Revival (Vol 1) Jane the Hippie Vampire

I always enjoy LL’s prefaces, she opens up so much about ideas, how a character came to be, the thought process and this is no exception. 

Love Beads (Book 1):

Jane is the strangest vampire I have come across in a long while, and I love her!!

One sunny afternoon she meets Randy and his weird dogs, strange job and horrific food sense.

LML treated me to a brilliant piece of mystery thriller writing with a super natural element, with just enough grossness to add a horror element.

She hints this will be a series and I do hope so.

Some fabulous in depth and textured descriptions allow you to become immersed in the story I was totally engrossed in this novella and was sad when it ended.

Jane is an intriguing character and I so wasn’t to know more about how she became what she is and what her forward plan is.

Flashbacks (Book 2):

Nice to be back with the gentle hippie vampire that is Jane.  Tongue in cheek reminder that taking drugs is bad when she “eats” a meth laden bully attempting to frighten and probably kill an old Vietnam veteran by the name of Old Man Kevin. 

During this moment of hunger and moral outrage she saves Kevin, incurring the wrath of his gang which catches up with her much later in the story.

I felt this story was much darker than the first with the horrific flashbacks to the war as told by Kevin, such a sad story. However, this allows Jane to also share sad and horrifying stories.

Whilst the ending was sad I really feel like I understand Jane a little better, and even if a vampire she is a better human than me being so kind to those she encounters after her horrible life. 

Not as much humour in this story, but still enjoy the writing.

Hair (Book 3):

Jane is ironically a vegan vampire with a knack for getting into trouble.

Needing to head to warmer climes she heads South into Bible Belt country, the weather maybe warmer but the hospitality is not; at least for an outwardly appearing teenage vagrant.

When a purple dog runs past her during a routine police stop you are already drawn back into Jane’s strange world and you can feel the magic carpet ride coming.

Whilst she knows that she must feed and she often disgusts herself with the berserker like frenzy when this occurs she knows it was not her that started to rip the Officers to pieces in the woods, even though she does not turn down an easy meal.

LML has a wonderful skill of explaining the pain that Jane feels during these feeds giving you a sense of the gnawing hunger vs the need to preserve all life.

As she hides in the forest she is found by the local Ranger, Bobby, and he kindly takes her home for dinner, although he does have his own agenda and what is actually on the menu?

His family are a strange mix of rednecks and homely parents, then LML introduces  the local fruitloop who professes to be seeing lake monsters, werewolves and vampires and you know things are about to go squiffy for poor Jane!

When said fruitloop decides to rid the world of a “stinking leech” he sets in motion a terrible chain of events, killing sprees, hidden bodies and family secret revelations. 

Whilst all this is going on LL manages to throw in some horrific flashbacks of Jane’s previous life and her “change”.

Overall another wonderful installment in the undead life of Jane. I am more intrigued by this vampire now; LL is expertly giving little hints of the true horror in Jane’s life whilst telling these little chapters in her life.  

Bonus Content: Flower Power:

Taking a rare moment to enjoy a coffee and piece of cake Jane is interrupted by a strange ghostly figure with an even stranger offer.

Via haunting memories, we are told of a horrific encounter Jane had with an astral plane travelling witch. Through varying levels of physical and mental torture including a trip to meet her long dead mother, Jane endures her recollection of meeting Holly and her stubborn sister Caitlin. 

The offer to help rid this world of this terror is too much for Jane, who herself continues to seek redemption to Heaven through good deeds.  She agrees to plunge herself back into this world to trap Holly.

This time around she faces worse mind games and even a fish tank filled with biting and hungry fish!  All is never what it seems with witches though and the ending is brutal.

Revival

Perilous Grace: Avenging Angel 2 by Eden Crowne

A shady group are trying to unleash the old gods, this is never a good idea, locked up deities are there for a reason! It seems when a Queen wants her King back Heaven and Earth will be shifted.

Evie & Riley are hot on their tails, but never a step ahead, as artefacts and relics go missing around the world. However, this time they also have a friendly “dog” to help them!

Battle scenes galore as Humans and Celestials duke it out with tons of magic sprinkled on top. I really enjoyed the varying PoV within those scenes it brought to life the mental imagery.

