SENTINELS: LION HEART by Doranna Durgin

SENTINELS:
LION HEART
(Book 2)
by
Doranna Durgin

Silhouette Nocturne
Paranormal Romance
August 2009
Volume 70

Sentinel/Shapeshifter Joe Ryan has lost his partner, and best friend from childhood, under suspicious circumstances. At the same time his half sister died putting him under further suspicion. Now he lives alone in the mountains of Arizona where he patrols and guards the power hidden deep in the mountain.

Lyn Maines hates dirty operatives with a deep passion. She is sure Joe is dirty. Those in command send her out to find out just how dirty.

She wasn't prepared for how attracted she was to him, or the fact that he made a great cup of coffee.

This is Book 2 of the Sentinel Series. It is a notch above the rest.

Three (3)

Yours forever between the covers of a book,
Lady Mischief

WHAT HAPPENS IN LONDON by Julia Quinn

WHAT HAPPENS IN LONDON
by
Julia Quinn

Avon
Historical Romance
Paperback
July 2009

When Olivia Bevelstoke heard her new neighbor Sir Harry Valentine had killed his fiancee she started to spy on him from her bedroom window.

Sir Harry worked as a translator for the "boring branch" of the War Office. Olivia Bevelstoke watching his every move from her bed chamber added much needed spice to his life.

Lady Mischief adored this romp through London society. The proposal scene left Lady Mischief chuckling for many minutes. This gem by Julia Quinn is not to be missed.

This is a full tissue box novel. You will laugh so hard your eyes will water. It is intelligent and funny. A must read for Historical Romance Lovers.

Four (4)

Yours forever between the covers of a book,
Lady Mischief

BAD MOON RISING by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Bad Moon Rising
by
Sherrilyn Kenyon
St. Martin's Press
Hardcover Release
August 4, 2009

BAD MOON RISING is the long awaited for story of Fang, the wolf were-hunter, and Aimee, the bear were-hunter.

Die-hard Kenyon fans have been waiting for this book for a long time. In many ways it lived up to expectations and in many ways it fell short.

If you are a Kenyon fan and you have read all of her books, you have already read half the book. It begins at the beginning. (Literally and figuratively speaking.) Once again the reader is given the legend of how the were races were created in the Prologue. This is a good thing to include. Those who are familiar with the series can skip over it, those who are new to it can read the history if they choose. Then chapter one begins with a pack of were-hunters breezing into New Orleans, pre-Katrina, to visit the other worldly bar Sanctuary. The book is chock full of many characters the reader met in the earlier Dark Hunter and Were Hunter books, at least the books that took place in New Orleans.

Lady Mischief found it refreshing to have the previous books updated for her in BAD MOON RISING. She has read many a series that have traversed years, decades even, and many of the names are so similar that even when the author provides you with a genealogy chart it is difficult to keep all the players apart.

That being said, the material from past books seems to take as much space in this tome as the new material does.

Bad Moon is more bridge than edifice. New dimensions, new gods, new demons are introduced while old friends are fading into the background.

With the introduction of both Varyk and Thorn Lady Mischief found herself quivering in anticipation of future delights. Both have promise of being the tortured hero Ms. Kenyon has made her own.

Unfortunately Lady Mischief's favorite tortured hero, Acheron, only made a token appearance. It probably has something to do with that totally unworthy woman who became his wife. She seems to be sapping all the godliness out of him. Totally unworthy!!!

Looking at this book as a bridge, and grateful not to have to read the other books again, Lady Mischief gives this book a rating of:

four (4)

Yours forever between the covers of a book,
Lady Mischief

AMAZON INK by Lori Devoti

AMAZON INK

by

Lori Devoti
Pocket Books
Fantasy
Paperback
June 2009 Release

Mel Saka left her Amazon tribe when they took her stillborn son away and from her unconscious arms and then expected her to get over it and "warrior up". Mel had grown to love her unborn baby and had wanted to raise him, against all Amazon traditions. She realized someone in the tribe must have caused her son's death so she took her young daughter and she left to lead a normal human life.

Ten years later she finds the bodies of two young Amazons on her front steps. She has to warn the Amazons they are being targeted without letting them know she is involved.

Mel is the Amazons' prime suspect.

Lady Mischief has been a big fan of Lori Devoti since her first Hellhounds graced the pages of a Nocturne, but the Lady didn't know what to expect when Ms. Devoti branched out into the Amazon single-title world. What the Lady found was pure storytelling genius!

