Series: The Heroes of New Vegas

Throwback Thursday Review: Embrace the Night by Colleen Gleason

Posted March 5, 2020 by Casee in Reviews | 1 Comment

Throwback Thursday Review: Embrace the Night by Colleen GleasonReviewer: Casee
Embrace the Night by Colleen Gleason
Series: The Heroes of New Vegas #2
Also in this series: Beyond the Night, Beyond the Night, Abandon the Night, Beyond the Night (The Heroes of New Vegas #1)
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: February 9th 2010
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 369
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Series Rating: five-stars

The second book in the "electrifying" (Library Journal) new series by Colleen Gleason, writing as Joss Ware.

Everything they knew is gone.From the raging fires, five men emerge with extraordinary new powers. They must learn how to survive this dark, ravaged world . . . but they cannot do it alone.

Simon Japp will never forget his violent past. But when civilization is all but destroyed, he sees his chance for redemption. Blessed with a strange "gift," he's determined to help the resistance against the Strangers, the mysterious force that stalks them at every turn. He can't afford to get distracted, even by the stunning, soft-spoken woman fighting by his side . . .

Sage Corrigan has learned to be careful where she places her trust. But she sees something good in Simon, even if he can't see it in himself. Posing as lovers to infiltrate a group key to their fight, they find that their staged affection soon develops into a desire that will leave them fighting for their lives in the night eternal . . .

*** Every Thursday, we’ll be posting throwback reviews of our favorite and not-so-favorite books. Enjoy! ***

This review was originally posted on March 18, 2010.

This is book two in Joss Ware’s AMAZING Awakening Heroes series. If this series isn’t on your radar, you are missing out. Read my review of Beyond the Night Eternal here. The second book is the story of Simon (one of the men that were in the Sedona cave in 2010) and Sage (Computer tech extraordinaire).

Sage was born after The Change. She is also part of the Resistance, a small group of people that are building a movement against the Strangers—the immortals that caused The Change. Her contribution to the group is setting up a secret computer network at different settlements that are near Envy. The first settlement to get the secret network is the one that Sage is from—Falling Creek.

Falling Creek started when a group of people left Envy soon after The Change. Falling Creek was made up of people that believed that it was their responsibility to start procreating. Repopulating the world to the best of their ability, if you will. Now the original founds of Falling Creek are from a time that polygamy is not practiced (openly) nor condoned. I really enjoyed following the journal of Sage’s grandmother (who was alive before The Change). It shows her obvious struggle to become accustomed to this new living situation. Even harder to adapt to the idea of men having multiple wives. Especially when it’s HER husband that is taking more than one.

Sage’s family isn’t looked upon kindly by people from other settlements. It’s widely believed that Corrigan women are nothing more than sluts that will give it up for anyone. Sage left Falling Creek when she came closer to the date she would be able to contribute (i.e. procreate). Sage loves her home in Envy and never thought she would go back to Falling Creek. The resistance wants Sage to go in (under the guise of finding her way) to install a network hub. She chooses Simon to go with her.

Simon was nothing more than a glorified assassin in 2010. Of all them men in the Sedona cave, he alone is the one that is actually happy it happened. It has given him a fresh start. That doesn’t mean that he’ll unload his past baggage on a woman. Most especially Sage. The only really annoying thing about this book was Simon’s CONSTANT implications that Sage and Theo are meant for each other. Dude, shut your cakehole. We got it the first fifty times. Sage isn’t a woman to take it and she tells him what’s up and that’s that.

This is all going on after they get into Falling Creek. Holy Mother. The couples are told when to have sex and when to refrain from it. It’s announced at the dinner table who’s ovulating and when. Hilarious.

Then a Stranger shows up. Not just any Stranger, but someone that Simon knew from 2010. She is not someone he wants to cross. All he wants is to get Sage out safely. Like that’s going to happen.

Outside of the romance between Simon and Sage, this is what I took from the book: Men are men no matter where (or when) they come from. They like being waited on, they like p0rn and they are just generally lazy. But they’re doing their duty by donating their sperm.

4.25 out of 5.

P.S. The person you should feel really bad for is the one that has to keep all the birth records to be sure there is no inbreeding.

