ARC Review: Shadow Falling by Rebecca Zanetti

Picking up right where the previous book "Mercury Striking" left off, we find Vivienne having a hard time recovering from her time in captivity. She is having nightmares, and whenever she wakes up she finds Raze Shadow nearby looking after her. He was the one who essentially saved her, and she struggles to decide whether her feelings are real or if they are only because of his rescue.

She used to be a profiler before Scorpius hit. Scorpius is a bacteria that spread across the US like fire where once infected a person either dies, becomes a serial killer, becomes zombie like wanting to kill and bite people (except they're not dead), or with Vitamin B infections stay mostly normal except with enhanced abilities. Because of the high quantity of serial killers forming from the bacteria, Vivienne is a huge asset. And since she survived Scorpius, her profiling skills have been magnified. 

Raze is a man with a hidden agenda, and so he isn't completely trusted by the leader of the sanctuary he and Vivienne currently reside. He struggles with an internal dilemma, because he is being forced to do another person's bidding. He is strong and capable having some past military experience. While he secretly knows he has to basically kidnap Vivienne, he has this need to protect her and he can't help starting to fall for her.

Rebecca Zanetti knows how to make an intense fast paced romance. I again was on the edge of my seat for the entire book. The romantic struggle was well written and it corresponded fluidly with the Scorpius plot. Raze's struggle to do the best thing in a situation with no straightforward right solution was interesting to read. I am excited to read the next in the series!

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N | iTunes |

ARC Review: Illusion Town by Jayne Castle

Illusion Town is book 13 in Jayne Castle (aka Jayne Ann Krentz) Ghost Hunters/Harmony series also which is connected to her Arcane Society series. She has said she will continue the Arcane Society series just in this world. I always have a place in my heart for books where the main characters have the name Hannah, especially when they are really good, even more so when the dust bunny shares a name of one of my favorite stuffed animals from when I was a kid. Illusion Town is the Vegas of Harmony, and so you must have a story where two people wake up married and no idea of what happened the night before. What makes this story unique from the others are the circumstances. It is funny and witty in the typical JAK style with the action and mystery that always makes these books fun to read.

Illusion Town is divided into eight sectors two of which are inhabitable due to the psi-waves. Then you have the high end down to the low end of the gambling chain. The town is run by the Illusion Club the high end casino owners. Hannah West is a dreamlight talent she can dream walk and she uses that talent to help find lost antiquities. Elias Coppersmith is the head of research and development for his family’s mining operation, he contacted the Finder to find a lost heirloom for him but stayed in contact with her afterwards and even managed to talk her into going on a date with him. But soon after he finds out he’s going to need her help in a professional capacity. Next we find them waking up in a strange hotel room with no memory of last night and a marriage of convenience license. They retrace their steps starting with the marriage and soon remember everything. But Elias isn’t about to let Hannah go on her own especially since the people who were after them last night could be targeting Hannah specifically. They married so that they would stick together after they woke up, they were both psi-burned and knew the chances of the remembering the night before was slim to none and also it would help protect Hannah with the Coppersmith last name if it is her they were after. But even though neither will say it out loud they married because they were in love with each other.

Their story takes us from the wonders of the underground alien ruins and rainforests to the pizzazz and grandeur of Illusion Town. The unraveling of both their mysteries is exciting and quite a thrill ride. As always the dust bunny steals the show. Overall, I loved it a little predictable but enjoyable none the less.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N | iTunes |

ARC Review: Addicted by Elle Kennedy

Addicted is the second book in the Outlaws series by Elle Kennedy. I hadn't read Claimed (the first book in the series) before starting Addicted and I didn't have any problems understanding this one. This book intrigued me right from the start with this unique world and interesting characters. There was a lot to like here and I didn't want to put it down. Yet there were also some things that I had mixed feelings on, and some of them didn't work for me at all. 

In the Outlaws series, the characters live in a post-apocalyptic world where the US has been divided into territories and different factions fight for control. Several groups of the outlaws band together to keep each other as safe as possible and share supplies as well as fight the enforcers and bandits. Jamie and her best friend Lennox were forced to leave their home behind after an attack, and have joined together with Connor Mackenzie's group of outlaws. When he asks them to go on a trip to another outlaw camp to help train soldiers for an upcoming war, Jamie and Lennox head out with Rylan, Pike and Kade. Though Connor doubts the outlaw leader Reese's intentions, he knows that they need to go to try and get answers about what is really happening. But while gone, Jamie and Lennox find themselves unable to fight the feelings that they have always felt for one another yet never explored. 

