Wild Hunger by Chloe Neill

 

In the first thrilling installment of Chloe Neill’s spin-off to the New York Times bestselling Chicagoland Vampires series, a new vampire will find out just how deep blood ties run.

Some believed that Elisa Sullivan, as the only vampire child ever born, had all the luck. But the magic that helped bring her into the world left her with a dark secret. Shifter Conner Keene, the lone son of North American Central Pack Apex Gabriel Keene, is the only one she trusts with it. But she’s a vampire and the daughter of a Master and a Sentinel, and he’s prince of the Pack and its future king….

When the assassination of a diplomat brings old feuds to the fore again, Elisa and Connor must choose between love and family, and between honor and obligation, before Chicago disappears forever.

Wild Hunger (Heirs of Chicagoland, book one) by Chloe Neill

Start date: August 18, 2021

End date: August 19, 2021

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I really thought I was going to dislike this book. I put off reading the spin-off to the Chicagoland Vampires series because I was disappointed that that series ended. I didn’t want to read about the child of Merit and Ethan Sullivan (that should not have existed!). I wanted more stories with Merit and the gang. I grew to love her character, and I didn’t see how I could enjoy a story that took place in her world but didn’t involve her.

After reading quite a few not-so-great paranormal romance/urban fantasy books, I felt like I needed a palate cleanser. Enter Wild Hunger. I already liked one series by the author, so I figured I’d finally give the spin-off a try. At the very least, if I didn’t like it, I would have other books on my reading challenge list to give a chance to.

Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon

 

Dear Reader,

Being trapped in a bedroom with a woman is a grand thing. Being trapped in hundreds of bedrooms over 2,000 years isn’t. And being cursed into a book as a love slave for eternity can ruin even a Spartan warrior’s day.

As a love slave, I know everything about women. How to touch them, how to savor them, and most of all, how to pleasure them. But when I was summoned to fulfill Grace Alexander’s sexual fantasies, I found the first woman in history who saw me as a man with a tormented past. She alone bothered to take me out of the bedroom and into the world. She taught me to love again.

But I was not born to know love. I was cursed to walk eternity alone. As a general, I had long ago accepted my sentence. Yet now I have found Grace—the one thing my wounded heart cannot survive without. Sure, love can heal all wounds, but can it break a 2,000-year-old curse?

                                                                                                          Julian of Macedon

Fantasy Lover (Dark-Hunter, book one) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Start date: August 4, 2021

End date: August 6, 2021

Rating: 4 out of 5 starts

Content warning: child abuse, filicide, suicide, sexual slavery

            Dr. Grace Alexander is a sex therapist who desperately needs to get laid, according to her best friend, Selena. She’s a fortuneteller who believes her latest spell will end Grace’s self-imposed celibacy. It’s Grace’s birthday and a full moon to boot, so after some pizza and a little too much wine, Selena convinces Grace to summon Julian of Macedon, the sexy-as-hell man pictured in a supposedly magical book Selena got from a thrift shop. After chanting his name three times under the moonlight and nothing happening, Grace gives Selena some good-natured ribbing that has her going home demoralized. But soon it becomes clear to Grace that Julian is no longer in Selena’s book but within the confines of Grace’s home, and he has one mission on his mind: have earth-shattering sex with Grace.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

A sacred oath, a fallen angel, a forbidden love

When Nora and Patch are forced together as lab partners, Nora would rather fall to her death than put up with his elusive answers to her questions, his teasing, and his infuriatingly handsome face and hypnotizing eyes. It seems Patch was put on earth just to drive her crazy.

But before long, Nora’s defenses start to break down as her curiosity about Patch heats up. Why does he always seem to be wherever she is and know exactly what she’s thinking? How does he know what to say to both attract and repulse her? And what is up with those V-shaped scars on his chiseled back?

As their connection grows stronger, Nora’s own life becomes increasingly fragile. Nora needs to decide: Is Patch the one who wants to do her harm or the one who will keep her safe? Has she fallen for one of the fallen?

Becca Fitzpatrick’s New York Times bestselling debut is a page-turning leap into the unknown world of fallen angels. Do you have someone to catch you?

Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush, book one) by Becca Fitzpatrick 

Start date: December 15, 2014

End date: December 16, 2014

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I have a confession to make, beautiful internet people. I'm a sucker for fallen angels. Any time I see a novel, short story, movie, or whatever about fallen angels, I have to read/watch it. If the surges in popularity of movies and books about vampires, werewolves, and zombies are indicative of anything it's that I'm not alone in my obsession with certain paranormal creatures. Some people can't turn down a book about magicians, I can't turn down a book about angels—especially fallen angels. If I knew the reason, I probably wouldn't be blabbing about it to the whole wide world but I don't. And I'll live in that ignorance for a while, okay? 

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

With scorching-hot tension and high-octane humor, First Grave on the Right is your signpost to paranormal suspense of the highest order.

This whole grim reaper thing should come with a manual.

Or a diagram of some kind.

A flowchart would have been nice.

Charley Davidson is a part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper. Meaning, she sees dead people. Really. And it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (like murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she's been having about an entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely. But what does he want with Charley? And why can't she seem to resist him? And what does she have to lose by giving in?

First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson, book one) by Darynda Jones

Start date: Thursday, August 14, 2014

End date: Sunday, August 17, 2014

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

             Let me say that the only time I've read a book faster than this book was when I read The Hunger Games trilogy in less than two days. I didn't eat, sleep or go to the bathroom until I finished reading all about Katniss Everdeen and Panem. That being said, I finished First Grave on the Right in two, three-hour sessions before bed. I’m making that number up because it’s been over two months since I read the book and I couldn’t possibly remember exactly how many hours I spent reading it but I do know I finished it in two nightly sessions. (Side note: I mainly read before going to bed. It puts me in the mood to sleep and it’s a good wind down from the rest of my day. You should try it sometime if you haven’t before.) I have to admit this book was addicting. I had such a hard time putting it down so I ended up staying up later than I wanted to just so I could find out what happened next.

Secondhand Spirits by Juliet Blackwell

Lily Ivory is not your average witch. Her spell-casting powers tend to draw mischievous spirits while keeping normal humans at a distance. But now her vintage store could give her a chance to make friends in San Francisco.

Lily hopes for a normal life when she opens Aunt Cora's Closet. With her magical knack for vintage fashion—she can sense vibrations of the past from clothing to jewelry—her store becomes a big hit. 

But when a client is murdered and children start disappearing from the Bay Area. Lily may be the only one who can unravel the crime. She tries to keep her identity a secret while investigating, but it's not that easy—especially under the spells of sexy "myth buster" Max Carmichael and powerful witch Aidan Rhodes. Will Lily's witchy ways be forced out of the closet?

Secondhand Spirits (Witchcraft Mystery, book one) by Juliet Blackwell

Start date: Friday, July 25, 2014

End date: Sunday, July 27, 2014

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

First things first, I love the cover of this novel. Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t pay much attention to the cover of a book when deciding whether to read it and that was the case when I decided on Secondhand Spirits. However, it would be wrong of me not to point out that the cover has glitter. Raised, sparkly mist surrounds the woman in pink to imply an overflowing amount of magic within her. But now that I’m looking at it again, I could see how someone might confuse the wispy smoke with a bad odor or extremely nasty gas.

Still. Glitter.