Tag: Shannon K. Butcher

Guest Anthology Review: On the Hunt with Gena Showalter, Shannon K. Butcher, Jessica Anderson and Deidre Knight

Posted April 28, 2011 by Book Binge Guest Blogger in Reviews | 0 Comments

Mary’s review of ON THE HUNT by Gena Showalter, Shannon K. Butcher, Jessica Anderson, and Deidre Knight

New York Times bestselling author Gena Showalter, Shannon K. Butcher, Jessica Anderson, and Deidre Knight present a steamy collection of all-new novellas featuring sexy paranormal hunters. With shadowy creatures, intoxicating magic, vividly imagined worlds, and sizzling passion, this is an anthology no fan of paranormal romance will want to miss.

EVER NIGHT by Gena Showalter: Rose Pascal is swept into a dark, haunting world every year on her birthday—a world ruled by a warrior king who hunts her kind. Neither of them can deny the passion that soon consumes them both…

In this story, Showalter introduces a new and very dark world (both literally and figuratively). I think this world has potential, with its dark, demonic aspects juxtaposed against the everyday human world and I was intrigued. But the couple in this story just didn’t pull me in quite enough. I felt Rose (who started crossing over when she was 18) was just too immature, innocent, and lost compared to Vasili, the warrior king who ties her to him. There’s a serious dominance vibe to Vasili but Rose, for all her naïveté, isn’t really very submissive or dominant enough so it didn’t quite gel for me.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

THE COLLECTOR by Shannon K. Butcher: Demon hunter Neal Etan sets out to acquire a powerful artifact, but finds much more in beautiful Viviana Rowan, The antique dealer’s touch strengthens his magic—and her life may be in Neal’s hands if they don’t recover the artifact in time…

This was by far my favorite story in this collection. It’s set in the world of Butcher’s Sentinels, where every warrior must find their mate or turn evil, a world that I was already familiar with. Neal and Viviana are a great pair and remind me why I like this series so much. I’m definitely going to read more of the Sentinels.

Rating: 4.5/5.0

CRYSTAL SKULL by Jessica Anderson: Archeologist Natalie Albright’s dig gets shut down amid rumors she has awakened the local demons. But when the terrifying underworld creatures attack, Natalie must team up with her ex to survive. As they fight the ancient menace, they discover a destiny that binds them together—and threatens to tear them apart…

I loved the Tomb Raider aspect of it and the trouble that found Natalie. Lucky for her, her ex is nearby, still has feelings for her, and knows how to hunt what’s attacking. Great action, fun plot and excellent chemistry between the characters.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

RED ANGEL by Deidre Knight: Jamie Angel, leader of the deadly Nightshades, has tracked every kind of monster and demon that roams the darkness, but none of his experiences can prepare him for falling in love with one of the reatures he’s trained to destroy…

While I really liked Sunny and the whole Southern setting (I’m a sucker for a good Southern setting, what can I say), Jamie Angel is another story. A totally player, he gives off a bit of a slimy feel which only gets worse when he decides to seduce Sunny to find out what she is. Not who—what. Sunny can do better.

Rating: 2.5/5.0

This book is available from Signet. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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Review: Love You to Death by Shannon K. Butcher

Posted November 9, 2009 by Casee in Reviews | 6 Comments

Genres: Romantic Suspense

Casee‘s review of Love You to Death by Shannon K. Butcher.

LOVE YOU TO DEATH

It’s been days since reporter Elise McBride has heard from her sister, Ashley. She’s convinced Ashley has met with some kind of foul play, especially when she learns that bodies of other missing women have surfaced in and around Chicago–all victims of a brutal serial killer. Convinced her sister is still alive, Elise vows to risk everything to save her…

The last thing ex-cop Trent Brady needs is more blood on his hands. Yet when he catches Elise breaking into her sister’s house, full of reckless determination and fear, he knows she needs his help. But just as desire ignites between them, a twisted madman sets his sights on Elise. Hell-bent on possessing her for himself, this psychopath won’t rest until he has his perfect woman.

Shannon K. Butcher writes riveting romantic suspense. Really, it’s riveting. Everything from the hero to the heroine to the villain in this book had me glued to the pages. It was a dark book, but it had flashes of humor which helped it not be too dark.

