Review: The Devil's Playground - Jenna Black

No one ever wants to serve in Hell...

The Seven Deadlies, a demon club in Philadelphia, has always catered to the most attractive and desirable hosts.  Recently, though, more and more of the lower dregs of society have been showing up with demons of their own - in alarming numbers.  Exorcist Morgan Kingsley is sure that Dougal, the demon king's brother, is behind this, but isn't sure why.  Is Dougal building an army to snatch the throne of the demons from his brother Lugh?

If there's one person who can get to the bottom of this, it's Morgan, but caught between her mortal lover Brian and the demon she lusts for, it's going to take everything she has to keep her head - and heart - in the game.

Morgan Kingsley Series:
The Devil Inside
The Devil You Know
The Devil's Due
Speak of the Devil
The Devil's Playground

For more information visit Jenna Black's website

Review:
Please be aware that this is the 5th & final book in the Morgan Kingsley series so although my review won't contain spoilers for The Devil's Playground it may contain spoilers for previous books.  If you're new to the series its one I'd recommend reading in order starting with book 1 The Devil Inside.

Things have been going far too well for Morgan and the other members of Lugh's council over the last couple of months - they should have known it was too good to be true.  When Shae (the owner of The Seven Deadlies nightclub) approaches Morgan to warn her about an unusual increase in demons crossing over into the human world the council immediately suspect Dougal is up to something.  Dougal has been trying to take over Lugh's throne but why does he feel the need to increase demon presence on earth?  They need to find out what he is up to and try to figure out a way to stop him before he can do any more damage.

I have to say that this series has been one that I've had mixed feelings about from the start, it's always felt like a series I should love but there has always been something that kept it from becoming a favorite.  Morgan has always been quite an annoying character but I was pleased to see that the changes in her that started in Speak of the Devil have continued in The Devil's Playground.  She still isn't perfect but she has come a long way from the first book and I'm liking her a lot more now than I ever did before.

I still love Lugh and was pleased with the amount of time we got to spend with him in this book although I have to confess I'd have liked to have seen things develop further with him & Morgan.  I've been routing for him since near the beginning of the series!  I've never been Brian's biggest fan and I have to say his attitude this time around didn't help any.  Morgan has finally started letting him in and now he is starting to feel jealous of Lugh and pushing her away.  While I can see why he is bothered by the fact that Lugh is always there it isn't like this is something new - he has been aware of Lugh's presence for quite a long time now & I found it strange that it suddenly started bothering him quite so much.

We get to see quite a lot of the other main characters so it felt like we know how the future will turn out for each of them which is something I really liked.  I'm still a massive fan of Adam and Dominic - Adam really grew on me in the last couple of books & I've liked Dom from the start.  Raphael surprised me in the last book but I have to say I was downright shocked by him this time, I'm not going to say what he did for fear of spoilers but my opinion of him is now completely different to what it was at the beginning of the series.  It was nice to see Morgan's brother Andy have an attitude adjustment too, he was starting to really irritate me so I'm pleased he has started to turn his life back around.

Although I would have liked more action I do think that this was probably my favorite book in the series and ended things well answering all of the questions I had.  I do think it has been left at a point where Jenna Black could re-visit the series again in the future and I find myself hoping that she will do.  I'm going to miss Morgan and her group of friends - Lugh, Dom & Adam in particular.  While I think this is a series that never quite lived up to it's full potential for me I still think it is worth reading & if you liked the rest of the series then I'm sure you will enjoy this final installment.

Source: Library

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Review: Black Swan Rising - Lee Carroll

Jeweller Garet James isn't the same as everyone else.  She just doesn't know it yet.

With her fair share of problems - money (lack of), an elderly father, a struggling business - Garet should be just like any other young, feisty, single New Yorker.  If only it was that simple...

It begins with the old silver box that had been soldered shut.  All Garet has to do is open it.  A favour for the frail owner of the antiques shop.  Who wouldn't help?

Only it's then that things start to change.  Garet doesn't notice at first, the shifts barely perceptible.  But the city in which she grew up is beginning to reveal a long-hidden side - darker, and altogether more dangerous; a parallel world of chaos, smoke and blood.

Now it's out of the box...and it has no intention of going back in.

