Sarah McCarty - Caine's Reckoning

Texas Ranger Caine Allen is a man with a hard past and live. At an early age he lost his family and grew up in a world full of violence and hunger. Together with seven other men, almost with the same background as he, he started Hell’s Eight, a ranch that will be breeding horses in the near future, but right now Caine and his friends Sam & Tracker are hired to rescue some abducted women. Caine could not imagine being impressed by the strength of one of the victims, Desdemona Blake.

Desdemona “Desi” Blake is a young woman, who lost everyone she loved, her parents and brother are dead, and her twin sister kidnapped by Comancheros and her own life is a living hell. She has been held captive by her guardian and uses as a “sex” slave for several upstanding men in her town. So being kidnapped by some locals is her only change to escape, but then the Texas Rangers rescue her and the other women. She begs Caine not to bring her back to her guardian James Haddock. Caine ignores her plea, but when he meets James Haddock and sees the way Desi react to him, the only thing to save her from continued harm is to take her to Hell’s Eight, as his wife.

Little by little Caine discovers the truth about Desi’s past and there is only one thing on his mind…revenge.

Caine’s reckoning by Sarah McCarty is the first novel in the Hell’s Eight series and it’s one hell of a book. I cannot describe the feeling I had when I finished the book. This book is full of emotions, hurting from past experience and defiantly true love. Just the way that love can conquer all things, even after what both main characters had been through.

The relationship between main characters Caine and Desi started difficult. Both of them had a very hard and difficult past, especially Desi. She lost her parents and brother, her twin sister is kidnapped by Comancheros and she lives in hell, as “sex” toy of her guardian James Haddock. But her determination is huge; she will escape her live and find her missing sister. The moment she meets Caine, she knows he is a man of his words and when he promise her to find her sister and keep her safe in the meantime, she believes him. But can she trust him with her heart and let him in her bed, after all she been through?
Caine Allen, a Texas Ranger and owner of the ranch Hell’s Eight is determined to breed horses and succeed. But when he rescue Desi Blake and marries her to keep her safe from her guardian, she will be his number one priority. The moment he discovers the truth about Desi and her past, he will do anything to find her sister and get his revenge on the men who abused Desi. His mission now will be to get Desi to believe he sees her as a beautiful and loving woman and not the whore she think she is.

As secondary characters we see the other Hell’s Eight men, all impressive men with their own past to deal with. The only woman on Hell’s Eight is Tia, an elderly lady who lost her husband and child in the war and took the men in when they were younger. And they have just one rule, the moment you become a part of Hell’s Eight family, they will do anything in their power to protect you.

I have to say Westerns are not my favourite genre to read, but Sarah McCarty convinces me otherwise. With this novel she caught my attention and hold that all the way through the book. I could really feel the pain and emotions Desi was feelings, during her abused life. Her determination to survive was huge and that’s what I really like in a character. I hope Desi will find her missing sister in one of the following novels.

A little warning for you all, the sex scenes are raw but it will fit perfectly in this story. I for one am curious enough to see what will happen with Sam, in Sarah McCarty next novel Sam’s Creed.

Lara Adrian - Midnight Awakening

Thousands years ago an alien race called the Breed vampires settle themselves on earth among the human race. Nobody knows they exist but now the Breed are in the middle of a civil war with the Rogues, whom are vampires who have given over their minds and bodies to the bloodlust. An army full of Rogues wants to dominate the world but find the Breed warriors standing in their way ready to destroy them.

After losing her only son to the Rogue vampires and the crimson drug that causes bloodlust and eventually death, Elise Chase is barely holding on. Now Elise has nothing to lose, so she decides to uses her unique gift of psychic powers and tracks as many Rogues and finally kill them. But the more she uses her power, the weaker she grows and Elise knows that without a blood bond and help of one of the Breed warriors, she will eventually die.

Tegan is a Gen One warrior, the deadliest of them all. He lost his Breed mate five centuries ago to the Rogues and their bloodlust. He has been at war with the Rogues ever since, killing as many as he can. Then one evening he sees Elise Chase battling with a couple of Rogues in an alley and helps her. He remember her as the Darkhaven female he escorted home after her son’s death and is surprised by the way she is handling his death.

