Dark Needs at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole

This is the fourth full length novel in the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole. I'm not sure if it strictly comes under the rules for TBR Wednesday as it was published in May 2008. But this is the book that stalled me out on the series so I think it's kind of appropriate.

This is the one where the heroine is a ghost. If you've read my post from Sunday you'll know that this is one of my least favourite supernaturals (with only zombies rating lower).

The basic story is this:- Neomi Laress a ballerina is murdered in her New Orleans home and then unfortunately gets to stay there as a ghost watching people come and go but never able to interact with them. Until that is, the brothers Wroth arrive with their half mad sibling Conrad. The brothers imprison Conrad in the hope that he can be saved from the madness. Unfortunately he is the only one who can see Neomi which doesn't initially doesn't help. Eventually Neomi and Conrad come to an understanding but when there are still lies between them, will they have their happy ending.

I must mention one other peeve. I personally find present tense awkward to read. I can understand why to begin with the scenes in Conrad's point of view are written in present tense. (I admit here that my grammar sucks but whatever his early scenes are written in, it isn't a tense I feel comfortable reading. I find my brain switching off). I assume it's to do with his madness and the fact that he only exists in the moment. But it was just another niggle.

So on to what I did like. :)

Conrad and Neomi are both very well written characters - something I've come to expect from Kresley Cole. It's partly down to this excellent characterisation that I can read the story even though Neomi's a ghost. One of the things I like especially is that because for much of the book Conrad is a prisoner, plus he hasn't been blooded, so he and Neomi actually have to talk to one another.

The female didn't have a body that he could feel, he couldn't get erect, and yet it was powerful.

Which means when their relationship finally does become physical that there is a greater understanding between the two of them.

Taking them separately Conrad is aware that he's not right mentally. As he starts to improve I like how he tries to model his behaviour on how Neomi would want him to behave. In a way she becomes a compass for him. And he does worry that she has an idealized view of him - which in a way helps him want to be a better person.

Neomi has a great deal of patience with Conrad, but she also keeps secrets from him - usually because she feels she has to. So even though they talk to one another a lot in the early part of their relationship you can see that they still have a way to go. It's a work in progress - a bit like Conrad himself.

Although they seem very different as characters, Conrad who constantly rails against his fate - the bringer of death - and Neomi - ironically so full of life - who has had to accept her fate at least up until the point where she meets her vampire. Personality wise they are very similar. They decide what they want, they make a plan and they execute it. If that plan fails, they make a new plan until they achieve their objective. It was nice to see the contrasts and similarities of their characters played against each other.

We meet a few characters from previous books, notably Nix and Mariketa. On the subject of Mari, I fear that she has been hanging about with the Valkyrie too long as her dialogue was pretty much indistinguishable from theirs.

As I said on Sunday, the problem with having a ghost for a heroine is that the ending always feels contrived. (I like that it's mentioned that ghost are rare in this universe :) ) So although I loved the characters and what the story brings to the mythology of a series as a whole. It's not going to be one that I re-read as often as the others. But I am left with a couple of stories to look forward to. I really want to know more about Kristoff the vampire King. And I can't help but hope that Regin ends up with Grim.

Ghosts

So this week things are going to be a little bit spooky. There's going to be a review of Dark Needs at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole, and my impressions of Being Human episode 3.

So what do these two things have in common?

Ghosts.

If I had to pick a least favourite fantasy/UF creature, ghosts would probably be it. Okay, that's not strictly true. Zombies would be right at the top of my least favourites list, but ghosts are a very close second. And there are more ghost protagonists than zombie ones.

Why do I have a problem with ghosts?

Mainly I think because they're probably the hardest creatures to write a convincing and believable ending for - I'm talking about romance and relationship fiction here. It doesn't really matter what the author does the ending usually has to be wanked* (contrived) in some way to make it work. Especially if it's only one half of the couple who's on the spirit plane. And as soon as that contrivance takes place I lose some faith in the story.

I'm not sure I would ever buy the first book in a series if I knew the hero/heroine was a ghost. So whenever I've read ghost protagonists they've kind of been snuck up on me as part of a series. Of course if anyone has any recommendations I'd love to hear them. :)


* wanked as opposed to fanwanked as it's the author who has to make it work in the first place.

A Dangerous Thing by Josh Lanyon

The second Adrien English mystery and I think possibly my favourite in the series so far. So be warned this review may gush. A Dangerous Thing takes place a couple of months after Fatal Shadows.

