Great start to what will hopefully be a great series!
593487
Written in Red takes place in a modern, alternate reality where Others, or terra indigene, dominate over the humans. Luckily Anne Bishop provides a little history of the world introduction to explain things a little. The Others are the ruling faction in Thaisia (what we consider America). In the beginning all that humans were to Others was meat (literally). Over time, the Others have come to understand the usefulness of the humans, and in turn, the humans have become clever in their dealings with Others. Although there is an uneasy truce between them, they both recognize the benefits of each other. Regardless, if a human crosses an Other, you won't hear from that human again.

Meg is a human, but not just any human she is a cassandra sangue, or a blood prophet. Written in Red opens with Meg running away from the compound where she has been kept since her birth. Cassandra sangue blood is very valuable and so they are kept as property. They don't get to interact with the outside world. The only reason they receive good education is so they know how to describe their visions. They are provided for in every way. Many would say this is a fair trade for their blood, but not all. Meg has a vision that shows her how to escape, and she takes it, but it also may mean her death.

I was really impressed with the world Bishop created. At first it was a little complicated because it does take place in modern time and I was trying to acclimate it to our world, but it is its own world with its own set of rules. The big cities have courtyards where the Others live and do business so they can enforce the rules. Meg is hired as the liaison because the Others recognize the fact that some humans only want to interact with other humans.

The story moves along at a leisurely pace dealing mainly with Meg and her new role as liaison in the courtyard working her way around the Others. Shes still cassandra sangue, however, and she still has visions. We don't know when the visions will play themselves out and oftentimes they are little more than a scattering of images. The book builds with the anticipation of when/where well see Megs vision come to pass. Theres also the fact that Megs former keepers are not happy that she escaped and are willing to go to extreme measures to get her returned.

I liked Meg. Shes naive and vulnerable, but shes also smart, and this lends itself to her learning the ins and outs of navigating in the courtyard. The Others kind of adopt Meg in their own way and become very protective of her. She brings a freshness to their world because the Others are also unfamiliar with humans. They don't like to interact too closely with humans and at times its endearing and funny to see them trying to accommodate her.

I don't think Ive read another shifter book where they were so completely animalistic. They only wear their human skin in order to interact with humans, if they had it their way they would be in their animal form all the time. They are gruesome in that they don't hide the fact that you will be their food should you choose to break a rule. So its interesting to see them become a little more human in the process of learning about the Meg, as they sometimes call her.

The story in contained in this book, but there are overall conflicts that will be touched upon as the series goes on. Also, while there is no romance in this book, the potential is there. I look forward to seeing how everything develops.

Review also posted at Vampire Book Club:
http://vampirebookclub.net/review-written-in-red-by-anne-bishop-the-others-1/
1145885
Love Me to Death by Marissa Clarke is a wonderful start to a new series.  With a dash of urban fantasy, some high fantasy, some straight up science fiction, and a lot of romance, it twists and turns in all sorts of interesting ways.

Elena is your average, everyday woman until she gets killed in a robbery. Or rather, killed but not dead because along comes Nikolai and suddenly she isn't an average, everyday woman anymore. She's more, a lot more.  And it's up to Nikolai to figure out exactly who she is and why he is supposed to kill her when that is the last thing he wants to do.

Enter a crazy aunt who isn't an aunt, a secret sister, a rather interesting time warp man (who I want to read more about), a couple of very interesting vampire allies, even more interesting fey allies, and some power hungry villains, and you end up romping all over the place.

Love Me to Death is quite an interesting blend with a little bit tossed in for everyone's taste and a wonderful read.

 RATING: 4

Heat Rating:  Hot

REVIEWED BY: Monique Neaves

Courtesy of My Book Addiction and More
1694670
I am thoroughly enjoying this series beginning!  The author has created characters I'd love to meet.  A premise that allows for surprises and a well crafted world That's consistent!  Excuse me, I'm off to find the next in this series!
4655515
This is an excellent start to what I hope will be a great series by Darla Dunbar. You start off with small town news reporter Elizabeth and her content, if somewhat boring life. She lives with her boyfriend Andrew ( a member of one of the towns founding families, and owners of one of the two main money making businesses the town has; the firearms factory). Into town comes Harden and his brother to work for the towns other main business;  the mine. Harden sets his sights on Eliza,  and that's where things start to get interesting, through some digging of her own and some help from her father Elizabeth finds out an amazing hidden truth, Hayden and the other new mine workers are werewolves and they have a fierce, bloody history not only with her town, but her boyfriends family. What's a girl to do ? Read Alpha Feud by Darla Dunbar to find out what happens, when a small town reporter wishes for a bigger story than the County Fair. Solid 4 read. I recieved an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
3523446
I was given an ARC for a fair and honest review.

I loved this book.  What a great start to the series!!  I can't wait until the next ones.

