Hard Magic, Book One: Paranormal Scene Investigations by Laura Anne Gilman

Publisher:  Luna, Harlequin Enterprises
Pages:  336

From the Cover:


Welcome to P.U.P.I.—Private, Unaffiliated, Paranormal Investigations
A handpicked team trained to solve crimes the regular police can't touch—crimes of magic.

My name's Bonnie Torres. Recent college grad, magic user and severely unemployed. Until I got a call out of nowhere to interview for a job I hadn't applied for. It smelled fishy, but the brutal truth was I needed the work—so off I went.

Two days later I'm a PUPI—me and Nick, Sharon, Nifty and Pietr. Five twentysomethings, thrown into an entirely new career in forensic magic.

The first job we get is a doozy: proving that the deaths of two Talents were murder, not suicide. Worse, there are high-profile people who want us to close up shop and go away. We're sniffing out things they'd rather keep buried.

Looks as if this job is gonna get interesting. The only problem is, we're making it up as we go along….

Bonita Torres is Council, well, so sort.  Her mentor, J, is council. He father, Zaki, was Lonejack, that is before someone killed him. She's a Talent and a recent college grad.  Now, after college, J is still providing her money, a place to live, even her clothes.  She needs a job in the worst way.

When she gets an odd message suggesting she come to an address somewhere in the middle of New York City, at an address she didn't send a resume, it peaks her curiosity.  When J suggests she not go, that seals the deal, she has to see what's going on.

The Guys introduce the kiddies to forensic magic, to go where Council and Lonejack won't, to solve crimes that until now were unsolvable.  When Ms. Reybeorn comes into their offices, hoping to solve the death of her parents, PUPI is ready for it's first client.

Hard Magic by Laura Anne Gilman is urban fantasy that provides excitement, plenty of action, and a whole new way to use magic.  Bonnie, Nick, Pietr, Nifty, and Sharon arrive at a mysterious address to find a dead body.  Only the body isn't as dead as it appears to be.  With their abilities, and with Ian Stosser and Ben Venec as their teachers, PUPI is born.  Forensic magic investigations, crimes committed by and with the use of magic, Talents killing Talents.  Which is what they'll investigate with their first client, Ms. Reybeorn.  Everyone assumes her parents committed suicide, but it's just too neat, too easy.  When PUPI looks into the suspicious case, more is revealed than they ever thought to find.

Hard Magic was exciting, fun, interesting, and the characters were appealing.  Each of the twentysomethings have problems that single them out of the other Talents, they're different for some reason.  Nifty is a jock, but he doesn't want to end up with a broken body and no future.  Pietr is hardly ever noticed, because he tends to vanish.  Nick is a computer geek, but magic and electronics don't go well together.  Sharon can read people, from the inside out.  And Bonnie, she's detail oriented, like, she can remember every detail, the perfect investigator.  This book was just good fun.  I enjoyed it immensely.  The only niggle I could possibly find is the lack of a satisfying romance.  Bonnie talks about romantic involvements, even suggests romance, but it's left to the readers imagination, and I wanted more.  But maybe that something for the next book, after all the series is just starting.  I enjoyed this book so much, and if you don't mind the lack of romance, it's an excellent urban fantasy thriller, I highly recommend it.  Laura Anne Gilman is a new author for me, but I will be reading the next book in the series, Pack of Lies (available February 2011), and looking into her backlist.

I received this book for review for the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises, and Net Galley.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Black Legacy by Juliana Stone

Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Pages: 35

From the Cover: Frankie Black is a woman in need of a mission. For a Black Opal—a warrior woman who shifts backward or forward through time in order to, well, save the world—the last six months of downtime have left her bored. Restless. And with a feeling that something is about to hit the fan.

Finally, an assignment: save the life of Dekkar James, an infamous rock god living three hundred years in the past. Tattooed, ruggedly handsome and perfectly imperfect, one look at him and it’s as if her sleeping body springs to life.

