This is the final catch-up reading post, and unfortunately, it contains two books that I left behind in Texas (one belonged to my best friend, and she has the other one as well). A Taste for Control, by Patrice Michelle, is one of them. We sat in on some panels with Ms. Michelle this summer at Conestoga, and decided to buy one of her books to see if her writing was as good as promised. It was, and this book had a lot of action. It was way hot, too, but I’m a little fuzzy on the details at this point. The other “left-behind” novel was Cry Wolf, by Patricia Briggs. Now, I love the Mercy Thompson books by Ms. Briggs, and this one was loosely connected to them (set in the same world, some of the same characters), but I found it a little harder to get into. I think it’s because the MC seemed so…well, kind of quiet and retiring. I prefer my heroines strong and outspoken. But it did end up being a good read.

Next up, Nighwalker, by Jocelyn Drake. This is the first in the Dark Days series, about Mira, who’s a sort of cop who keeps the vampires in her area in line. She was a very strong character, and I liked her a lot. She goes head-to-head with Danaus, a vampire hunter who is determined to kill her, although they end up being quite intrigued with each other.

Then I read A Bite to Remember, one of the Argeneau vampire books. I do love the humor in these books, and the titles are great, too. Jackie is a PI who is hired to investigate the sabotage directed at Vincent Argeneau. Of course, they end up falling for each other, but there are some good laughs and nice action along the way. This book is as good and reliably enjoyable as the other books in this series.

And the last of the group are Midnight Rising, Kiss of Midnight, and Midnight Awakening, by Lara Adrian. I am really excited about this series. There’s a group of hot vampires (Breed), who are trying to kill off the Rogues (dangerous vampire killers). The characters in these three are all believably drawn, with flaws and strengths just like everyone else. They’re not infallible, untouchable warriors, either. And the females are just as believable, with real problems and personalities, not cookie-cutter heroines. All of these books were super reads, and I can’t wait to get the rest of them.

And now I’m back to my vampire books again. They seem to dominate everything I’ve read for…well, this entire year. I can’t help it, I just love to read about vampires. Funny that I have no desire to write about them, isn’t it? I just don’t have an original idea for a vampire story. If I ever happen across one, I’m on it.

I’m going to start with The Awakening and The Struggle, both by L.J. Smith. The cover art is what caught my attention: a shadowy close-up of a face (I think a guy’s), with blood on the lips and cool glowing eyes. So I read the back cover copy, and saw that it’s a YA vampire story about a (human) girl and two vampire brothers. Nice. Sounded good, so I picked it up. Elena is the human girl who falls in love with the vampire, Stefan, though she doesn’t know he’s a vampire for a while. He keeps pushing her away, but eventually gives in to the attraction. This kind of gave me a Twilight-esqe feel, but I checked the pub date, and it said 1991, so that’s a no-go. I did enjoy this book, although I didn’t get into quite as much as I’d hoped. I did find myself liking Stefan, though not his brother Damon at all. I’m not sure if I’ll be reading the last two books in the series (assuming I can find them).

Next up are Don’t Talk Back to Your Vampire, and Because Your Vampire Said So, both by Michele Bardsley. Ms. Bardsley is hilarious in person, and her books are hysterical, too. Really. Laugh-out-loud funny. Like the idea of a small town in Oklahoma being taken over by vampires isn’t funny enough. Don’t Talk Back to Your Vampire is about Eva, the town librarian with a teenage daughter, who was changed into a vampire by Lorcan when he was on a rampage. But then she starts to fall for him. Kind of weird to be falling in love with the man (sort of) who murdered you. Because Your Vampire Said So is about Patsy, a country-girl hairdresser with a rebellious teenage son. Patsy is attracted to an outcast shape-shifter, but she also has her son to worry about, not to mention a prophecy about the queen destined to unite the vampires and shape-shifters. Kind of a lot to take on for a middle-aged vampires. These books are both really funny and well-written, with strong, distinct characters that I loved.

And now we come to Untamed, by P.C. and Kristin Cast, the latest in the House of Night series. If you haven’t read these books, you should run out and buy all of them immediately. They are fabulous. In this one, Zoey has managed to make all her friends mad at her, except for Aphrodite, who no one else even knows she’s friends with. Erik isn’t speaking to her. Heath thinks she’s dead. No one knows about Stevie Rae being sort-of-alive-and-sort-of-not. She has a mysterious connection with the new fledgling Stark, which ends even more strangely that usual for her. Her grandmother is in danger, and the only ones who can help her are a group of nuns (Is that a flock of nuns, maybe? No disrespect intended. Just wondering.). Oh, and Neferet is finally going to make her move. All in all, well, I don’t know if I can wait until March for the next book!

In case anyone is wondering why I’m posting all these book blogs back-to-back, it’s because I’m trying to get it all done before NaNo starts and madness ensues. I’m almost done with my phase outline for my NaNo story, which is now titled Tempest of Angels. In fact, I should be finishing up the outline tonight, which gives me an extra day to re-read and fine-tune my notes. Anyway, on to the books, which are all urban fantasy.

First up is Kelley Armstrong’s Personal Demon. I like Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series. I haven’t read all of them, but I think I’ve only missed two, and I’ve liked every one so far. This book is no exception. I want to give props to Ms. Armstrong for making her MC, Hope, of Indian background. I haven’t run across very many books with MCs of that ethnicity, and it was good to see something different. Hope Adams works for a tabloid, and she’s recruited to do a job for the Cortez Cabal—infiltrate a gang that’s trying to make them look bad. Hope happens to be a half demon who is drawn to chaos, which makes for all sorts of interesting happenings.

Then I read Katie MacAlister’s Playing with Fire, about May, who is a doppelganger and can hide in shadows very well. She’s also a thief, which lands her in a lot of trouble, with the demon who sort of owns her, and with Gabriel, the leader of the silver dragons. Oh, and she just so happens to be Gabriel’s mate, which is something she’s not all that thrilled with. Not a bad story, but I had some trouble getting into it. I haven’t read any of the other dragon books by Ms. MacAlister, so that may have been the problem.

Then I read The Devil You Know, by Jenna Black. Okay, I’m going to go ahead and confess: I read this book a couple of months ago, and it ended up left behind at my best friend’s house when I moved (Hey, she and I swap books all the time. I figured it was just one more excuse for her to come visit.). So, I’m afraid I don’t have a terribly clear memory of the plot. I remember that Morgan Kingsely becomes the target of a demon bounty-hunter so scary he frightens other demons. I remember a lot of action, and I remember that I couldn’t put this book down and can’t wait to read the next one. I hope that’s enough.

Next is Heat Stroke, by Rachel Caine. I do love these books, and I can hardly stand knowing there are so many more out that I can’t currently afford to buy. This book is about Joanne, who is now a Djinn. She’s able to see a disturbance in the atmosphere the Weather Wards and and Djinn work in, and has to stop it. Of course, she also has to avoid being claimed by a human, especially the oh-so-nasty Yvette, who is after David.

Last up is The Darkest Pleasure, by Gena Showalter. I think this is the first book I’ve read by Ms. Showalter, and can I just say wow? This book is hot. Why have I not read the other two books in this series? An amazing premise, that when Pandora opened that fabled box, the demons inside bonded with immortal warriors who took on the traits of their demon and became the Lords of the Underworld. This is about Reyes, possessed by the demon of pain, and Danika, who has been running from the Lords for months and is determined to save her family. You should definitely go buy this!