Black Swan Trilogy:
Black Swan Rising
The Watchtower (4th August 2011)
I don't have any information on the 3rd book in the trilogy at this time

Lee Carroll is a pseudonym for novelist Carol Goodman and her husband poet Lee Slonimsky.  I couldn't find a separate website for the name Lee Carroll but you can find out more about Black Swan Rising on Carol Goodman's website.

Review:
Garet is a jewellery designer who helps her father run an art gallery in New York.  Due to some bad decisions her father has made they are in a lot of financial trouble and when there is a robbery at the gallery her father is top of the police suspect list.  Garet is sure her father is innocent but the question is can she prove it?  At the same time Garet is asked by the owner of an antiques store if she will open a silver box for him, thinking it is an easy way to earn some extra cash Garet agrees but little does she know that opening the box will have major consequences for her.

Black Swan Rising is the first book in a new urban fantasy trilogy that has the potential to become one of my favorites.  Garet is a smart & feisty character and one I found very likable but I did find myself getting frustrated with the way she was so easy to trust people she has only just met.  After doing a favour for someone and opening an antique silver box Garet discovers a whole new world that most of us have no idea exists alongside our own.  The parallel world is complex and Lee Carroll has done a wonderful job of infusing old and new along with fantasy and reality.  I loved the way some of the characters are ones we can recognise from history and the way the author has woven Shakespeare and famous artists into the story.

As the first book in a planned trilogy there is a lot of detailed world building going on, I loved the descriptions of both New York and the parallel fantasy world.  We are introduced to a host of interesting mythological characters and it is difficult to tell who is good and who is evil which made things interesting.  I found myself swinging backwards and forwards about some of the characters just as much as Garet was.  You could never be quite sure who or what Garet would be introduced to next and I loved some of the side characters we got to meet.

Although there is romance between Garet and Will this wasn't the main focus of the story and to be honest it felt a little rushed in places.  I liked Will but I was never sure whether he could be trusted or not and I wasn't particularly invested in their relationship.  I am curious to see what happens to them both in the future though & hope we get to see the romance develop more throughout the series.

My main complaint was that I found the amount of information given could be overwhelming at times.  Everything was described in great detail which was interesting and worked well most of the time but started to distract from the main storyline in places making me start to lose interest.  I also felt that things came a little too easy for Garet - she had to learn a lot about her abilities and it would have been more realistic if she had found it harder to get to grips with things.  In spite of that I still felt Black Swan Rising was a promising start to a new series and I'm looking forward to reading more of this world.

Source: Received for review from Transworld Publishers in exchange for an honest review

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Winner: You Against Me by Jenny Downham

With the help of random.org I am very happy to announce that the winner of the ARC copy of You Against Me by Jenny Downham is:

Judit

Congratulations Judit!  If you can email me at sarahsreviews at ymail dot com with your address details I will get your book in the post to you.  If I don't hear from you within 48 hours then a different winner will be chosen.

I'd like to say a massive thank you to RHCB for allowing me to host this giveaway for them.

Review: Awakened - Ednah Walters

Most teens turn sixteen and get the license to drive, but Lil Falcon gets the license to kill demons.

Orphaned as a child and raised by an eccentric grandfather, Lil is concerned with surviving high school and is unaware that she is a Guardian - a being with super powers charged with killing demons and protecting humanity.  When she meets Bran, a mysterious boy with amazing abilities, his psi energy unlocks her latent powers.

But Bran has a secret that can ruin their growing relationship, and the truth she discovers may destroy everything she believes in unless she finds the right balance between love and sacrifice.

Guardian Legacy Series:
Awakened
Betrayed (Release date TBC)

Visit Ednah Walters' website for more information

Review:
Lil has spent her life moving from town to town with her gypsy grandfather and is pleased when he tells her they are finally going to settle down.  She is looking forward to staying in one school for longer than a few months and hoping to finally make some friends.  Everything changes when she meets Bran, he has abilities that she doesn't understand and is telling her crazy things about herself and her family - but they can't be true can they?  When Lil confronts her grandfather and discovers her heritage as a demon hunter she will have to learn how to juggle her social life with her new normal friends and the training she needs to do alongside the other guardian trainees.  Where does Bran fit into the picture?  It's clear he has secrets but is he really as dangerous as everyone is telling her that he is?

