Tag: Marisa Chenery

Guest Review: Longed-For Hunger by Marisa Chenery

Posted October 9, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Judith‘s review of Longed-For Hunger (Ra’s Chosen, Book 3) by Marisa Chenery.

Denger is a hunter, spending his nights on the streets of Phoenix, fighting the undead who threaten unknowing humans. It is in his blood. It is what he knows. But a new knowledge has taken hold. Like other warriors before him, he must hunt for a different kind of prey altogether. His mate. Once he finds her, nothing will keep him from claiming what is his. Nothing but her, that is.

After the death of her husband three years ago, Nyx is content to spend her evenings at home, wrapped up in the vampire romance novels she loves. But when she collides, literally, with a man who could have stepped out of one of her books, she begins to think living her love life through romantic tales may not be the way to go. But as with any good story, there’s a plot twist. Once she discovers Denger’s true nature, she must decide if she can risk her heart and live a life where truth is stranger than fiction.

Ms Chenery has now released this third short novel in her Ra’s Chosen series, a series of stories built around the experiences of six warriors who are immortal and who have been chosen by the Sun God of Egypt to protect humanity from the worst that the Demon God Apep can do to destroy them. Why the minions of Apep have chosen Phoenix, a city where the sun shines more hours than many other places on the planet, is a mystery not only to us but to those warriors as well. All they know is that now in spite of the raging war that continues with Apep, Ra has decreed that each of them has been alone long enough. They must now not only battle the undead that are being created by Apep’s lieutenants, but they must now seek their mates.

Denger is one of the fiercest of the warriors. He lived to hunt. Now he must take precious hours away from his rest in order to find this illusive woman–his blood hunger and his driving need for her alone will not allow him to put off this search. Nyx barrels into him as she is rushing to her job as a clerk in a book store. A young widow of a cancer patient, she lives simply–working, eating, sleeping, and reading. She’s apparently a contented human being, until she smashes into this wall of maleness and her life is pointed into a different direction.

Both Denger and Nyx are really nice people. Both are about doing what they must, being responsible about meeting their obligations, sensitive and caring about others, wanting to make a difference in the world. Denger knows that his fellow warriors who have found mates had a tough time during their “courtship.” He is determined to manage this relationship differently and to woo Nyx without the trauma of accidentally discovering who he is. Yet, I think it is interesting to try to figure out how one explains to a 21st century American about being immortal, being initially alive in Egypt before the pyramids were built, being the Chosen of a Sun God, etc. The fangs aren’t easy to explain, either. So there are great literary possibilities here and I think Ms Chenery has teased out the tale in a very interesting way.

These stories have all the feeling about them of fantasy, or perhaps a paranormal fairy tale with contemporary context. I think the interaction among the warriors and their mates is quite amusing and I found myself chuckling from time to time. It is no wonder that in spite of how really strange Nyx must feel being introduced to this “alternate reality” in the midst of Phoenix, Arizona, she is also made to feel that these are people with a great sense of belonging and family, of a wider world view and that understanding of the eternal battle between good and evil that makes them far more accepting of the rare and wonderful. I couldn’t help considering how I would feel if confronted with such a set of facts about a person like Denger or a conclave built around an ancient god.

So this is a fun continuation of this fantasy series and should be welcomed by fans of Ms Chenery’s previous novels and stories. She has a very nice writing style that is very readable and she crafts her characters with depth and gives them personalities that are unique. It is also a really nice love story and one that includes that sense of what it means to reclaim one’s life after the loss of a significant person such as a spouse. I think romance and fantasy fans will like this story. I give it a rating of 3.75 out of 5.

This book is available from Ellora’s Cave. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.