The Heroes of New Vegas


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Summer Reading Challenge Review: Beyond the Night by Joss Ware

Posted September 17, 2018 by Rowena in Reviews | 1 Comment

Summer Reading Challenge Review: Beyond the Night by Joss WareReviewer: Rowena
Beyond the Night (The Heroes of New Vegas #1) by Joss Ware, Colleen Gleason
Series: The Heroes of New Vegas #1
Also in this series: Beyond the Night, Beyond the Night, Abandon the Night, Embrace the Night
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: January 12, 2010
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: Alternating Third Person
Genres: Dystopian
Pages: 357
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: five-stars

A man with no future . . .

When Dr. Elliott Drake wakes from a mysterious fifty-year sleep, the world as he knew it is gone. Cities are now desolate, and civilization is controlled by deadly immortals. Stranger still is Elliott's extraordinary new "gift"--he has the power to heal, but it comes with fatal consequences.

A woman with a past . . .

Jade barely escaped the immortals and is now hell-bent on revenge. She trusts no one . . . until Elliott. His piercing gaze and tempting touch shatter her defenses, but the handsome doctor seems to have dangerous secrets of his own. Is it safe to trust him with her heart?

If they are to survive in this dark new world, Jade and Elliott must work together to fight the forces that take them beyond danger. Beyond desire.

This is the last book on my summer reading challenge and to be honest, I would never have read this book on my own. I do enjoy a nice dystopian romance from time to time (with a lot of time in between) but I don’t know, I just wasn’t ever interested in trying this series out and I’m sorry about that because this was a solid story.

So this story takes place in the future, a future that doesn’t look anything like the world we know. It’s run by creatures called Gangas and they’re like zombies that wear strange looking crystals. When Dr. Elliott Drake and his friends went to Sedona to explore some caves, they didn’t expect to come out of those caves and find the world they knew and loved…gone. It’s been six months and they’re nowhere near close to figuring out how to get back to their world. They’re dealing with each day as they come and doing their best to stay alive.

Elliott was a doctor in his previous life so it’s not a surprise that he took on the role of healer in their little group. What is a surprise is that in this new world, Elliott has healing superpowers. He’s a human MRI machine that can scan people and know what their injuries are. He’s also learning new things about his new abilities, like how he can take someone’s injuries into himself and then transfer them to someone else. It’s kind of freaky but he’s learning and he’s dealing and I really dug this part of the story.

When a group of teenagers needs rescuing from the Gangas, Elliott and his friends help them out but so does a mysterious woman who rides in on a horse and gets herself injured. Elliott helps her and is immediately attracted to her. Her name is Jade and she (along with the teenagers) are from Envy, the place that Elliott and his friends are trying to get to. When they band together to get to Envy, things really start to take off.

There’s a lot going on in this book but I thought Ware did a great job of telling Elliott and Jade’s story without bogging the story down with details. It’s the first book in a series so of course there are a lot of questions and a lot of things don’t make sense but the more I read, the more interested I was in learning what was going on.

Readers are treated to a unique world with a unique set of characters that you will be rooting for. The romance for Elliott and Jade was probably the weakest part of the story because they did a whole lot of inappropriate lusting over each other at the weirdest times but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the book as a whole. There’s a lot to enjoy in this book and that’s saying something from someone who didn’t even want to read this book.

Casee, you did good with this recommendation. I am mighty curious about the other books in this series and I will definitely be reading them.

Grade: 4 out of 5

Heroes of New Vegas

four-stars


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Throwback Thursday Review: Abandon the Night by Colleen Gleason

Posted February 15, 2018 by Casee in Reviews | 4 Comments

Throwback Thursday Review: Abandon the Night by Colleen GleasonReviewer: Casee
Abandon the Night by Colleen Gleason
Series: The Heroes of New Vegas #3
Also in this series: Beyond the Night, Beyond the Night, Beyond the Night (The Heroes of New Vegas #1), Embrace the Night
Publisher: Avon
Publication Date: March 9th 2010
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 384
Add It: Goodreads
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five-stars
Series Rating: five-stars

Quent Fielding had it all: money, power, women, good looks...until he and his friends were frozen in time for fifty years.

Now he finds himself lost and alone in a new world of overgrown urban jungles.

Aside from the zombies, wild animals, and survival skills, his biggest challenge is taming the sexy, elusive, sharp-tongued zombie hunter, Zoe Kapoor.

***Every Thursday in 2018 we will be posting throwback reviews of our favorite and not-so-favorite books.

This review was originally posted on March 29, 2010.

