Category Archives: 3 Flames

Magic Slays
Kate Daniels #5
Author: Ilona Andrews
Source: Personal Purchase
Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ace (May 31, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-0441020423

Plagued by a war between magic and technology, Atlanta has never been so deadly. Good thing Kate Daniels is on the job. 


Kate Daniels may have quit the Order of Merciful Aid, but she’s still knee-deep in paranormal problems. Or she would be if she could get someone to hire her. Starting her own business has been more challenging than she thought it would be—now that the Order is disparaging her good name, and many potential clients are afraid of getting on the bad side of the Beast Lord, who just happens to be Kate’s mate. 


So when Atlanta’s premier Master of the Dead calls to ask for help with a vampire on the loose, Kate leaps at the chance of some paying work. Turns out this is not an isolated incident, and Kate needs to get to the bottom of it—fast, or the city and everyone dear to her might pay the ultimate price . . .

After being blown away by the first four books in this series, I was anxious for my purchase of Magic Slays to arrive so I could step back into the urban fantasy world created by author Ilona Andrews.  I needed more of Curran and Kate along with the other characters involved in the Kate Daniels series.

I had heard so many great reviews on this book that I think I set my expectations a little too high.  For me this book didn’t wow me as much as the others.  Yes, the relationship between Curran and Kate has matured and has become one of those super couples I love to read about, but for me this book was more of a filler and fluff book.  It did have a bunch of action and some great scenes that leaves the reader blown away, but it also has spots in the book that became repetitive and not necessarily needed to keep the story moving.  I also felt the ending was a little too abrupt and easy.  It felt like the author(s) gave up for the last few chapters of the book and just wanted to hurry and finish it to get it out to the readers.

With that being said above, I still enjoyed the book.  Anyone who has invested in the journey that Kate has been on will love the dialogue, plot and sexy scenes between Kate and Curran.  I was also disappointed in the small amount of page time that Curran had.  If the two were going to be a mated couple, you would think we would get to see them work together a little bit more than what was offered.  Again, the writing was great and the witty writing that the author(s) come up with left me laughing out loud several times.  It is one of the main reasons I love this series.  I can’t wait to see what comes next for Kate and Curran!

“Andrea raised her hand. “This is the hand that slapped Aunt B.”
“Maybe you should have it gold-plated.”
“Here, you can touch it, since you’re my best friend.”
–Kate and Andrea

“Yes I can,” Curran snarled. “Listen: this is me telling you what you will not do.”
I raised the cookbook and tapped him on the nose. Bad cat.
–Kate and Curran

“Say ‘pop.'”
“Pop?”
“That was the sound of me pulling your head out of your ass.”
–Kate and Ascanio

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Blood and Bullets
Deacan Chalk: Occult Bounty-Hunter #1
Author: James R. Tuck
Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Kensington
(February 7, 2012)
ISBN-13: 978-0758271471

He lives to kill monsters. He keeps his city safe. And his silver hollow-points and back-from-the-dead abilities help him take out any kind of supernatural threat. But now an immortal evil has this bad-ass bounty hunter dead in its sights… 


Ever since a monster murdered his family, Deacon Chalk hunts any creature that preys on the innocent. So when a pretty vampire girl “hires” him to eliminate a fellow slayer, Deacon goes to warn him—and barely escapes a vampire ambush. Now he’s got a way-inexperienced newbie hunter to protect and everything from bloodsuckers to cursed immortals on his trail. There’s also a malevolent force controlling the living and the undead, hellbent on turning Deacon’s greatest loss into the one weapon that could destroy him…

This is going to be a hard review to write.  Bad ass monsters? Check.  Down and dirty hero? Check.  Lots of action? Check.  Great story? Kind of.

I had a really hard time enjoying this book.  While the character of Deacon Chalk was sexy and bad ass, he wasn’t one that attracted my interest.  He wasn’t so much an alpha hero you would come to expect in the sense of good guy will prevail, simply because he is at times so rugged and dirty as the bad guys.  He can kick butt and take names when he feels like it, but if you are looking for a romantic side of his character, don’t get your hopes up.  Yes he has the bad boy sex appeal, but that is as far as it goes for me.

The story in itself wasn’t that bad.  It had plenty of action and evil things to hunt.  I feel that this book would be a better match for the male readers than the females.  This is just my opinion, but I think the men will gravitate more to this book because of the action, violence and all around male cast of characters.

Again, the story in itself was pretty good, but it isn’t a series that will keep me up at night waiting for release day.

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

*I received this ARC copy free of charge in exchange for an honest review*

Bleeding Hearts
Drake Chronicles #4
Author: Alyxandra Harvey
Source: Gifted
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Bloomsbury Childrens Books (October 3, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-1408814970

Lucy’s cousin Christabel has come to live in Violet Hill, and adjusting to the difference between life in a small mountain town and her home in the city is difficult enough. The strict curfew that Lucy’s parents enforce is the worst part. Something really dangerous couldn’t possibly happen in this tiny town. But Christabel has noticed some mysterious happenings, and it seems like Lucy, her boyfriend Nicholas and his brother Connor are all in on a secret that Christabel doesn’t understand – one that seems deadly serious. Although she won’t admit it, Christabel would love to be in on any secret with Connor Drake. But after Christabel is kidnapped by the ruthless Hel-Blar vampires, Lucy and Connor finally fill her in on all the undead drama. Together, they must find a way to stamp out the Hel-Blar for good.