I liked Lennox and Jamie a lot. Lennox was super hot and a really great guy. He was everything you could want in a hero and more. Jamie was great as well and I loved them together. They had so much history and friendship and they had always been super close. Though they had each felt more for one another, they had never acted on it and I found that really interesting. You could tell that things were building and it was bound to explode. 

The one thing I will say though is that readers should be aware that there is a lot of sex in this book. Everyone sleeps with everyone, and no one has any problems with that. You will find just about every combination here, including M/F, M/M, and M/F/M. If any of that bothers you, you might want to steer clear of this series. Also if you have issues with the hero and heroine being with other people, you also might want to steer clear of this series as I am not exaggerating when I say that these people sleep around more than I have ever seen in a series before and it is no big deal to any of them. At times that attitude and practice bothered me, as I just didn't understand why they were all so okay with it. Later on they mention being jealous of them with other people, but at the time they had no issue with it and watched each other with other people often.

Overall, I found this world to be complex and interesting and I truly loved how different and unique this series is. But there were times that things did get a but slow and boring and I think that was in part due to how big this cast of characters is. Don't get me wrong I am interested in continuing and seeing where things go, but I wish that at times there wasn't quite so much going on. I also felt like at times there was just too much sex. Elle Kennedy is fantastic at writing scorching hot stories and I love a good sex scene as much as the next girl. But there were times it just felt like that was all that was going on. I will definitely read the next in the series and I can't wait to go back and read the first book as well. But readers should be aware of some of the things I mentioned before reading to decide if this series is right for them. If you are not bothered by multiple partners, tons of sex and combinations of sex and like a good post apocalyptic world, then I would definitely recommend giving this series a shot.

**ARC Provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N | iTunes | 

ARC Review: True Born by L.E. Sterling

True Born is story about a 17 year old girl on the brink of her and her twin sister's birthday. Lucy and Margot live in the future after a Plague swept over the world The Plague affects all people differently. The ideal situation is when you are physically able to have gene splicing to counteract the Plague. This is only an option though if you can afford it and if your genetics are attuned for it. They are called Splicers. The alternative situation is where you don't have the correct genetic makeup for Splicing and/or you cant afford the procedure, These people are just waiting to die basically. They are called Lasters. A third and very rare outcome is if you are True Born. They seem to be some sort of mutant existence where your genes go backward in the evolutionary path and you have animal traits like turning into an animal or having horns or feathers.

At the upcoming 18th birthday celebration, the girls will learn their fate. But the odd thing is, Lucy and Margot have been undergoing a lot more testing than is normally necessary. That combined with unusual abilities the girls possess leave everyone high strung and confused. Their government working father is upping their security due to rising unrest from the Lasters/Rabble. This new security team consists solely of True Borns, and one of them catches Lucy's eye. Margot gets kidnapped and its up to Lucy and the True Born team to save her. This leads the girls on a somewhat exciting and confusing set of events to just stay alive and protect each other.

I had a hard time visualizing what was happening during scenes. Stirling doesn't do the best job in my opinion of describing actions and movement. The dialogue also wasn't done very well. Conversations were very short and always assumed the reader understood what wasn't being said. I wasn't able to follow it very well. I really had to focus and reread scenes to be able to follow what was happening. That and the plot being somehow boring and far fetched really turned me off with the story. What I did love about the book was how Stirling described certain things. The "set" we should say was described distinctly. Her metaphors and similes were refreshingly unique. She was very gifted in her word choice.

Unfortunately, the book didn't have enough of a hook to make me want to read the next one. I felt a lot of the scenes were just fillers and this left me bored. Her twist on the dystopian plague type future wasn't exciting for me. I wish I felt differently, because of parts of her writing style but oh well.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N | iTunes |

ARC Review: Mercury Striking by Rebecca Zanetti

Mercury Striking was fast paced from page one, and it had me wanting to know more and more. Gosh it left me with that feeling so bad I want the next one, now! It is set in Los Angeles six months after a bacteria infected the US (maybe the whole world). This bacteria has three possibilities with anyone it infects that survives. 1. You might come out with some enhanced abilities as long as you stay up on vitamin injections. 2. You become a crazy person who just wants to bite people and eat them (zombie like but they're not dead). 3. You become a highly intelligent serial killer.

Lynne Harmony is on the run, and seeks help from a known community leader/soldier, Jax Mercury. She shows him and his scouting team her blue heart (which is a side effect of the only known cure for the bacteria). Everyone wants their hands on her for either her blood to find a cure, to trade her for supplies, or kill her because they think she is carrying a new form of the disease. Jax sees her value and takes her to his base pretty much as a hostage.

