Queen of Shadow - Dianne Sylvan

I read a lot of paranormal books. They all have their own special "quirks" that catch the attention and draw us in. But for the most part they're very similar, especially when it comes to vampires. Not this book. It was different from the start and ended differently as well. It drew me in, and had me reading non-stop. It is a violent book starting out, uncomfortably so if you're female, but necessary for the growth of the character. And grow she does, coming into her own power. You'll notice I never give too much away when I do these critiques. It's mostly because if this catches your eye, chances are you'll look it up on Amazon or somewhere else and learn all the plot you need to know. All I can say is-check it out! Dianne Sylvan is a fresh voice in an overrun paranormal world of stories. I am so looking forward to the next book in this series.

Lords of the underworld series by Gena Showalter

I have a tendency to zip through books or series like some people eat a bag of chips: non-stop until I run out of stories in the series. =) Gena Showalter's Lords of the underworld was no exception. Is it "high" literature? Well, no. BUT it's a hell of a lot of fun to read. No pun intended.

The Titan's created an elite group of soldiers to watch out for them. Demons were caught and put into a box watched over by none other than Pandora. The soldiers not liking the Gods choice of box watcher, killed Pandora and opened the box; thereby letting loose all the ills of the world. To punish the soldiers, the Gods then housed said demons in them as a form of punishment and sent them out into the world. After thousands of years, the Lords have come to terms with their inner demon and have tried to do some good in spite of who they house inside themselves.

Some of the Lords split off into their own groups and settled wherever they wanted in the world. This particular set of Lords live in Budapest, in a crumbling fortress complete with dungeon. All the Lords are hunted by a fanatical group of people called, the Hunters. The Hunters blame the Lords for all the ills of the world, rather than understanding that many of the ills of the world are caused by "free will". The Lords and Hunters are hunting for the now lost Pandora box, now made up of Pandora's bones and 4 artifacts that will help them to find the box. Visitations by Gods, Goddesses, Angels and lower level demons either help or hinder their search. Along the way, each of these Lords meets his match in a very special woman, with gifts or inner creatures of their own.

All told, it's an interesting story line and has kept me reading it for the last several days. There are some funny dialogues between the characters, and while the Lords do finally succumb to the special woman as they should, it's entertaining to read how they make that journey. Overall series stars- 4 out of 5

Fever series by Karen Marie Moning

5 books of non-stop action. Buy all 5 before you start reading because you will be mad at yourself if you don't have all of them on hand. MacKayla Lane is young women whose life is about to change in a very big way. After her sister Alina is murdered in Dublin, MacKayla travels to the Emerald Isle to find her sisters killer. Strange events start happening almost immediately after she arrives. The strangest yet- Jericho Barrons.

Filled with Fae, Seelie & Unseelie, a lost queen, a missing king and a book called the Sinsair Dubh, life for MacKayla just became a lot more interesting.