In this novel we get to read about Conner Drake.  He is the computer and all around tech brother of the group.  I will admit that I wasn’t too thrilled to step back into the Drake Chronicles since my favorite brother is now taken. I was a huge Logan fan and wasn’t really into Conner in the other books.  Even though it isn’t the sexy Logan this time, I still sat down and finished this book in one day.

We also get to me Lucy’s cousin, Christabel.  She is opposite to Lucy in the fact that she would rather be sitting down reading instead of out socializing with friends.  Give her a copy of Pride and Prejudice and she is a happy camper.  When a different breed of Hel-Blar kidnap Christabel instead of Lucy by mistake, the Drake’s set out in search of her and have choices to make with the Na-Foir.

While I love the writing style of Alyxandra Harvey and her world revolving around the Drake family, I just couldn’t get into this book as much as I did with the previous ones.  I never could feel the spark between Conner and Christabel.  The writer doesn’t disappoint though on action considering the first few pages of the book jump directly into it!

While this wasn’t my favorite of the series, this series still has plenty of potential.  The writing is still great and getting better with each one along with the fact that she is including many of the characters from previous books.  The author also does a wonderful job of explaining things without going overboard in case a reader happens to read them out of order.

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Some Girls Bite
Chicagoland  Vampires #1
Author: Chloe Neill
Source: Personal Purchase
Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy
Publisher: NAL Trade (April 7, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-0451226259

Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was Merit’s. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker-and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead.


Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she’s traded sweating over her thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan “Lord o’ the Manor” Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred- year-old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects her gratitude- and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan’s attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone’s still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago’s nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war-and there will be blood.

I had heard so many mixed reviews on this series that it took a long time to convince myself to read it.  When I finally decided to commit to the series, I dove into the Chicagoland Vampires with excitement.  I wanted to read them and come to my own conclusions about this story. Now that I have finally read the first book, I can see the appeal that other readers have had for the series.

Merit is attacked by a vampire while walking home from her job at the local University.  The vampire gets distracted during the middle of the attack and Merit is left half dead with her throat torn apart.  Ethan, who happens to be the Master vampire of Cadogan House, appears and changes her into a vampire without her consent.  While they always try to have a human consent to the transformation, Merit is unable to voice her opinion on it because she is too close to death.  After days of transforming, she is returned home that she shares with her best friend Mallory and told to read the handbook in becoming an Initiate of Cadogan House. Merit is not pleased to have become a vampire, but she also realizes she will need to come to terms with it.  Once she has, she also needs to make a choice in joining Ethan and his House, or risk striking it out on her own by becoming a Rogue.

This novel was slow going for me.  In my opinion, Merit took too long to come to terms with her new found life of vampire.  She is suppose to be strong and such, but to me she came across a little too weak.  I wanted her to just accept it and move on.  Another thing I didn’t really like about Merit was her hatred for Ethan in the first place.  She hated him from the get go and never really gave him a chance considering he saved her life.  Agreed, he might have had ulterior motives, but she didn’t give an inch in her hate for him.  Yet, later in the story we are suppose to believe she is attracted to him but never attempts to let go of the anger.

The side characters in this story were the best part of this series.  I would rather read more about them than read about Merit.  I loved Carter, Mallory, Jeff and Morgan.  I am curious to learn more about Carter’s secrets, Mallory’s growing magic, Jeff’s flirting and shifting world, and of course I would love to have more sexy times with Morgan who is in a separate House that is courting Merit now due to a debt being owed.

Overall it was an okay start to a series that has potential to be great.  I am looking forward to how everything that is revealed in this book is going to be played out in the future books of the series.

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

Every Other Day
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Source: Amazon Vine
Reading level: Ages 12 and up
Publisher: EgmontUSA (December 27, 2011)
ISBN-13: 978-1606841693

Every other day, Kali D’Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She attends pep rallies. She’s human.


And then every day in between . . . She’s something else entirely.


Though she still looks like herself, every twenty-four hours predatory instincts take over and Kali becomes a feared demon-hunter with the undeniable urge to hunt, trap, and kill zombies, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures. Kali has no idea why she is the way she is, but she gives in to instinct anyway. Even though the government considers it environmental terrorism.


When Kali notices a mark on the lower back of a popular girl at school, she knows instantly that the girl is marked for death by one of these creatures. Kali has twenty-four hours to save her and, unfortunately, she’ll have to do it as a human. With the help of a few new friends.

I was a big fan of Jennifer Lynn Barnes and her Raised By Wolves series.  When I saw that she had a new book releasing that wasn’t part of that series, I just knew I was going to have to read it.  I was curious to see what else the author could bring to the table with a completely different world.

With Every Other Day, we step away from the werewolf way of life and step into a world where demon hunting is the every other day norm for Kali. One day she is a normal teenager and the next she is a kick butt demon hunting girl with severe predatory instincts kicking in.  While I enjoyed her character on the kick butt days, when she was just human Kali I found her to be a little annoying.  She was depressing and at times I wanted to slap her out of her pity parties.  I also didn’t like the repetitive dialogue over and over again whenever she fought the bad guys of the book.  I read it once, so I don’t need to read it again.  I will say that the author has grown with her writing though.  She has definitely stepped up her game in the story telling but just needs to reign in the narrative parts a little more.

While I enjoyed the book and the story the author was telling, it didn’t give me the wow factor that I was expecting like I had with the Raised By Wolves series.  Still, I wouldn’t mind reading future books in this paranormal world especially with the way this one ended.

Okay book, but it left me wanting more!

*I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review*