Gena Showalter - Lord of the Vampires

Title : Lord of the Vampires
Series : Royal House of Shadows #1
Release date : August 30th, 2011
Publisher : Harlequin Nocturne
Genre : Paranormal Romance

I received this novel as an ARC, courtesy of Net Galley

The story begins when a Blood sorcerer kills the king and queen of Magical Elden and has plans to kill their four children next in order to get the throne. But never underestimate the love and strength of parents, their mother had enough strength in her to combine her power and send them away to survive and deal with their enemy later.

Crown prince of Elden, Nicolai was known as the Dark Seducer because he seduced many women without choosing the future queen. When his mother sends him away he ended up on the sex market in Deflina without any memory of his past. During the years in captivity he discover that he is stripped of his magic and his memory, now he is trying to escape his evil captor, the princess of Deflina, the ageless kingdom. The only answer to his prayer is a mortal woman.

Jane Parker’s life has been a living hell after the car accident where she lost her whole family. She’s slowly getting her life back when she finds a strange book on her doorstep. She doesn’t understand her connection to the book, but it will become clear when she’s summoned to Deflina, as a princess in order to save Nicolai. But who is he? What will he do to her when she helps him escape? Because on Earth vampires are not the nicest creatures.

Lord of the Vampires by Gena Showalter is the first novel in the Royal House of Shadows Series, which she is co-writing with Jill Monroe, Jessica Andersen and Nalini Singh.

I’m already a huge fan of Gena Showalter and just love her Lord of the Underworld Series, so I couldn’t resist and had to read this one. Well she didn’t disappoint me; it’s a great storyline with action, some twist, steamy scenes and some similarities with Alice in Wonderland.

Nicolai is a strong vampire, but I have to say he is a little too alpha to me. Don’t get me wrong, I love strong alpha males, but trough the whole book he was saying/growling “mine” and at the end of the book I really want to smack him in the head and yell “I know”. But his evil plan to lure mortal Jane to the magical world was great.

I liked Jane, she’s a fighter; first her recovery from the car accident and later for her love for Nicolai. She will do anything to set him free from his captors and try to get him back to his world and save his beloved Elden.

I’m definitely looking forward to read about the other three siblings Breena, Micah and Dayn written by the other three authors and hope they reunite at the end.

Gena Showalter - Intertwined

Aden Stone is not a normal teenage boy, as long as he can remember; he has four souls trapped inside his body. One of the souls can show him the future, the second soul can possesses another human being, the third one can time travel but only back in time and the last one can accidentally raise the dead when walking near a grave. Aden has seen several doctors, because everyone thinks he is crazy just talking to himself, when in fact he is talking to his souls. But lately Aden is getting tired of them and he needs to find a way to free the souls so he can live a normal life.

Then he meets Mary Ann Gray and whenever she is around the four souls are quiet and peace full. Mary Ann is Aden’s opposite; she has a lot of friends, is a good girl and never gets into trouble. The only thing they have in common is that they both lost their mother at an early age. But that doesn’t stop them to build a friendship between them. Together they try to find a way to release the souls within Aden.

Intertwined by Gena Showalter is her first Young Adult novel and after reading a lot of other stuff by her, I was curious to see what this novel would be like and I have to say I like it.

Young teenager Aden lives his whole with four souls trapped inside his body, everyone around him thinks he is crazy, because he talks a lot to himself, but of course he is talking to his companions. Finally he got a place on a ranch just outside of town, where young delinquent are living. He can convince his supervisor to send him to school, where he meets Mary Ann, the only person who can quiet the souls inside him. At first Mary Ann is a little skeptic about the truth, but soon enough discovers that there are more creatures living on this Earth. Aden and Mary Ann meet werewolf shape-shifter Riley, who becomes really protective of Mary Ann and vampire princess ……..which Aden can’t resist and soon they are on a journey into this new world, hoping to find answers to Aden’s past and his connection to Mary Ann.

The relationship between the four teenagers is fabulous and the way Aden interaction with the four souls Eve, Caleb, Elijah and Julian is so funny to read. They really want what is best for Aden, especially Eve she is the only female and a real mother to all the others. I do hope Aden can find a way to set all of them free. Let say I’m really looking forward to the next book and see what will happen next.

Gena Showalter - The darkest fire

Greyon sold his soul to the devil to save his wife, but she left him as soon as he had to pay the deal Now he is the guardian of the gates of hell The only bright light in his life is the daily appearing of the goddess who inspects the walls. But then one day she approaches him, there is a little crack in the wall and she needs his help to fix it. But Greyon cannot leaves his place at the gate, until Lucifer himself orders it.

Kadence is the goddess of Oppression and the one responsible that the wall between hell and the human world keep intact. So she visit and inspects the wall, but one day she finds a little crack in the wall. She needs Greyon’s help to fix the problem, but she has to face Lucifer first to release Greyon from his duties.

The darkest fire by Gena Showalter is the prequel in the Lord of the underworld series. This story is short, sensual and easy to read. You can say it’s a beauty and the beast story.
This e-book is a very nice teaser for the rest of the series. I cannot wait to read the next novel.

Anthology - Mysteria

“Mortal in mysteria”
Harmony Faithfull is the new pastor in Mysteria, but her services are still empty, although everyone in town treats her nicely. Then one morning she asks for a sign from above and finds Damon naked in her back yard. Damon happens to be a demon, before Lucifer punished him for his kindness towards humans and sent him back to earth as a human.
Can Damon help Harmony to get her little church full of people and convince her it’s not a bad thing to fall in love with an ex-demon.

“Alone wolf”
Cole Jones is a werewolf who’s raised by humans. But now it is time to find out some information about his real family. So he ends up in a little town called Mysteria where he meets Charlene “Char” Houtenam when he buys a haunted house. Cole feels immediately the huge attraction between them, but Char has a secret of her own. Will Cole stay with her when he finds out?

“The witches of Mysteria and the dead who love them”
Genevieve Tawdry is one of the three witch sisters and she has a huge crush on Hunter since she was a teenager. But Hunter only tread her like a good friend, so hopefully one of her sister’s love poison should do the trick.
Hunter is not a normal human; he is psychic and hunts the dead. When a vision shows him that the woman he secretly loves will be the cause of his death.
Can Hunter and Genevieve find a way to prevent it?

“Candy Cox and the big bad werewolf”
Candace “Candy” Cox is the local teacher and totally human. She is tired of her life and wants some changes, so when she gets an offer to move to Denver she seriously thinking about it. But her close friend Godiva Tawdry, one of the witch sisters believes she just needs a good werewolf.
Justin Woods is a werewolf who happens to be a former student of Candy and way much younger. But that doesn’t stop him form seducing Candy and show her the heaven and the stars in it. Can their relationship survive the age different?

Mysteria has all the right ingredients for an anthology, the magic, love, romance and lots of humour, that leave several smiles on my face when I read the book.
I can truly say I had a great time reading this novel and will definitely want to read the next novel of the little town Mysteria and the magical people who live there.