Playing with Fire (Silver Dragons, Book 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)Exploring another corner of the world of sexy dragons, guardians, demons and such from her Aisling Grey series, Katie MacAlister brings a new pair to the spotlight. Playing with Fire is the first in a new series starring the yummy silver Wyvern Gabriel as he joyfully discovers his mate, the woman who can share his dragon-fire in doppelganger and demon-bound thief May. Gabriel and May are not Drake and Aisling, so even though we pick up pretty much at the end of Holy Smokes (Aisling Grey, Guardian, Book 4) -- and the background plot continues the confrontation between the Gabriel's Silver dragons and Drake's brother's Black dragons -- this series has a different enough feel that it is not a rehash.
May is something we haven't seen in yet in MacAlister's otherworld. May was created by a demon lord from her naiad "twin" Cyrene's shadow in exchange for her sister's "common sense", as a doppelganger this gives May the ability to shadow-walk to become almost invisible in the shadows which is quite useful her "career" - May is bound to the former silent film-star demon lord who created her, and forced to obey his commands to steal for him. May meets Gabriel when she stumbles onto Drake's estate while attempting to return a stolen item that had put a price on her head. Quite by accident Gabriel discovers that May is a wyvern's mate and seeks to claim her. The ever sensible May tries to refuse Gabriel, knowing the danger the demon poses - May has spent her life avoiding relationships knowing that should she take a lover the demon lord who wants May's body would likely order May to kill her lover. But Gabriel assures May that dragons are not so easy to get rid of and of course Gabriel is totally irresistible, so May lets Gabriel claim her in a fiery joining that literally burns up the sheets. But all is not smooth sailing for May and Gabriel, May will have to outsmart the demon lord or risk an eternity in Abbandon to avoid betraying Gabriel when her demon-lord commands a theft of a powerful artifact that will put all the dragons under the demon lord's control.
Gabriel is not as reserved as Drake or as controlling, so I enjoyed his relationship with May more than Drake's with Aisling. I liked that Gabriel was more willing to defy dragon etiquette and express his delight in his new mate and that he was unable to act with restraint in their romantic encounters. Also Gabriel's willingness to support May as she has to handle some dangerous situations in the book, trusting in the competence of his mate, and his willingness to place May's need to save her kidnapped sister over his need to acquire an object important to his Sept makes Gabriel a much more appealing love interest than Drake.

Much of the cast that we've grown to love from the previous books Drake, Aisling, and Jim are back in supporting roles. Since May isn't MacAlister's normal angsty impetuous heroine, Cyrene along with the ever irreverent Jim, the demon in dog form, serve to bring some of MacAlister's trademark zaniness to the story. Playing with Fire was a fun read setting up for more of Gabriel and May as they have some obstacles ahead of them as the story continues with Up In Smoke: A Novel of the Silver Dragons before they get their happily ever after.


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Starring the Dragons Of The Aisling Grey, Guardian Novels Gabriel Tauhou, wyvern of the silver dragons, has found the one woman who can withstand his fire. Too bad May Northcott is already bound to a demon lord. But when the demon orders May to steal one of Gabriel's treasures—an immensely important relic of all dragonkin— Gabriel has to decide which to protect: his love or his dragons.

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Lover Enshrined (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 6) Review

