Review: Sidekick by Auralee Wallace

Sidekick

Author: Auralee Wallace

Series: -

Pages: 249

Publisher/Source: Harlequin/Escape Publishing 

Amazon

Release date: 1^st June 2014

Synopsis (Goodreads): Heroes meets Bridget Jones in this brilliant, hilarious debut novel about a girl who just wants to save the world... Brianna “Bremy” St James, daughter of billionaire Atticus St James, has been cut off from the family fortune and is struggling to survive in a world that no longer holds its breath every time she buys a new outfit. To make matters worse, her twin sister is keeping secrets, loan sharks are circling, and the man of her dreams — a newspaper reporter — is on assignment to bring down everyone with the last name St James. Things are certainly looking bleak for the down-and-out socialite until a good deed throws her into the path of the city’s top crime-fighter, Dark Ryder. Suddenly, Bremy has a new goal: apprentice to a superhero, and start her own crime-fighting career. Ryder has no need for a sidekick, but it turns out the city needs Bremy’s help. Atticus St James is planning the crime of the century, and Bremy may be the only one able to get close enough to her father to stop him. Now all she needs to do is figure out this superhero thing in less than a month, keep her identity secret from the man who could very well be The One, and save the city from total annihilation. Well, no one ever said being a superhero would be easy.

Review: 3 ½ out of 5 stars

When I saw that this book was Urban Fantasy, I expected something quite serious, I definitely  didn’t expect to be giggling my way through the book, Sidekick is a story where you suspend disbelief and enjoy the thrill ride you are taken on.

Our MC is Bremy St James (I am loving that name) a socialite who has been cut off from her wealthy family, now forced to fend for herself and out to save the world she joins up with a super hero named Dark Ryder. Bremy was such a fun character, brave, quirky and independent with a bit of an immature side, I absolutely loved her! Her inner dialogue was hilarious as was her awkwardness, I loved the way she went about saving her sister from their evil father, it was very engaging.

I didn’t know what to expect when I started Sidekick, something a little more serious definitely but I found it quite humorous, the interactions between the characters were written wonderfully; it was a fun read. It is the type of book where you just go with it and enjoy it for the tongue in cheek humour, witty one liners, awesome heroine and amazing side characters; there was a bit of mystery, intrigue and fascinating character back-stories that made the overall story quite entertaining.

For a debut novel, it was impressive; I enjoyed Auralee Wallace’s writing style and the comical style superhero journey we were taken on. A few things were left unresolved so I’m hoping this is the start of a new series. Special mention to the fabulous cover as well!

Thank you to Harlequin/ Escape Publishing Australia for the opportunity to read and review Sidekick.

 

About the author: Auralee Wallace is an author of humorous commercial women’s fiction and occasional guest blogger at Penny Dreadful Books and Reviewshttp://pennydreadfulbooks.me/. She is a member of the RWA, and her debut novel, Sidekick, a superhero urban fantasy, placed as a finalist in the Virginia Fool for Love Contest, The TARA Contest and The Catherine. Sidekick has been picked up by Harlequin’s Escape Publishing and is due for release June 1st, 2014. Auralee has a Master’s degree in English literature and worked in the publishing industry for a number of years before teaching at the college level. Her latest project, Camp Murder, a cozy mystery with an edge, combines the traditional elements of a good whodunit with a little romance, a little danger, and a lot of fun. When this semi-natural blonde mother of three children and three rescue cats isn’t writing or playing soccer, she can be found watching soap operas with lurid fascination and warring with a family of peregrine falcons for the rights to her backyard. She can also be found on Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, and her blog http://auraleewallace.com/.

ARC Review: Through These Wicked Nights (The Guardians of the Night #2) by Pixie Lynn Whitfield

 

Author: Pixie Lynn Whitfield

Series: The Guardians of the Night

Pages: 200

Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy

Amazon: Through These Wicked Nights

Release Date: 8th January 2013 

Contact Pixie: Facebook - Blog - Twitter - Goodreads

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

The world isn’t the same anymore. Not since humans discovered vampires are real. Zarah and her new team of Guardians barely escaped and are in hiding. What once had been her job of protecting them, she is now stuck cowering away as a new threat emerges from the humans: Hunters. War is approaching. To add to her list of growing problems, a group of Fallen have been living in The Compound. Seth is one she can't seem to resist. He teaches her things of the side of her she's never known about until recently. Draven has grown cold and distant again since the battle with Nathanial, and she is left feeling conflicted. These are the least of her worries though. Something else is going on. A video is discovered with shocking revelations, and Zarah has a feeling things are about to go haywire.

Everything is crashing down around her. If she doesn't do something soon, they all will suffer the consequences. Even if it means destroying her beliefs and extinguishing what little humanity she has left…

Don't miss this second installment of The Guardians of the Night trilogy!

