Jennifer Loring asking me the ever-important question about writing in the fantasy genre. What makes my vampires and other supernatural creatures stand out from the crowd? How did I put my own spin on the mythology while still making my characters recognizable? Take a quick look: My vampires fit the mold in that they’re…
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The history of Limani with A.M. Justice: STEEL BLOOD Blog Tour Stop #4
For the next stop on the Steel Blood blog tour, I couldn’t miss a visit with my internet doppelganger, author A.M. Justice! We share a love of world-building in our fantasy novels, so she asked me to write a bit about how the city of Limani came to be. A quick look: But while the…