Both Jax an Lynne have learned a lot in this new world, and don't share their secrets all at once. Neither can risk the vulnerability or time a romantic relationship comes with. However, they are both almost instantly attracted to one another. It's a terrible situation where love might either be the worst thing imaginable or their only link to their humanity.

There are several intense intimate scenes so take note of that. You won't find fancy restaurants and candle light in this story but the intense environment brings along some strong protective thoughts, feelings, and actions that will make you swoon. I'm excited for the next book, to find out what happens next. This was the first book for me by Rebecca Zanetti and I am very interested now in her other books!

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N | GooglePlay | iTunes | Kobo |

ARC Review: Siren's Call by Jayne Castle

I have followed this series since the beginning. The first Jayne Castle books I read were the St. Helen’s series (Zinnia, Amaryllis, and Orchid) which is the precursor to the Harmony series. In case you don’t know, Harmony is a distant planet where humans were trapped and after a couple of centuries we have evolved into something more. The human race has developed paranormal abilities ranging from heightened senses to technopathy. Which that takes on a new meaning because Earth technology burnt out and they had to find a new material to power equipment; with no fossil fuels they found a special kind of amber that can charge machinery and even intensify a person’s special ability. Okay, this is book four in the Rainshadow story arc within the Harmony world. As it is part of a story arc I would recommend reading the other first but it is not an absolutely necessity.

I love the Harmony series it is an entertaining futuristic/ urban fantasy type series. Each book centers around different people with different powers who ultimately stubble across some heinous plan made by devious people and in the end make things right all with the help of the mysterious and adorable but dangerous dust bunny. In Siren’s Call Ella Morgan is more than what she seems classified as a low range musical talent with the job of being a dream councilor. Her real talent she has to hide from everyone, her real talent is one of fairy tales a Siren. Her paranormal singing talent has the power to ease the mind, melt glass or stop the heart. She manages to keep a tight lid on her talent no one the wiser until her run in with Rafe Coppersmith, with the talent of finding things, when rescuing a bunch of dust bunnies from an antiquities dealer using them to experiment on with the illegal alien tech. Ella helps Rafe catch the riffraff trying to buy the alien tech.

Rafe Coppersmith is part of a wealthy predominate family who consults with the law enforcement in this case an illegal arms deal. When Rafe witnesses Ella in action he almost immediately knows she is a Siren. Taken by Ella’s beauty and her talent Rafe lets her leave without telling the authorities she was there with the promise of a coffee date. Ella should have known better even though she kept telling herself he wouldn’t call she was still hurt when he didn’t. Six months later Rafe saunters back in to her life asking to hire her for a special job he needs for a musical talent. As much as Ella wants to turn down a job the money and the reference could be really good for her new business.

The island of Rainshadow is shrouded in mystery; the Coppersmith Family owns a great deal of the island that was classified as a preserve it is covered in a strange fog and inside a different kind of place. Alien ruins found in the middle it all and has revealed some of the things the aliens use to do. But things go amiss when a man is murdered and that’s just the beginning. It goes much deeper that just a crazed group of people who think the alien ruins should be left alone and the attempts on Ella’s life is more then it seems. Between Rafe dealing with psy-fever and being attacked by a strange alien weapon this is non-stop action goodness.

Ella and Rafe are a perfect fit for each other when they finally get together its combustible. You can’t forget the most important character the dust bunny, Lorelei. To fans the dust bunny makes the book and this adorable ball of deadly fluff is one of the best yet. I loved this book it definitely ranks up there with my favorites.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N | iTunes |

Review: Tangled in Time by Pauline Baird Jones

Okay, quick background. It is 2010. Humans are out there in space, in another galaxy. Of course, it is a big secret on earth. But the military is all over the other galaxy. It takes a while to get to there from Earth. But once there, humans discovered a portal that allows a person to travel instantaneously through space and time. Kind of like Star Trek's transporter, only better.

At the beginning of Tangled in Time, Colonel Carey is testing the portal, when an unexpected impact lands him somewhere that is not where he expected to go. Soon he meets Olivia Carstairs, who has traveled to that point via steam-powered transmogrification machine. She, also, is not where she expected to be. By the way, she looks like Mary Poppins, complete with parasol. And the Colonel wants “to kiss her like it was his job.”

What follows is the adventures and romance of two people, well, Tangled in Time. The title may be giveaway, but in case it is not, the Colonel and Olivia are from two different time periods and end up in a third time period. Oh, there is some time tangling going on.