Twists, turns, skulduggery, back stabbing and double spying galore; a real mind bender of a plot.

Love how EC writes and she clearly loves her characters. Looking forward to book 3.

Perilous Grace

Aftermath: Demon Squad by Time Marquitz

Poor Frank (aka Trigg, son of the “off on his jollies” Devil) has descended into abject grief at the loss of his Karra and inability to care for Abigail, their daughter.

Breaking his already shattered heart he leaves Abigail to his Angel cousin Scarlett and her Vampire lover Katon, not forgetting Chatterbox my favourite zombie head as lead baby entertainer.

Sat in a bar in the middle sucksville he is trying to get drunk or high, neither possible for a demon, but when he thinks he witnesses the end of the world ala atomic bomb his attitude is thrust into his begrudging yet caring, protecting demeanour.

No obvious horror moments just a steady slew of gory descriptions as this chapter of the series rushes along never leaving me a moment to put this book down until the finale, which is another rush of excitement as TM brings all the clues and elements together at the end for a thrilling and fulfilling ending, but of course always left open for the next instalment.

I loved the little reminder phrases that TM puts in so they don’t overload the avid reader but do refresh those that need it! (ahem!)

Whilst there has always been an element of religion wrapped in these books TM really poses some serious questions in this one, ones I really liked.

As always Trigg’s story is never truly over but another disaster has been averted; for now.

I really missed Chatterbox in this book but enjoyed the expansion of so many other characters.

On a down point there were tiny errors in the editing which upset my flow of reading so were irritating but not devastating, the odd missing letter/s which changed the word or phrasing.

Bonus feature at the end of Clandestine Daze first chapter!

Aftermath

Aftermath: Demon Squad by Tim Marquitz

Poor Frank (aka Trigg, son of the “off on his jollies” Devil) has descended into abject grief at the loss of his Karra and inability to care for Abigail, their daughter.

Breaking his already shattered heart he leaves Abigail to his Angel cousin Scarlett and her Vampire lover Katon, not forgetting Chatterbox my favourite zombie head as lead baby entertainer.

Sat in a bar in the middle sucksville he is trying to get drunk or high, neither possible for a demon, but when he thinks he witnesses the end of the world ala atomic bomb his attitude is thrust into his begrudging yet caring, protecting demeanour.

No obvious horror moments just a steady slew of gory descriptions as this chapter of the series rushes along never leaving me a moment to put this book down until the finale, which is another rush of excitement as TM brings all the clues and elements together at the end for a thrilling and fulfilling ending, but of course always left open for the next instalment.

I loved the little reminder phrases that TM puts in so they don’t overload the avid reader but do refresh those that need it! (ahem!)

Whilst there has always been an element of religion wrapped in these books TM really poses some serious questions in this one, ones I really liked.

As always Trigg’s story is never truly over but another disaster has been averted; for now.

I really missed Chatterbox in this book but enjoyed the expansion of so many other characters.

On a down point there were tiny errors in the editing which upset my flow of reading so were irritating but not devastating, the odd missing letter/s which changed the word or phrasing.

Bonus feature at the end of Clandestine Daze first chapter!

Aftermath

Cast in Blood by Christine Sutton, Lisa Lane and Jaime Johnesse

Lenny is a troubled girl but she has found salvation and a haven at Children of Light church, when Apollyon the demon comes into her life things start to become a little more complex for this untapped, talented shape shifter.

Not only is Apollyon a First Knight of Hell, an expert in torture and right hand helper to Lucifer (Lucy to her friends!), she is on a mission to a catch a djinn (very bad but lesser demon of hell) and find out who is stealing all the souls from both Heaven and Hell.

Drew is the final heroine that make up the (don’t say it – Charlie’s Angels!) trio, as a succubus you would think her life as a “working girl” would be perfect, but she is on the wagon and going cold turkey, much to the disgust of her demon pimp the purple fedora wearing J.D.

Hershel aka Father is a charismatic leader, and true believer, and he is willing to sacrifice to bring about the cleansing of the sin upon the earth. With his devout followers not being quite what they appear is Hell about to unleash on the world??   So what is going on the basement?

