The Dragon DelaSangre by Alan F. Troop

Living off the coast of Miami, Peter DeLaSangre is the only child of Don Henri DeLaSangre. He is also a dragon, a shapeshifter, and feeds on the humans that are within a short distance. Peter, along with Don Henri think that they are the last of their kind, the last of the four families of dragons that were exiled from Europe.

One night, Peter catches the scent of a female dragon. He embarks upon a journey south, where he meets Elizabeth, one of the Blood family. He defeats another male and claims her as his mate.

The two head back to Miami to start their life only to face the suspicion of the brother of a human woman that Peter ate before meeting Elizabeth. Peter does his best to abate the man's suspicions, but his bad taste in cuisine coupled with other bad decisions lead to disastrous consequences.

The novel was written in first person, and was an interesting twist on dragons. I wanted to dislike Peter for eating people, but he was still a sympathetic character. I am not sure that I would reccommend the book to anyone, although it wasn't a bad book. It was simply forgettable. If you like dragons, and enjoy action, you would probably enjoy this novel, however.

Nominate me, please!

I'm participating in Book Blogger Appreciation week! You can find more information here: http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/2008/08/bbaw-award-nominations-are-open.html If you feel I deserve it, please send an email to bbawawards@gmail.com in order to nominate me for the category that you feel my blog best fits into. I'd say probably General Book Blog. I haven't really been blogging long enough to specialize yet. Any help you can give in getting my blog more exposure would be great as well!

Thanks and happy reading!

The Book of Names by Jill Gregory & Karen Tintori

This book is in the Da Vinci Code-esque tradition: Religiously themed with a mystery to discover.

David Shepard keeps a journal. All that is written in his journal are names. Names of people he doesn't know, names of people he's never met. He's been "hearing" the names since a near-death accident during his childhood. David doesn't think that the names are real people until he decides to Google the names in his journal. The names in David's head turn out to be people across the world and across the centuries.

David embarks on a journey to discover what these names mean and why he has these names in his head. He meets Rabbi ben Moshe who introduces him to Kabbalah and the Lamed Vovniks. The Lamed Vovniks are the hidden ones. There are 36 of them, and they hold the goodness of the world. When they are killed, it has dire repercussions.

David is horrified when one of the names is the name of his stepdaughter, who has been adopted by her new stepfather. He witnesses the death of the rabbi and goes on the run to Israel with Yael HarPaz. Meanwhile, the secret cult of the Gnoseos is trying to kill the last of the Lamed Vovniks, gain possession of David's journal, and kidnap his stepdaughter.

If you like Dan Brown and James Rollins, you'll most likely enjoy this book.

The Devil Inside by Jenna Black

Morgan Kingsley is an exorcist called to exorcise a demon from a little girl in Kansas. She begins her ritual only to find herself the one confined after the child touches her during the exorcism. After her fellow exorcist and friend Valerie is brought in to check, Morgan is declared demon-free and returns to her job and lawyer boyfriend, Brian.

Morgan is troubled by sleepwalking incidents that soon escalate into written notes when she is apparently asleep. She discovers that she has been illegally inhabited by a demon, Lugh. Lugh is just as reluctant to possess Morgan. He has been forced into possession by Morgan's brother Andrew, who is legally possessed by the demon Raphael. Morgan has such a strong will that the only opportunity Lugh has to control her body is when she is asleep.

After more than one attempt to murder Morgan, Lugh confesses that he is the recently crowned king of the demons. His brothers Raphael and Dougal are trying to usurp his position as king. Morgan reluctantly seeks the assistance of Adam, Director of Special Forces and demon-possessed and his lover, Dominic, whose demon she has recently exorcised.

Morgan, Lugh, Adam, and Dominic fight to trust one another, to keep Morgan and Lugh alive, and to avoid God's Wrath, an extremist group looking to wipe out all demons, demon possessed, and exorcists.

This was a book that I found difficult to put down. Black found a way to make demons believable and sympathetic. Morgan is a compelling character who you can't help but feel for through the difficult decisions she has to make.

Dates from Hell by various authors

This is a collection of four short novellas by well-known paranormal romance authors Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Kelley Armstrong, and Lori Handeland.

Ivy, a living vampire is the main character in the first story, Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil by Kim Harrison. Ivy works for Inderland Security in Cincinnati. The Inderlanders are those who aren't quite human--the vampires, the werewolves, the banshees, and other creatures of the night. As a living vampire, Ivy has as much of a need for blood as the undead vampires. She struggles with this need as she investigates a murder, meets banshees and tries to resist giving her blood to the seductive Art, her undead vampire partner.

If you pick this novel up, skip over this first story. Ivy's struggle with bloodlust and her heritage is unconvincing. The whole premise of her struggle is not compelling, and the story was uninteresting, in my opinion.

The second story, The Claire Switch Project by Lynsay Sands is a story you don't want to miss! Claire, an assistant in a science lab, is zapped by a destabilizer in the course of her job, before the process has been approved for human testing. Her supervisor and long-time friend Kyle takes her home in order to observe her for any negative side affects. Claire and Kyle's twin sister Jill soon discover that Claire has the ability to shapechange and look like anyone. Hilarity ensues when Claire agrees to go to their high school reunion as both Kyle's and Jill's date!

