My Review: Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole

HE VOWED HE’D COME FOR HER . . .

Murdered before he could wed Regin the Radiant, warlord Aidan the Fierce seeks his beloved through eternity, reborn again and again into new identities, yet with no memory of his past lives.

SHE AWAITS HIS RETURN . . .

When Regin encounters Declan Chase, a brutal Celtic soldier, she recognizes her proud warlord reincarnated. But Declan takes her captive, intending retribution against all immortals—unaware that he belongs to their world.

TO SATE A DESIRE MORE POWERFUL THAN DEATH . . .

Yet every reincarnation comes with a price, for Aidan is doomed to die when he remembers his past. To save herself from Declan’s torments, will Regin rekindle memories of the passion they once shared—even if it means once again losing the only man she could ever love?

OMG!  I couldn’t put this book down.  Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole, the next installment in the Immortals After Dark series did not disappoint.  And honestly, nothing she writes is lacking. 

If I want a good adult paranormal book that is "shift worthy", I always turn to her.  (Disclaimer:  shift worthy is a wonderful term another blogger/twitter friend of mine uses and I had to borrow it!  check her out at http://nikkibrandyberry.wordpress.com/)

Regin is this awesome, glowing (literally) valkyrie that has lived forever and has stayed true for Aidan, a Viking that she can’t bring herself to turn her heart over to completely.  Being her first, she yearns for his touch and has vowed to be celebate for him.  You know she cares deeply for him and with each life he reincarnates and dies, she feels his first death over and over again, never truly getting over it.  And can you blame her.   

In walks reincarnation #5, Declan Chace.  A tough Irishman who hates everything supernatural, especially Regin.   He’s constantly battling internal demons from his past.  Yet when he  gets a glimpse of happiness with Regin, he can’t believe it.  How can he love or be what he has grown to hate his entire adult life?  What he’s been trained to hate?

Will he put the past in the past and embrace a life with his enemy?  Can Regin put her reservations behind her and believe she and Declan can have a long life together?  Read and find out.

I love the way Cole has created this world with all of these characters you can’t help love.  Sure, you hate them at first, but in the end you can’t get enough of them until her next novel when she mentions them again.  Each MC in each novel is connected with the MC in the next and previous novels.  Love it because she’s hooked us and we’re forced to eagerly await each installment.

And like with each book in this series, the sex scenes are...intense!  *blushes*  You can't help but take a few minutes and jump into a cold shower.  Cole does a wonderful job of describing extremely intimate moments in great detail.  You can feel the passion dripping from each page.

I haven’t read into how much research she puts into each novel, but the accidents and dialects are amazing.  I feel like I’m listening to an Irishman talk.  Raise your hands if you love an Irish brogue?  *waves hand*  Oh, me, me. 

If you haven’t cracked open book one in the Immortals After Dark series, I highly suggest you get your butt to the local bookstore, or library, and get to readin’!    

Where are you?

Last week was just plain bad and I have no one to blame but…my husband.  I love him but when he volunteers for jobs, I end up volunteering for the same job and have to plaster a smile on my face the entire time.  Until we get home and then I’m not Mrs. Nice Wife.  I’m bitchy and down right no fun to be around.

So, Monday, we get a lovely little message that my son is missing some work and if he’d just stop talking in class, everything would be great at school.  He’s smart and cute but gosh darn it, people love him.  But in the mean time, he’s having a hard time seeing the board and TV and so I think, as a  glasses wearer myself, what if the root of his problem is that he can’t see.  So I rush him to the eye doctor because I just can’t wait any longer, causing me to leave work early, which I don’t mind.  But did I forget to mention that during this whirlwind of trying to save my son, I completely forgot that I was driving a van full of girl scouts on a field trip after school, which prompted a phone call from another mother basically asking me “Where the hell are you?” *slaps head against steering wheel* 

Oh, and I forgot to mention that my alarm at my house went off, signaling the police to my house and a phone call from the alarm company.  Yeah, freak out mode officially started at that point but it was a false alarm.  But of course, I was already hyped up and no false alarm announcement was going to bring me back to normal. 

The rest of the week, we banned TV during dinner and after homework because my son’s teacher thinks we need to spend time playing games so he can learn to pay attention.  I completely agree but man, sometimes you just need a break from kids, work and stuff and I can’t now.  I have to focus on him so he can focus at school.  I know, I know.  This is a great time to bond and I’m trying my best to get into this.  Cripes, I played 4 rounds of Blokus with him in one night.  If there are any other suggestions out there on ways to help with his focus, let me know.

Next, without the TV drowning out my husband’s protests about this event he’s volunteered for, I’m forced to listen.  And keep my mouth shut I didn’t.  I won’t complain but let’s just say, I threatened if he did this event next year, I would file for divorce! 

By Friday, I was done.  I left work early to help my husband with his event and went to a local warehouse place to buy soda.  8 cases of water and 10 case of soda later, I found myself loading the entire purchase into my van…alone.  Not one single store employee or nothing offered to help.  And let me add.  In each of these cases wasn’t the standard 24.  No…36.  Yeah.  By the time I was done I was ready to scream at the world and question what happened to customer service. 

But of course, on the way home, things got better.  My back, screamed at me as I sat in traffic.  Yes traffic.  At 2:30 in the afternoon.  So I called my husband to complain that this is what I get for trying to do a good thing and he tells me where the accident is supposed to be.  Not far.  No problem.  I can hang.  I get to the mentioned site and there’s nothing.  Yeah.  I wasn’t happy.