This book has some seriously powerful female characters, great ideas and interesting thoughts regarding humanity and the whole theory of Heaven vs Hell. It turns a few myths on their heads in some very amusing ways; I would love more of Polly and Lucy’s beginnings and journey.

Along with the splattering, then gushing of gore were some giggle inducing moments and some snort out loud lines too.

Whilst I found the beginning a little slow, the laying out of all the characters is steady and easily followed then the story starts to gather pace, I could not find a good place to stop as each chapter just leaves you on a knife edge of questions or battle.

Some of the character thoughts, sayings and ideals are a bit sugary and more YA in texture than the others but the gore element and subject matter soon take care of that. There was also some over repeating of the "Fall" explanation, not really done in a differing enough PoV in my opinion to be different enough, but by the middle of the book I was hooked and thought the overall story with the gore and great characters made up for any doubts in the start.

These authors rock individually with their own novels and characters but together they have blown me away! This is the start of what promises to be a brilliant series, so don’t let me down ladies, don’t let your characters become too perfect or too safe! !

                          

Cast in Blood

Collateral Damage (Demon Squad 8) by Tim Marquitz

The acknowledgements at the starts of books are always lovely, however the story behind one the characters in this book is heartbreaking; way to go TM on supporting amazing people.

This chapter of the Demon Squad universe starts off in the usual TM tongue in cheek humour way!  Frank and Karra have finally got their little bundle of joy, Abigail.

However, peace never reigns for long in the Trigg household as Trinity, the new murderous baddies on the scene, raise the roof and bring mayhem and murder.

Trinity (you know, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost) are on a mission for revenge and blood but they are not alone, in fact they have some old enemies of Triggs to back them up and make his life miserable, as he has to move back into Hell to live everything is relative.

Some nice little reminders of previous goings on are cleverly interjected to bring readers up to speed and refresh memories of characters, doings and places.

TM still manages to weave a complex, yet easy to follow, web of intrigue deftly laced with religious “history” making use of folklore to his advantage.

I am always delighted to see that CB (Chatterbox) is still going strong, he of the fine voice and maggoty eyeballs.

Grenade boy wins the most gruesome death award in this book – eeeeew. Although another character does come to a rather sticky end late in the story.

Bonus Content – short story of Lucifer

Lucifer is busy killing other “Devils” on alien planets, all at God’s Will to thwart the onslaught of the Aliterean Consortium gaining ground, and enjoying it.

A 20min read of wonderful fight sequences and the brilliant imagination of TM as he thinks up new critters on foreign worlds.

The reason behind the advancing forces of the Consortium finally being revealed, but to what end?

2^nd Bonus Content!

A little ditty called the Great Brain Robbery! Just enjoy :)

Collateral Damage

Dirge by Tim Marquitz

In the world of Delham where Necrolords roam the land and bring havoc and destruction to all they touch with their undead armies, Kallie is a ray of hope, albeit with swords and daggers.

After years of abuse, enslavement and torture, in the dungeons of her own home, at the hands of Duke Freye, Kallie was finally rescued by Rellan a priest of immense enigmatic power who leads the Brothers of Sorea and guides the Flock and township of Eton. 

After Rellan’s death Kallie inherited many of his powers and now lives and is loved by Darren and Gaul, the two clerics of the Brotherhood who guide and protect Kallie but also often hire her out as the infamous and secretive assassin Dirge.

Kallie’s new task will take her back into those lands, back to her nightmares,  but having defeated at least one Necrolord will capturing one alive be possible, and for what purpose. And will her identity remain a mystery.

Throw into the mix the evil Emperor Valtore who is the only other force against the Necrolords and holds a strange but compelling box. He is also keeps the company of Sorel the priest of Graff with his familiar, Mistress Rava.  Graff is the God of the underworld; Infernus.

Dirge soon has the pleasure of meeting the Lord High Executioner of the Obsidian Order, Tyril, who is protecting a Necrolord but craves so much more. And is Baron Rand an ally or an enemy?