Steampunk elements abound - steam and brass, a teapot, an Individual Discovery Velocipediator, a Mapulator Retrieval Apparatus and some pretty fancy goggles. Plus, the aforementioned parasol. If it seems a stretch to mix steampunk with Sci Fi, it is. A good stretch. Like when you have been sitting for a long time and you stand up to stretch your legs.

The romance is light-hearted. The fact that the Colonel and Olivia come from different centuries has no effect on their mutual respect and pretty much instant attraction. I would describe their relationship as sweet and funny.

In a Sci-Fi/Steampunk adventure, you would expect there to be a bad guy. There is the mysterious Professor Smith, who seems like he is not on the side of right, but you really can't tell, which makes him all the more intriguing. Professor Smith is an ambiguous character that will most likely be around for another story in the series.

Tangled in Time is the third book in the Project Enterprise series. Though there are a few references that you will not get unless you read the first two books, I think Tangled in Time can be be read as standalone. The feel of it is entirely different from the first two, but writing style is very similar.

Speaking of writing style, Ms. Jones' is unique. She has a direct, smart-alecky voice that is also very smart and witty. I love it!

Ms. Jones writes in a variety of genres, but I think she excels at Sci Fi Romance. The first two books in this series, The Key, and Girl Gone Nova are on my favorites shelf.

The e-book version of Tangled in Time has just the one story. There is a print version of the book that also includes two bonus Project Enterprise stories. But print, or digital, Tangled in Time is Sci-Fi/Steampunk Romance at its best. It is only about 80 pages long, so if you are looking for a quick, extremely entertaining read, I highly recommend it.

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N | iTunes |

ARC Review: The Seek by Ros Baxter

If there was a sci-fi series to suck me in and make me salivate for the next book it would be this one. It’s a post world annihilation setting where the remaining survivors have spent the last seventeen years looking for a new home; stuck on different space stations the people were basically divided in to caste such as civilians, scientist, explorers, breeders, and warriors and intermingling is against the rules. Ros Baxter weaves a dystopian type futuristic setting where everyone hopes to find a new world to live in and the Avengers break the rules to live life to the fullest. The truth lies deep beneath the surface and the Council that leads the survivors has secrets hidden away and the people they have labeled traitors aren’t what they seem.

In this second book of the New Earth series we follow Kyntura the first and only female Avenger a class of warrior whose job it is to defend. The Avengers has a high mortality rate, and Kyn has survived as long as she has to become a teacher. She pushes her students to breaking points so that they survive. To her, her job is everything and the Council’s word is law that can be bent a little now and then but she believes in them and that they want the best for everyone. But everything changes when Kyn is told her latest batch of students is off to yet another possible match for New Earth and she asks to go with them. She runs across some old friends she had to leave behind long ago when she became an Avenger and they fight an alien race hell bent on scaring and killing every human off the planet.

Kyn remembers when the Earth was destroyed, and like many of the Avengers she suffers from a sort of PTSD and she frequently has flashbacks that give insight into why she is the way she is and why she took that path. It is an action packed and emotional story that left with an open ending for the next book.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N |

ARC Review: The Freezer by Timothy S. Johnston

If Agatha Christie, Michael Crichton, Isaac Asimov, and Alfred Hitchcock had a (literary) love child, it’d likely take the form of Timothy S. Johnston’s second book in The Tanner Sequence series, THE FREEZER. A masterful combination of horror, sci-fi technothriller, and locked-room mystery, Mr. Johnston’s sophomore novel delivers a tautly paced thriller with Hitchcockian pitch-perfect tension and suspense that surpasses his excellent debut, THE FURNACE, and will have you staying up all night to finish it.

Homicide investigator Lieutenant Kyle Tanner—whom we first met in THE FURNACE, though the mysteries are all self-contained—is en route to Pluto for his engineer girlfriend’s latest assignment and working cases along the way when a mysterious death on a colony in the asteroid between Mars and Jupiter summons him to Ceres. The case is a strange one: a physician-scientist formerly on Jupiter’s ice moon Europa, dead from an aneurysm caused by a nano-bomb inserted in his aorta. A second, more personal—and shocking (apologies to the passersby startled by my very vocal “you did NOT just go there!” outburst upon reading it)— murder by the same MO and Tanner’s discovery that he harbours a nano-bomb himself that will rupture his aorta in four days sends him to a military outpost known as The Freezer in the barren and inhospitable wasteland that is Europa to investigate. Nothing at The Freezer is as it seems and no one is cooperating, and Tanner must unravel the facility’s secrets and find the killer whilst his life ticks away and he stands at the edge of an emotional precipice. The successful locked-room mystery requires that the tension be kept high and the characters (and reader) feeling claustrophobic throughout to stretch everyone’s psyche to the breaking point, and Mr. Johnston does it masterfully from the opening pages. Tanner’s happiness and blossoming new life with girlfriend Shaheen; the deeply personal nature of that second murder; the looming death sentence from the bomb; the dangers of The Freezer’s environment, where the unstable ice, cold, or radiation could easily kill you; the scarce means of escape; the secrets and deception and inability to know whom to trust; the horror of The Freezer’s true purpose; the gruesome murders—it all combines to ratchet up tension with every passing page in a way that does Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense himself, proud.

