There's a new Horseman in town

I just received a copy of the Larissa Ione book Eternal Rider.  This is the first book in a new series, but continues on from the Demonica world we know and love. 

Meet the Lords of Deliverance.  Ares, Thanatos, Limos and Reseph.  Born of a union between Lilith and Yenrieth (a succubus and an angel), these four siblings have stood for more than 5,000 years as protectors between hell's minions and destuction.

This series begins after the conflict of the previous Demonica books, it is now the Lords of Deliverance's turn to face the evil within.  Eternal Rider is the story of Ares, the one who will become War if he falls.  In the beginning we see Reseph transormation from a Lord of Deliverance into Pestilience, on of the Horsemen of the Apocolypse. 

Now, the only thing stopping Pestilence from turning Ares to the dark side is a plucky, sassy mortal woman whose misfortune it was to heal a badly injured dog... that turned out to be a grateful Hellhound pup she'd named Hal, short for Halitosis (due to his god-awful breath!)

Thanks to Hal, Cara Thornhart is now on not only the Aegis' radar, but a fallen angel's as well.  This dark angel holds the key to Ares salvation or destruction, but knows that Pestilence is after him.  Seeing his chance, he imbues the mortal with Ares' seal.  Isn't that always the way?

Once Ares realises that this scrap of a mortal is his only hope, he not only fights his attraction towards her - Cara keeps telling him No, and challenging him... a first for Ares, and boy does that float his boat :-D - but she has now become the target of Pestilence and his minions who want War to join them.  As the siblings and their allies race to save the now dying Cara, they must keep in mind that if one more of them falls, the others are destined to follow.  And you don't want the Four Horsemen to unite as it would become hell on earth for everyone.

This is a great read.  I couldn't put it down and it took me about 4 hours to finish it.  There is a bit of sex in this book, no more or worse than that in the Demonica series, and the characters that revolve around Ares are just too cute!  Who wouldn't want some Ramreels around the place?  That being said, I did fall in love Hal.  Just wait until you meet Hal's grandfather!  Also Ares' steed was a cutie too.  There is also another betrayal by an Aegis operative, and you meet some familiar faces to boot.

Thanatos, and his sister Limos are believable as Ares siblings.  They fought, made up and carried on like any other siblings I've met - only these guys could have smited you real good :-P  Plus, the tension between Cara and Ares is a nice change of pace from romance books where the heroine jumps into the sack with her 'hero' within hours of meeting him.

Eternal Rider is a reasonable 402 pages long, and that doesn't include the 8 page excerpt from the next installment, Immortal Rider, and it is Limos' turn to avoid falling.  As the promised bride to the Devil himself, it is Runa's brother, Arik, who just happens to be the idiot that kick-start the Devil's jealousy (there are certain conditions that can cause Limos to fall).  Now, all this isn't a spoiler, this is all info you read in Eternal Rider and the excerpt.  Luckily for you, you don't have to wait too long for the next book as it is out now - and I can't wait to get it.

Poor quality paper perhaps?

The other day I was reading my new book, Five Odd Honors, but found many of the pages so covered with ink as to be unreadable!

I know mass market format books are cheap, but that's still no excuse for items like this being produced.
Fingers crosses that I can get them to replace it.



Smokin' Seventeen: the middle of the end?

As an avid reader, I will give anything a go.  However, like Anita Blake, I think Stephanie Plum has definitely seen better days.

Having received a new stack of books from Book Depository I was looking forward to indulging in the new Stephanie Plum. I loved the first 10 books, but I think that the dilemma between Morelli and Ranger has dragged on for way too long - and this book is no different.
Not only is SP still torn between her men, now  instead of her standard nookie fall-back of sleeping with Ranger after temporarily breaking up with Morelli, she goes from one to the other cause she and the cop are supposedly having an open relationship!
What the...?!
The storyline is beyond ridiculous, and I'm finding them to be so formulaic that Ms Evanovich must be phoning them in as the storyline just never seems to change.

With the One for the Money movie due in January, I'm surprised that the last books have been so poor.

From now on I'll borrow them from the library.  No more Stephanie Plum books for me until she makes her choice...

Babe or Cupcake