Such attention to detail and in a few pages I was absorbed by this new world. TM takes on zombies (undead ghouls) in this mash up with sorcery and sword fighting and delivers this amazing story. 

There is no humour or lightness to this tale as with other TM novels, this is a dark and harrowing work but with all the intricacies of a thriller, some gruesome horror scenes thrown, his signature amazing fight sequences and huge element of supernatural. Full of intrigue, skullduggary, double crosses and sinister plots of revenge and power play.

Little and large critters thrown in; some cute some not so much.

Whilst this was neatly finished off there was a glimmer of a second story hinted at with several threads left hanging. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this new dark twist in writing skills that TM has demonstrated and look forward to more of this world. 

Dirge

Succubus Series by Richelle Mead

Georgina Kincaid is a reluctant, but outstandingly good at her job, Succubus, she feeds on men claiming pieces of their souls for her “team”, but she longs for the love that she has been denied her for centuries. 

Hugh is an Imp who negotiates for your soul should you have a desire to swap it for something, but he is also one of her best friends, along with Cody and Peter her friendly local, and very gay, vampire buddies. 

During the day Georgina must earn a living and works as a deputy manager and the local books store, with her human friend Doug, and Warren her human boss who is good for a quick energy fix from time to time, apparently he lost his soul years ago.

When Duanne, the obnoxious vampire, gets murdered its Georgina that is main suspect, especially to her Demon boss Jerome; Arch Demon of Seattle, who just happens to hang out all the time with Carter the cryptic Angel. Not your usual pairing, especially as Jerome looks exactly like a certain movie style whilst Carter seems to like the grunge scene a little too much. 

Throughout the story we are told snippets of her former human life, and given peeks into her previous bodies, names and places she lived.

Enter Seth Morgansteen, local author who just happens to be Georgina's favourite, not to mention he is doing a book signing in her store. Seth was not the sort of guy I would have thought the energetic Georgina would fall for but when you start to see her history and the reason she sold her soul in the first place you can see why Seth and his delicate, artistic nature, call to her.

On the flip side, and not so much in the background is Roman, an enigmatic character who suits Georgians love of life, dancing and danger. 

Back to the super naturals killings and the race is on to find who or what is doing it, why and stop them. Can Georgina do it? When the final showdown happens its electric but the deal our lost little succubus has to make is heart breaking.

I totally loved the start of this 6 book series, the plot was fantastic, full of twists, turns and mystery. All the characters were strong, some were down to earth and likeable and some were dark and mysterious, humour, sex and horror the perfect combination. I cannot wait to read what happens next in Georgina's life. 

Succubus Blues

Poor Georgina starts this book at a demon award ceremony, could her week get any worse! Totally love all the humour in these books.

Bastian her incubus friend, is also an ex-lover, ex-partner in “crime” and is dumped back into her life to bring down a huge Evangelist in the shape of the very austere Dana.

Doug, her book store buddy get wrapped up in a whole “ambrosia and God mystery” which was a brilliant and thrilling story line.

RM reveals another failed relationship from poor Georgina’s fated history. As she and Seth dance around the relationship that they have the torment for both is beautifully written.

All previous Demons, Angels, Imps and Vampires make appearances and spice up the story line even further. 

Succubus on Top / Nights

Georgina and Seth are continuing their relationship with the no sex rule, but Georgina is losing all her energy during protracted dreams that promise her the life she has always day dreamed and wished for.

Tawny is the new succubus and provides some angst and humour, badly dressed and with no clue how to “suck souls” Georgina is set the task of mentor by Arch Demon Boss Jerome.

Dante and Erik are the new human characters, they have a history together but can Georgina save them both from

Love all the outfits and food references, so keen to try a Grey Goose gimlet!

Eventually the mystery is solved with a bit of heart stopping action, love, lust and all sort of other goings on. RM never fails to bring it on.

Succubus Dreams

Therapy works unless you sleep with the therapist and suck out their life force! Jerome has forced Georgina into therapy, she is being horrifically sulky and he has had enough of her.

When that fails he sends her to Canada, to spy for another Arch Demon who is having problems with a demonic cult that are giving Satan a bad name!

Another mystery for Georgina to solve as Jerome is “summonded” in a turf war and goes missing.  