Amazon Ink gives us a group of people that have survived for millennium on tales of past glory, but living the life of shady nomads in twenty-first century USA. When an opportunity arises to fight a real battle they are more than ready. It is up to Mel to stop them, if she can.

There is magick and spiritualism. Love and family. Friends and enemies. The lines are clear. The lines get crossed. The lines get blurred. There is understanding and perhaps even the beginning of forgiveness.

Lady Mischief is not a big fan of first person narrative, but Amazon Ink is done so well you forget that someone is telling you a story, you feel as if you are actually there as it all unfolds around you.

The month is now August. Lady Mischief has read over two hundred books since the beginning of the year. She has enjoyed many of the books, given out a few perfect scores, but this book is in a category of its own. The Lady's only regret is that she read it too soon. If she had waited until Amazon Queen was out then she would be able to stay in the Amazon world. If Amazon Queen is not about Mel and her life, then Lady hopes she is at least a visitor in Zery's life and that we will she another book featuring Mel, Peter, and Detective Reynolds again.

Lady wishes she could score this book higher, but she will have to settle for a rating of:

Yours forever between the covers of a book,
Lady Mischief

HOT PURSUIT (A Troubleshooters Novel) by Suzanne Brockmann

HOT PURSUIT

A Troubleshooters Novel

by
Suzanne Brockmann

Ballantine Books
Hardcover
Release July 2009

Alyssa Locke left the Navy as a trained sniper. She would have liked to have become a Navy Seal, but that was a world closed to women. So she left the Navy to join the FBI's anti-terrorism squad. Eventually she left the FBI to join Troubleshooters when Former Navy Commander Tom Paoletti left the Navy and opened up shop as a private security firm.

Several years later Alyssa is happily married to cowboy/ex-Seal Sam Starrett and they have a cute baby son. They both work for Troubleshooters. (They had their own Romance recorded in Gone Too Far.) Now Alyssa is once again featured in Hot Pursuit. Her nemesis a serial killer caller {shiver, shiver} "The Dentist". The Dentist will not be satisfied until he has Alyssa.

As usual Suzanne Brockmann has several other storylines intersecting and/or running concurrently with the main storyline. (One of Lady Mischief's loved ones likes to tease her because once she lost the dust jacket to a Brockmann Troubleshooters' book and the Lady was half way through the book before she knew who the "main" characters of the book were. Brockmann is a genuis at making you care for all her characters.) Jules, the FBI agent extrodinaire, and his husband Robin, the movie star, come to New York to help. Irving "Izzy" Zanella is still in limbo over his runaway wife Eden, but he receives an offer you have to read to believe. Danny "Gilligan" Gillman is assigned to keep Jennilyn LeMay safe. This is his two week liberty after being in combat in Afghanistan. Gillman wants to get laid.

Ms. Brockmann writes complex stories that cannot be put down until it has been devoured. There are no red herrings. No wasted words. No wasted characters.

Lady Mischief has been known to get bored with series and continuing characters after several books. Ms. Brockmann's Troubleshooters is not one of those series. Perhaps it is because each book has a new hero/heroine and a new hero and perhaps heroine in training. Each plot has been different. Each villian also has been different. And although there are new "H/h" in each book the characters you grew to love in previous books visit often and the reader can rejoice in their ongoing growth.

Nothing is ever stagnant in a Brockmann book.

Now Lady Mischief must divulge some bad news from the author's note at the end of the book. Ms. Brockmann said the next book, Troubleshooters #16 will be the final Troubleshooters, "at least for a little while."

Lady Mischief has enjoyed many of Ms. Brockmann's non-Troubleshooters' books, but ummm, there is something about the ultimate alpha Seal hero, and wishes her much good luck with all that she writes. Lady Mischief will happily read anything with the Brockmann name on it. But, the Lady will still be hoping for another Seal or Troubleshooter to show up.

Remember, this book is currently out in Hardcover. Brockmann is on Lady Mischief's exclusive list of authors she will buy in hardcover. The authors on that list are authors the Lady knows she will read again and again. It is unfortunate for the Lady's purse that so many of them are coming out over the summer. If it were one per month rather than one per week it would be easier to spend the money.

This book rates:

five (5)

Yours forever between the covers of a book,

Lady Mischief