Title: Bound by Your Touch (advanced readers copy)
Author: Meredith Duran
Publication Info: Avon June 2009
Genre: Regency Historical Romance
Rating: <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Ms. Duran’s sophomore try is even better than DUKE OF SHADOWS, and that’s saying a lot.

Plot:
Lydia Boyce manages all the affairs for her egyptologist father, so when some of his artifacts are exposed as fakes, she is determined to uncover the true villain and save her father’s reputation. Viscount Sanburne is the man who purchased the fake. Lydia accuses him of perpetrating the fraud. He is just as determined to uncover the truth. When a blue-stocking spinster and notorious rake go head-to-head, someone’s reputation is bound to be ruined.

Sanburne is plagued by guilt over failing to save his sister from an abusive marriage. As he accompanies Lydia to the darkest parts of the city in search of clues, she slowly discovers that the irresponsible rake has a deeper side to him. But she’s been burned before, and she hesitates to become another notch on Sanburne’s long list of conquests. They search the dark streets of London for the missing jewels with assassins hot on their heels. Neither is willing to risk his or her heart again.

Discussion:
An excellent adventure filled with rich prose, sparkling wit, and period details. Ms. Duran’s historic commentary makes this a book you can sink your teeth into. Clever and passionate, with a hero and heroine equally matched in stubborn determination, Bound by your Touch is sure to delight all readers of Historical Romance. (Especially fans of Loretta Chase!) I look forward to watching Ms. Duran’s star hit the New York Times best seller list and capture a RITA or two in the near future. Her third book is due in July: WRITTEN ON YOUR SKIN.

Title: The Road
Author: Cormac McCarthy
Publication Info: Random House, March 2007
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

Today’s book recommendation comes from my brother Oliver, who is on a post-apocalyptic fiction binge. I’m collecting names for him, so if you have any to recommend, please let me know. I think he’s planning to read Hunger Games next. The Road won the Pulitzer Prize and will soon make its movie debut starring Aragorn Viggo Mortenson.

Oliver’s recommendation:

I just finished reading Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” and it blew my mind. Through the journey of a father and son McCarthy reveals a world that is unbelievably dark and tragic. The world as we know it is destroyed, the sky is forever grey, and life is merely a continual struggle against death. Father and son travel continually south on the road trying to survive and find some place better. A feeling of hopelessness pervades the novel unequal to anything else I have read.

At the same time, the bond between father and son is a redeeming aspect to a life that is otherwise absent of anything good. As a reader, I really feared for the wellbeing of the main characters. The world is so bleak and dark that it sometimes feels like their love for one another is the only light left: “When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he’d reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him. Nights dark beyond dark and the days more gray each one than what had gone before”(1).

McCarthy is a phenomenal story teller and his descriptions are frightening and rich in detail: “The days sloughed past uncounted and uncalendared. Along the interstate in the distance long lines of charred and rusting cars. The raw rims of the wheels sitting in a stiff gray sludge of melted rubber, in blackened rings of wire. The incinerated corpses shrunk to the size of a child and propped on the bare springs of the seats”(273). This is one of the darkest, frightening, and most hopeless stories I have ever read and definitely worth it.

Title: Magic Strikes
Author: Ilona Andrews
Series: Kate Daniels, Book #3
Publication Info: Ace Fantasy, March 2009
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating: <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

With this book, Ilona Andrews takes the crown as the new queen of Urban Fantasy.

No one is safe in this captivating post-apocalyptic world where waves of magic render technology useless and monsters roam the streets. Only a handful of brave souls fight to keep back the darkness. Rebel mercenary Kate Daniels is one of them. She has grown into her bad-ass, tough-as-nails persona in this third book. She is a survivor with a honorable streak a mile wide. She’s lost everyone she’s ever cared for, she protects a dark secret she would be killed for, but Kate can’t help putting her life on the line for her friends and the fate of the world. She’s everything I’ve ever loved in an Alpha Hero, with boobs. Forget sugar & spice, this girl is made of pure guts and determination.

Plot:

Shapeshifters are showing up dead and dismembered, but Kate is shut out of the investigation. She’s pissed, but the Pack follows its own laws. Besides, she’s exhausted from solving magical problems around the city. Before she can get any shut eye, her werewolf sidekick Derek is caught breaking and entering her sketchy, sometimes-informant Saiman. Kate to the rescue. Derek refuses to tell her why he tried to steal tickets to the illegal Midnight Games, but he gives her a note to give to a mysterious female gladiator on the Reaper Team. Kate promises to deliver the note, and gives her word she won’t read it. She accompanies Saiman to the Games and discovers a bloody tournament where magical beings fight to the death for fame and fortune. Before the night is through, Kate curses herself for not reading the note.