Awakened is a great start to what I'm hoping will turn into a fantastic series and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel Betrayed (even though it hasn't been released yet!).  I have to confess I was a little worried when I first opened the book and found several pages of information about the different terminology used in the book - I was worried that I was going to find it a confusing read but thankfully I was proved wrong.  As we are introduced to the rules alongside Lil I found it easy enough to learn about the world Ednah Walters has created although I quite liked having the glossary to turn to when I had questions.

Lil is a really likable main character, her life is turned upside down as she learns about the secrets her grandfather has been keeping from her but she deals with things well and becomes determined to learn to use her powers to help the other guardians.  I liked the fact that she doesn't drop her new "normal" friends in favor of the other trainee guardians although she does develop friendships with them too.  It wasn't always easy for her to juggle the 2 different groups of friends but she tries hard to make the best of things.  Bran is a great character too although I would have liked to see more of him - hopefully that will happen in future books in the series.  The attraction between Bran and Lil is instant but I felt it was believable and I was routing for the pair of them in spite of the warnings Lil was getting from her grandfather & friends.  I have to say one of my favorite things about the story was the relationship between Lil and her grandfather - I'm looking forward to reading more about them both.

The action in the story was well written and kept me turning the pages late into the night because I didn't want to put it down.  The world is detailed and interesting and I'm looking forward to discovering more about both the guardians and the demons they protect us from.  Ednah threw in some great plot twists and although we have answers to quite a few of the questions raised I'm very intrigued to see where the story will take us in the rest of the series.  I'm actually impressed that this is a debut novel and am looking forward to seeing what the author will come up with in the future.  This is a book I'd definitely recommend to fans of the YA urban fantasy / paranormal romance genre.

Source: Received as part of a book tour arranged by UK Book Tours, this book has already been sent on to it's next destination.

Other Reviews:
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Review: The Eternal Ones - Kirsten Miller

Have you ever fallen in love at first sight?
Do you long for a place you've never been?
Do you often experience the sensation of déjà vu?

Ever since Haven Moore can remember, she's experienced visions of a previous life as a girl named Constance, whose love for her soulmate Ethan ended in tragedy.

And the sight of the world's hottest movie star, Iain Morrow, brings Haven to her knees.  She knows she has met him before.  Is Iain her beloved Ethan?

Unable to deny her past any longer, seventeen-year-old Haven flees to New York to find him - and an epic love affair begins.  But it is both deeply fated and terribly dangerous.  Can Haven unlock the deadly secrets hidden in her past lives - and loves - before all is lost and Ethan disappears again...forever?

Eternal Ones Series:
The Eternal Ones
All You Desire (2011)

Visit Kirsten Miller's website for more information

Review:
As a child when Haven had visions of a man called Ethan her Grandmother was convinced that she was possessed by a demon.  With even the preacher in agreement the whole town is wary of Haven and she has always been an outsider with only her best friend Beau to rely on.  Then at 17 she sees Iain on TV and her visions begin happening again.  She becomes convinced that Iain was Ethan in a previous life and as memories of her life as Constance start coming back to her she becomes determined to go to New York to track Iain down.  She remembers being a member of the Ouroboros Society and when she discovers that the organisation still exists she sets off in search of answers.

I was intrigued by the idea of The Eternal Ones and had been looking forward to reading this book for a while but I ended up finding it a frustrating read.  The beginning of the book is quite slow and it seemed to take ages for anything particularly interesting to happen.  I was curious about Haven's life in her small minded town but I think this section could have been cut down quite a bit without us missing out on any of the information we were given.  Once Haven makes her way to New York the pace picks up quite nicely and I did enjoy the mystery of who was behind the death of Constance.

I didn't really feel a connection with any of the main characters.  Although Haven is young and inexperienced I found the way she constantly changed her mind about Iain was frustrating.  All of her memories of Ethan are of them being happy and in love but I was glad that she realised that she didn't know the full story and was wary when first meeting Iain.  However when they did actually meet she constantly flipped from being madly in love with him to taking the word of total strangers who she had no memory of and becoming frightened of him.  Then Iain would tell her he loved her and everything would be OK again - until the someone came along and said something negative about him that is.  This continued throughout much of the book and at times I just wanted to shake her and tell her to walk away from the whole mess.

For the hero of the book Iain just didn't capture my interest, we didn't see enough of him for me to get to know him properly and what we did see didn't give me any reason to trust or even like him.  I was suspicious of him throughout the whole book and just didn't feel the attraction between him & Haven.  There didn't seem to be any real connection between them and the romance completely missed the mark for me.  My favorite character by far was Haven's best friend Beau - the scenes with him made me smile and he stole the book which was a shame considering he wasn't one of the major players in the story.