This is my favorite book of the first three books in this series. Quent has fascinated me since the beginning, especially since learning that his father was instrumental in The Change. Other than loving Quent and Zoe, the reason this book is so good is how the arc continued. I greatly respect and admire Joss Ware for not dangling bait in front of our eyes only to pull back and tell us to wait. She gave up secrets that I was definitely not expecting in this third book.

Quent and Zoe have an undeniable attraction. After Zoe saves Quent from the gangas, he appropriates one of her custom made ganga-killing arrows. Quent knows Zoe will come for it and he’s not disappointed. What ensues is the hottest sex that Quent has had in his life. So begins the cycle of Zoe “showing up” for the arrows that Quent manages to get his hands on.

Both Quent and Zoe are amazingly closed off characters. Quent had a childhood for hell. With a father that beat him and a mom that just stood by doing nothing, Quent did his best to thwart his father. One night when Zoe was a teenager, she sneaked out of the settlement that her family lived at. When she came back, the settlement was ablaze and everyone inside was dead. Since then, she has lived for vengeance.

Basically what we have here are two people that are hell bent on getting vengeance. Zoe for her family and Quent for everyone his father killed by implementing The Change. After months of strictly sexual meetings, Quent convinces Zoe to let him go with her when she leaves Envy.

To say Zoe was prickly is an understatement. After the tragedy that took her family away from her, she is a full-out hardcore bee-yotch. She doesn’t apologize for her behavior or for who she is. She gives the impression that she doesn’t give a damn about anyone, but that is far from the truth. It’s nothing that is overtly obvious. It’s the little things she does to help people. It’s like the way she risked her life to save Quent when she didn’t even know who he was. It’s helping a woman she doesn’t even know at the risk of getting her revenge.

Quent has a hard time admitting to himself how he feels about Zoe, but he does it. Zoe won’t admit that she needs anyone but herself. She’ll use Quent for sex and tells herself that it’s all she needs for him. Of course she’ll help him find his father, but beyond that they don’t have anything. That wears on a guy like Quent. He can only give so much to Zoe without getting anything back before he’s empty.

When Quent and Zoe finally get to Mecca (the floating island where his father lives), Quent doesn’t expect to get out alive. He enters Mecca as the prodigal son and intends to fool his father into believing that he doesn’t want to kill him. His father purposely draws him into how he affected The Change and what Atlantis has to do with it, knowing that Quent will want to know more. When he shows him the actual jewel that the Atlanteans sent him, Quent knows he can’t leave without it. The only problem is the pesky ability he has to “feel” the past of an object.

I loved how much we learned about Strangers, Quent’s father, Atlantis, etc. If anything, it made me anticipate the next book that much more. This review just can’t do this book justice.

4.75 out of 5.

The New Heroes of Las Vegas

five-stars


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Retro Review: Beyond the Night by Joss Ware

Posted June 14, 2017 by Casee in Reviews | 6 Comments

Retro Review: Beyond the Night by Joss WareReviewer: Casee
Beyond the Night by Colleen Gleason
Series: The Heroes of New Vegas #1
Also in this series: Beyond the Night, Abandon the Night, Beyond the Night (The Heroes of New Vegas #1), Embrace the Night
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: January 12th 2010
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 357
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
five-stars
Series Rating: five-stars

A man with no future . . .When Dr. Elliott Drake wakes from a mysterious fifty-year sleep, the world as he knew it is gone. Cities are now desolate, and civilization is controlled by deadly immortals. Stranger still is Elliott's extraordinary new "gift"--he has the power to heal, but it comes with fatal consequences.A woman with a past . . .Jade barely escaped the immortals and is now hell-bent on revenge. She trusts no one . . . until Elliott. His piercing gaze and tempting touch shatter her defenses, but the handsome doctor seems to have dangerous secrets of his own. Is it safe to trust him with her heart?If they are to survive in this dark new world, Jade and Elliott must work together to fight the forces that take them beyond danger.Beyond desire.

*****As part of our 10 year anniversary celebration, we’ll be re-posting old reviews that make us cringe, laugh or sigh all over again.

This review was originally posted on March 2, 2010.


We’re only in the second month (now the third) of 2010 and I’m already sure that this book/series/author will be on at least one of my “Best of” lists. This book was phenomenal. It had shades of the movie I Am Legend, but with a happy (or as happy as it’s possible to be) ending. I’m not a big UF reader so I don’t know if Joss Ware is the first to rewrite the world like this. I do know that you MUST read this book. Even to my paranormal hating friends—you will love it too.

