Tag: Berkley

Review: Ghostly Game by Christine Feehan

Posted March 20, 2023 by Casee in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: Ghostly Game by Christine FeehanReviewer: Casee
Ghostly Game by Christine Feehan
Narrator: Jim Frangione
Series: GhostWalkers #19
Also in this series: Predatory Game, Street Game, Ruthless Game, Shadow Game, Power Game, Murder Game, Covert Game, Toxic Game, Phantom Game
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: May 2, 2023
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 400
Length: 11 hours and 15 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

It's fight or flight in this sultry, suspenseful GhostWalker novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan.
Gideon "Eagle" Carpenter is used to rolling with the punches life has thrown at him. It's the only thing that's kept him alive. He and his team of GhostWalkers have seen and experienced it all. He does his best to live with all the sins written on his soul. Then he hears the laughter of a woman with the ability to erase--even for a few previous moments--the darkness of his past.
Laurel "Rory" Chappel has always been a nomad. She's accustomed to taking care of herself, despite the physical challenges she lives with. She thinks she's too weak to find real love, but that doesn't stop her interest in Gideon from turning into a full-on addiction. He's all rough edges and danger contrasted with a tenderness that makes her feel safe. Still, after a life spent in motion, she's not sure she knows how to stay in one place.
Gideon hopes he can persuade Rory to take a chance on him with every electric touch. But soon, life conspires against him, forcing the GhostWalker to risk everything to protect the woman he loves....

Rory Chappel is a nomad. She moves from city to city, working as a bartender, but not making any real connections with anyone. That changes when she lands in San Francisco. Not only does she meet a great group of women at her apartment complex, but that’s where she meets Gideon Carpenter. To Rory, Gideon seems too good to be true. He’s attentive & attractive among other things. Rory is used to being on her own, so having so many people care about what happens to her in such a short amount of time throws her off her game. She usually only stays in a city for a few months, then she moves on. She’s not exactly running from anything, she just moves when the urge strikes. It’s not going to be so easy to leave San Francisco. So she starts wondering if she should plant some roots.

Gideon Carpenter is a GhostWalker. Before that, he was an abused child that grew up in a violent household. There are decisions that Gideon made in his life that he regrets to this day. When he first hears Rory’s laughter, he knows he has to find her. When he does find her, she takes his breath away. Rory doesn’t put off the vibe that most GhostWalkers do, but he’s certain that she is a GhostWalker. That would be the only thing that would explain the instant & irresistible attraction he has to her. Then he goes and fucks everything up by telling his team her secrets. It wasn’t that he wanted to tell them, but above all, Gideon is a protector.

This book was unlike any Christine Feehan book that I’ve read in the past. This book was based more on emotion than sex. I don’t think the sex actually happened until about 90% into the book. I was okay with that because at times, Christine Feehan overdoes it with the physical. Honestly, I’m still a little confused about the plot. There was a whole suspense aspect that was weird. Like it didn’t fit into what I’m used to in a GhostWalker novel. Although, that might have ended up being a good thing. This is one of the few series that I still read by Christine Feehan & I plan on continuing with it. It’s interesting & hot. This world that she has created is pretty amazing.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

GhostWalkers

four-stars


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Review: Recovery Road by Christine Feehan

Posted January 23, 2023 by Casee in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: Recovery Road by Christine FeehanReviewer: Casee
Recovery Road by Christine Feehan
Narrator: Ryan West
Series: Torpedo Ink #8
Also in this series: Judgment Road , Judgment Road, Vengeance Road, Vendetta Road, Desolation Road, Reckless Road, Savage Road, Annihilation Road
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: January 24, 2023
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Content Warning: View Spoiler »
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 410
Length: 11 hours and 15 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: three-stars

A broken man finds a woman worth living for in the new novel in #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan’s Torpedo Ink motorcycle club series.
Kir “Master” Vasiliev doesn’t care whether he lives or dies. He’s a burnt-out shell with no one and nothing but his club. Whatever Torpedo Ink needs, Master will put himself in harm’s way time after time. If he doesn’t make it back, he’s certain everyone will move on just fine.
Investment banker Ambrielle Moore knows her own mind, and she’s not willing to settle for anyone. So when a second-rate gangster and his thugs try to coerce her into marriage—and giving up all of her family’s money—she’s having none of it. Until they turn to cold-blooded murder.
Grieving and enraged, Ambrie is ready to go scorched earth on her captors when Master shows up anticipating a damsel in distress. But Ambrie is nothing like he expected, and everything he never knew he desired....