Fearful that a new Arch Demon will be appointed Georgian rushes to locate and save Jerome, with the help of her current destructive relationship, gosh this girl knows how to punish herself.

However whilst Jerome is captured she soon discovers that she can have rampant sex with Seth, which is not good news as he is in a different relationship and trying to make a happy, non-Georgina filled life for himself.

The erotica in these books is always fresh, never repetitive, sensitive but heat inducing.

More heart breaking revelations about previous relationships from the past.

RM is really evolving all her main stay characters in new and wonderful ways.

Succubus Heat

A new and suspicious Succubus arrives just as Sirens trap Georgina in a dream state from which she cannot escape.

As the bond between Seth and Georgian is becoming stronger, others are starting to notice, this is not liked by many in her circle, lest of all her best friend Maddie who she is supposed to be helping to marry Seth!

Whilst the gang, including human Eric, try to save Georgina she continues to be stuck in a different dimension where she is shown truth, possible futures, tainted truths and outright lies, in horrible torturous semi dreams. This is horrific to read as I have come too really like Georgina

Only an American would suggest that Guinness goes with shepherd’s pie!! Seriously, NO!

RM does well to keep this book from becoming too dark and utilises Georgina’s more light hearted friends to accomplish this; Peter and his soirées really make me want to be an immortal!

Succubus Shadows

Hahaha I loved that all the immortal gang are now using Facebook!

From the start you can feel that this book is going to have an explosive ending as Georgina ends up in Hells court with unlikely allies and lawyer. A loop hole has been found in her Soul Contract.

A beautiful ending that brings all the little comments throughout the series together, I think this is the only book in the series you could not read as a standalone.

The climax was one of those "I saw that coming from a mile away", but it wasn't lame or upsetting

I could easily read this series over again many times, so lovely, so funny and wonderfully circular. 

Succubus Revealed

The Fledgling by AE Jones:

AEJ does well with all her 80’s references and how she injects them into the storyline thus evoking some nostalgic flashbacks. Also included in those memory lane walks are little snippets of Jean Luc, that wonderful 400+yr old vampire from Mind Sweeper and he still remembers vividly his world before being violently turned.

Add into the mix his partner, Misha the Demon, both tasked with fighting to keep the supernatural world secret from humans.    I think AEJ missed a trick by not exploiting his love of calories and the 80’s explosion of fast food.

The duo are currently on the trail of a killer but so is Talia, a baby vampire and bounty hunter, as they clash there is a sexual tension that runs throughout which thankfully culminates in something easy to read, worthy and satisfying.

Through a series of conversations I could see the shape that AEJ’s vampire system, their “beliefs” and abilities take form.   I loved the Adam and Susannah vampire characters and hope to see more of them in the following series, what a tale their story would make on its own.

It is a cat and mouse mystery that drives the story with lots of character history and building going on in a very subtle way. You could read this as a standalone but I dare you not to want to read the first book; the one where a vampire, an angel and a demon walk into a bar…..

My only complaint about the book is that I was never actually told the reason for all the killing, but then do we know why any psycho’ kills?

The little bonus chapter at the end really showed off AEJ’s humour skills, if you were still unsure.  The mental image of a demon doing jazzercise had me in giggles.

Such perfection in the editing, layout and flow of story and spot on consistency, AEJ has proven she is has great skill and has most certainly not dropped the ball in her second installment, I was overjoyed to read of a planned 4th and 5th book.

Fledgling

Mind Sweeper by A.E. Jones

The opening line to this book kind of sets the standard – An angel, a demon and a vampire walk into a bar. Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but it's just another day in the life of Kyle McKinley.

Whilst paranormal romance is NOT usually my thing I was asked if I would be interested in giving at whirl – to which I replied, sure I will read the first chapter and see if I can continue, no promises and no offers of a “good” review either; author accepted.

Basically this an excellent murder mystery with demons, angels and vamps – plus some awesome teasing and sex, I could not put it down once started and was highly impressed with the world that AEJ has created.

Kyle is a human who can erase memories and from a young age has been employed by a supernatural protection group. This first story, in what promises to be a series (horah), opens up and explains the world in which she survives.

