Book Review: The Unseen by Heather Graham

Title: The Unseen

Author: Heather Graham

Publisher: Harlequin

Release Date: 03/27/2012

ISBN: 0778313298

I'll give all of the long time Heather Graham fans a warning. The old Graham is probably never going to come back. I'd liken her older books to rich Godiva chocolate: rich and oh-so-sinfully bad for you, whereas her newer books are like Hershey chocolate: good, but not nearly as good as the Godiva was. This is pretty much the case here in this book.

1800s. San Antonio, Texas: In room 207 at the Longhorn Saloon, in the long shadow of the Alamo itself, a woman renowned for her beauty was brutally murdered. Her killer was never found.

One year ago: In that same historic room, another woman vanished without a trace. Her blood was everywhere…but her body was never recovered.

Now: In the last month, San Antonio has become a dumping ground for battered bodies. All young women, all long missing, almost all forgotten. Until now. Texas Ranger Logan Raintree cannot sit by and let his city’s most vulnerable citizens be slain. So when he is approached to lead a brand-new group of elite paranormal investigators working the case, he has no choice but to accept the challenge. And with it, his powerful ability to commune with the dead. Among Logan’s new team is Kelsey O’Brien, a U.S. marshal known for her razor-sharp intuition and a toughness that belies her delicate exterior. Kelsey has been waiting all her life to work with someone who can understand her ability to “see” the past unfolding in the present. Now she has her chance.

Together, Kelsey and Logan follow their instincts to the Alamo and to the newly reopened Longhorn, which once tempted heroes with drink, cards and women. If the spirits of those long-dead Texans are really appearing to the victims before their deaths, only Kelsey and Logan have the skills to find out why. And if something more earthly is menacing the city’s oldest, darkest corners, only they can stop it – before more innocent women join the company of San Antonio’s restless ghosts….

I'll be honest and say that while this wasn't an "oh my gosh, read it until my eyeballs pop out" type of book, it wasn't bad and is an improvement over some of Graham's previous books. (This is far better than Dust to Dust was.) The Unseen is pretty much a continuation of the Krewe of Hunters series, but with a new group of characters since the previous bunch had all been paired off with their love interests. This book brings us a new pairing, a new murder mystery, and a new set of ghosts.

I really wanted to judge this book on its own merit (for good or bad), but some of the similarities between the pairing in this book and the pairing in the first KoH book sort of prevented that. Like our pairing in Phantom Evil, we're given two people in law enforcement, with the male love interest being a Native American. This is generally where the similarities ended, but it's enough to where I kind of felt a little disappointed that Graham didn't shake things up a little more. I'd have loved to have seen a pairing where one of the duo was a brash young thing that shoehorned their way into the investigation, but hopefully we'll get that in another book. The pairing in this book is nice, but didn't really set off an avalanche of steamy sparks. It's sort of just there and secondary to the book's mystery.

The mystery actually wasn't bad. I did enjoy the Texas setting as well as the inclusion of the infamous Alamo. We're given a good start, a tale of a star-crossed Southern belle that fell into a seedy lifestyle and was murdered because of her ill fated decisions and a valuable diamond ring. It's what really brought me into the book and pushed me past the tepid love scenes between Logan and Kelsey. It eventually turned a little predictable, but overall it wasn't half bad. I just wish that the mystery and murders had been played up a little more, with the main characters doing a little more detecting and investigating. Things just sort of progressed from point A to point B and it didn't really seem that our lead characters did anything on their own without a ghost to point the way for them. (Although if I can compare it to the mystery in the first KoH book, the mystery here is way better laid out.) I was still slightly surprised by the whodunit, although I wasn't too far off in my estimation.

Overall this is a good but not great Graham novel. It's something that is absolutely worth a library read, but I'd hesitate to buy this at a hardback price. (If it was paperback then it'd be easier to say "buy it".) Graham has shown some improvement as of late and this book is no exception, but I think this book would have done better if it had just spent a little more time in the stew pot.If you're looking for a whiz-banger of a read, you'll be disappointed, but if you're looking for a decent read to while away a few hours with in front of the fireplace, then this is worth checking out.

2.5 out of 5 stars

(ARC provided by Netgalley)

Book Review: Red Glove (Curse Workers #2) by Holly Black

Title: Red Glove (Curse Workers #2)
Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: 04/05/2011
ISBN:144240339X







While I wasn't as immediately drawn into Cassel's world in White Cat, I found it one that I'd be more than happy to visit again. It was Black's attention to details such as Cassel implanting amulets under his skin to avoid being worked that kept me reading. This one follows along the same lines as the previous book, being a story that was a little tedious at times but still a fun ride for the most part.