I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t too excited for this book. I haven’t enjoyed the last few books in this series, but I’m a diehard Feehan fan. I’m so glad I gave this one a try. It’s one of the better books in the series in my not-so-humble opinion. Although all CF’s heroes are tortured alphas, Master was in a different league. He is the only member of Torpedo Ink that has a criminal record & the club uses him to take care of things in and out of prison. Going on assignment in prison is the last thing Master wants to do. In fact, it’s killing him slowly each time he goes back in.

Ambrielle has a gift with numbers & with money. Unfortunately her money has caught the attention of some nefarious people. When her parents are murdered in front of her, Ambrie isn’t sure how she is going to get out of the situation. She does know that she will do anything to get revenge on the man responsible for the senseless killings. When her parents murderer tells her she’s going to marry him, she will do anything & everything to get away.

Torpedo Ink has their eyes on Ambrie. They know she’s in trouble & they are going to help her get out of it. Somehow she has caught the eye of one of the biggest human traffickers in the business. Not only that, but they are going after Czar & his family. Everyone in Torpedo Ink is on lockdown until they can find out who is responsible. In the meantime, the only way to help Ambrie is to have her marry one of them. Master doesn’t want to be the one that marries her, but he’s immediately drawn to her & he’s certain that he can’t let another have her.

This book started off with a bang & just kept going. I loved their relationship & how real it seemed, no matter that they only knew each other for a matter of minutes before they were married. Feehan made it all work somehow. My favorite part of the book was when they go into The Floating Hat, which is Hannah Drake’s tea shop. I loved getting a little peek back into the lives of the Drakes. The prank they pulled on Jackson was funny as hell too. I found myself laughing, which doesn’t often happen in Feehan books. Overall, this is a good addition to the series & I plan on continuing to read it.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Torpedo Ink

four-stars


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Review: Archangel’s Resurrection by Nalini Singh

Posted January 16, 2023 by Casee in Reviews | 1 Comment

Review: Archangel’s Resurrection by Nalini SinghReviewer: Casee
Archangel's Resurrection by Nalini Singh
Narrator: Justine Eyre
Series: Guild Hunter #15
Also in this series: Archangel's Kiss, Archangel's Consort, Archangel's Blade, Archangel's Consort, Archangel's Storm, Archangel's Storm (Guild Hunter #5), Archangel's Legion, Archangel's Legion (Guild Hunter #6), Archangel's Shadows, Archangel's Shadows, Archangel's Enigma (Guild Hunter, #8), Angels' Blood (Guild Hunter #1), Archangel's Heart, Archangel's Heart, Archangel's Heart (Guild Hunter, #9), Archangel's Kiss, Angels' Blood, Archangel's Viper (Guild Hunter, #10), Archangel's Viper, Archangel's Prophecy, Archangel's Consort (Guild Hunter, #3), Archangel's Prophecy, Archangel's War, Archangel's War , Archangel's Kiss, Archangel's Sun, Archangel's Light
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: October 25, 2022
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 396
Length: 11 hours and 24 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

New York Times Bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into the dangerous, haunting world of archangels…and a love that is legend.
For thousands of years, the passion between Alexander, Archangel of Persia, and Zanaya, Queen of the Nile, burned furious and bright, seemingly without end. But to be an archangel is to be bound to power violent and demanding. Driven by its primal energy, Alexander and Zanaya fought as fiercely as they loved. Locked in an endless cycle of devotion and heartbreak, it is only Zanaya’s decision to Sleep that ends their love story.
Eons later, it is the Cascade of Death that wakens them both. The passion between them a flame that yet burns, Alexander and Zanaya stand together in one last battle against the ultimate darkness. But even a warrior archangel cannot win every war. Alexander’s scream shatters the world as Zanaya falls, broken and silent…only to rise again in a miracle that may be a devastating curse. For is it truly the Queen of the Nile who has been resurrected?
Only one thing is clear: this is the last beat of their passionate, angry dance. The final song for Alexander and his Zani…

I got an eARC of this book sometime last year & read it as soon as I got it. I have to admit that I didn’t love it. When it was released, I decided to get the audiobook & try that. Justine Eyre is such an amazing narrator.