When Elise McBride doesn’t hear from her sister Ashley in a week, she immediately flies to Chicago. It is out of the ordinary for Ashley to be unavailable and Elise is naturally expecting the worst. She always had to take care of Ashley when they were growing up and adulthood hasn’t cured her of that inclination. She knows something bad has happened, but she doesn’t know where to start.

Trent Brady sees Elise go into Ashley’s house and think she’s breaking in. It’s only when he goes to confront her that he finds out who she is and what she’s doing there. Trent has always done his best to look out for Ashley, a woman that doesn’t seem to have very much common sense, but he didn’t think anything when he didn’t see her for a week.

The villain in this book is vile. If you read it, you’ll understand. ‘Nuff said.

Elise is so self-sufficient that she has a hard time counting on Trent. One thing that did get old is how Trent continually tried to get Elise out of town. Once they learned that Ashley was most likely abducted, Trent wanted Elise to go back to Hong Kong (where she was working) and let him call her when it was resolved. Srsly. That was so out there, it was just ludicrous.

If you want a good romantic suspense, this is it.

4.25 out of 5.

This book is available from Forever. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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Tagged: 4.25 Reviews, Casee's Reviews, Forever Publishing, Grand Central Publishing, Reviews, Romantic Suspense, Shannon K. Butcher

Giveaway Winner: Burning Alive by Shannon K. Butcher

Posted May 21, 2009 by Casee in Giveaway Winners | 4 Comments

The winner of Burning Alive is…

housemouse88

Congratulations! We hope you enjoy the book. Email your mailing info to contests @ thebookbinge . com (no spaces).

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Tagged: Giveaway Winners, Shannon K. Butcher, The Sentinel Wars

Review: Burning Alive by Shannon K. Butcher (and giveaway)

Posted May 18, 2009 by Casee in Reviews | 42 Comments

Genres: Paranormal Romance

Casee‘s review of Burning Alive (The Sentinel Wars, Book 1) by Shannon K. Butcher

They are the Sentinels…

Three races descended from ancient guardians of mankind, each possessing unique abilities in their battle to protect humanity against their eternal foes—the Synestryn. Now, one warrior must fight his own desire if he is to discover the power that lies within his one true love…

Helen Day is haunted by visions of herself surrounded by flames, as a dark-haired man watches her burn. So when she sees the man of her nightmares staring at her from across a diner, she attempts to flee—but instead ends up in the man’s arms. There, she awakens a force more powerful and enticing than she could ever imagine. For the man is actually Theronai warrior Drake, whose own pain is driven away by Helen’s presence.

Together, they may become more than lovers—they may become a weapon of light that could tip the balance of the war and save Drake’s people…

This is Shannon K. Butcher’s first paranormal book and first book in The Sentinel War series. I wasn’t really in the mood for a paranormal book when I picked it up. If I can’t decide what to read, I take a few books and read the first chapter of each one to see which one sounds the best. The reason I picked this one was b/c of the first sentence.

The man who was going to stand by and watch while Helen burned to death liked his coffee black.

After I read that, I had to keep reading it.

Drake is a Theronai and a Sentinel, a powerful race of warriors who protect the world and the humans in it. The Sentinels are trying to find a fallen warrior’s sword before the Synestryn can release all the dark souls that was killed with the sword. Whenever a Theronai dies, retrieving his sword is paramount.

When Drake first sees Helen, he’s drawn to her. When he touches her, she makes the pain he constantly feels disappear. Drake would think she was special just for that, but the Sentinels soon realize she’s not a mere human. She’s a female Theronai, which their race hasn’t had in hundreds of years. Drake wants to bond her immediately, but knows that he has to give her some sort of choice.

Helen first thinks that Drake and his friends are crazy in the head. That’s before monsters burst into her house and try to kill the lot of them. After that, it’s a lot easier to believe him. Still, she can’t forget her dreams, the dreams where Drake stands by with a smile on his face while she burns to death. Helen is terrified of fire, with good reason. So when Drake tells her she can help the Sentinels’ cause by calling fire, she is incredulous.

While I wasn’t exactly blown away by this book, I did enjoy it. I think that the world Butcher has created is an interesting one. I believe that now that the ground work in this series is laid, the books will get better. My emotions were definitely engaged while I was reading this, which is why I think that the next book will be even better.

4 out of 5.

This book is available from Onyx. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

Leave a comment in this post for a chance to win a copy of Burning Alive.