Dr. Elliott Drake went into a Sedona cave in 2010 and came out in 2060. The world as he knew it was gone. There are now zombie like monsters—gangas—that have an affinity for blond haired people. Entire towns seem to appear wiped out. Together with four of his friends, Elliott is trying to find Envy a settlement where they hope to get some answers. Like what the hell happened?

It is beyond culture shock when you are standing on what used to be a Las Vegas street and can see the Pacific Ocean. Elliott and his group have heard few names of survivors of what is called The Change. One of them is in Envy and Elliott is determined to talk to him so he can find out what the hell happened.

Not only is the world different, but Elliott is also different. A doctor in 2010, he now has a new ability that enables him to “scan” a person with his hands and know what their ailment is. Even more recent, he has discovered that he can actually take an injury into himself and transfer it to another person and/or living thing.

When Elliott meets Jade, he is transfixed by her. Born after The Change, Jade has lived a life that no person should have to. From Jade he learns about the Strangers, immortals that appear to have instituted The Change. Jade was held captive by the Strangers for years. She got away and her captor thinks that she died.

I did like the relationship between Jade and Elliott, but I was more into this new world. Joss Ware is an amazing writer. When she would write scenes of Elliott and Jade going through a deserted shopping mall, I felt like I imagined Elliott would. Sort of speechless. Kind of in awe just imagining the possibility. Also horrified to imagine what it would be like to go through something like that.

From the first page to the last, I had a hard time putting this book down. Pick it up…no excuses.

4.75 out of 5.

The Heroes of New Vegas

five-stars


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Guest Review: Beyond the Night by Joss Ware

Posted February 8, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 4 Comments

Guest Review: Beyond the Night by Joss WareReviewer: Judith
Beyond the Night by Colleen Gleason
Series: The Heroes of New Vegas #1
Also in this series: Beyond the Night, Abandon the Night, Beyond the Night (The Heroes of New Vegas #1), Embrace the Night
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: January 12th 2010
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 357
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
five-stars
Series Rating: five-stars

A man with no future . . .When Dr. Elliott Drake wakes from a mysterious fifty-year sleep, the world as he knew it is gone. Cities are now desolate, and civilization is controlled by deadly immortals. Stranger still is Elliott's extraordinary new "gift"--he has the power to heal, but it comes with fatal consequences.A woman with a past . . .Jade barely escaped the immortals and is now hell-bent on revenge. She trusts no one . . . until Elliott. His piercing gaze and tempting touch shatter her defenses, but the handsome doctor seems to have dangerous secrets of his own. Is it safe to trust him with her heart?If they are to survive in this dark new world, Jade and Elliott must work together to fight the forces that take them beyond danger.Beyond desire.

This story begins with tension and doesn’t let up until the final page. Ware uses powerful language to sketch the horror of a world that has been changed irrevocably to one that knows almost nothing of the technological society of 2010. The need to survive and the valiant efforts of the human population, the efforts to re-establish a society based on law, the constant fear of the night-stalking monsters created by the immortals, are all artfully described as well as the efforts of the Resistance movement undercover within the city that is built on the remains of what used to be Las Vegas. Within this dark and forbidding world scenario, the story of Elliott and Jade’s love is told, first as sexual attraction and ultimately as a love that withstands the tragedies caused by unmitigated evil. It is a powerful story of passion and regard. I really like Elliott, a man of ethics and honor, who takes his medical training and promises seriously, who respects and values Jade as a powerful woman who has survived torture and untold horrors at the hands of the immortals, as a woman who uses intelligence and strategy to find and defeat all who would crush the humans. He is a gentle and kind man, full of life but one who rarely if ever allows his baser instincts to drive his actions, even in a world that doesn’t seem to know much of the society that has formed him. He is not sure he can survive in the world as it now exists and he certainly doesn’t know if he can learn to live with his new “gift.” He glories in the power to heal but he is not sure he can figure out how to make the choices as to who should be healed and who must be allowed to die.

This is the first in this series and it is a powerful first-in-a-series novel. It holds the reader’s attention from start to finish. This story is crafted by an author that demonstrates a complete understanding of the writing task and fulfills the promise of this story line with aplomb. In its own peculiar way, even though this is fiction, it forces the reader to consider what it would be like to live in a world without so many goods and services we now take for granted. A reader who desires a substantive reading experience will not be disappointed in this book.

I give it a rating of 5 out of 5.

The Heroes of New Vegas

five-stars


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