We have a man who thinks the worst about himself and a woman who is at war with herself, and all kinds of conflicting feelings.  I love how you can't tell who is really playing games, and whose feelings are genuine.  I'm not a fan of super predictable books that I can figure out 10 pages in what's going to happen, so this was amazingly refreshing.  Can't wait for the next!
1539830
This is a great start to a series that really has a little something for everyone! I fell in love with many of the characters, and can't wait to see how they develop throughout the rest of the series. Having maps in place to visualize this fantasy world is a great addition
3520474
This is a great start to what I hope will be a long series of books.  It does bring to mind True Blood when you have Vampires, Werewolves, fey all in the mix but it didn't seem derivative at all.  The characters were good and had depth and the love story between the feisty heroine and the handsome vampire was really sweet.  I think we'll be seeing more of the werewolf next door, Marcus, and the red-headed witch Kat in the next book.  Quite a sharp tongue and quick wit on that girl!  Really well done, can't wait for the next one.
4592435
Wonderful first book in what (I hope) will be an ongoing series.  Great writing, great characters and a great story...can't wait for more!
4464004
This was a great start to what seems like it will be a great series. I love learning about Trey and Harley, and I cannot wait to see what lies ahead for them. This was a great story that I cannot wait to read more of.
3762377
Off to a great start! I really appreciate how well this author develops characters and a fast moving story at the same time without forcing the reader to endure long narratives. Characters reveal themselves step by step within the story line...I just love that! I'm looking forward to the next release. I can tell already this is going to be a wild ride. Thank you Ryk!
4231135
This was an excellent start to what I believe will be a great series. Dealing with addicts all my life I found De Mauriac's struggle pulled on my heart making me both want to love him and slap some sense into him! Very excited to start the series!
4040029
LOVED this book! It was short but packed on heck of a punch!
What a great beginning to a promising new series! Melody Grace has a talent for building steamy scenes and awesome characters with class and not vulgarity (which is very rare!). The chemistry between Alicia and Dex was powerful. I was excited that behind the relationship was a hint of mystery surrounding both characters' pasts and it definitely piqued my interest!

I look forward to reading about Alicia and Dex in the next book and am very excited to learn more about the Callahans. Another well done book by Melody Grace.
4033839
A great start to a new series. The details in this new world are well done and set up for future books. I look forward to seeing where this story will go in the next book. Even with the adventure in this book I feel like it is a mild set up for a bigger adventure. This was an easy one-sitting read.
2137495
A great start to a new series. Tracy gives us amazing stories with great characters and this is no exception. The characters are well developed and easily relatable. Sam and Laurel has mega chemistry from the beginning. This is a great quick read and I can't wait for the other ones.
2434273
Great start to a series that promises to be very interesting. It is full of magical beings, ghosts and magic. Add in the unique situation/storyline and great characters and it becomes a wonderful book.
3066050
Thunder is the first book in the Stone Braide Chronicles and, to me, it looks like this will be a very interesting series. There is also a short prequel novelette, titled Tremors, that is free in ebook form and is fun to read before Thunder.

I must admit that it took me a little while to really connect with the main characters, Selah and Bohdi. It also took me awhile to get into and understand what was going on in the story. Some parts made a lot of sense and others didnt. This is a futuristic, dystopian story and I think it just took me a little perseverance to sort things out in my mind and start seeing things clearly in the new world that the author has created. Once I did, I thoroughly enjoyed Thunder.

This was a very good, interesting book. I really liked Selah and Bohdi and enjoyed the progression of their relationship throughout the story. The author did a great job of showing that they both had strengths, weaknesses, and a general confusion about what the next steps in their lives should be.

There are a few key characters working in The Mountain. There are power struggles, secrets, deception, and all kinds of evil taking place. It was eye-opening to read these sections and watch as the true nature of certain characters was revealed.

About halfway through Thunder, the story really took off for me and I read the rest of the book fairly quickly. I am excited about the direction that this story has taken and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
2924054
In my opinion this is a great start to what looks to be an intriguing fantasy series.
The world the author has created is vast and offers multiple possibilities.  Although the story so far only touches on certain races mentioned in the book there is the opportunity for more to be introduced.
Also the characters really drew me in.  I kept wanting to read more to see what made Hurruq and Qurrah tick.  For the main part of the book they are the villains. The author gives the reader the opportunity to see what made them the way they are.  He also lets us see where their thoughts are while they are creating havoc.  I was drawn in, watching as they develop and start to grow apart, yet still struggling to keep the ties that bind them.
I didn't have any real issues with the book, and definitely enjoyed it and want to pick up the rest of the series.  I will say however that the book IS dark.  Not everything is bloodshed and gore, but a lot of it is.  Harruq and Qurrah do some very cruel and evil things.  Dalglish doesn't glorify it,  but he doesn't shy away from it either.  I can see where some scenes could definitely be disturbing to younger readers and I wouldn't recommend this one to any age group but adults.
This is classic fantasy and I hope to get a chance to read more in the near future.