One minute Dekkar is having the most mind-blowing sex of his life. The next, goons are breaking down his door, and he’s on the run with a woman who turns from lover to warrior in the blink of an eye.

Dealing with the New Order, operatives who manipulate time without regard for the consequences, is nothing new for Frankie. But this time their tactics have a more personal edge—they’ve found a way to seek out the Opals’ predestined mates.

Unless she can save Dekkar’s life, her future will be the first casualty in a battle for the fate of humankind.

Frankie Black can feel something coming, deep in her soul, what it is or when it's coming, she can't tell but it will be soon. As one of the warrior women fighting for what's right and good, The New Order has become a pain trying to shift their operatives through to kill their targets before the Black Opal sisters can save them.

Frankie's next target is a rock star god from the 21st century, if she can get there to save him. Dekkar James is everything she could hope for, imperfectly perfect, hard bodied and emerald green eyed. He's just what she needs. Only one problem, targets are strictly forbidden fruit.

Dekkar James is used to having anything and everything he wants, what else can a rock star god except? And when Frankie pops into his life, he must have her. But can he hear the truth? Can he survive the reality?

Black Legacy by Juliana Stone  is a hot little paranormal romance that was fast, fun, and poured excitement out of the few short pages. Frankie and Dekkar are a perfectly mismatched pair, and it serves to make Frankie's heart sing.  What she doesn't know is the Dekkar has to be saved, it can be no other way.

Ms. Stone is a new author to me, but this won't be the last of her books that I pick up. This is the first book Ms. Stone has published with Samhain Publishing, but I hope it isn't the last. I'll be patiently waiting for the continuing story and the next release.

Lea @ closetwriter has an excellent review here.


Ms. Stone's continuing story of the Jaguar Warrior Series, Book One, His Darkest Hunger (publisher:  Avon / Harper Collins)

(Release Date:  March 30, 2010)

The next in the series, His Darkest Embrace (Book Two) will be released October 26, 2010.  Book Three (His Darkest Salvation) and Book Four to be announced soon.


I bought this short story for my own enjoyment. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

If Only This Wasn't Real Life......If Only It Wasn't MY Life As told to Dottie Taylor

Chapter One, My Life

To quote Jessica Simpson:  "These boots are made for walkin' and that's just what they'll do.  One of these days these boots are gonna to walk all over you."

This is how I feel, at least today anyway.  I feel like I've been walked on, kicked about, and stomped hard just for good measure.  This is the day my boyfriend told me "I don't wanna be mean, but uh.... I don't think we should date anymore.... " as I'm walking into football cheerleading tryouts.  With the judges sitting six feet away from me as tears threaten to streak down my face, leaving rivulets of mascara in their place.  I wanna puke.

What the heck!  Three weeks before prom and he doesn't want to be mean?  Can you think of a meaner thing to do?  Especially as I'm walking into tryouts?  And guess why.  No sooner did he break up with me, and he's sitting on the school bus, touching tonsils with my now evil nemesis, Kelly.  To make matters worse, if they can actually get worse, everyone on the bus starts texting me, "OMG!!!  Aren't you dating Dan?"  Twenty-five text messages in ten minutes.  Now what do I say.  I ignore most of the texts, except from my best friend Emmie, who I immediately text back with a gigantic "NO!!!"  And can you believe just a week ago Kelly asked me to help make the Cheer Squad?  And I did.  Now, I have to stare at her through every one of the basketball games next season.  This is too unreal.

Not that Dan cares, he and Kelly, and everyone else on the bus is off on a week long trip.  The reward for being part of the Singer Showcase Performers.  I should have known better than to become involved with a Drama King.  I should have known that he was schizophrenic from the start.

I rush home to tell my mom that she just wasted three hundred dollars on a prom dress I'm never going to wear.  Even if I get another date, this was the dress I was going to wear with Dan.  And now Dan has dumped me.  I can never look at the dress again and not think of him.  I wonder what the return policy is on prom dress?  Well, anyway, Mom's gonna kill me.

As I crash through the front door, I scream "Mom, I'm not going to prom!"  Then I burst into tears, if you cry, moms hardly ever scream back at you.

