Susan Krinard

In the first Roaring Twenties novel, Allegra (Allie) Chase is a newly made vampire and wants nothing more than to have fun. After two years of freedom, her patron Cato dies (the vampire who converted her) and now Raoul, the powerful master of the vampire clan, wants her for himself.
Werewolf Griffin Durant despises his wolf nature. He fought in the Great War and only wants to live in peace, but he can’t let go of the past. He shuns the wolf clan in the city and wants his younger wolf sister, Gemma, to marry into the human elite of New York society, so she’ll be safe. Gemma, however, rebels at every turn. A chance encounter leads Griffin to Allie. Though he disapproves of her flapper lifestyle, he’s also fascinated with her. Most wolves and vampires hate each other, but neither Griffin nor Allie are so close-minded. After a few of their mutual human friends go missing, they work together to find them and fall deep into a conspiracy that spans all three species in the city: wolf, vampire, and human.
I understood Griffin’s and Allie’s motivations, but I couldn’t connect with either of them. Griffin is definitely a beta hero. He hates violence and was very old-fashioned. Allie was flamboyant and wild, but her attitude was often selfish and disrespectful. Despite the sexual tension between the H/h, there was only one sex scene and very little romance. Much of the plot was about finding the missing humans, Mal and Margot, and not on the H/h falling in love.
While I enjoyed the secondary characters of Gemma, Wyatt, Mal, Margot, and Ross, there were so many other side characters that it was hard to keep track of who belongs to which group and where their loyalties lie. Some of the plot twists were confusing, as was the history of the vampire and wolf races, but most of my questions were answered at the end.
There’s a HFN ending. As a vampire, Allie will live for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, but Griffin will die in maybe a hundred years.
I’m hoping there will be more world building in the later books, so I’m looking forward to reading the next story in the trilogy.
3 Stars
… (mere)

In the second Roaring Twenties novel, newspaper reporter Gwen Murphy is investigating the mysterious death of three men at the New York City docks. A strange man saves her from nearly drowning and takes her home with him. She thinks he’s a vagrant since he’s a little dirty and living at the waterfront in an abandoned warehouse, but he’s different from most homeless men she’s met.
Former mob enforcer Dorian Black survived the gunfight in the previous book and has been living in self-imposed isolation for a few months. He’s severed all ties with the vampires in the city and suffers from bouts of uncontrollable madness for a few days of each month. After he saves Gwen, he tries to push her away, fearing he could hurt her, but she’s tenacious in wanting to help him.
I absolutely loved this story.
Gwen and Dorian have a strong connection despite their blood bond. She’s strong-willed, open-minded, and giving to a fault. She works in a male-dominated profession and is determined to be seen as an equal, and she goes about it with sophistication and intelligence.
Dorian is protective over his few loved ones, but he’s wracked with guilt. He’d blindly followed and obeyed Raoul, his patron and the vampire who’d converted him, for decades and each act of violence chipped away at his soul. Gwen shouldered his pain and hopelessness, and gave him something to fight for.
Their friendship bloomed quickly. Though they desired one another, neither really acted on it. I mean, the first and only sex scene is in the Epilogue, but waiting for this union made sense because he needed to work through his problems first and they needed the extra time to really understand one another. Despite the lack of actual sex scenes, there was a lot of sexual tension and I could really feel their growing love and acceptance for one another.
There weren’t as many secondary characters/side plots in this story as there were in the previous book, which made this story tighter and faster paced. Vampires, not werewolves and human gangs, were the primary focus.
One thing I just don’t understand after reading the first two books of this trilogy is why vampires need permission from older, more powerful vampires to create new vampires, called protégés. I understand too many vampires in one area would alert the humans and cause problems, but why must vampires earn the privilege to create protégés when it’s a natural need for them to procreate?
Anyway, I really enjoyed this story.
4.5 Stars
… (mere)

I love this anthology. I've read other books by these authors before, so I was happy to find an antho with all three of them in it.

'The Darkest Angel' by Gena Showalter

Even though this short story doesn’t feature a romance between one of the Lords of the Underworld and a love interest, it’s one of my favorites in the LOTU series. Lysander, an elite warrior angel who’s quickly becoming obsessed with Bianka Skyhawk, abducts her and imprisons her in his home, which is a magical cloud up in the heavens. Bianca is a fierce Harpy with a soft side—you really gotta look for that soft side—and she makes life hell for her captor. Their arguments and her seduction of Lysander are both hilarious and so sexy. The best scene is when she abducts Paris, the demon of the keeper of Promiscuity, and forces him to wrestle Lysander in a pool of cherry-scented oil. So hot and funny! Anyway, I love their romance, their need for one another and the emotions both of them are trying to figure out. He’s a goody-goody angel, she’s the great-granddaughter of Lucifer, it’s not gonna work. Right?
As with all the LOTU books, we see the gang in the Budapest during Gwen and Sabin’s wedding. I love that this series doesn’t just focus on the main couple, but draws in everyone of importance.
I wished the story was longer just because I love Lysander (even though I know what he has to do to Aeron, the keeper of Wrath, in the next full length novel—The Darkest Passion). Although I’m crazy about these demons and prefer them to the other species in the series, I really like the introduction of angels and Harpies, and that everyone is working together and forming friendships and alliances. The LOTU universe seems to be getting bigger, and that’s definitely two thumbs up.
5 Stars

‘Love Me to Death’ by Maggie Shayne

Teenage David and his four best friends purposely set a house fire that accidentally cost a young girl her life. Now, twenty two years later, the five men are still full of guilt, but they’re doing their best to live their lives. They start seeing Sierra, the girl who died, and believe her ghost has come back for revenge.
Twenty two year old Sara grew up as an orphan and she’s recently had some very strange, vivid dreams. In search of answers, she meets David and the attraction is instant for both of them. As they unravel the mystery of Sara and David’s shared dreams, Sierra’s death and the disappearance of Sierra’s mom, someone from Sierra’s past comes back to stop Sara and David from finding out the truth.
Despite the age difference, Sara and David had a lot of chemistry and fit well together. They were very likable characters.
4 Stars

‘Lady of the Nile’ by Susan Krinard

Though I liked the set up, I found the story a little confusing.
Set in the 1890s, an eccentric British duchess believes she is the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian princess named Tameri. The duchess is also named Tameri. The duchess believes the princess sacrificed herself to the goddess Aset thousands of years ago, and now she (as the duchess) must do the same.
Leo is a scholar and an adventurer who’s drawn to Tameri (as the duchess), but he doesn’t believe she’s the reincarnated princess. As they spend more time together, he slowly learns he’s been reincarnated from Maahes, an ancient Egyptian soldier who loved Princess Tameri and who sacrificed himself to the god Asar.
Leo/Maahes/Asar and Tameri/Tameri/Aset were all the same person, but their multiple names were used interchangeably. While I liked Leo and found his motivation to help the duchess honorable, the duchess was too trusting, especially of the villain whom she thought was a friend.
3 Stars

Book Overall - 4 Stars

Disclaimer – I bought this book for my own enjoyment. I am not paid or compensated in any way, shape or form for this honest review. I will not change or alter this review for any reason unless at my discretion.… (mere)