Curses and cons. Magic and the mob. In Cassel Sharpe's world, they go together. Cassel always thought he was an ordinary guy, until he realized his memories were being manipulated by his brothers. Now he knows the truth—he’s the most powerful curse worker around. A touch of his hand can transform anything—or anyone—into something else.

That was how Lila, the girl he loved, became a white cat. Cassel was tricked into thinking he killed her, when actually he tried to save her. Now that she's human again, he should be overjoyed. Trouble is, Lila's been cursed to love him, a little gift from his emotion worker mom. And if Lila's love is as phony as Cassel's made-up memories, then he can't believe anything she says or does.

When Cassel's oldest brother is murdered, the Feds recruit Cassel to help make sense of the only clue—crime-scene images of a woman in red gloves. But the mob is after Cassel too—they know how valuable he could be to them. Cassel is going to have to stay one step ahead of both sides just to survive. But where can he turn when he can't trust anyone—least of all, himself?

Love is a curse and the con is the only answer in a game too dangerous to lose.

I'm never quite sure what to make of these stories. It's a pretty brave move to cast a boy as the main character in a genre that's predominantly oriented towards young girls & women, something that runs the risk of potentially alienating part of the demographic. This actually works here because this means that Black has more freedom to break free of other trends & habits of young adult urban fantasy. As far as this goes, the book is great. It's kind of refreshing to read about someone who isn't a young, spunky, headstrong girl fighting against the system. This is an intriguing world & for the most part Black does a decent job of exploring & explaining it.

Unfortunately there's some parts of it I just didn't get into as much as I would have wanted. The book just seemed to take a pretty long time getting to where it wanted to be & as a result one of the main themes of the book (the whodunit) fell to the back burner. This feels like it happened more as a way to shift gears for the third book in the series, but it still sort of threw me out of the story. There's a LOT going on in this second book & I have the feeling that even more will be happening in the next (& final) book, so I can't help but feel that this series would have been better served if it had an extra volume to help space things out.

Overall this was still a good read & if you liked the first one you're more than likely going to like this one as well. The only thing I'd warn people about is that unlike Black's Modern Fairy Tale series, this book is most decidedly not a standalone. If you haven't read the first book in the series you're pretty much going to be lost as far as plot goes.


Final Diagnosis: Most fans of the previous book & Black's other works will like this but others will find themselves getting a little lost in the book's pacing.

3.9/5

(ARC provided by Simon & Schuster's Galley Grab)

Book Review: Need by Carrie Jones

Title: Need (Need #1)
Author: Carrie Jones
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Release Date: 12/23/2008
ISBN: 1599903385





Before I start this review, I’m going to be honest about one thing: I’m going to be spilling some spoilers about the book. Potentially big ones. I try not to post spoilers but this impacted my decision about the book. If you don’t want to know the spoilers but want to know how I felt about the book overall, I liked it for the most part. There’s just one part to the book that kept me from liking it as much as I would have otherwise.

Zara White suspects there's a freaky guy semi-stalking her. She's also obsessed with phobias. And it's true, she hasn't exactly been herself since her stepfather died. But exiling her to shivery Maine to live with her grandmother? That seems a bit extreme. The move is supposed to help her stay sane...but Zara's pretty sure her mom just can't deal with her right now.She couldn't be more wrong. Turns out the semi-stalker is not a figment of Zara's overactive imagination. In fact, he's still following her, leaving behind an eerie trail of gold dust. There's something not right - not human - in this sleepy Maine town, and all signs point to Zara.

For the most part this is a decent book. Many YA readers will like it, but some will find it a little lacking in comparison to some of the meatier & more complex books out there, such as the ones by Holly Black or Melissa Marr. Jones tries to straddle the fine line between producing something along the lines of Black/Marr & something more family friendly, but doesn’t entirely succeed. Her characters are interesting enough & the growing affections between Zara & Nick are cute. It’s just that the book kind of read like Jones wrote it as she was going along, throwing bits & pieces in as she went along. It’s not a terrible book but it does feel like it could have been a lot better.

Now for the part that really, REALLY irritated me. This is a spoiler. You’ve been warned.