Except for my mom.  "What do you mean 'you're not going to prom'?  You know how much that dress cost?  What happened?"  So, I tell her the whole awful story down to Kelly and Dan giving each other throat exams on the school bus and the hundreds of text messages I've received.  And how I can't go back to school, not with everyone watching Dan and Kelly trying to swallow each other faces.  We'll have to move to some place far, far away, preferably, another galaxy.  The humiliation will be intense.

"Well, honey, maybe someone else will ask you?"  Three weeks before flipping prom....she's delusional.  And the dress....I can't bring myself to look at the dress, much less wear it.  Ever.

(check back for the continuing story)

Cold Victory by Fiona Jayde

Publisher: Loose Id LLC

Pages:  104 (Novella)

From the Cover: 

Intergalactic warfare has not been kind to humans. Convicted pilot Zoya Scott has the chance to avenge her family, redeem an act of desperation with that of sacrifice. She’ll end this war if she betrays the man whose touch burns through her soul, the man whose ship and crew she must destroy. The man who is her bloodmate.

Commander Galen Stark never expected the convicted pilot on his ship to be anything more then a good looking inconvenience. A small brush of their hands grips him with vicious lust, a need he can’t control. She is his bloodmate – a biological reaction burning through his veins.

Except she carries an explosive. And Stark may have to give the order to destroy them all.

Zoya Scott has seen her share of war.  When her small colony is ignored and left to be invaded, she has to watch her sister and young nephew died, and for what, did it stop the war?  Then, when she tries to right the wrong committed, help those who can't help themselves, she's convict of stealing. Now, she's being controlled by the one thing she has come to hate.

Commander Galen Stark is desperate for pilots, he has to take the green pilots without any real training under the belts.  When he's forced to accept the convicted pilot, Zoya Scott, it's the last thing he needs.  His ship is being held together with patches, he has a real shortage of supplies and ammunition, and now an undisciplined convict pilot, can his luck get any better?

But when Galen brushes against Zoya, his blood sings, his body demands hers, Bloodmates.  Zoya never thought to make a Bloodmate connection, and it's so not what she needs, a DNA complication.  Bloodmates always know one another and the connection never lies.

Heat Warning Level:  Back away from the flames, sure to get singed.

Cold Victory by Fiona Jayde is an exciting paranormal/scifi fantasy romance that rocks through and through.  While the title of the book, Cold Victory, gives the reader an opportunity to understand the psyche of the heroine Zoya (she has to remain detached, unfeeling, cold if she going to complete her mission), but the story within the pages is anything but cool.  It is bound in strong emotions.  While our hero, powerful alpha male Commander Galen Stark, isn't looking for any more complications in his life, he hasn't counted on the red-headed beauty who is assigned to his faltering ship either.  From the moment his fingertips touches hers, he longs to see the lush red hair unbound and heat burning in her eyes.  If only they weren't in a fight for their lives.  Zoya, our fiesty heroine, is being asked to complete a mission that goes against just about everything she believes in, but maybe the deaths of a few can bring an end of the killing of the many, bring an end to the Godless war, and relieve her suffering and guilt she feels at letting her family die.  She isn't counting on making a Bloodmate connection with the one man she has to use if her mission is to succeed.  Cold Victory is also about what happens when war drives people to the brink.  A war that was started by an unknown enemy with an unknown cause that won't end until one side can no longer annihilate the other.  Something has to be done to stop it.

Cold Victory was anything but cold.  From the moment the hero and heroine encounter each other, the pages heat up, and not only do the characters bring heat to the story, but find themselves inexplicably drawn together beyond their ability to stop, even when they know the situation may lead to their own deaths.  Galen is such a strong figure, but not opposed to sharing his strength and gaining strength from Zoya, they fit together perfectly.  Fiona Jayde is a new author for me, but this won't be the last on her stories that I pick up.  I love finding new authors, especially ones who capture my attention completely.  Cold Victory was a very quick, intense read that I found difficult to put down, read in one sitting.  I recommend it for readers who like some red-hot romance and space fantasy readers, well worth your time.