Adrien is suffering from writer's block and frustrated by his relationship (or lack of relationship) with Jake Riordan he travels to his ranch in California to clear his head. Unfortunately life is never simple for Adrien and on his arrival he finds a dead body in his drive. A body which disappears. When events take a violent turn it will be to Jake that Adrien turns for help.

I think the reason I like this series so much is because of the character of Adrien. I love his inner voice that we as readers get to hear, I love his snarky outer voice (outer voice? lol) There's something about him that just makes you root for him. He is by no means a saint, but he is very human and very real and that is what makes him so appealing. I love the way Josh Lanyon can just put you (as the reader) in the moment with the characters. And I really enjoy the situations he gets his characters into. Jake's reaction to Kevin is priceless.

Maybe this book is my favourite (so far) because the relationship between Jake and Adrien (eventually) warms here. They are away from the constraints of their 'real' lives and are free to just be Jake and Adrien.

"I seem to remember you saying once that a good detective isn't afraid to use his imagination."
"Do you take notes on everything I say?"

I could quote and quote the banter between them in this book - especially their 'this is muscle not fat' conversation, which is an absolute joy to read.

We get to know Jake much better in this book and see that beneath his assured exterior he has some issues, not just with his sexuality but also with getting older. His life has not turned out how he expected. He can't make himself fit with what he thinks he needs, but it doesn't stop him trying. What's very interesting though - for those people who don't like Jake - is to note that he never lies to Adrien. He doesn't lead him on with false promises, he tells Adrien exactly how it is. And Adrien knows who Jake is:

...a homosexual cop buried so deep in the closet he didn't know where to look for himself.

But sometimes it's easy to forget when you find yourself falling.

Lol - and there's also a mystery to solve.

This series always leaves me wanting more, and I have book three ready to go. Only one more book left after that though. At one point in A Dangerous Thing Adrien says

I'm a thirty-something gay man with a dodgy heart. I sell books for a living. Who wants to read about that?

Hopefully more Adrien English books will be coming our way soon.

The Leopard Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

Second in the Princes series by Elizabeth Hoyt, The Leopard Prince follows the developing relationship between Lady Georgina Maitland and her land steward Harry Pye. Their relationship across the social divide would be complicated enough, but it's set against a background of suspicion, poisoned sheep and murder. Events which the locals blame Harry for. If Lady Georgina is going to get her man, she'll have to keep his head out of the noose first.

I liked this one more than the Raven Prince, maybe because the relationship between Harry and Georgina is more earthy, more sensual? I don't know. Maybe because there is more of the forbidden about their relationship? I love how Elizabeth Hoyt makes the characters come alive on the page, how she makes us care about them, how she makes them so real. Harry and Georgina are so right for each other but there is so much between them that they have to overcome. There is a strong chemistry between them from the outset. Lady Georgina says at the beginning of chapter 5

"Do you know that when I first met you I didn't like you?"

Harry has the last word at the end of the section.

"I never disliked you, my lady."

Almost like Scherezade, Georgina tells the tale of the Leopard Prince to Harry. Starting when they first spend the night together in the shepherds hut and continuing over their subsequent meetings. It almost serves as an analogy for their relationship, 'til at the end Georgina sets her own leopard free. They are caught in a cage of circumstance. As Harry ponders -

If she were a different woman, if this were a different place, if he were a different man...

Georgina is a strong heroine, sometimes a little snippy, but on the whole softly spoken with a spine of steel. She also has a slight tendency to voice whatever's on her mind whether it's relevant to the conversation at hand or not.

"Someday I'd like to see a man nude," she said.
Harry froze.

This keeps the more reserved and quiet Harry on his toes.

One of my favourite things about Elizabeth Hoyt's writing is how she shows situations that happen to characters when they are apart, influence their behaviour to each other when next they meet. As a reader we understand the change in attitudes of both characters but the characters themselves do not. Very clever writing. She's able to take this and write these wonderful arguments which are layered with double meanings.

The secondary characters are equally well written - Georgina's brothers and sister, Harry's brother. A shame we will never get to know more about them as EH has said on her website she's moved on to other stories.

I think that this may be the favourite of the trilogy for me. I liked it more than the Raven Prince, and I'm thinking Harry and Georgina may end up being my favourite couple. Elizabeth Hoyt is one of the few historical romance authors I read and I'm looking forward to completing the trilogy and getting started on the next series.

Raintree: Inferno by Linda Howard

This review is part of the 2009 TBR challenge, and the option for January was to read a category. Now I'm not a big category romance reader, haven't really read them since my teens / early twenties. But luckily I do like Linda Howard and a while ago she wrote a Silhouette Nocturne called Raintree:Inferno the first in a trilogy of books about the Raintree/Ansara feud.