Zara discovers that she’s the daughter of the pixie king & that her mom only slept with him because otherwise it would mean there would be more death and blood draining. Zara assumes that she’s the child of rape, only for her grandmother to say “it wasn’t forced- she consented”. That bothers me because it obviously seemed to be consent under duress. She didn’t want to do it but agreed because she had no other good choice. That still counts as rape & I would have imagined that an EMT (who has undoubtedly seen some horrific things in her time) would have known that. I’m horrified to think that some girls might read this & assume that consent under duress makes it not rape. What if some guy forces himself on a girl & she assumes “I initially said yes”, “I was too drunk to say no”, or “he said he’d kill me or someone else if I didn’t let him” means that it was consensual? I know that Jones didn’t mean for it to come across this way, but she’s got to understand that her phrasing in that scene was horrible & could have been put better. I'm honestly horrified that some readers might come out of this book thinking that consent under duress equates to consensual. I'd go on, but you get where I'm going with this.

Overall though, this book wasn’t bad & while I absolutely HATED that one scene in the book, I’m curious enough to want to read the next one in the series. I just know that for many, that one scene will be enough to put them off of the rest of her books.

Winter is Coming: Game of Thrones on HBO!

If you haven't heard of the upcoming Game of Thrones on HBO, then don't worry. You'll be hearing more about it soon. (For a better image of the picture above, click on it. For some reason it isn't translating well to the resizing.)

The show's based on the bestselling series by George R.R. Martin called A Song of Ice & Fire. What's awesome about this book series is that it's fantasy but much of the initial focus is in the historical accuracy as well as the world & character building. While the series obviously takes place in a world where magic does exist in some form, Martin strives to keep as much of the book's background historically accurate for a society that's set during the Middle Ages. You've got power plays, young marriages, as well as other things that takes place during such time periods such as political marriages. As the story progresses the fantasy angle gets more of a foothold & is that much more believable for the groundwork that Martin put into the first volume.

If you're curious there's quite a few new pictures out & about, such as this absolutely gorgeous wallpaper here that I discovered via the Game of Thrones twitter account. The official HBO site can be found here, complete with video teasers! (I'm excited that it has one of my favorite actors, Peter Dinklage, starring in this show. Not enough for you? What if I told you that one of the actors from LOTR was in it as well?)

Unfortunately the book series itself isn't finished yet, but hopefully the fifth book should be out soon. (The books in this series are prone to delays but are well worth the wait, believe me.)

Want to read it so bad: Blood Work,The Hollows Graphic Novel

I'd discovered a week or so ago that there was going to be a graphic novel prequel to Kim Harrison's awesome Hollows series, but recently I discovered some pictures that are going to be in the book itself.




The artwork looks amazing so far & what is interesting is that the book is going to be told from Ivy's point of view rather than Rachel's. If you want to see more of the book, you can see all of these pictures on Harrison's own website!

The book is due out on July 12, 2011 & from the website it looks like we can expect more to come!

Book Review: Pale Demon by Kim Harrison

Title: Pale Demon (The Hollows #9)
Author: Kim Harrison
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: 02/22/2011
ISBN: 0061138065







If you’ve been on the fence about the Hollows series, this book will bring you back to the series. I can’t say anything without spoiling the book for you, but rest assured- this book was awesome. This has to be one of the best books in the series so far. It doesn’t beat out the first book as my favorite Hollows read, but it’s up there.

This book finds Rachel trying to find a way to the witch convention in San Francisco, but when no flight will carry her, she has to make her way West with the last person she thought she’d travel with: Trent Kalamack. He too has a reason for heading to the West Coast, but he’s not spilling the details. Since the only other option is to not travel & be put to death or go to the ever after with Al (which is almost as bad), Rachel’s left with no other options. Stuck on what has the potential to be the worst road trip ever, Rachel & crew (oh yes, Ivy & Jenks are there too) discover that anything that can go wrong, will. Especially when you have to deal with assassins, secrets, & a soul eating demon that can not only walk during the day, but also can come & go as he pleases.

Where to begin? For starters, you’ll love that even though not everything is resolved in this book, Harrison does her best to address many of the concerns & questions that fans have been having over the series. I won’t state which ones get the most attention, but I opine (as Pierce would put it) that the many people will be satisfied in one way or another.

Also wonderful is the maturing of Rachel. She’s still the type of person who is capable of insane feats of magic, but this Rachel is one who no longer sees things (as she puts it) in the “black and white” views as she did at the beginning of the series. This shows in many of her actions in this book & the decisions she makes during the course of her adventures in this book.
This is an awesome book & one that anyone following along with the Hollows series NEEDS to read. Not breeze through in the store or library, but read. This was just sheer awesomeness & I really feel like I can’t say enough good things about it. I loved this book.