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Tagged: 3.75 Reviews, Ellora's Cave, Erotica, Judith's Reviews, Marisa Chenery, Ra's Chosen Series, Reviews

Guest Review: Soul Hunger by Marisa Chenery

Posted August 22, 2010 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Judith‘s review of Soul Hunger by Marisa Chenery

As one of Ra’s Chosen warriors, Mehen must protect mortals from the undead who hunt them. Gifted by the sun god Ra, Mehen has never struggled with the task until he saves a woman from three undead, and finds himself in need of saving. Something about the woman stirs him, and he is consumed by his need not only for her body, but also her blood.

Blythe may have been saved by the mysterious man, but her reaction to the feel of his arms around her and the way his eyes wander to her neck don’t make her feel much safer. When she’s taken to his headquarters against her will, she finds herself a prisoner. But when he unleashes passion unlike any she’s ever known, she realizes she’ll do anything to stay imprisoned.

Blythe is also not who she seems–who she thinks she is. And Mehen finds himself in the fight of his life to save the woman he loves from the evil that yearns to possess her.

This is an interesting novel that pairs ancient warriors gifted and empowered by Egypt’s own sun god Ra with the interests and life of a contemporary society which has, unbeknowst to them, been infiltrated and endangered by the undead–the minions of the evil god Apep who rules the night and who commands soulless shells. It was believed in ancient Egypt that the night was the period of hours when Ra had no power over these tools of evil. Thus the Chosen, warriors gifted and empowered by Ra, fought during the night as his representatives, attempting to bring balance between good and evil. This book is certainly a love story but steeped in a context of the paranormal and an ancient religious legend. It is a story filled with personalities who are larger than life and who are thousands of years old. Each stands almost like an archtype of human achievement, a personification of all that humanity seeks to achieve as inhabitors of this planet. Even though they were not vampires, they needed fresh human blood to keep their strength at its peak power and their powers are enlivened and made stronger by the sun.

Blythe is a modern woman and I think she is a metaphor for people who are just seeking to live normal, everyday lives. She is unaware that humans are endangered; she is a single woman who is wanting love and have family and children. She is locked into a go-nowhere job which took advantage of her single status by requiring long extra hours of work. Finding herself as the endangered object of interest for three of the undead had to have been truly the lowest point in her life.

I have to admit that this was a difficult novel to get into. I like historical reads, even those that are built around legendary characters like these warriors, but it started slow for me. Yet I was fascinated by these warriors and their need for the sun. That’s why they settled in Phoenix rather than one of the cities on the East Coast. Yet as I continued to press onward I began to get involved in the personal exchanges between Blythe and the individual warriors, with their differences as persons, their delight in her cooking, her growing attachment to all of them, not just to Mehen. While her relationship with Mehen is central to this novel, there is not doubt that this group of people began to form into a family–they had already been described as brothers–with the addition of Blythe and her contemporary “take” on society, her feminine viewpoint, and her unique energies and female contributions to their life.

As is true of all good plots, there is conflict here: between Ra and Apep, between the warriors and the evil “undead,” between Blythe and Mehen and at times with the other warriors, between Ra and his warriors, and so on. There is a very real sense of reality about the relationships within this story, and even though the warriors are gifted with super powers, super size and strength, they are still flawed human beings and each has his own unique set of difficulties. There are some very suspenseful portions as well as some twists and turns in the story line that are a surprise. I like that a lot. But beyond that liking, I appreciate the author’s attempt to keep the plot and its story complicated and layered. No easy resolutions here, and by the time I finished the novel I was saying to myself: “That was a pretty good read.”

I have not read any of Ms Chenery’s other works, but I believe she has demonstrated that she knows how to put a good story together, populate it with believable characters, fill it will action and suspense, and give the reader some resolutions that are unexpected. This is a very nice love story with lots of sizzle, sexual frustration and satisfaction, and a journey of discovery by both Blythe and Mehen, even though one is a young women and the other is thousands of years old. Perhaps this story’s best lesson is that one is never too old to love and be loved. I think it is a good read and I look forward to reading more of Ms Chenery’s work in the future.

I give this novel a 3.75 out of 5.

You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place

This book is available from Ellora’s Cave. You can buy it here in e-format.