I bought this book for my own enjoy, hope you will too.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Out of Sight, Court of Angels, Book Three by Stella Cameron

Publisher: Mira/Harlequin Enterprises
Pages: 400

From the Cover:

Psychic master talent Sykes Millet can vanish at will, read minds and control others with hypnosis. What Sykes cannot do is escape his destiny - an ancient curse foretelling the misery his dark beauty may bring to everyone he loves.

Poppy Fortune knows all too well the burden of having paranormal talent. The supernatural world has fractured her entire family - now it's keeping at bay the one man she wants more than life.

Driven by hatred for the Millets, a killing force has attacked New Orleans. The evil Embran race has no conscience and intends to terrorize the city into submission. Sykes and Poppy must set aside old distrust and use their bonded talents to save their families, themselves - and New Orleans.

Poppy Fortune has a lot to make up for.  First she almost sabotaged the burgeon romance between her brother, Ben, and his new wife, Willow.  Even after their bonding, she still didn't believe Willow had the power to match Ben's.  She tried to make amends, but it's an impossible sin to forgive, at least in her mind.

Sykes, Willow's older brother and Ben's best friend, has been a thorn in Poppy's side.  He shows her disdain for her misdeeds, but there's more to his emotions than meets the eye.  At the first brush of their hands, electricity erupts, grabbing Poppy's attention.

Sykes remembers Poppy from years of growing up along side the Fortunes, Ben's troublesome little sister.  But, now Sykes has had his fill of Millet problems, Millet destinies, and Millet's mentor, Jude, who brought the Millet curse to Sykes shoulders.  Now, all Sykes wants is to find a woman he can be himself with, he wants what others have found.  Poppy brings a new realization into his life.  She's all grown up and enticing as ever.

Out of Sight by Stella Cameron continues the Court of Angels Series.  Sykes is the oldest of the Millet children, now abandoned by their parents who are searching for the answer to the curse the Millet's have endured and having left Uncle Pascal in place as the lead of the family, a position that should have been Sykes by all rights.  He's the oldest child in the family, but he's also the only one cursed, Jude Millet's curse of the dark hair and blue eyes, all the other Millets have the legendary red hair.  Sykes thinks the curse is nonsense and so does Pascal, if the truth is known, and Pascal would like nothing better than to turn the reins of the burgeoning family over to Sykes capable hands. Pascal has his own problems to contend with, including a night of indiscretion in his wayward youth.  But, the Embran, the creatures that would like to take over in this realm, also have to be dealt with, and it will take all the families working together to overcome the formidable foe.  The Embran who are gradually disseminating and infecting their host bodies.  It is only through finding the Harmony that the families can defeat the Embran, and only Sykes has the ability that they need.

Out of Sight was another exceptional read from Stella Cameron who combines mystery, mayhem, psychic ability and a sensual romance all together in one book.  This is Poppy and Sykes' story.  Sykes, the long suffering true head of the Millet family and our enduring hero, and Poppy, the youngest of the Fortunes, deceived by her brothers into thinking she has the least of abilities and our heroine in this tale.  Sykes has been searching for someone to complete his life and he really doesn't give Poppy a second look as the young sister of his best friend, Ben.  But while Sykes has been searching, Poppy has grown up and come into her own.  Now, he's having trouble denying the attraction and sparks that flow between their bodies.  The question is, if Sykes takes the course laid before him by Millet mentor, Jude, will he ever find anyone else to fill the niche Poppy so completely fills?  Will he ever locate the keys that will open the Harmony?  And will the Embran take over New Orleans in the process?

Out of Sight was an excellent read and I'll be looking for more from Stella Cameron.  If you enjoy a little magical psychic ability with your mayhem and a sensual romance to boot, check the Court of Angels Series.  Excellent paranormal romance/fantasy reading to be enjoyed by all.

I received this book from the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises, and Net Galley for review.  All opinions I have expressed are my own.