(ARC provided by NetGalley)

Book Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Title: Paranormalcy
Author: Kiersten White
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: 08/31/2010
ISBN: 0061985848








If you love books along the lines of My Soul to Take then odds are that you'll love this new trilogy started by Kiersten White. It's got all of the stuff that UF YA is known for but also manages to give us something rare: an "awkward" pretty main character that is not only likable, but incredibly vulnerable as well.

Evie's always been different. Unlike other girls her age, she's got the power to see through any glamour & uses that skill to her best extent in her job at the International Paranormal Containment Agency (IPCA). Evie helps to trap & contain things that humanity is best not being aware of. The good part is that she gets her own pink sparkly taser. The bad part is that what makes her special also separates her from everyone else in the world. When she captures a strange boy rifling through her boss's office & discovers that something sinister is afoot, can Evie manage to find out what is going on?

I really did enjoy this book. It's a great start to a trilogy & you can tell that White has done some incredible plotting for this series. Evie is someone that just about every reader can relate to & root for. Also interesting is the two main guys in her life- one of which is a fairy intent on making her a possession & a boy that Evie finds herself quickly falling for. While I'm sure that the future books will help elaborate on both characters, it's refreshing to have the dynamics that are in this first book. (I won't spoil it for you, but needless to say there's no flip flopping between the guys in this book.)

The only downfall is that we're given far too little information on certain aspects of Evie's world (her friendships, IPCA, etc) & I can't help but really wish that White had given us a little more to start off with. I'm sure that these things will be elaborated on in the future, but it still doesn't help define IPCA & other aspects of this book.

Overall though this was an enjoyable first book & I'll be keeping my eyes open for the next one in the series.

Book Review: Vampire Vacation by C.J. Ellisson

Title: Vampire Vacation (The V.V. Inn #1)
Author: C.J. Ellisson
Publisher: R.H. Publishing
Release Date: 10/10/2010
ISBN: 9780982661000







While there have been a lot of vampire books flooding the market, I can safely say that I haven’t seen a novel combine vampires, sex, mystery, AND innkeeping. Shoot, I’ve never seen a vampire hotel themed book before, so that element alone intrigued me.

Ancient vampire Vivian runs an Alaskan inn that caters to an ultra exclusive crowd, specializing in erotic pleasures. Money can’t buy your way in, nor will wearing the right clothing. No, to gain a room in this hotel you have to be an owner of a pair of fangs or at least be traveling with someone who does. Vivian’s pretty happy to spend her days quietly in the cold North, hiding her true powers from those would have her dead. When a dead body is found in one of the hotel rooms & old threats from the past threaten to re-emerge, it is going to take Vivian’s entire arsenal to figure out what is going on & to keep her precious peace from being disturbed.

Liberally sprinkling generous portions of red hot sex scenes in with a mystery that is slow to reveal its secrets, Ellisson gives the audience the usual vampire powers with just enough new additions to make the book interesting. Having a vampire run a hotel just for her fanged counterparts to freely romp in is something that isn’t usually seen, which works surprisingly well.

The only downfall of the book is that there’s a LOT of back story going on here, so much that some readers will wonder if they’ve picked up the second book in a series or if there are previous books out there further detailing Vivian’s exploits. Ellisson does her best to elaborate on Vivian’s past in brief glimpses, but it will still leave some readers feeling like they’re being left a little in the dark & looking for prequel novels.

Overall, this is a decent first novel by Ellisson. There are a few rough spots to work out here & there (mostly dealing with Vivian’s past as noted above), the spicy & lovingly written sex does make up for it.

I will let you guys know that while there is going to be a sequel dealing with things mentioned at the end of the book, the author has told me that there will be a prequel to the novels dealing with Vivian's past. So fear not- we'll eventually get a novel dealing with all of the past mentioned in the book!

(Reader copy provided by author)

New Harry Potter? OK, I'm intrigued

There's been a buzz lately that J.K. Rowling will put out another Harry Potter book. This isn't really anything new, since she's been saying that she might for years. It's still exciting to see the random news story pop up, though.

The buzz started up again when Rowling told Oprah that she wouldn't mind going back to the Potterverse again & that finishing the last book really left her mourning the entire experience & that "They're all in my head still. I could definitely write an eighth, a ninth book".

I wouldn't mind seeing another book, I have to admit.