He Lives In a Lair

This was actually a post I did on my other blog back in April but I thought it was appropriate to post it here...

Okay, so I'm always searching for something to read. I search the internet sites I like for reader recommendations. Several sites mentioned this Carpathian series (it's 20 books - yay!). Well, I started reading them and wow. Kinda disappointed. They are like vampires but not. When they go bad they become vampires, but not undead. Anyhoo, I'm up to book 3 (I'm so disappointed I keep reading them - yeah, I have issues) and the vampire kidnaps the "independent young heroine" and brings her to a cave. "Where are we?" she asks. "In my lair," is his reply. I mean, please. Who says "this is my lair"? Honestly. Then he proceeds to chain her to the wall. Where are all these caves with convenient chains attached to the walls? Maybe here in Louisiana the water table makes the cave walls to weak to support chains so if you kidnap someone and bring them to your lair you have to just tie them with rope and put them in a corner (technically not a corner since caves are not square - okay put them in a crevice?). In all of the photos of caves I looked at, not one set of chains....hmmmmm.... Oh yeah, my point is....I'm going to call either my house or my bedroom my lair. I can't decide which.

*Update: I never did finish that 3rd book. I dont' know if it's just me or if I'm reading the wrong series because I know Ms. Feehan has a huge fanbase. Maybe I'll try them again later...keep them on the back burner so to speak.

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

I don't know why I've been so resistant to reading these books - they get such high praise by readers. After reading two great reviews on Ms. Singh's Psy/Changeling series, I decided now was the time. I think I'm gonna like this series!

Sascha Duncan is a Psy - a race sort of like humans with no emotion. Lucas Hunter is a changling - part human, part panther. The Psy and Changelings are working togther on a joint venture that will be very lucrative for both parties. Sascha thinks she has been slowly going insane, Psy aren't supposed to have feelings and she does. After meeting Lucas her feelings and craving for touch increase - she is having more and more difficulty sheilding these thoughts and desires from other Psy. If it is discovered, they will destroy her mind and kill her. Lucas, the Alpha for his panther pack, cannot get Sascha off his mind; he's determined to have her.

As they work together, Sascha decides she can work through her thoughts and emotions about Lucas through dreaming; she doesn't realize she is transporting her dreams and he's having them too - raw, lusty dreams where she can let herself so whatever she wants!

Lucas is trying to get to know her better, using any opportunity to touch her and talk to her. Slowly she warms to him and he realizes she's his mate. Then, a female from a local pack of wolf changelings goes missing and there is evidence it's the same serieal killer the jaguar pack has been searching for that tortured and killed one of their own - they have evidence it's a Psy doing the killing.

Can they trust Sascha to help them? Will she be able to help without getting herself executed by the Psy? Can she agree to a mating bond with a Changeling?

I really enjoyed this book. I think one of the reasons I was hesitant to read it was for some reason I thought it was going to be a sci/fi-type story, or set on another planet or something. It was set in the future, but I can live with that! The bit of it that was sort of sci/fi was written so well it was easy to imagine. She wove great backgrounds for both characters and the social dynamics were interesting, they showed very well why the hero and heroine are they way they are. I liked both Lucas and Sascha and how their relationship progressed slowly. Sometimes you get a book where the heroine says "no, no, no...ok, yes" very abrubtly and unbelieveably. Ms. Singh writes it so that you see the thought process and emotional journey Sascha takes to reach her potential. Lucas' patience while he waited for her made me fall in love with him. AND, he has a lair (more on my love of lairs later)!

Now, to get my hands on Book 2!!!

The Guardians of Eternity Series by Alexandra Ivy

I'm not sure how I stumbled across this series. The first book, Touched by Darkness, is the story of Dante, a vampire, and Abby, a human. The phoenix is encased in a human and supposed to keep the ultimate evil away from the earch and Dante is bound to protect the phoenix. The phoenix is killed and Abby is in the wrong place at the right time and the phoenix is transferred to her body. Of course all the demons want to kill her while she is "fresh" and Dante must protect her. I enjoyed the story of their fight against evil and their evolving relationship.

The second book, Embrace the Darkness, is the story of Viper, a vampire friend of Dante's, and Shay, a demon of some sort whose blood is intoxicating to vampires. I'm not even halfway through yet, but let me tell you why I'm enjoying this book - he's got a lair, and she's granted him a boon. Awesome!