Review: 4 out of 5 stars

Through These Wicked Nights was kindly provided to me by the author, Pixie Lynn Whitfield in exchange for my honest review and is the second book in The Guardians of the Night series.

Through These Wicked Nights continues where Darkness Comes This Way left off, Vampires have now gone public and the world has been thrown into chaos with human hunters and Vampires now embroiled in war.

Reformed rogue vampire, Zarah Duncan is learning more about her bloodline as a half vampire/half angel and the elemental powers she could come to wield. Zarah is a strong and likeable heroine who is in control despite the obstacles they now face but also shows vulnerability and conflicted emotions; especially when it comes to Draven Kinsley.

We learn more about Guardian, Draven in this installment and it definitely wasn’t what I was expecting, I feel there is so much more still to learn about him and his past. He is quite the broody character but the moments where he let down his guard were really quite sweet.

The secondary characters were each developed well, I was nervous about Zarah’s relationship with Fallen Seth and could never quite trust him, her brother Thomas is great as is Cam the Fallen who provided her with some much needed information.

I like Pixie’s writing and despite a few minor editing problems which could easily be overlooked I really enjoyed this novel; the plot flowed quickly and smoothly with a few twists and turns to really keep you guessing. The romance was pretty light; it was there but not at the forefront of the story.

Through These Wicked Nights was a very quick read but the progression of the storyline leaves you anticipating the finale in this trilogy especially with the Fallen Masters intrigued by Zarah and events which happened at the conclusion of the story.

Overall, if you are after a quick and enjoyable Paranormal/Urban Fantasy that has a cast of wonderful characters and an entertaining plot then I highly recommend The Guardians of the Night.

Thank-you kindly to Pixie for providing me with a copy of  Through These Wicked Nights

REVIEW: Darkness Comes this Way by Pixie Lynn Whitfield

  

Author: Pixie Lynn Whitfield

Series: The Guardians of the Night

Pages: 380

Genre: Paranormal / Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Self

Amazon: Darkness Comes this Way

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

Zarah Duncan is a Guardian. It’s an elite job that protects humans and the untainted vampires from the real monsters: those lost to the bloodlust. Rogues infest the city. Missing humans, unsolved cases…Zarah knows what the real cause is and she’s been trained since childhood to destroy them.

But she has a haunting past that catches up one day. Zarah was Rogue once, and until her, no one else has ever cured from the poisoned state of mind before. She’s been labeled a miracle, and the mystery only builds. She gets the awful feeling there’s more to it than just a lucky magical come-back. There are deep, dark secrets being kept. Maybe her boss Nathanial knows something? When she gets paired with a partner, Draven Kinsley, it only adds more difficulty. He hates her and swears that with a single look, she’ll poison him. To make matters worse, her Rogue brother has to show up, and he brings with him a shocking announcement. What Zarah learns from him rocks her entire world upside down. She not only begins to question who and what she is anymore, but it can possibly change the Vampire race forever.

The scary part: someone else knows too…and they’ll do anything to get her special blood, spelling disaster for the humans that Guardians have secretly been protecting for decades.

Vampires, fallen angels, war, betrayal, and romance fill this Paranormal/Urban Fantasy debut, the first book to a high-action trilogy.

REVIEW: 4 out of 5 stars

Darkness Comes this Way was kindly provided to me by the wonderful Pixie Lynn Whitfield in exchange for my honest opinion.

Zarah Duncan is a reformed rogue vampire, one of a kind and changed back without knowing the reasons as to how and why. She is now a Guardian working alongside elite vampires trained to kill those who hunt and kill humans.

Draven Kinsley is a Guardian, he is gruff and unforgiving with a strong hatred for the tainted rogues, his feelings towards Zarah are of disdain and hatred; he doesn’t know why she has been cured and prefers to keep her at arms length but when he is forced by his boss, Nathaniel to partner up with her he gets to know more about her past and her as a person and is surprised she is different to what he had originally assumed.

I wasn’t a Draven fan initially whatsoever (although his physical appearance was certainly appealing), I found him to be rude and horrible towards Zarah who I thought was wonderful. As the story progressed and they became closer I started to enjoy their growing friendship and found myself hoping they could be together as more; the twist on their bond was certainly interesting as well.

There were hints at a brewing romance between Zarah and Draven but nothing progressed which I found to be refreshing; the relationship wasn’t at the forefront of this story which I actually quite enjoyed. It gives me something more to look forward to in the next installment.