Having read this I kind of remember why I stopped reading categories, it's a bit like eating candy floss you can stuff yourself silly at the time but it doesn't really fill you up. The tendency toward melodrama got a little wearing, but they do have to pack a lot of plot into a smaller number of pages. Having said that, whilst I struggled to get into it, something about it kept me compulsively reading to the end.

The basics of the story are this. Two hundred years ago the Raintree clan nearly wiped out the Ansara clan because of their treachery. Now it's payback time and the Ansara's first target is Dranir of the Raintree clan - Dante Raintree. Trapped in a fire with Lorna Clay and unsure of whether or not she is who she claims to be, when they survive he takes her with him rather than risk having a possible Ansara assassin on the loose. Lorna knows nothing of the Ansara and the Raintree, but she's about to get a crash course introduction.

It's an interesting premise but there is a heck of a lot of info-dumping in the beginning. Whilst I can accept that this book doesn't just have to set itself up but also the next two books in the trilogy, I would have liked this to be a little more seamless than it was.

Like I said once I'd got into this I wanted to know how it ended and Linda Howard can write some of the hottest love scenes around. This is one of the reasons that of all the categories I read, the one's that I've kept have been Linda Howard's.

However I had some problems.

Longterm readers of the blog may remember the problem I have with the word 'literally'. It's something of a bugbear of mine. I think the last time I had a severe complaining session about it was after reading one of the Sunny novels. Well 'literally' crops up nine times in this story, which is about eight times too many for me. :Sigh:

Also to begin with Dante uses mind control on Lorna. If he tells her she can't move or speak then she can do neither until he gives her permission to do so again. This goes on for a good portion of the book and whilst it's a beyond alpha thing to do - along the lines of I'm only doing it for your own good and I know better - it was also creepy. (Anyone seen the latest season of Heroes - yep I'm thinking of the Puppet Master). It's just not a very attractive quality in a hero.

I liked that sunshine gives him an almost sexual high. (Being a Farscape fan, this reminded me slightly of Zhaan's photogasms.)

Lorna is a much better heroine, sparky and not afraid to stand up for herself, even in the bizarre circumstances she finds herself. They are something of a stereotype - he the 'uncivilized warlord' and she the 'victorian maiden'.

Unfortunately the story ends on a cliffhanger, and the relationship between them felt a little rushed. It's clear that the story overall will be resolved in the subsequent books of the trilogy. While Raintree: Inferno hasn't convinced me that I'm missing anything by not reading categories, I am going to finish the three books because it's left me wanting to know what happens next.

From Smart Bitches

I'm sure everyone's read this already, (I followed the link at Smart Bitches but this review had me laughing out loud this morning before I went to work.

Not work safe, and probably not for you if you're (very) easily offended.

Chris's Invincible Superblog - Review of Taror #53

Fatal Shadows by Josh Lanyon

I'm on a little bit of an Adrien English kick at the moment, as you can probably tell from the sidebar (currently reading Book 2) :)

This is the first in the series and introduces us to Adrien English bookseller and author, who, following the murder of his friend and employee finds he may be next on the killer's list. Subsequent events bring suspicious cop Jake Riordan into his world. And so begins their on again, off again, never actually started relationship. One of the best character dynamics I've read in a long while.

"I re-revised my original opinion. Riordan was indeed an asshole."

Catching up with Adrien is something of a comfort read, even though he's usually up to his ears in murder. He's witty, sarcastic and self-depracating, one of my favourite characters. And the fact is, there is an almost palpable chemistry between Jake and Adrien from their first meeting, even though very little happens between them in this book you are aware of the potential.

"You seem obsessed with my sexuality, Detective."
Something dark and shadowy slid across his eyes. I decided I didn't want to piss him off too much.

The focus in this book is very much on Adrien and the mystery of who killed Robert and why. This gives us the chance to get to know Adrien as a character, the way he thinks, his quirks, his family and his problems.

It's not just Adrien and Jake though, the other secondary characters in the story are equally well written. I particularly like Angus, Adrien's strange new assistant at the book shop.

If I had any complaints at all it would be that at just over 200 pages the story is over far too quickly, but perhaps it is better to be left wanting more?

You may wonder given that I like the series and the characters so much why I've only given this book a B+. It's actually very difficult for me to judge this book on its own without thinking of the other books in the series - perhaps I should have written reviews after each book. Too late now though. As such it is possible I'm being overly harsh in wanting to be fair.

You have to like a first person protagonist, or at least want to know more about them and their world. I love reading about Adrien and can't wait to read the next book in the series. Hopefully there will be many more books to come. :)