Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 14

 

No Rest for the Wicked by Kresley Cole

Immortals After Dark

Okay, so Kaderin the Cold Hearted is a Valkyrie who, after the deaths of her sisters, got a 'blessing' where she no longer felt any emotion. She spends most of her time killing vampires.

Sebastian Wroth is a vampire who was unwillingly turned by his brother. He hates his existence, so when Kaderin shows up to kill him, he's okay with that.

But, instead of doing that, they make out a bit. 

One thing I forgot to mention before, in these books, each vampire has a fated Bride. Vampires are all male, and somewhere is a female that will make their heart beat again. Give them breath. And make it possible for them to do the horizontal bop again. So, when Sebastian sees Kaderin, his heart starts beating again, them doing a little kissy-kissy, and over the clothes heavy petting isn't that outlandish.

Kaderin runs off after the makeout session, cause she kills vampires. She does not kiss them! Plus she has to get ready for the Talisman's Hie. An epic scavenger hunt that happens every 250 years. She is the reigning champ.

The majority of the book takes place during the Hie. Showing how badass Kaderin is and how doting Sebastian is to his Bride. And showing how Kaderin is dealing with her returning emotions (which, spoiler, not great...)

By the end, they realize they love each other. Because this is a paranormal romance novel, and we get happy endings over here.

I loved this book. Just as I love the entire series. Characters are great. Plot is fantastic. Writing is wonderful. Five stars. 

Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 13

 

Moon Fever

Featuring "Tempting Fate" by Susan Sizemore, "The Darkness Within" by Maggie Shayne, "Cobwebs Over the Moon" by Lori Handeland, and "Crazy for the Cat" by Caridad Piñeiro

Tempting Fate was good. I've read other books in this series, but it's been so long that I've forgotten pretty much everything. The story was good, but it felt too short. I wanted more.

I really enjoyed The Darkness Within. A haunted house mystery with a dash of romance? Yes, please.

Cobwebs Over the Moon felt like a prequel to a bigger story. No idea what else the writer has done. I should check that out.

Crazy for the Cat was good. Action-packed and enjoyable. 

Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 12

 

Love Bites by Lynsay Sands

An Argeneau Novel

Going back quite a bit in the Argeneau series from the one I posted before. This is the second book in the series.

Love Bites is about how Etienne Argeneau meets Rachel Garrett and they fall in looooooove. Etienne is an immortal video game designer, Rachel a mortal coroner. When Rachel is fatally wounded trying to protect Etienne's maybe dead body, Etienne turns her. 

Rachel stays with Etienne while she learns how to deal with being an immortal, and of course, she falls in love. 

There are some other bits and hurdles, but no more spoilers. Go read the book. Read the entire series. It is one of my favorite paranormal romance series and I will always recommend it. 

Oh!

Another great part of this book?

Thomas!

Oh, Thomas, how I miss you when you're not around, you perfect Immortal cupid, you.

Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 11

 

How to Seduce a Vampire (Without Really Trying) by Kerrelyn Sparks

A Love at Stakes book

Yet again, a book from the middle of a series. Oops.

Zoltan is a Romanian vampire. Which, my brain was like "Romanian? Sebastian Stan is Romanian! I shall be picturing him now." 

That did not work out for me. Instead, I was picturing Zoltan from The Witcher. For those that don't know who that is, he is a dwarf with a mohawk. I mentioned this problem to my friend and he mentioned Zoltar from Big. So, then I had that image in my brain. My brain was a mess.

Anyway.

Zoltan meets Neona, who is a member of a group of women who live in a hidden valley in Tibet. I think it was Tibet...

The women are tasked to protect something. A couple somethings. And don't trust outsiders. Especially men. And Zoltan has to convince them to trust him and his friends. 

I enjoyed Zoltan and Neona's banter. And that she had a pet snow leopard. Loved that snow leopard.

Fun read and I need to go back and read the books in this series that I missed.

Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 10

 

Justice League

Volume 1: Origin

Not sure how to do one of these for a comic.

Hmm...

Let's see...

So, the plot is basically that people don't like superheroes. Then Darkseid shows up. Batman, Flash, Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Cyborg, and Aquaman team up to stop Darkseid. Then people love superheroes.

I enjoyed the bits of humor. Lantern calling Batman a tool was hilarious. 

The art was beautiful.

Just loved it all, really.

Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 9

 

The Immortal Who Loved Me by Lynsay Sands

An Argeneau Novel

I'm surprised it took me this long to get a book from the Argeneau series in here. 

This is book... 24 in the series? 20? 19? I can't remember. Sorry. It's in the double digits though.

The book focuses on Sherry Carne -  a mortal - and Basil Argeneau - an immortal (don't call the old ones vampires, it makes them cranky).

As someone who has read the previous books, this was another exciting book in the series. And it concluded the underlying plot from the past few books nicely.

I can also say while reading the previous books is probably the best way to read these, it would be easy to read a random one and not be too lost. Lynsay Sands explains things that happened previously in a concise manner and doesn't info dump randomly. If something needs explained, it is usually done in conversations that make sense. 

Anyway!

Sherry and Basil!

Both are good characters with great personalities. Sherry has the appropriate misgivings at being thrust into this new world of immortals without being annoying about it.

Basil is caring and sweet. He doesn't have a BIG personality like some of the other characters, but I enjoyed his laid back ways. 

The plot twist was solid and well done.

But, most importantly...

Justin Bricker.

My two favorite characters in this series have been Thomas Argeneau and Justin Bricker since each of them were introduced. Thomas wasn't in this one (sad face) but Bricker was. I adored him being a little shit to Lucian sooooo much. And the whole other names for cock scene was priceless. Loved it.

Fantastic writing. Wonderful humor. All around a great book.