All the characters were well fleshed out, and each is given just enough back story to make you want to know more, but also enough here and now personality to feel like you know them.

I loved all the character descriptions which were given early on, nothing staccato, just gently blended in. AEJ managed to do this with all the differing demon information too. Filtering in little pieces of information without bombardment and overload. All the explanations are viable too, no stretches of the imagination needed here – we all believe in supernaturals don’t we??

Once I finished the book, I really missed Jean-Luc and Misha, the 400+year old Vampire and Shamat demon that she works with;  especially Misha with his addiction to TV/movies as it allows for lots of funny references eg Scooby Doo and Charlie’s angels, not to the mention all the cool films.

Other characters are there to enhance the story and never used as filler.  Even if we only get glimpses of them, they feel like real people.

From Joe Dalton, the cop who has all the women in a tizz to Tony the amazing empathic chef, who always has the best dish to fix any mood.  Kyle’s cat, called Booger, has the best story line ever.

AEJ does not appear to have left any supernatural group out and creates a world you can believe in; the legacy, lore, councils, families and businesses. 

Told from Kyles, point of view, the tense never wavering, a feat which is hard to do for an experienced writer, this was impressive, especially as all elements of the story are told this way, no break off gaps no jumping to other scenes or expectation of “known knowledge” and no sneaky “oh she didn’t see it but this is what happened”.

The twists and turns at the end are not contrived or flimsy in any way, I was expecting one thing and got totally surprised with another. I thought the ending was beautiful.

The editing is nigh on perfect I did not notice a dot or comma out of place and I want that powerpoint presentation on demons!

It is hard to believe that this is a first novel from the author, the story is complex, well thought out and has some amazing character building. This is a new author to watch and get behind. Let’s hope she does not stay in the shadows for long.

Mind Sweeper

Discordia Ascendant: An Illustrated Demon Squad Story by Tim Marquitz

This short story focuses on Rahim, the Wizard werewolf, from the Demon Squad series.

In this snapshot of his life we see him facing down a mortal enemy in a darkened alleyway, the strange woman with no eyes; Anai.

Her aim is to bring back her Mother, Discordia, to bring havoc to the planet as God is currently on hiatus and not really keeping an eye on things.

This short snippet hints at a much bigger plot in Rahim’s history and gives a promise of more to come.

Beautiful in its prowse, this story is only enhanced by the wonderful art work of Robert Elrod; I sort of imagined Rahim to be more handsome but think this visual interpretation gives him a little edge.

 I would love to see a much longer, more graphic novel style, from them both.

Discordia Ascendant

Holes in the ground by Iain Rob Wright and JA Konwath

Basically this is fan fiction at its greatest!

It seems that IRW took the brilliant idea formed by JAK in Origin and then added his own fantastic spin of humour and horror, a few of his own characters, mixed them up, put them in a new hell and span them out again.

Fast, fun, and full of laughs, this is one that Konrath fans won't want to miss - made all the more interesting by Iain Rob Wright's British touches.  Those that have read Origin or The Final Winter will quickly fall in love with this book because the characters are just as you remember them to be.

Each main character is well formed but flawed and you can see early on how Bub will get to them, only IRW/JAK manage to make a few good twists and surprises too. However, the parting shot from Andy annoyed the hell out of me! (no spoilers)

The setting of a monster zoo/prison really allowed both authors to run wild with their imaginations and whoever thought up Mu the talking banana was genius. IRW must have had a riot writing this.

However, there were some “bad” points for me, I did think it had a rushed ending of sorts, nothing was finalized (IMO), which I suppose leaves it open for a sequel but I think that’s a little cheeky of both authors.

In addition, I was really disappointed to get to 52% and have it end – the last part is the original story from IRW without JAK input. Which is wonderful in of itself but I did feel cheated and which runoffthemill reader  is really is going to read the same story twice in a row??

Also, I wish we had more back story on Wolfie as it was such a sad story.

I think both authors could have made this into a much longer book with more expansion of the “monsters/prisoners” history, the secret society could have had more back story, as could the new characters.

All that said, I do hope there is a sequel!

Holes in the Ground