The good news, when I picked up the kids way early from their after school care, they were actually happy to see me.  That small act warmed my heart and I treated them to ice cream.  Yeah.  I’m cool like that sometimes.

Okay, so my week doesn’t sound horrible but when I was living it, I felt like nothing was going right. 

So, here’s my excuse.  I hope you still love me and hopefully come back. 

Just to catch you up on writing and reading, I’m currently finishing up the Iron Fey series by Kagawa and I recommend these books if you like YA fantasy.  I looked to see when the next book comes out and Goodreads showed sometime this year. 

A friend of mine has a book launching tomorrow.  The Davis Years by Nicole Green.  I love her so check it out. 

Also, my fav fantasy romance adult author, Kresley Cole has a book coming out tomorrow from her Immortals After Dark series.  I’m so excited about this one.  I love her writing.  She keeps me wanting more and more and the leading men are so yummy!

I’m currently editing and re-writing some of my YA paranormal with the beta eyes of Julie!  *waves*  She is awesome and I can’t wait until one of her novels graces a book store shelve near you.

Have a great week and remember.  It’ll get better.  Especially when you’re sharing ice cream with your kiddos!

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Warning: May contain spoilers

July?  JULY!  I have to wait until July 2011 for Wofsbane, the 2^nd book in the Nightshade series!  Seriously?!?  I hope it’s true when they say good things come to those who wait.

So here’s what Goodreads has to say:

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything— including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

Did you get a chill? 

Nightshade is the February read for the Vampire Book Club (visit them @ vampirebookclub.net) and the viewers picked a great one.

Calla Tor isn’t a werewolf, she’s a Guardian.  An Alpha Guardian.  Created by the Keepers to protect their sacred sites from invaders like the Searchers, a vigilante group of humans that are bent on destroying the Keepers. 

On her 18^th birthday, October 31^st and Sanheim, Calla is set to wed/join in union with Ren Laroche, who is the stud of school and Alpha of his pack.  Ren is hot for Calla and tries several times to get her to break the rules and consummate their relationship.  For him that would be okay, but like most things there is a double standard.  Calla has to be completely pure of heart and body for her union.  Kissing is even frowned upon until her union.

Enter Shay, a human that she saves from a bear attack.  Even though Ren ignites intense feelings in her, she is drawn to Shay’s touch.   She is torn between her duties and her heart.  Calla was destined for Ren; created specifically for him so they could start a new pack, yet with Shay, she questions her entire life and what she has been told by the Keepers.  Who’s right?  Who’s wrong?  And can she truly be happy with Ren.  Can she love him the way she knows she can love Shay?

I loved this book!  And I’m not usually into the shapeshifting/warewolf books, but this was good.  Creepy at parts, especially when they were talking about the succubi and paintings coming to life.  Yikes! What is up with the “uncle”?  There’s a story there.

I am probably in the minority, but I love Ren and wanted him and Calla joined.  Shay just got on my nerves and I really hoped in the end Calla would stick to her duty even though she had questions.  I felt her and her new pack could have faced anything together.  Even at one point when her and Shay were facing his uncle, she started to question again what she was doing and had everything they had uncovered been another lie.  I was screaming, YES, YES.  Go back to Ren.    

Cremer did a great job of showing the playful/youthfulness when the characters took to their wolf shapes with nipping at their flanks or tongues lolling around.  And I especially liked how she showed their dialogue while in those forms.  They were animals but teens still.

And the cliffhanger!  Ugh!  I was like NOOOOOOO!  I haven’t read the excerpt from the next book, but you can read it here at Nightshadebook.com. 

What do you think will happen next?  Where is she?  And will she ever see Shay, Ren or her family again?

Are you Ready to Rumble!

If you follow me on Twitter, I might have mentioned something about mice and racing and how I would fill you in on the underbelly of the operation.  (Are you scared?  Do you feel like you’re about to read some investigative report on mice racing?)

Basically, mice racing are exactly how it sounds.  Racing Mice.

There is a six level shelf system incased in glass with a door on one end and small hole on the other.    The handler (we shall this day forward call him Mouse Man) puts a mouse in each door on each shelf but barricades them in with a piece of wood.  When the “on your mark, get set, GO!” sounds, he pulls the wooden barricade and the mice race to the other end. 

Or that’s the idea.  Sometimes they just sit there at the start and other times they get stuck in the middle.  They’re mice.  Who knows what goes on in their little heads and personally, they have got to be bored out of their minds to run along a shelf all the time.  If they do get stuck,MM sticks a feather duster through the hole to shoe them back to start.

Why did I attend such a high impact, keep you on the edge of your seat event?  

It was a fundraiser.  And an excuse to consume large amounts of alcohol on school property. 

I know what you’re thinking. 

Why?  Why Jennifer?  Please tell us why, because to a sober person a racing mouse sounds absolutely pointless. 

But you missed the part about it being a fundraiser.  For the kids.  And really, isn’t it worth the endless supply of canned beer, party mix in Styrofoam bowls, thermoses of New Orleans’s Hurricanes and dips consisting of bacon just as long as the “kids” get the money? 

My answer: ABSOLUTELY!!!!

What better way to spend the night, without the aforementioned kids.

So raise your glasses, or coffee mugs, and give three cheers for Mouse Racing!

Squeak!  Squeak!  Squeak!