Some Girls Bite ~ Chloe Neill

What I look for in a book … Well, it’s pretty simple. Paranormal, helps. Amazing characters, a huge plus. But the main thing is when an author can pull you in with the the 1st chapter, as in you are hooked & want to keep reading til you reach the end. If they have that talent, you will find the rest of the book to be simply one of the best reads you come across. Now that being said, on with my review

(<--linked to GoodReads)

I don’t like to give out parts of the book. But this is one of my favorite in this book:
”Luc raised his gaze to mine. “I assume you looked though the Web site last night and can take us through the C-41 subsets?”
I swallowed down the keen sense of panic. It was like living a nightmare – the one where you were unprepared for an exam & you showed up to the test completely naked? Here I was, nicely dressed, but still about to be humiliated in front of the the squad of Cadogan guards. I might as well have skipped the wardrobe upgrade.
I open my mouth to spit out some kind of response – an apology, a couple of lame sentences about the importance of House security in the days of dueling alliances (& Ethan said I never listened!) – when Luc was hit, square in the face, with a flying piece of jerky.”

I about died reading this in the middle of a vampire guard meeting! Yep, it was a meeting of the Cadogan Guards. (Thankfully my inhaler was close by.)

Now that being put out there. This book had pretty much all of what I love to read. Smart-arses, paranormal/supernatural, characters of all types (good, bad & the WTF “where did you come from”), little mystery, some murder (well not my favorite but it adds to the “why”), some minor sexual “scenes” (not graphic or hard core) … oh I can go on, but I will save you from my long lists

I loved reading about how a Merit when from graduate student to vampire. How she felt about the change, how her family reacted, and how she came to accept what happened to her. It was not an easy task for her to come to terms with, but the manner in which she handled it was pretty good. Not always complete mature, but in that situation, you really didn’t expect it to “I am an adult, I can handle this like an adult” type of response. She handled it in a way that was many probably would have handle it.

Ms. Neill (authors site) created a world where Vampire’s have pretty much come out of the closet in Chicago. Where they have chosen stop hiding from humans, and try to work into society.
But even they have their laws, which must be abided. A lesson that Merit much learn. By reading the “Canon of the North American Houses, Desk Reference,” Merit is able to get the general idea of other supernatural, and the laws of the Vampires. Even though she does screw up a few times, here & there … but who doesn’t?

Merit isn’t going through this alone. She has her friends & her grandfather (who is more than expected). Mallory is discovered to be a sorceress. Catch is one as well, but he is also her combat trainer. Jeff, who is love sick over all females, is a great friend. Luc, he’s the head of the guards. Ethan is the Master of the Cadogan House plus a bit of a “tight ass.” Lindsey, guard but good friend. Amber is one of those you really won’t trust turning your back on type of individuals. Malik is 2nd in command over the house.

If you like series or paranormal/supernatural, this is a definite book to read. I can’t wait to get started on book two.

LiveJournal Tags: Merit,Cadogan House,Chloe Neill,Luc,Cadogan Guards,Sential,Ethan,Jeff,Catch,Mallory,Canon of North American Houses Desk Reference,Lindsey,Amber,Malik,paranormal,supernatural

Angel’s Ink ~ Jocelynn Drake

Love when the story draws you in. That lets you know you have found a great read. I love the entire tale, from start to finish. Warlocks/Witches, elves, trolls, vamps, shifters & normal humans wrapped up in a world recovering from the 'Great War.'
But like in any world, you are bound to find the arses that screw everything up. You always need some decent individuals to balance it out. Ms. Drake has created some great characters, negative & positive, to keep you reading & wanting to know more about them.

Gage is a “student-in-training” warlock, who left the Ivory Towers. He refused to be a murder like many of the Warlocks & Witches. The deal with the Council is that he can only use Defensive Magic. (Not an easy thing when he can feel the magic pretty much calling him.)
In walks a lady, who is dying of cancer & was referred to Asylum Ink. Well, she was specifically told to get Gage to do the tat she wanted. Simple tat, Angel Wings covering her entire back. Setting up an appointment for later, she leaves. Gage wants to help her out, so he looks at the supplies he has in his basement. He choose a Lily & Angel Feather … not really a smart thing to do, since NO ONE knows exactly what the feather will do.

Gage completes the tat with the potion. His next unlikely visitor is a Grim Reaper. One who is a little annoyed that he cannot collect the soul, because Gage made the woman immortal. No one on this world is immortal, all can die.

To fix this mess, he hunts down his mentor, the one who taught him all about tat’s & potions. He is attacked by his old Warlock teacher, after discovering his mentors shop has been closed for ages. Barely surviving, he transports himself back to Asylum Ink. From there he uses some magic, the type he’s not suppose to use, to locate his old mentor.

From that point, things go down hill. With a few positives. Gage is forced to correct the tat or loose his own soul. His old Warlock teacher is out for ending Gage’s life, and using anything or anyone he can to complete this “task.” Trixie & Bronx are doing what they can to help Gage, but it’s not all too easy. Especially when you are a warlock in hiding.

Well, thinks that’s all I am gonna provide for this review. I don’t like giving much of the story, I feel it destroys the read.