Less heavy on the science—but still very much science-driven and clearly well researched—than its predecessor, THE FREEZER is more fast-paced and action driven than THE FURNACE. In keeping with Mr. Johnston’s style of melding mystery and suspense/thriller elements, the first half of the book is primarily an Agatha-Christie-in-space whodunit, and Kyle Tanner is a futuristic Hercule Poirot whose knack for uncovering clues and putting together the pieces of seemingly unsolvable crimes is astonishing. Unlike the bombastic and egocentric (albeit admittedly brilliant) Poirot, Tanner is humble, likeable, and real, and on an emotional journey that challenges who he is and what he believes in. The Tanner Sequence books are set in the not-too-distant future where the Terran Confederacy and its Council have saved humanity from greed and corruption and now rule with an iron hand, ruthlessly crushing any semblance of opposition to its authoritarian rule. As a member of the military, Tanner is a tool of that dictatorship and finds himself conflicted between the unquestioned obedience & adherence to the chain of command demanded by the military and the disgruntlement & dissidence of civilians. Tanner’s growth as a character and evolution in this respect is most evident and compelling reading the series in order, but new readers who discover Mr. Johnston’s work with THE FREEZER will still be able to appreciate the richness and awesomeness of Tanner’s character. I’m generally not a fan of first-person narratives, but it works beautifully to make the Tanner Sequence books experiential for the reader and greatly up the ante: I felt as if I was Tanner, racing against the clock to kind the killer and unsure of whether I would live past the next minute.

THE FREEZER is a gripping page-turner that surpasses its already-excellent predecessor and makes a fantastic addition to The Tanner Sequence series. The science is compelling, the writing is excellent, and the depth of human depravity it explores is both disturbing and realistic. It’s not for the squeamish, but fans of mysteries and technothrillers should certainly check out Mr. Johnston’s work. I look forward to Tanner’s next adventure in THE VOID, and any future books in The Tanner Sequence!

**ARC provided by Author**

Purchase: | Amazon | B&N | Kobo |

ARC Review: Queen of Wands by Katee Robert

Queen of Wands is book two of Katee Robert’s Sanctify series. As far as Sci-fi Romance goes this was pretty good, I like it enough I want to read more but not necessarily want to own the whole series. Not having read the first book Queen of Swords I was a little lost but that didn’t take away from the story. I enjoyed reading through the misadventures of Jenny and Mac where it seems that even in this sci-fi setting Murphy’s Law is in full effect, if it could go wrong it does.

Jenny O'Keirna the youngest daughter of the ruling family of the Hansardas has grown up hard due to the fact that she was thrown into exile as a child but everything has changed he evil father and half brother are now dead and she’s back home and under lock and key. The new King, her brother, Boone and Ophelia from Queen of Swords are living happily in un-marital bliss with their new baby when a distress call comes in from the inventor.

Mac Flannery is out for vengeance against the evil that is Sanctify. Inventing new and improved weapons to fight Sanctify and tracking them with his genius mind. He has discovered unsettling news that in dangers everyone, Sanctify is out for blood and is tracking down everyone opposing them and “cleansing them”. Mac has called out an SOS to have him pulled and to go into hiding. Ophelia thinks it’s a good idea to send Jenny and her crew to do the pick-up. Jenny doesn’t want to be attracted to Mac he’s not her type, but he sees threw her masks and calls her on her shit and she can’t seem to help herself. Mac only thought he knew Jenny after doing a thorough background check on her, but there is so much more to her then her beauty and deadly skills but to win her over he has to play it careful with her.

Together Jenny and Mac fight with each other and together against Sanctify and the High Priest at every turn and just when they think a plan is coming together it falls apart. Part of it was a little predictable and the sci-fi elements were a tad bit generic but overall the book was entertaining and even if you haven’t read Queen of Swords I would recommend it.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N |