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Tagged: 4.0 Reviews, Casee's Reviews, Onyx Publishing, Paranormal, Reviews, Shannon K. Butcher, The Sentinel Wars

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

Posted May 17, 2009 by Tracy in Features | 15 Comments

It was a quiet week as far as events went. My hubby had to go back to Vegas for a convention/show/whatever for his work so he left Thursday and didn’t get back until last night. Gave me time to read more though. heh. Always a good thing imho.

The girls are doing well in their jazz and taekwondo classes. (no it’s not a combined class! lol) Now that I’ve got them settled in I can just plant it at the taekwondo studio and read for an hour with no interruption. That’s sheer heaven right there, let me tell ya.

Kris and I did announce that the Book Sluts ‘R’ Us Blogger Award winner was Wendy, our very own Super Librarian. Congrats to her once again.

I read a lot of good books this week!

First up was The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley. Although I have one of her other books on my shelf I’d not read this author before. I truly loved this book. I know it won’t hold that appeal for everyone but it was just a fabulous read for me. You can read my review here.

Next up was Burning Alive by Shannon K. Butcher. This was an impulse buy for me and my first read by this author. I believe I saw the cover on Kmont’s blog a while back so when I saw the book on the shelf it caught my attention. It was a pretty good book. There was some stock paranormal elements in it but it did have a nice story to tell. I have to say that this being a series it did leave me a lot of questions unanswered at the end of the book. I’m sure that was the authors intention but I personally would have enjoyed the book more had I received more answers. 3.75 out of 5

The next book up was Three Alarm Tenant by Charlotte McClain. This was a book that I read for The Book Binge and I’ll let you know when the review posts.

My Tracy’s TBR Challenge Read for this week was Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer C rusie and Bob Mayer. I love Jennifer Crusie’s books but hadn’t read one of the books she wrote with Bob Mayer. I don’t know why I waited so long to read this book! I really loved it. It was a fun, funny, lol suspense book. I just loved Agnes and of course the hitman, Shane, was wonderful. Not something I would usually say…hitman was wonderful…but in this instance the shoe definitely fits. Great book. 5 out of 5 from me. There just wasn’t anything I didn’t like about the book.

The newest release by friend and fellow DIK Lady, Katie Reus, is Dangerous Deception. I bought and read this the day it came out (Friday). This was a story about Sage and Trent. After Sage’s sister was murdered Sage decided to travel and do all of the things that her and her sister had talked about but never done. Now she’s settled in a quiet town and wants to go on with her life. Trent, a man that she spent 1 glorious week with shows up unexpectedly and just when Sage starts to get threatened by an unknown villain. Trent got a little he-man-I’m-in-charge-now for my liking at times but overall I enjoyed the story. 4 out of 5

Next book was Aftershock by Jill Shalvis. This was an impulse read but I think it will be my Year of the Category read for the month. That being said I’ll post my review on this on the 26th.

The Unlacing of Miss Leigh by Diane Gaston is a Harlequin Undone. It was a short historical story about Miss Leigh who takes a position as a companion to a scarred gentleman. She knows the man from her past but he doesn’t know who she is. It’s a cute little story. 3 out of 5

Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre was my next read. I very much enjoyed this book. I don’t normally read a book when I know that there will be no HEA at the end but it had been raved about so much that I just needed to dive in. I’m so glad I did. It had a great story, great characters and never a dull moment. Corine, the story teller, was the main character and while I liked her for most of the book she did start to annoy me just a tad at the end. It definitely won’t stop me from reading the next book however. 4 out of 5

Last read for the week was another Harlequin Undone by the name of The Viking’s Forbidden Love Slave by Michelle Willingham. Yep, I actually read a book with that name. Sometime I shock even myself! lol It was a short story about how Tharand steals Aisling from her village as a gift for his King so that he can get his 15 year old sister back from said King. The problem is that Tharand is having feelings for his fiery captive and eventually she for him. As all work out in the end it was a cute story but for such a short story it left me kind of hanging. Aisling’s village was being raided and pillaged…but why her village? Tharand walked through his village and the villagers avoided him and the kids ran…why was he so shunned? Just because he was a fierce warrior? Aisling’s brothers were stolen as well but we don’t hear where they are. I’m thinking this is part of a series but I’m not sure. 3 out of 5 stars.