Spun By Sorcery

Title: Spun By Sorcery
Author: Barbara Bretton
Series: Sugar Maple Series (Book 3)
Genre: Paranormal/Contemporary Romance



After Chloe beat Isadora in Book 2, she and Luke are ready for a big, hot breakfast. Only problem is that they seem to have lost Sugar Maple. Their beloved town is no where to be found. The two and Janice start a trek to Salem to see if they can find any information on their missing town.

The idea is that since the Sugar Maple original townies were from Salem, that someone must have stayed behind and there must still be magic in Salem.

The roadtrip to Salem is anything but ordinary or safe. The trio have several near death experiences, which leads them to believe that they are indeed on the right track. When they finally arrive, things seem relatively normal and not very magic like, until everything seems to happen at once.

Luke finds some interesting information on a never aging resident of Salem, Chloe is attacked in an antique shop and Janice finds something a bit off about Penny. They figure out where Sugar Maple went, and start the epic battle to win back the town.

Although it was interesting to learn a bit more about the history of Aerynn and how Sugar Maple came to be, this book was missing the "magic" of Sugar Maple. It was almost a book about a roadtrip gone horribly wrong, without any humor. I can see how it may be an essential part to the series, but now that everyone is back in Sugar Maple, I can't wait for Book 4. Especially after the teaser at the end.

The Red Pyramid

Title: The Red Pyramid
Author: Rick Riordan
Series: Kane Chronicles (Book 1)
Genre: Juvenile Fiction



Carter has spent his life traveling around the world with his dad, an archeologist. His mother died at a young age and the only other family he has is his little sister Sadie, who lives with their grandparents in London. He sees Sadie twice a year.

Carter and his Dad are picking up Sadie for their biyearly Christmas visit and they go to a British Museum for a private viewing of the Rosetta Stone, an important piece of Egyptian history. Carter and Sadie are told by Dad to lock the curator in his office and to stay out of the room. But when they see strange light coming from the room, they go inside and their lives are changed forever.

Dad is trying to channel a God to "make things right" When releasing this god, he actually releases a total of 5 gods, each of which find a human host body to inhabit. Both Carter and Sadie, although they don't know it right away, become hosts to gods.

Much like the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the author takes mythology to a whole new level. Sadie and Carter embark on a journey full of gods, Egyptian mythology and trying to save the world.

It looks like it's going to be another fantastic series. I cannot wait for the next book!

Nightshade

Title: Nightshade
Author: Andrea Cremer
Series: Nightshade (Book 1)
Genre: Young Adult



Calla is a Guardian. Her soul has two parts, human and wolf. She can choose to be either at any time and unlike most wolf lore, doesn't rip out of her clothes or have to worry about whatever she is holding. Her clothes and items shift with her, even though she's just a wolf with no clothing or items, they still exist somewhere.

Calla has been destined to mate with alpha Ren and the two are going to start a new pack. This is all put together by the Keepers. The Keepers are the group that run the Guardians. The Keepers provide (clothes, shelter, food, cars, ect.) for the Guardians and in return the Guardians patrol and keep things safe. The Keepers word is law.

Calla and Ren have known about their match since birth and relatively accept it.

Calla is doing her patrol one day and comes across a human boy (teen) who is about to be killed by a bear. Calla saves him and gives him her blood which has healing properties so that he doesn't die. If the Keepers found out about either of these actions Calla would be in series trouble. Go figure the next day when the boy, Shay, shows up at school, he is the new kid.

Calla is attracted to him and has to fight her heart to stay with Ren.

In addition to the love story, there is a whole complex world that you learn about in the perfect pace. I quickly devoured this book and couldn't get enough of the world they were in.

I found it interesting, usually when I read a book where the heroine is torn between two main male characters, there is a strong opinion on my side of who the winner should be. I never feel torn as the character does, but cannot figure what takes them so long to figure it out. In Nightshade, this was not the case. I knew who Calla would end up with, but I must admit I wasn't so sure that was who I wanted her to be with in the end.

There was no definite ending to this book, it has set us up for the next installment, Wolfsbane, but definitely had no ending.

Happy Ever After

Title: Happy Ever After
Author: Nora Roberts
Series: Bride Quartet (Book 4)
Genre: Romance


Parker, the coordinator and "general" of Vows, is perfect. She always looks immaculate, she can fix any problem and has the up bringing that lets her know how to act in any situation. She is one of the "Browns" and that should speak for itself.

Malcolm has had a less then perfect childhood, including being knocked around by an uncle, an unfortunate accident that almost killed him and other not so great relationships.

This romance has been leading up throughout the other books, and unfortunately the best I can say once again was it was okay. I don't know if I've changed through the years leaving me to feel like Nora Roberts just isn't putting out the same quality stories as before, or if she's already hit the high note in her career and is going south.

That being said, I did enjoy the story but much like the others there wasn't much meat to it. Perfect flowers, perfect cake, perfect photos, perfect couples, just perfection from Vow. The relationship between Parker and Mal didn't have much in the way of bumps either and the few they did encounter were swiftly smoothed out an unrealistic too short of time.

Hopefully when her next book comes out, which we know there will be more, she can redeem herself.

Chains of Fire

Title: Chains of Fire
Author: Christina Dodd
Series: The Chosen Ones (Book 4)
Genre: Paranormal



Samuel Faa is one of the Chosen Ones, a Mind Controller and an impressive lawyer. He has had a rough childhood with a butler for an adoptive Dad, who thinks Samuel cannot rise above that station in life.

Isabelle Mason, another Chosen One and a healer, is the adoptive daughter of a wealthy family who just happens to have Samuel's Dad as a butler.