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(More customer reviews)*No spoilers*
I started out reading Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood series because I enjoy the Paranormal Romance genre. The love stories in the prequels to LEn are excellent (with the exception of Lover Unbound) IMHO. But it looks like this series has come to a fork in the road. Choosing the Urban Fantasy route verses the Paranormal Romance one. I don't mind the change in genre so much (as Ward is a captivating writer) but others might and may feel duped. So you've been warned.
I didn't particularly care for the romance in this book. A quick recap: Phury is the Primale. Essentially the Brother chosen to breed more Brothers. He is the sire of a 'harem' of forty Chosen females. Phury is supposed to mate with them and produce many children, the males of which will hopefully become the warriors (Brothers) who defend the vampire race from the evil lessers. Phury's first mate is Cormia. Their romance is tepid at best. I did not *see* them fall in love at all. More like I got the vibe that Cormia is merely a soothing and gentle influence on Phury's tumultuous life. She came across as a helpful friend rather than mate potential. Not the I-would-die-without-your-love feeling I got in the previous books. Since those books were so smack down emotional, I hoped this one would be too. I just didn't feel it.But, BUT, and this is a big one. The rest of the book rocks! As I recall the lessers were sadly missing in LU. They are back in a BIG way here in LEn, specifically with the Omega making multiple appearances. John, Qhuinn and Blaylock also all have prominent roles in this book. Their stories make major advancements as well. With tons of surprises. And Rhevenge's and Xhex's characters are spot lighted too. There are also some very interesting twists (including new characters) to the series which leads me to believe that Ward is going in the Urban fantasy direction.
So although I think the romance is lack luster, the rest of the book is keeper material. I don't mind that LEn read more like three stories in one rather than a central romance with two subplots. Fans of Paranormal **Romance** will be VERY disappointed. But I still recommend reading LEn just for the advancement of other character's plots. Skip this one if your in it for the romance or wait to get the book at the library if your skeptical.
And for anyone new to the series? Don't start here! You'll miss out on a lot of the back story. These books are NOT meant to be read stand alone. Besides the previous books have some awesome romance.

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Master of Smoke (Mageverse) Review

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(More customer reviews)Holy smokes, this book kept me on the edge of my seat and it was so exciting to read that I couldn't put it down!
First off, Ms. Knight is a riot. I found so many reasons to grin during this very thrilling book due to her quips from Monty Python. The author threw in other references to pop culture that totally livened up and made the heroine a blast to read about and easier to relate to. I mean Eva's sense of humor even when the chips were down had me liking her as a person and I would feel confident if such a person were in my corner when life's hard knocks sounded on my door.
The relationship between Eva and Smoke/David/Cat was simply fabulous. When Eva made the quip about Stargate, it was exactly what crossed my mind and I thought that was so cool. I snickered about the part where stress sent her into the kitchen. I giggled when Cat turned cat and the resulting dialogue from Eva had me smiling from the cleverness of it all. I enjoyed the family relationship that Eva had with her parents and I laughed out loud any time her father's geekiness peppered the story. It was so positive and upbeat even when things are spiraling out of control into nastiness.
David is a delightfully complicated man or whatever he is. A reader gets the real lowdown of what he sort of is and I was utterly fascinated. Despite his power and abilities, he needs love just like anyone else and it's that spark of vulnerability that made his character relatable and oh, so easy to like. He's no slouch in the bedroom, or on the beach or anywhere else he could have Eva. In fact, this is a very well balanced story between sheet action and just plain old suspense and adventure with plenty of intriguing plot to satisfy the seekers of meaty romantic suspense.
Another thing I liked about Master of Smoke was the repeat characters, like Arthur and Gwen. I also liked the sub-story between Belle and Tristan. I just know that Ms. Knight is setting them up for something but as to what, I can't wait to find out. As it is, they played a substantial supporting role in assisting Eva and David and it was riveting. There is even another sub-plot that is being set up in this book for a future adventure but I can't even begin to guess who will be the unlucky vampire to get stuck with that challenge. It's going to be a doozy.
As for the villains, there is one main one with his underlings doing horrid things because they're just as demented as he is, though not as powerful. Warlock is a convincing villain and a powerful one. The battle was gripping and well written because I could visualize it in my head. I'd love to see that on T.V. I bet the effects would be awesome. All the bad guys deserve no mercy and readers will totally agree once they read this book.
There are amazing twists and exciting turns in this tale that makes Master of Smoke one of the best books in the Mageverse series to date. This book satisfied me on so many levels and it made the romance reader in me extremely happy. I'm so glad Smoke finally got his happily ever after.
It's been a wild and furry ride and I can't wait until the next book.
Ms. Knight has done it again; readers of this series are going to be so happy because Master of Smoke has everything that they've come to expect from this talented author, plus more. I had such a good time reading this, I hated for it to end. More please.
Originally posted at The Long and Short of It Romance Reviews

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