The general gist of the plot revolves around a group of intelligent rogues wanting to use Zarah to find a cure, there are secrets being kept and the mystery surrounding her and her miraculous cure is known to a few who want to use her for their own purposes; of course it is a lot more complex than this but I’ll avoid the details to prevent spoilers but it was intriguing and certainly different to any vampire book I have read more recently. I enjoyed the spin Ms Whitfield placed on what we generally know and read of vampires and with the possibility of a new breed of vampire/fallen angel; it is certainly an interesting concept that I am eager to learn more about.

I really enjoyed the cast of supporting characters, I especially loved Zarah’s brother Thomas; I felt for what he had been through and respected the decisions he made. The fallen angels, although their appearance was quite brief have me curious; Seth in particular.

I started to read Darkness Comes this Way and I couldn’t put it down, so I ended up finishing it in one sitting. I thoroughly enjoyed Ms Whitfield’s writing; it was detailed and had me engrossed from the very beginning. The pacing flowed well and I found the plot to be unique and entertaining.

All in all, if you are after an enjoyable Paranormal/Urban Fantasy that has a cast of memorable characters, a solid entertaining plot and wonderful world-building then Darkness Comes this Way is for you.

I am eager to get hold of the next book in this series.

REVIEW: The Renfield Syndrome (Rhiannon's Law #2) by J.A Saare

 

Author: J.A Saare

Pages: 212

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: Rhiannon's Law

Publisher: Mundania Press

AMAZON: The Renfield Syndrome

Synopsis (Goodreads)

Vampires, and werewolves, and demons, oh my.

Rhiannon thought facing off against a deranged child vampire was the most dangerous task she would ever have to undertake, but she’s about to discover making a deal with a demon is far, far worse. Sent forward into another reality, one in which vampires are now dominating nearly extinct humans, she realizes the sooner she returns to her vampire lover, Disco, the better.

Unfortunately, time changes a lot of things; including those most trusted around her. When she’s faced with a loss and betrayal unlike any she has ever known, her focus shifts from severing the debt between the demon that wants to kill her, to exacting a revenge that will bring forth consequences she never could have fathomed. By reaching out to the darkness lingering within her, she’ll find the strength to push forward despite the circumstances that would see her dead and buried.

After all, when it’s all said and done, all that she has left to lose is her soul.

REVIEW: 4 out of 5 stars

It is quite hard to write this review without it containing possible spoilers. But here goes…

Dead, Undead and Somewhere in Between ends with a cliffhanger and The Renfield Syndrome picks up exactly where it left off but 101 years into the future thanks to a debt Rhiannon has paid to demon Zagan for her vampire lover Disco, she now has to find Disco in order to fulfill her debt but only has a limited amount of time in which to do this.

The first person Rhiannon meets in futuristic New York is a shape-shifter named Carter who has claimed her as his mate and offers his protection within their compound from the vampires who now more or less rule the city, she is also faced with another reality that humans are slowly becoming extinct thanks to a virus which has wiped them out en masse.

The reality of what has happened leads Rhiannon to find a way to change the future by any means necessary, including using her necromancer abilities, negotiations with demons and putting her own well-being at risk.

The twists and turns in this book were surprising; I hadn’t anticipated what would happen so I am curious to see where it all leads. The plot of this series can go so many ways.

Rhiannon is still a sarcastic, smart-mouthed heroine who has a vulnerability about her. She kicks some major butt and has no qualms about doing it; her quick retorts are witty and entertaining. I was surprised by some of her reactions to certain circumstances but believe they all served a purpose in the overall scheme of things.

We don’t see as much of Disco as what I would have liked, he plays a small-ish role in this book and what we do see of him isn’t in the best light. He abused Rhiannon’s trust which I hope can be redeemed; I enjoy them as a couple.

I loved Paine in the first book, his ability would be heart-breaking and the distance he places between himself and others to avoid ‘reading’ them would be extremely hard, especially in close relationships. I didn’t expect what would happen in the futuristic world but hope his close friendship with Disco can be sorted out. I also liked the role Goose (Ethan) played in this installment.

What I didn’t like: I don’t think the relationship or lack thereof between Carter and Rhiannon - his purposed mate was explored enough, I was quite eager to learn more about him and ‘why’ he would choose to mate with her given his position and her behavior towards him. She wasn’t liked amongst the other shifters so it was a left too open for my liking. I hope it is bought up in future installments.

Also, Rhiannon lacked emotion when she discovered what had happened to Disco, of course she sought to change the past but the possibility of it not happening was always there.

All in all, an enjoyable sequel to Dead, Undead or Somewhere in Between. It is a fast paced engrossing read with a solid plot. I am looking forward to reading The Ripple Effect which has an anticipated 2012 release date.

Books in order:

Dead, Undead or Somewhere in Between - 2010

The Renfield Syndrome - 2011

The Ripple Effect - 2012