Hope has a legacy from her father in Kelley Armstrong's Chaotic--she's half-demon! She thinks that she's put her nose for chaos to good use until she attends a museum event and encounters Karl Marsten, a werewolf jewel thief. Hope soon learns that she's been duped by a sorcerer and she and Karl run for their lives. Armstrong's heroine is fun and intriguing, and the story unfolds in a satisfying way.

Kit is a mild-mannered literary agent living in New York City, until she has an unfortunate date with a dead man in Dead Man Dating by Lori Handeland. Fortunately, she's rescued by Chavez, a tattooed, pierced man who looks like he would be more at home in a biker bar than as the rogue demon hunter he reveals himself to be. Kit thinks that she is safe, but soon finds out that the incubus inhabiting her date's body is going to keep coming after her. Chavez protects her and the two embark on a journey to discover what exactly it is that the incubus is after and how to defeat it. The lackluster characters make this is another story that could be skipped in this particular anthology.

Another Book Giveaway!

Here's the url:

http://www.booklorn.com/2008/08/joy-nash-immortals-the-crossing-50-days-50-books-week-2/

Good luck! Sounds like a good book!

Predator by Patricia Cornwell

I felt like reading something a little different, so I picked up a mystery/thriller. This is 14th in Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpettta novels. I've read one of Patricia Cornwell's books before, a nonfiction investigation into Jack the Ripper. I've never read any of her Kay Scarpetta novels before, however. After this book, I don't intend to read any of her other Scarpetta novels.

The book weaves the stories of Dr. Scarpetta, her niece Lucy, her boyfriend Dr. Benton Wesley, and an unnamed other character. Dr. Scarpetta is the head of the Academy that trains forensic scientists and death investigators, and is funded by her niece Lucy. She works closely with Pete Marino, an ex-cop with a love for motorcycles. Dr. Wesley is in Massachusetts working with the Predator project, an attempt to map out the brains of serial killers while Scarpetta is in Florida investigating the disappearance of two women involved in a cult and the two South African boys they have adopted.

Unfortunately, the stories of the main characters do not weave together smoothly. They are jerky and often unrelated. Even after re-reading or returning to earlier episodes in the book with the characters, I was confused about how the stories were related. I had difficulty seeing how the unnamed character fit into the story until the very end of the novel. Usually, it's a good thing to keep some parts of the story unrevealed until the end in a mystery, but Cornwell could have done a much better job of bringing this character into the story without revealing the extent to which the character was involved.

The book was written in the present tense, which is an unusual choice for a book unless it is also written in the first person. Cornwell's choice of tense felt awkward and uncomfortable. I had difficulty finding a connection with or feeling for any of her characters. It is possible that I have missed some nuances in the characters by reading one of the novels that is deep into the series as opposed to one that is at the beginning. I may have to go back and read one of her first Kay Scarpetta novels just to find out.

Overall, I would probably not recommend this book to anyone unless they are a die hard mystery/thriller or Patricia Cornwell fan.

Some fun stuff for readers

First of all, get books for $1!! I got 12 books for about $20. It's a great deal. Here's the link:
http://www.BookCloseouts.com. Check it out.

Secondly, there are a ton of book giveaways from book bloggers on the internet. I hope to join the ranks eventually, but I'm such a new book blogger that I don't have the resources yet. I'll post links to book giveaways as I find them. Here's the first: http://bookroomreviews.wordpress.com/

Enjoy!

The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason

Set in England during the 1800s, the novel tells the story of Victoria who is born into the Gardella family. She is the last of the direct descendants of the Gardella line, and she is a Venator, a vampire hunter. The reader follows Victoria as she navigates through society while keeping her occupation as a vampire hunter a secret. She is aided by her great-aunt Eustacia, her aunt's companion and Victoria's trainer in martial arts, Kritanu, the mysterious Max, and her lady's maid, Verbena.

Things get truly difficult for Victoria when she meets the Marquess of Rockley, Philip. The two were acquainted as children, and a romance quickly springs up between the two. Victoria is forced to hide her destiny from Philip

Meanwhile Lilith, queen of the vampires has moved to London with her entourage of vampires. She is searching for the Book of Antwartha, and Victoria and her allies must keep the book from the vampires.

Along the way, Victoria enlists the aid of Barth, Verbena's carriage-driving cousin. She learns how to dress while still carrying stakes. She discovers how to excuse herself so that she can kill vampires without offending society ladies or permitting anyone to remember when they've seen a vampire. She is bitten by a Guardian vampire, a step up from your run-of-the-mill vampire, and has to clean her wounds with salted holy water. She frequents a bar where the clientele is mostly vampire and befriends the owner, the enigmatic Sebastian Vioget.

If you like books about vampires or books with a historical setting, you'll enjoy this book. Victoria is a strong lead character, and it's easy to believe in her. There is a strong romantic aspect to the story, but it does not overshadow the main thrust of the book--vampire hunting. The love scenes are very tastefully and discreetly done, and the action is compelling. Overall, it's a great read!