The book was good, but it’s not my favorite. I loved both Alexander & Zanaya, but I really felt like the book spanned too long of a time period. The book begins in New York during the war against Lijuan. Zanaya was woken from her Sleep by both the war & the cascade. She wasn’t ready to leave Sleep, but she knew that being awoken against her will means that the world is in serious peril.

After Zanaya is critically injured by Lijuan in the beginning of the book, Nalini takes us back to the beginning of the epic love story of Archangels Alexander & Zanaya. The book stretches from the beginning of their time together, to the middle, and ultimately to the end. I think this book really highlighted the fact that sometimes love isn’t enough. There has to be mutual respect (which there was), but it was also about being vulnerable.

There was an abundance of love between the two, but power came between them. Alexander loved power. He loved having it & amassing more of it. Zanaya knew when it was time to Sleep & didn’t forgive Alexander for not coming with her. Eventually they realized that if they both didn’t change, it was going to be the end of Alexander & Zanaya.

Overall, it was a good addition to the series, but it was far from my favorite.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Guild Hunter

four-stars


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Review: The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

Posted October 24, 2022 by Rowena in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: The Heart Principle by Helen HoangReviewer: Rowena
The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang
Series: The Kiss Quotient #3
Also in this series: The Kiss Quotient (The Kiss Quotient, #1), The Bride Test
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: August 31, 2021
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Content Warning: View Spoiler »
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 343
Add It: Goodreads
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three-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

A woman struggling with burnout learns to embrace the unexpected—and the man she enlists to help her—in this new New York Times bestselling romance by Helen Hoang.

When violinist Anna Sun accidentally achieves career success with a viral YouTube video, she finds herself incapacitated and burned out from her attempts to replicate that moment. And when her longtime boyfriend announces he wants an open relationship before making a final commitment, a hurt and angry Anna decides that if he wants an open relationship, then she does, too. Translation: She’s going to embark on a string of one-night stands. The more unacceptable the men, the better.

That’s where tattooed, motorcycle-riding Quan Diep comes in. Their first attempt at a one-night stand fails, as does their second, and their third, because being with Quan is more than sex—he accepts Anna on an unconditional level that she herself has just started to understand. However, when tragedy strikes Anna’s family she takes on a role that she is ill-suited for, until the burden of expectations threatens to destroy her. Anna and Quan have to fight for their chance at love, but to do that, they also have to fight for themselves.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve written a book review so please bear with me as I jump back into this bitch. It’s also been a little bit since I read this book but I came across my notes that I wrote for this book so I’m reviewing it. I’m not going to get into what this book was about, the summary does a great job of explaining what we’re getting into so I’m jumping right into my thoughts.

This is the third book in the Kiss Quotient series by Helen Hoang. It’s the book that I was really looking forward to because it’s Quan’s book! Lovely Quan, Michael’s cousin from The Kiss Quotient. He was such a memorable character for me. I’m a bit sad that this was Quan’s story because we got more Anna than Quan. I felt that Quan was part of Anna’s story and that was a bummer for me. Quan was such a delightful and interesting character so I felt he was cheated and even after all of this time, I’m still not over that.

That’s not to say that I hated Anna or that I hated the book. I just wish that Quan had gotten another story where he shined and was front and center instead of being featured in someone else’s story. There is a lot of heavy stuff tackled in this book and I understood and even connected with Anna through all of it. There were times when I really felt for Anna and wanted to fight every single member of her family because holy shit are they toxic as hell but there were also times when I wanted to smack some sense into Anna as well.

The little Quan that we got in this book was fantastic. My heart hurt for him and what he was going through and seeing him work through each of his struggles made my love for him stronger. I loved the way that he loved Anna. I loved the way that he was up for anything and willing to do whatever he can to support Anna with everything she was going through. Even when he didn’t know how to support her or even if he had to do things that hurt him in order to support her, he was ready and willing.