She discovers Derek at death’s door in a parking lot, and is immediately set upon by shapeshifters. No one may want Kate’s help, but her conscious won’t let her walk away from friends. It’s a race against time to figure out the connection between the Games and the murders, before the Reapers or the Beast King Curran tear them limb from limb. When Kate is forced to become a gladiator in the arena, her dark secret can’t remain hidden much longer. She has trained all her life for the upcoming showdown with Roland, but he’s had centuries longer to hone his eeevil skills. To save her friends, Kate must (once again) make the ultimate sacrifice.

Discussion:

Each book is better than the last. Kate as a character has grown from a rather whiny don’t-you-know-how-bad-ass-I-am into a real mean, lean fighting machine. She gets knocked down, but she gets up again, ain’t nothin’ gonna keep her down. She’s self-reliant, but loyal to a fault.

World-building and plot are what make this series so spectacular. The battles are epic.

The series is Urban Fantasy, not Paranormal Romance, but over the course of the series there a growing attraction between Kate and Curran (the Beast Lord). Ms. Andrews is a master of sexual tension. In each book, she gives the reader one big delicious bite, then keeps us hanging by our fingernails in eager anticipation of more. Inch by careful inch, Curran gets under Kate’s skin until I want to scream “jump him already!!!” The hot tub scene was priceless. The last scene – oh! I cannot wait to read what is going to happen next.

Ms. Andrews has at least two other series debuting soon. Though I am looking forward to reading them, I want her to DROP EVERYTHING AND WRITE ME MORE KATE & CURRAN.

I recommend reading this series in order: Book 1 – MAGIC BITES. Book 2 – MAGIC BURNS. Book 3 – MAGIC STRIKES.

PS: I did not end up receiving an ARC. Best 8 bucks I’ve spent in a long time!

Title: Finders Keepers
Author: Linnea Sinclair
Publication Info: Bantam Spectra, April 2005
Genre: Science Fiction Romance
Rating: <3 <3 <3 <3 <

Another smashing hit from Linnea Sinclair. Neither intergalactic intrigue nor universal destruction can stop true love. *happysigh*

Plot:

Trilby Elliot is a two bit trader with an antique trading vessel living on the fringes of society. What she lacks in polish, she more than makes up for in grit and brains. Though the Zafharin government and hers, the Conclave, have been a three year old truce, she isn’t happy to have an injured Zafharian officer crash land on her doorstep in a ‘Sko fighter ship – especially if the viscous ‘sko might be coming after him. She drags him to her sick bay and patches him up. He isn’t appreciative when he wakes. Instead, he tries to knock her out and take over her ship. Eventually they agree to combine forces to fix her ship and get back to civilization. If only her injured guest didn’t have his own agenda…

The man known as Rhis Vanur has classified and dangerous information, and his government needs it pronto. Someone in the Conclave Government is leaking secrets to the ‘Sco. He knows the untrustworthy ‘Sco will destroy the Conclave and come after the Zafharin next. Vanur is impressed by Trilby’s ingenious fixes for her ancient bucket of bolts and – despite his reputation as a heartless tyrant – finds himself growing fond of the quick-witted trader. That doesn’t mean he won’t do anything necessary to accomplish his mission, even if he has to kidnap her and sabotage her ship. With her friends missing and Trilby on a ‘Sco hit-list, Vanur can convince himself it’s for her own good.

After they return to the Zafharin and put the clues together, Vanur hatches a plan to uncover the traitor in the Conclave by reconnecting with Trilby’s suspicious ex. He isn’t using her as bait – per say – because he’ll be with her, protecting her with his life. The fate of the galaxy rests in their hands.

If only the ‘Sco didn’t have their own agenda…

Discussion:

I read very quickly, so all the unfamiliar names trip me up. Usually this prevents me from reading heavy sci-fi or fantasy, but I’m so very glad I stuck it out with Games of Command. After that book I fell in love with Ms. Sinclair, and my sophomore reading was no slacker. Ms. Sinclair’s plots are ingenuous and complex. Her characters are deep, layered and real. Finders Keepers had similar archetypes to Games of Command: the heroines are both independent rebels and the heroes are both unfeeling machines. Similar self doubts and similar interactions, but I loved them both. Games of Command is still my favorite, probably because of the Furzels and because Kel-Paten was so cute loving Sass from the beginning. Finders Keepers didn’t have a secondary love story like GOC, but it did have some great growing friendships between secondary characters. One complaint – heroes should NOT have mustaches. Ew.

I cannot recommend Ms. Sinclair enough. Finders Keepers is definitely a…well…keeper!