Now the two of them are working together to battle the Rogues and their Minions, finding a way to destroy Marek, the leader of the Rogues and an old friend of Tegan. But in the meantime someone is hunter them, will they be strong enough to destroy the enemy and find love all over again?

Midnight Awakening is the third novel in the Midnight Breed series and again it is a fabulous one. Lara Adrian has really created a dark but powerful world that will keep your attention all the way through the book. From the first novel Kiss of Midnight, Tegan was the warrior who caught my eye and made my heart tremble every time he appeared and his story was very satisfying. It really blew me off my feet.

The main characters Tegan and Elise are fabulous for each together. Tegan is the deadliest of all Breed warriors and lost his first breed mate five centuries ago. He never wants to feel love again and only lives to fight as many Rogues and their Minions as he can. But then he meets Elise for the first time and cannot forget about her. Now months later their path crosses again and he cannot let her fight her battle alone.
Elise Chase lost everything she cherish, her husband and now her only son. So she feels she has nothing to loose and is determined to let the Rogues pay for what they done to her son. Hunting the minions during daytime and kill them without remorse, she grows weaker by the day because she has to use her special gift to find them. And then one night she runs into a group of Rogues and fight for her life, but she couldn’t imagine the help of the deadliest Breed warrior Tegan.

The secondary characters in this novel are great. Lucan Thorne, the leader of the Breed and his wife Gabrielle are really great together. Then the other warriors Niko, Rio, Chase, Gideon and his wife Savannah, Dante and his wife Tess, well you can see they all are very close at the compound.

I believe the Midnight Breed series is definitely one of my favourite vampire series I’ve ever read. I don’t have to say this story contains all the stuff you need for a good vampire story, a huge and strong bond between the hero and his heroine, the sworn enemy.
The next novel will be Midnight Rising and I’m really looking forward to reading that one, because it will be Rio’s story. And man, what he went through in the previous novel, you believe he never finds love again.

Lara Adrian is one of my favourite authors and definitely belongs on my bookshelves.

Jade Lee - Dragonborn

Kiril is a dragon hunter for the emperor Dag Racho and has a gift when it comes to finding dragon eggs. His job is to destroy the eggs before they are attached to human bodies and bond with them. Kiril has experience first handed when he witnessed his cousin through the dragon hatching and became a different person. Now he is looking for the last egg, a golden queen’s egg and free mankind from the evil dragons.

Natiya works as a bar dancer to survive in the hard world. She is the only surviving child of two dragonborn and was raised by her aunt and uncle and lived a happy live. But she has a secret of her own; shortly after parents were killed she took the last dragon egg and hides it from the rest of the world. Now it is time for the egg to come out, so Natiya carries the egg in her navel, just like a little unborn child.

But the moment she meets Kiril in the bar, she knows he means trouble and doesn’t trust him, even if this mean ignoring the huge attraction between them. But when the emperor Dag Racho hears the truth about the golden egg, the only thing Kiril can do is to protect Natiya and her unborn dragon.

Dragonborn by Jade Lee is an adventures story, full of action, dragons and magic. This novel is the first one I’ve read of Miss Lee and it was a nice one, but didn’t blow me off my feet. The main-characters Kiril and Natiya were fabulous together. Natiya is determined to hatched the last golden dragon egg and convince mankind that dragon are not evil. That the humans who are attaching to the dragons are the one who are evil and they use the dragons for their own and not to protect mankind. So when Natiya meets Kiril she cannot trust him, because his after her egg. And what about her feelings towards him…. Are they true or just the dragon power in her?
Kiril witnessed his cousin through a dragon hatching and become a totally violent persons, so he is determined to kill all dragons and eggs to save the world, so he believes. But when he meets Natiya his world changes and even his opinion about dragons, but can he trust those feelings?

What I really missed in this novel was the true romance between the main-characters. Of course there were feelings and attractions, but I couldn’t feel if those were true or just the dragon power. But I have to say Jade Lee knows how to create a fabulous fantasy world full of those gorgeous dragons.