The romance between Quan and Anna was small but what we got worked. I just wanted more. As a romance, which is what I assumed I was getting, this was okay but this would have worked better for me had it been a women’s fiction story but I’m still salty about not getting as much Quan as I wanted.

3 out of 5

The Kiss Quotient Series

three-stars


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Review: Storm Echo by Nalini Singh

Posted August 8, 2022 by Casee in Reviews | 2 Comments

Review: Storm Echo by Nalini SinghReviewer: Casee
Storm Echo by Nalini Singh
Narrator: Angela Dawe
Series: Psy-Changeling Trinity #6, Psy-Changeling #21
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: August 9, 2022
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 384
Length: 11 hours and 14 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
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five-stars


NYT bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into the hearts of two fractured people in a world on the brink of a psychic Armageddon . . .

Silence has fallen. The Psy are free to feel emotion. Free to love. But Silence was never a prison for Ivan Mercant. The biggest threat to his future lies dormant in his brain—a psychic monster that wants only to feed. And now, the brutal leash he’s kept on that monster is slipping. He prepared for this day, for the end of Ivan Mercant . . . but that was before he met Lei.
As primal as she is human, this wild changeling brings color into his life, laughter to his soul. Then the dream shatters in a rain of blood, in silent bodies in the snow. Lei is gone. Vanished without a trace . . . until he meets strangely familiar eyes across a busy San Francisco street.
Soleil Bijoux Garcia is a healer who has lost everything. She exists in a world of desolate aloneness . . . till the day she finds herself face-to-face with a lethal stranger. The animal who is her other half knows this man, but her memories are tattered fragments. Sorrow and a need for vengeance are all that drive her. Her mission? To kill the alpha of the DarkRiver leopard pack.
But fate has other plans. Soon, a deadly soldier who believes himself a monster and a broken healer might be all that stand between life and death for the entire Psy race.

Ivan Merchant has always known he was different. Not in just his abilities, but different on a level that can’t be explained.

As a security specialist for the Merchant empire, Ivan often travels to changeling packs to continue his education. While training with a pack in Texas (??), Ivan finds himself injured in the forest. That’s when he meets Lei, a changeling healer that fascinates him. While Ivan has never been fully Silent, he abides by the backbone that is Silence. To do so would unleash something in Ivan that even he can’t control. Everything he believed in up to that point is changed when Lei walks into his life. Night after night, Lei & Ivan meet, bonding in a way that Ivan would never have expected.

After weeks of meeting & Ivan telling Lei all his secrets, they agree to meet the following day where Lei will tell him all her secrets. Except she doesn’t show up. Ivan is crushed, though he will never admit it. At that point he accepts who he is; someone that could never hold onto someone like Lei.

When a local changeling back is brutally attacked by the Psy, a twist of fate puts Ivan at the scene. Every changeling is dead except for one. Ivan’s Lei. Brutally injured, Lei is taken to the local hospital where she disappears. Ivan spends fifteen months looking for Lei, not willing to give up. Then he sees someone that looks and doesn’t look like Lei.

Soleil is in San Francisco for one reason. To kill the alpha of DarkRiver. It was Lucas Hunter that executed her pack, including her grandmother and the cubs. When Soleil realizes everything she thought she knew wasn’t true, she is crushed. Even though she soon realized that she could never hope to kill Lucas Hunter, she had a mission. Now she has nothing and no one. Until she catches an elusive scent that can only mean one thing. Not only that, she’s found a Psy that her cat knows belongs to her.

Watching Ivan fall for Lei strictly in his POV was magical. It was a slow burn and so emotional to read. When he believes that the one chance at happiness slipped away, he’s crushed. It was so moving and heartbreaking to read. When he finds her again, he’s convinced that his chance of happiness has passed. The feelings that the two have for each other are not to be denied. All Soleil has to do is convince Ivan to take a chance on her. Of course nothing is ever easy in this series & Soleil has her work cut out for her. Reading about the sacrifices these two made for each other was extraordinary. Nalini has grown so much as a writer. She has a talent that few authors match. It’s not just the individuals, it’s about Pack. It’s about family. It’s about togetherness. It’s quite literally spellbinding.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5.

Psy-Changeling

Psy-Changeling Trinity

five-stars


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