I have to say I enjoyed learning about the Ouroboros Society and I believe there is more to learn about the organisation and it's members.  It was interesting trying to figure out who was involved in the plot to kill Constance and I didn't work out the full story until right near the end of the book.  I'm just not sure if I enjoyed the story enough to continue reading the series though.

Source: Received as part of a book tour arranged by UK Book Tours, this book has already been sent on to it's next destination.

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Review: Dark Prince - Christine Feehan

Raven Whitney is a psychic who has used her gift to help the police track down a serial killer.  Now she is determined to escape the glare of recent publicity for the peace and quiet of the Carpathian Mountains.  Despite her emotional fatigue, Raven finds herself connecting psychically to another wounded individual somewhere close by.

Prince Mikhail Dubrinsky is the leader of his people but, as his ancient Carpathian race grows ever closer to extinction, he is close to giving in to the heavy weight of loneliness and despair.

Then a female voice enters his mind and tries to console him.  Intrigued, Mikhail becomes obsessed with finding his unusual human female.  From the moment their minds touch, Raven and Mikhail form a connection.

But there are those who incorrectly view all Carpathians as vampires, and are determined to give their extinction a helping hand...

Carpathians Series:
Dark Prince
Dark Desire
Dark Gold
Dark Magic
Dark Challenge
Dark Fire
Dark Dreamers (Anthology)
Dark Legend
Dark Guardian
Dark Symphony
Dark Descent
The Only Ones (Anthology)
Dark Melody
Dark Destiny
Hot Blooded (Anthology)
Dark Secret
Dark Demon
Dark Celebration
Dark Possession
Dark Curse
Dark Slayer
Dark Peril
Dark Predator (2011)

For more information visit Christine Feehan's website

Review:
Raven has come to the Carpathian mountains to recover after using her psychic abilities to help the police track down a serial killer.  She is physically and emotionally exhausted and just wants to escape into the peace and quiet of the mountains and relax.  She doesn't count on forming a psychic connection with Mikhail, she can feel his pain and instinctively wants to reach out comfort him.  Mikhail has spent years searching for his lifemate and he knows as soon as he hears Raven's voice that she will be important to him.  He is determined to track her down and make her his.

I am a massive fan of Christine Feehan's GhostWalkers series so was looking forward to trying the first book in her Carpathians series.  I'm always a little worried about starting a series which already contains over 20 books as I hate to leave a series unfinished but I've heard lots of good things about the Carpathians so thought I'd give it a try.  I have to say that unfortunately Dark Prince didn't live up to my expectations.  While I liked parts of the story overall it wasn't one that I loved and I didn't feel that it lived up to it's potential.

I was expecting to love Mikhail but I really didn't like him much at first, he was far too arrogant and domineering which was a turn off for me.  He did grow on me but I don't think he'll ever be considered one of my favorite book heroes.  Raven was OK but she was a bit too much of a pushover and too willing to let Mikhail take over her life.  The relationship builds between them so quickly and I would have liked there to be more tension between them and for things to have developed more slowly.  I never thought I'd say this about a paranormal romance but I actually found there was too much sex in the story - by the end of the book I was ready to skip pages because of it.  I would rather have seem more action and learnt more about the Carpathian race and other characters.

I found that the world building was a little confusing, it seemed to take a long time to get answers to some of my questions about the Carpathians species and to be honest I still feel like I have a lot to learn about them.  Having said that I did like Gregori (who is Mikhail's second in command) and Jacques (Mikhail's brother) so I'm looking forward to reading both of their stories.  I'm curious enough about the world Christine Feehan has created to want to try at least one more book in the series to see if I like it better.  At the moment I'd definitely say that I prefer her GhostWalkers series - that is one that I'd highly recommend - but I'll hold off on my judgement of the Carpathians until I've read more of the series.

Source: Library

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Winner: Crux by Moira Rogers

With the help of random.org and I am very happy to announce that the winner of an ebook copy of Crux by Moira Rogers is:

Kelli Nash

Congratulations Kelli!  I have sent you an email and also passed your details over to Bree (one half of the writing team that makes up Moira Rogers) so that she can send you your ebook in your requested format.  I hope you enjoy Crux as much as I did!