Isabelle and Samuel have had an attraction since they met at the ages of four and five. They've dated twice and both times ended less then amicably. That said, there is always a tension between the two of them now that they are Chosen together. Their lives are woven together between their families and work and they are often thrown together.

The two go off to save an kidnapped abandoned child and after saving the child are caught together in an avalanche, narrowly escaping. They are trapped in a tomb like basement due to the avalanche, and old feelings run high.

Another intriguing addition to the Chosen Ones series. I enjoyed seeing the characters just give in to each other, although I really felt like the two of them should have gotten their marks and enhanced powers before they did. I think that the meeting with Osgood was kind of a cop-out for their greatest fear.

Stroke of Enticement

Title: Stoke of Enticement
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Psy-Changling (Book 4.5)
Genre: Paranormal



Zach, a DarkRiver sentinel, has to pick up his nephew at school. His nephew hit another student at school because they had said something mean about his teacher, Annie. When Zach walks in the classroom he is immediately attracted to Annie.

When Annie was younger her leg was shattered, which has left her with a slight limp and different sorts of emotional issues. Zach talks her into going on a tour of the Pack lands and the two quickly spend all their time together.

There is a little blip when Annie appears not to be accepting the Mate bond because she is afraid. Her parents use to be madly in love, but now her father all but ignores her mother. Annie does not want a life like this for herself. A short conversation later, however, and the bond is made and she knows that she is safe.

This was a short story found in The Magical Christmas Cat. There are 3 other stories, although none of them are by any authors that I've heard of.

This story was short and sweet. I picked up this book in the dollar bin at my local bookstore, knowing that there was a Psy-Changeling story in it. One thing I always dislike about the short stories is that they have little substance to them and hardly much of a conflict. You barely seem to get to know the characters and their story is over.

Aside form that, the story was adorable and I have always loved the fierce protection offered by Changelings to their mates.

Three Nights With A Scoundrel

Title: Three Nights With A Scoundrel
Author: Tessa Dare
Series: Stud Club (Book 3)
Genre: Historical Romance



Lily was the deaf sister of Leo. She has been living by herself at her home with no real issues. But her cousin is coming to take over and while she figures that no cousin would throw her out, there are others who wish her to be married.

Namely Julian. He has tried to get the two previous books hero to marry Lily, but they've fallen in love with others. The main dilemma is that Julian himself is in love with her, but doesn't feel that he is worthy of her love. He is commonly born and has a past that he is none to proud of. None the less, when Lily decides she wants him, there's not much that he can do.

Surprisingly, this was my favorite of the series. Julian went from that one character who I couldn't stand, to my favorite. He was so sweet and has had such a difficult life. I loved his interactions with Lily. Her deafness plays a role in the story, but isn't hugely present. I thought it very well done and full of touching (and steamy!) scenes.

We find out who murdered Leo, and it is rather anticlimactic. Although since I wanted to know more about the living characters relationship then how Leo died, I wasn't bothered by it.

Tessa Dare has fast become a new favorite author!

The Fledgling Handbook 101

Title: The Fledgling Handbook 101
Author: P.C. Cast
Series: House of Night (Extra)
Genre: Young Adult



I was anticipating a little bit of behind the scenes House of Night information. A book that would fill us in on anything that was maybe a subtlety in the books that had been missed. I was quite wrong.

The Fledgling Handbook starts with an Introduction and then is broken up into 5 "chapters," each giving you different types of information.

The Introduction was my favorite part. It gave pictures of each of the emblems that the different formers wear as well as a little information of what they mean. Since this has been discussed before in the books, I found these pictures and information helpful. There was also a tentative schedule of what a day looks like at the HON.

1) Vampyre Biology - This chapter included some pictures of before and after being marked as well as after the change. I thought this too was interesting, seeing the differences that come about as they change into a vampyre. It also touches on Imprinting and the Warrior Bond. Unfortunately, it was downhill from here.

2) Rituals - Each ritual starts with a story about where the ritual came from followed by a description of how to do the ritual. Since I have no desire to preform any of these anytime soon, I really didn't care for this section.

3) Nightkind Elementology - Holidays that are observed at the HON and a Vampyre twist on astrology (Nightkind Elementology) You pick your element based on when you changed. It was okay to read, but unlike astrology, there wasn't one for me to look for.

4) A Brief Intorducion to Vampyre History - If this was brief, I'd hate to see extensive. This was a lot of fairly dry history. I'm not a history girl and this chapter was the worst for me.

5) Words of Hope from Fellow Fledglings - A kind of funny chapter. There are quotes from famous people, such as Shakespeare, as well as pictures of the speaker with their crescent and tattoos.

This book started off strong, but was sorely lacking. It really could have had nothing to do with the House of Night and seems like it will be for only the most die hard fans.

Misguided Angel

Title: Misguided Angel
Author: Melissa De La Cruz
Series: Blue Blood (Book 5)
Genre: Young Adult




Jack and Schuyler are continuing their search for a hidden gate. This takes them on adventures around the world and wondering who they can trust.

Mimi is named the Regent and has to deal with the exposure of vampires and the burning of some more fellow classmates.

Oliver is trying to live his life without Schuyler and creates an interesting bond with Mimi (one I personally would like to see explored more)

We are also introduced to a new character, Deming Chen, a Venator brought in to help with the deaths. She has the ability to see what we would call auras, and looks like she's going to play a part in the next book as well.

This book is quite short and honestly, when I was done I felt like I had learned little and was slightly confused about what I did learn. As I've mentioned in the past, I feel like this series has so many turns and surprises that it is difficult to give it a good review without a bunch of spoilers.

I see why this book may be essential to move the storyline along, but of the series this was quite forgettable. I am excited about the next book, however, which is suppose to revolve around Jack and Schuyler's bonding.