Little Secrets

Mom was defiantly not in a positive mood tonight. She glided through so many places, as if time were standing still. Of course for her it wasn’t, but the norm’s she passed it sure was. At one time Dad had to grab her because she almost collided with a group of them. That would have been horrid, to say the least. (All those experiences, on top of her mood, we would have never heard the end of it.)
The fool who messed up our family should have realized that those “extra” abilities we had would transfer over. Mom was a seer before this transformation. She was amazing at palm reading, providing exact information to assist those who ask. She was, also, empathic to others except dad (which we never did find out why). Dad could talk to the dead, not a necro, but an individual who saw them just like they were still alive without the silly spells. He was, also, able to block seers or those with some mental abilities when they were in the same area as he was (which made mom simply content). My brothers, oh boy they were definitely gonna make the fool wish they didn’t mess with our DNA. One brother received the ability for size (he was basically a freaking giant), along with the ability to teleport (providing he was familiar with the location); the next had the ability to “were” (and boy does he love it), memory manipulation but later we found he was, also, cyperpathy; the last has the ability to cloke, as well as slide though walls (made sneaking out easy for him). As for me, well, lets just say I love to keep my “abilities” to myself, but I guess I can share here. After all, it’s only fair right?
I am able to do several things; telepathy, telekinesis, pyro kinesis and nerve manipulation. I can never decide my fav but just like the rest of the family, I carried those abilities over when the fool introduced another type of DNA into our system.
Let me tell you something, it also gave a few extra “abilities” but some varied on us. Our typical extra abilities are: speed, summoning, levitation, quick healing, immortality (yea oh yea), and strength.
Oh they were really in a fix when they discovered the extra “abilities” their project created. Although we were the 1st, we sure weren’t the last. But I must say there is a twist in our DNA that makes us a little extra special. We all have the ability to learn new abilities demonstrated to us. For some strange reason we are the only family that this has happened to. There have been many families created after ours, in hopes this would re-occur but they have not had any further luck. (Yippee for our family right? Not really.)

Ok so now you know some little secrets, no let me check that, all super’s know this about our family. But so many just simply do not know exactly who we are. Which is simply amazing, and it does help in our watching.
Honestly, how would anyone expect us to come in and do our jobs with everyone knowing exactly who we were? Of course that idea never last too long, because mom always states it is so much easier to let them know who we are, and get that out in the area “ASAP.” It has something to do with completing the task with out too many negative issues. (Negative issues? We are dealing with super’s, individuals with abilities that scare the hades out of norm’s … unless they are that nights dinner.)

Well, it’s off to be for now. Believe it or not, we can still have to put on an amazing act of being out & about during the day. That is not too bad, because we don’t need as much sleep as it is claimed. I honestly hate that “appears dead when the sun rises” nonsense. I have a pulse, a bit slower than most, but it’s still there.

Hmm, I guess I went a bit further than I planned. I will have to explain our outing on my next entry.
Oh well, off to see what they do during the day hours here.

walking thoughts

When I walk around this thriving town (yep, I called it a TOWN. Cause it sure isn’t a city) I start to miss the trees, mountains, beach, as well as the abundance of people. Here you have people, some “trees” and “mountains” but that simply does not compare to where we moved from.

A hike up a mountain here is simply a brisk walk. Try that in the mountains I have been living around, and your walk will end rather quick.
Hunting seasons here are open, but where are you hunting? The forests of trees filled with life, of all kinds, makes you sit and question everything they have done when they claim to be out “hunting” for the day.

The town is the 3rd largest in this area, but when most of the area in the plain section. But I am not hear to complain about the location of a town, or bitch about  how it looks. I am hear to put out the word there is new law in town.

Yep it would appear that some stupid fools had to remove the last of our kind. Not truly a wise choice, but that happens when other’s think they know how to get around the law. (Yawn) So they packed us all up and sent us out this way.
Let me tell you, baby brother is a bit pissed when they shipped him in his transformed state. Really, how would you feel if they put you into a kennel and shipped you off to your knew home? That is just too degrading to ever consider.
Now the giant could of “hop, skipped & jumped” and arrived before we did. But that wasn’t allowed either. He had to stay in human form the entire trip. I just don’t get it, you never leave him like that for too long, he gets rather cranky, to say the least.
The oldest of my 3 brothers, well it’s a good thing he loves wearing beanie's (hides a few distinct differences), but it works with his “gear.” Throw in a hoodie, skateboard, as well as mp3 device, he’s hook to have a good time no matter where you send him.  
The hardest part was for dad, he’s to ensure no one touches mom. That can turn in to something pretty messed up. One touch, she sees your entire life, and if she doesn’t like it. Oh boy do you hear about it. Add in the fact she can probably verify any of it with your passed over relatives, let’s just say CREEPY. Oh there is more to her than those simple parlor tricks.
Dad, now what can we say about our dad? He looks like the nice man you will ever meet, and probably is. His only tick is when others of our kind make us all look like animals! When he comes out to play, things never go well for those who stepped on his toes.
As for me, I slept thought the flight. From start of finish, and was not disturbed until we reached our new home.

Yes that is our family. Seriously, strange things can happen in life to take your ordinarily life, shake it up with a few DNA samples from other races, and out pops the strangest things. At least that is what we have been told. We really doubt it was an “accident” as stated, more than a complete fuck up.
When you mix up one family for another, I would say it was a fuck up, wouldn’t  you? One that my family has been dealing with for about 200 yrs. Hey, that’s bad in same ways but not in all. The places we have been able to see, events, and the changes. Pity for the family it should have happened to.

Packed up, loaded up, and then shipped out: PLS. We know that happens ever so often but not when one fool or a crowd does the silliest things. My brother’s have been talking about how annoyed mom was over this mess, and how that upset dad. Which means tonight our “family night out” will definitely turn quite a few heads in the area. We have odds bet that by the end of the night everyone will know we are in town.

Well off I must go, being late for “family night” is not something any of us ever want to do.  We might actually miss the fun.